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Help: is this bass defective?

Shurakai

Shurakai

Dec 4, 2014
4
0
#1
Hello all.

I'm trying to decide if my new bass is defective and if I should send it back to the shop. I'm new to bass guitars (I'm a guitar player), and I could really do with some help from more experienced people.

I had this Ibanez BTB 675 delivered two days ago. It has a couple of details that seem dodgy to me, but I can't decide if these details are normal peculiarities or potential defects.

There are two things I'm worried about. I include a couple of photos so you can see for yourselves.

The first issue is that the strings seem to be slightly "skewed" compared to the neck. In the photos you can see that at the highest frets the G string is a lot closer to the neck edge than the B string, and that the A string is almost completely to the right of the inlay dot. You can also see that the position of the strings at the nut is a lot more centered (like I would expect), so overall it seems like the strings are slightly oblique on the neck. I genuinely don't know if this is normal construction or not.

The second thing worrying me is the detail in the wood grain you see in the other photo. I'm not concerned about the aesthetics, but I'm worried it might be a structural weakness, and deteriorate over time, for example.

What do you think of these issues? Should I keep the bass or return it? Any help will be much appreciated!

Many many thanks!

strings-last-fret.jpg

strings-nut.jpg

wood-grain-detail.jpg
 
#2
Strings do seem to be slightly off, and doesn't appear to be the angle of the picture. This would suggest the bridge is mis-aligned rather than the neck. Do the bridge saddles look like they are straight in the mountings? Also if you have a long straight edge try and check the offset of the bridge and the pickups.

As far as the wood marking, it could just be patterning in the wood, and would not cause any structural problems. It may be that this bass was cut from a sapwood section rather than a core wood section.

I am very surprised to see this as Ibanez have always had top quality control on their mid range to higher models, which this definitely a good mid range model.
 
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#3
Thanks for your reply. I was also thinking the bridge might be mounted slightly off. The saddles seem to be alright to me. By the way, I have a photo where the saddles are visible, though not a very good one; it's below.

I can give a check to bridge and pickups tonight, when I'm back home. What should I look for exactly? Sorry if this is a silly question, but as I said I'm rather new...

body-detail.jpeg
 
#4
I ordered a SR1400TE from my local GC last December after making it very clear to/them that I'd never ordered a bass sight unseen,they said it would be no problem sending it back if I didn't like it for any reason.The 1st one had a couple bad cosmetic flaws and I did have them send it back,they got another one for me in three days that I love and I haven't looked back and wouldn't hesitate to order from them again.Full disclosure I had mine shipped to the store just so I could inspect it there.
That edge to me doesn't look like it matches the grain,almost looks like epoxy? Your bass,as mine,isn't a cheap instrument and I'd send it back!
 
#5
If I like the way the bass played and sounded and it had no problems with fret buzz, intonation, action height, I'd probably keep the bass. What I see doesn't bother me.

Of course, without actually seeing and playing the bass, I can't say for sure.

Is there a good guitar tech that could examine the bass for you and give you a more-qualified assessment?

Good luck.
 
#6
It's not defective. It's intelligent design.

Think about it. The B is fatter than the others. Next comes the E and so forth. The A is slightly off center in relation to the dots, but the center of the A is exactly between the inside edge of the B and the inside edge of the G.

The only way the strings would be exactly "in place" to your eye would be if all the strings were the same gauge. You don't notice it as much with guitar because they are strung with little tiny things and there are no 5 string guitars. Just banjos.

The wood grain on the body edge may not please you aesthetically, but it's fine structurally. Return it if it bugs you too much, but don't return it because of the string-to-dot issue. They'll think you're looney tunes.
 
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#7
I would place the straight edge along the side of the neck over the pick ups to the bridge, and the measure how off set the outer two are compared to each other from the straight edge line. There should be a few mm difference to account for the strings gauge difference.

If you are still unsure, then see how it plays. you can also check the gap between the edge of the fret board and the outer strings, again the B will have slightly more gap as it moves more.

This isn't terribly out, and I would be surprised if it is unplayable. It depends if you have bought it to just mess with at home or you are going to be playing a lot of bass live or recording.
 
#8
Immigrant said:
It's not defective. It's intelligent design.

Think about it. The B is fatter than the others. Next comes the E and so forth. The A is slightly off center in relation to the dots, but the center of the A is exactly between the inside edge of the B and the inside edge of the G.

The only way the strings would be exactly "in place" to your eye would be if all the strings were the same gauge. You don't notice it as much with guitar because they are strung with little tiny things and there are no 5 string guitars. Just banjos.

The wood grain on the body edge may not please you aesthetically, but it's fine structurally. Return it if it bugs you too much, but don't return it because of the string-to-dot issue. They'll think you're looney tunes.
Click to expand...
This is also why nut string spacing isn't supposed to be exactly equal - to "feel equal" to the fingers, you want the space between the strings to be relatively equal, so larger gauge strings have to be slightly further apart.

I have occasionally seen necks shift in the pocket from shipping - one thing you might try is loosening the strings and the neck attachment bolts, "jiggling" the neck in place a bit to see if you can get it to set in the pocket better, and then re-tightening.
Edit: Ah, on a second look, is this a neck-through? If so, ignore this paragraph, obviously! ;)

If the wood grain concern is that in the last picture, don't worry at all, the wood on the outer part of the body is fairly functionally irrelevant. I think it looks rather nice.

In any case, I doubt any of your concerns are worth worrying about unless the string spacing gets in your way funcitonally.
 
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#12
bholder said:
I have occasionally seen necks shift in the pocket from shipping - one thing you might try is loosening the strings and the neck attachment bolts, "jiggling" the neck in place a bit to see if you can get it to set in the pocket better, and then re-tightening.

.
Click to expand...

Let me know if this works, I have some other neck through basses that have this problem and if you can get the neck on that thing to shift, you must be Superman.
 
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#14
I have 2 (pretty much matching) 5 string Ibanez basses, both from 1985. and both have the same string/dot spacing. As stated, it's to maintain appropriate string-to-string distance. It is possible the nut may be mis-cut or mis-aligned to the G side.

The wood grain "issue" may be different. Could be chalked up to the vagaries of wood and it's infinite proclivities, or could be a fill to repair some cracking. Based on the way it crosses the grain lines, it could be either.
Regardless, if it's either of those, it's likely to be a non-problem long-term. If it doesn't bother you aesthetically, I think you're better off ignoring it. However, if the way it looks does bother you, it's almost couldn't be more visually conspicuous.
The deciders for me, as always, would be playability and tone.

IME, though, Ibanez, especially at higher price points, make instruments that are pretty consistent. An exchange may remove all concerns.
Or, introduce new ones... ;)
 
#15
Going off that pic in your second post, the strings don't look so "off" anymore. Even if they are a little off, it wouldn't be a deal breaker to me necessarily, that funky grain though is exactly that, funky. I'm sure it's fine structurally though. I have a rule for myself which is if I'm going spend a certain number or more on an instrument it needs to be nearly perfect, this bass is a little under that price point, but not by much, I could definitely understand sending it back if these details are going to continuously bother you.
 
#16
mdogs said:
Let me know if this works, I have some other neck through basses that have this problem and if you can get the neck on that thing to shift, you must be Superman.
Click to expand...
I am definitely not Superman - you really don't want to see me in tights with a cape! :wideyed::eek::***::rollno::roflmao:
 
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#17
If the G is not so close to the edge of the frets that it "rolls off" when playing, I'd say no problems. I've had a few where that did happen - which I fixed by aligning the neck better in the pocket. But then, they weren't neck-throughs. ;)
 
#18
As stated, the thickness of the strings require the spacing at the nut to look a little "off." The wood grain thing.... how many of these basses are you planning to send back until they send you the exact grain pattern that suits you? This sounds like ordinary buyers remorse that will pass more quickly the sooner you start playing it instead of trying to find flaws in it.
 
#20
That doesn't look like a defect to me (the fretboard) - it just looks as if the bass is designed with slightly less room either side of the B and G strings than some companies. Does the G string pull off the edge of the fretboard when you play? That's the only thing I'd be worried about. If it does then I don't think a bridge re-alignment (which is not a big deal) would be of much help because then you'd probably have an issue with the B string.
 

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