Keep or leave ? - Sterling Ray4 totally unplayable

[Mark21]

Hi, i’ve just received a Sterling Ray4 from Thomann, i think i never seen anything like this… the instrument is totally unplayable! The neck is so bended that the strings don’t even play at all.
I have already returned another Sterling bass (was a b-stock) because it had a hole in the freatboard covered by some paste and the D string volume was 50% lower than E A G strings.
Now should i try adjusting the trussrod giving some neck relief or just return it and ask for a replacement or refound?
Is it so bad ?

 

[Five or Six]

I'd "try" to adjust the truss (loosen) and see where it goes. Start slow, adjust, let it set, tune it, see if it helps. May be a broken truss? Won't know if you don't try. But the thing is, will they take it back knowing you messed with it? They may claim you did it??

 

[JC BASS 91]

Personally, I would never buy anything from Thomann ever again (I'm in the US). My experience with their return policy was beyond stupid. Sure, they were happy to let me return if for a refund, but it cost $25 for them to ship me the item. To return it was going to cost ME $135 in shipping. So, now, I have a 1lb Warwick Gnome paperweight because I can't use it.

If a 2lb package going back to them was $135, I can't imagine what shipping on a bass would be.

 

[Mark21]

I'd "try" to adjust the truss (loosen) and see where it goes. Start slow, adjust, let it set, tune it, see if it helps. May be a broken truss? Won't know if you don't try. But the thing is, will they take it back knowing you messed with it? They may claim you did it??

Personally, I would never buy anything from Thomann ever again (I'm in the US). My experience with their return policy was beyond stupid. Sure, they were happy to let me return if for a refund, but it cost $25 for them to ship me the item. To return it was going to cost ME $135 in shipping. So, now, I have a 1lb Warwick Gnome paperweight because I can't use it.

If a 2lb package going back to them was $135, I can't imagine what shipping on a bass would be.

I live in Europe and for the first 14 days shipping costs are free of charge!

 

[TheArchitect]

From what I can tell it just needs a truss rod adjustment and probably a setup. This is a more extreme example but virtually every new instruments needs a setup

 

[TheArchitect]

I'd "try" to adjust the truss (loosen) and see where it goes. Start slow, adjust, let it set, tune it, see if it helps. May be a broken truss? Won't know if you don't try. But the thing is, will they take it back knowing you messed with it? They may claim you did it??

If the rod were broken the strings would pull the neck forward and you would have rather high action.

From what I see, you just need to loosen the rod a bit and get on with it. That said, your reaction suggests you don't have much, if any, experience working in instruments. Maybe get a tech to do it

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

Unless a company tells me otherwise, I assume that whatever money I'm paying is for a piece of equipment which is in good working order.

You can't even play this thing to see if you "fall in love with it".

There's no way I'd keep this.

 

[TheArchitect]

Unless a company tells me otherwise, I assume that whatever money I'm paying is for a piece of equipment which is in good working order.

You can't even play this thing to see if you "fall in love with it".

There's no way I'd keep this.

The need for a truss rod adjust does not mean its not in working order. Those adjustments will be needed through out the life of any instrument. That's why its there. This model appears to use a wagon wheel adjuster which is one of the easiest to adjust methods there are

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

The need for a truss rod adjust does not mean its not in working order. Those adjustments will be needed through out the life of any instrument. That's why its there. This model appears to use a wagon wheel adjuster which is one of the easiest to adjust methods there are

Of course, you're right.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

Of course, you're right.

Of course he is, he's an Architect after all!!!

 

[Lesfunk]

Loosen the truss rod 1/2 a turn and watch it become playable

 

[five7]

Loosen that puppy. If it doesn't change, send it back. Or contact SBMM

 

[Five or Six]

Well?

 

[Mark21]

Well?

I sended an email to their customers support and they let me try to play with the trussrod so i’ve already done 1/2 + 1/2 anticlockwise to loosen it a bit. Now its a little more playable with little buzzing here and there. So i started “playing” and noticed it has the same problem as the last one; D string sound much more lower than other strings, and it resonate less than the others. I’ve already checked strings and pickup height are normal ( all flat ) G string maybe 0,1mm lower than the others.
Here in Europe the bass costs 545$/€ (lefthanded), now im wondering if taking it to a luthier (for another 100$\€) or just send it back and go for a sire M7…

 

[J Wilson]

Unless you are competent to do a real setup, you have two choices:

1) Return this, and keep having them replace it until you get lucky and get one that's good out of the box

2) If you'd really like this particular bass aside from the playablitiy issue, you'd need to take this to a qualified, experienced guitar repairman and have it made right.

Just 'shooting in the dark' and playing around with the truss rod is not the real answer her, though it may help. If adjustments are not a fluent knowledge for you (and there's no harm or shame in that at all), you'll have to pick one of the above.

This is not an umcommon occurrence, and easily understandable in that the bass went from tropical Asia to a European winter, the wood is reflecting this. Aggravating, to be sure, but not uncommon.

 

[Mark21]

Unless you are competent to do a real setup, you have two choices:

1) Return this, and keep having them replace it until you get lucky and get one that's good out of the box

2) If you'd really like this particular bass aside from the playablitiy issue, you'd need to take this to a qualified, experienced guitar repairman and have it made right.

Just 'shooting in the dark' and playing around with the truss rod is not the real answer her, though it may help. If adjustments are not a fluent knowledge for you (and there's no harm or shame in that at all), you'll have to pick one of the above.

This is not an umcommon occurrence, and easily understandable in that the bass went from tropical Asia to a European winter, the wood is reflecting this. Aggravating, to be sure, but not uncommon.

I’ve got some tools for measuring (used to adjust my guitars) but im not expert..i can set action and intonation i’ve learned watching YT videos.

 

[J Wilson]

IF you're watching on YouTube, see these two:



. . . and . . .



Dave Reaume is a long-time repairman and bassist in the Toronto, Canada area. Qualified and Experienced in spades, and these two are basically your bass. These will steer you in the right direction, and full of excellent real-world advice. His YouTube channel Dave's World of Fun Stuff is a huge learning resource for me.

I've learned a lot from Dave's vids: It's one thing to read about how to do it, but wonderful to look over a great tech's shoulder as he works and watch the work in progress.

 

[Mark21]

Thanks! Im gonna check them out!

 

[Reedt2000]

As has already been suggested, loosen that truss rod. It might be perfectly fine after a basic adjustment. It should have come with the proper Allen wrench to make the adjustment. Plenty of places to read about what to do. Here's a good one:

ALL BASIC SETUP QUESTIONS ANSWERED HERE

 

[ThudThudThud]

Of course it's unplayable - everything is backwards!!!!!!
I kid, I kid....southpaw.

Make sure the truss rod works, then do a set up. Should be fine.
I can't properly see from the pictures, and without adjusting the neck bow, but you may need a small shim in the neck pocket too,