I'm done with Fender!

[electracoyote]

listen, you guys are free to like whatever you like and dislike whatever you don't like, but you really need to knock this "hype" and "mindless fender mentality" crap off. i've played plenty of new fenders that i thought were absolutely great instruments in every way, and if i needed a new fender style bass, chances are i'd get a newer one. and i don't buy instruments based on hype. if you don't like it, you're free not to, but knock off the insulting crap. you're not any smarter because you don't own a fender, so don't pretend you are.

Well put.

This should be treated as it is: A rare and isolated instance. The generalities are just inaccurate, amaturistic, and insulting.

Jimmy, can we have you visit the Rickenbacker threads and straighten out a few trolls? I'd send you a six pack of your favorite brew.

 

[JimmyM]

Jimmy, can we have you visit the Rickenbacker threads and straighten out a few trolls? I'd send you a six pack of your favorite brew.

nah, not a fan and i don't drink

 

[electracoyote]

nah, not a fan

Not a prerequisite. I'm not really a fanboy either, but they're the same trollish generalizations as are made toward Fenders.

and i don't drink

It doesn't have to be alcohol.

Okay, you're not motivated, no worries. I play everything under the sun, and it really gets me down the kind of misinformation that gets spread around when someone has a complaint about their bass. I sympathize with OP, but this is in no way an indictment of Fender Corp, or its Custom Shop, which surely puts out a high concentration of high quality basses.

One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch...

 

[One Drop]

To the OP, fender Custom shop is no better than a MIA with a set-up. the Custom Shop in the early 90's was really custom, they actually had people doing specific ordered work, today it is pull the best "looking" neck from the line, and pay more attention to the overall finish, give it a good set-up and ship it. When custom shop went from PITA to order in the 90's to mass produced "add a decal" type thing, it kind of ended the mystique. Same thing happened with Gibson, but they have since re-set the empahsis on the "custom" part of custom shop, and I suspect fender will too. I think G&L got it right, when I did some work for them back in the late 80's they had a saying, "Make it as good as we can", and that always stuck with me, they didn't put up fronts or cast aspersions, they just made a good instrument, and if it was USA it was their best, no extra sticker needed. I don't play or own any G&L stuff, but I can tell you my experience in the industry. Fender is a good company, and has made good instruments for many years(and I am NO Fender fan) but sometimes a successful marketing idea, gets swallowed up by the bean counters and becomes just another bass, it happens, and it will continue with all of the big companies, as they are not musicians running the show, it's lawyers and accountants, that's business. I hope you get a refund or at least a good bass to play, and don't beat up Fender too much, they are NOT the company leo built, far from it, but in our world(Basses) they are still the cornerstone....and you have no idea how much it pains me to say that....LOL

Rubbish.

Whether Fender's Custom Shop is doing good enough work to warrant the price premium, or whether that work and the combination of materials translates to a better instrument depends on your criteria and judgement and is therefore arguable.

But your claims of how the CS works are laughable. To begin with, all the necks are quartersawn and/or have different specs (eg. Inlays, etc) that precludes them from being taken off the regular production lines. You are spreading some serious misinformation here.

I hope the OP gets satisfaction here, and I am in no way defending Fender's customer service in this case.

I'm not getting involved with the rest of the crap clogging this thread, other than to say that some people can't see a thread about Fender's without jumping in and relating their oh-so-interesting aversion to the brand and their obvious resultant superiority for not being fooled by the hype, etc.

I'm glad someone brought up the gap spacing between the neck and body 'issue' again though. That canard needs airing regularly, no matter how silly and misinformed. But at least he gave Fender a chance, having bought 18 of them. Go figure...

 

[rojo412]

Forget about anything here relating to instruments... the issue at hand is how a faulty product is being handled.

It's not being handled correctly, that's for sure.
Small builders tend to be able to deal with this more personally because they are small and it's very personal. It may take time, yes, but it'll get done.
Large companies may not have that sort of one-on-one customer service, but what they do have should more than make up for it (deep pockets, large amounts of equipment and manpower, etc). And while they may not care that 1 person gets mad and 8,000,000 love their stuff, to treat this like they did is just plain bogus.

 

[JimmyM]

Not a prerequisite. I'm not really a fanboy either, but they're the same trollish generalizations as are made toward Fenders.

i was actually joking. i don't read all ric threads, and i barely read basses threads at all, but i'm ready to stamp out injustice wherever i see it.

 

[Surly]

Rubbish.

Whether Fender's Custom Shop is doing good enough work to warrant the price premium, or whether that work and the combination of materials translates to a better instrument depends on your criteria and judgement and is therefore arguable.

But your claims of how the CS works are laughable. To begin with, all the necks are quartersawn and/or have different specs (eg. Inlays, etc) that precludes them from being taken off the regular production lines. You are spreading some serious misinformation here.

I hope the OP gets satisfaction here, and I am in no way defending Fender's customer service in this case.

I'm not getting involved with the rest of the crap clogging this thread, other than to say that some people can't see a thread about Fender's without jumping in and relating their oh-so-interesting aversion to the brand and their obvious resultant superiority for not being fooled by the hype, etc.

I'm glad someone brought up the gap spacing between the neck and body 'issue' again though. That canard needs airing regularly, no matter how silly and misinformed. But at least he gave Fender a chance, having bought 18 of them. Go figure...

+1 to all this...

 

[elgranluis]

Amen to that brother

there are hundreds of cars that handle better than a 911 carrera.. *climbs into 90s civic hatchback*

Some things sent the standard for specific reasons....

Anyway, send the bass out with the highest-tension strings that you can find

 

[jfh2424]

I wish this was an isolated incident but I don't see how it could be. They are doing this to Mastermold only because...of what? They don't like him? He paid cash as opposed to credit card?

They are doing this because it is their policy. If not, someone would have interfered and resolved it. Obviously, this is how they treat CS clients.

I am not into Fender bashing. If any other company had done this, I would feel the same way.

We need to see facts for what they are. This TBer payed thousands of dollars and he got shafted. It is unfortunate, but deluding ourselves into something else will only result in more people being treated this way.

What was done was wrong. Fender clearly does not care about their customers and are seriously lacking in self respect.

The fact that they feel they can do this and continue making their millions of dollars in profit does not make it right. It makes it abusive.

John

 

[Turock]

Recording from a gig last week with the "hype" instrument:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Yeah man, that was good, enjoyed it.

 

[SDMFJay]

After reading Steve Bailey's little blog on here about his experience with the Fender company, I can see why Fender is starting to take a serious fall from grace. They didn't want to renew Stu Hamm & Steve Bailey's contracts and seem to now be inconsistently producing "quality" instruments. I am sort of torn on the whole like/dislike issue because I own a few Fender basses and have had no problems with them (that a good professional setup can't fix anyhow.) If the stories I hear & read are true, Fender needs some serious corporate shaking up to do, especially in the PR dept.

 

[Bass Viking]

Sorry, but this is just flat out incorrect. Maybe you got unlucky over and over again (then again, why pick out dogs when there are so many out there?). Right now I have two new Fenders - one built late 2010, one built in 2011. Paid $1100 and $1275 for them. Construction is damn near perfect. On par with the Sadowkys and Lulls I've owned. Seriously. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have two basses I gig with a couple times a week that are killing - and for way less than a boutique would cost. And I'm not ragging on boutiques - I've owned them in the past, have a couple now, and have a pair on order right now. But Fender is turning out some great instruments at the moment. It ain't all hype...

Agreed, the new Fenders I've played are quite good (I'm talking about the American standards). But I played a Custom Shop Jazz Relic model and I was quite surprised to see the sizeable neck pocket gap on a $3000 plus instrument. This is unacceptable. I'd get the MIA standard or a Sadowsky Metro instead and have change leftover.

 

[SlingBass4]

I've been amused at the bickering going back and forth on this thread I've played and owned Fenders for over 40 years, and never have found super consistency to them as of yet. There have been great ones, good ones, and poor ones. By and large their instruments, sales, and service have been (IMO & IME) better than the norm for a large manufacturer of any kind of product. Most folks here weren't even born when I bought my first P-Bass, which was also my first bass. Most vintage basses purchased and/or owned now have been through the shop enough times that they're decent instruments. IF one bought a Fender in the 50's or 60's that wasn't always the case, and we learned to tear them down and slap them back together...mostly on our own. Uneven results have always been present, but I've felt acceptable considering construction technology and methods for this type instrument. I don't have much tolerance for the whiners on this thread, but can sympathize with the OP and a couple other's naivety. Fact is - IF you want and order a Fender to vintage specs...you might (no matter how much you spend) get just that

 

[faulknersj]

I live right down the street from Fender's headquarters in Scottsdale Az. They really need an online liason that can interject when such issues arise with their products; someone who understands and can make things right quickly and efficiently. 2 of my good friends work for the Fender Custom Shop and I have forwarded this link to them. I am seriously thinking about contacting someone at Fender in order to highlight the need for a more responsive online presence adept at solving issues such as this one by page one of the thread. Done properly, page 2 forward should ideally contain content praising the phenomenal customer service the client received.

 

[Kitsapbass]

I've had several Fenders...some of them were great....some not so great. Kind of sad to hear about the run-around you've gotten on this bass. Hoping it gets worked out for you soon.

 

[THand]

Fact is - IF you want and order a Fender to vintage specs...you might (no matter how much you spend) get just that

LOL!

As Walter Cronkite used to say, "and that's the way it is..."

 

[Johnboch]

Beware companies who make too many basses

 

[John D]

TB at its finest...

 

[One Drop]

Yeah man, that was good, enjoyed it.

Yes indeed, tasty stuff there, nostatic.

If that's the sound of hype, I'm in for the win! Off topic, were you playing through the Streamliner? Great tone.

The only thing I didn't like was the sound of that sloppy neck pocket gap, ruined my day...



Mastermold, any joy yet?

 

[Buster Brown]

I live right down the street from Fender's headquarters in Scottsdale Az. They really need an online liason that can interject when such issues arise with their products; someone who understands and can make things right quickly and efficiently. 2 of my good friends work for the Fender Custom Shop and I have forwarded this link to them. I am seriously thinking about contacting someone at Fender in order to highlight the need for a more responsive online presence adept at solving issues such as this one by page one of the thread. Done properly, page 2 forward should ideally contain content praising the phenomenal customer service the client received.

And no doubt that is the very LEAST he deserves! I am not defending Fender's response here in any way shape or form. They are wrong. period. Although I LOVE my Fender Basses, I completely understand that anytime you have a company as large as Fender, things WILL slip through the cracks from time to time.

However, as in many (if not most) of these type of posts, they quickly develop into a "I hate Fenders because _______" while they tout the virtues of boutique basses. and tell us how ignorant we mere mortals are for not buying a Sadowsky or Lull or whatever the flavor of the moment happens to be.

Fender has done absolutely NOTHING to help this particular situation. If the facts are as the OP states (and I have no reason to believe anything to the contrary) then Fender owes this gentleman more than a new neck. They owe him one HELL of an apology.

Fender could most certainly go a long way to help their "cause" by rectifying this situation publicly to show, not only the OP, but the rest of us slobs, that they are concerned AFTER the sale as much as they are BEFORE the sale.