Leak? Squier Paranormal Rascal Bass HH

[dAs]

Just received some wonderful news from Fed EX that my package was delivered! More like DUMPED behind some trees. I won't be home until after 10 tonight, having the kids pick it up.

The yellow dot with an X is where it was left.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Just received some wonderful news from Fed EX that my package was delivered! More like DUMPED behind some trees. I won't be home until after 10 tonight, having the kids pick it up.
View attachment 5087076 View attachment 5087075 The yellow dot with an X is where it was left.

Couldn’t be arsed driving up and popping it near the building. Bellends.

 

[TaySte_2000]

Just received some wonderful news from Fed EX that my package was delivered! More like DUMPED behind some trees. I won't be home until after 10 tonight, having the kids pick it up.
View attachment 5087076 View attachment 5087075 The yellow dot with an X is where it was left.

In their defence you do seem to have your own state.

We call that much land a village in the UK

 

[dAs]

In their defence you do seem to have your own state.

We call that much land a village in the UK

Ha ha ha...

 

[Yahboy]

Just received some wonderful news from Fed EX that my package was delivered! More like DUMPED behind some trees. I won't be home until after 10 tonight, having the kids pick it up.
View attachment 5087076 View attachment 5087075 The yellow dot with an X is where it was left.

Wow,,,,, it is truly Rascal !

 

[dAs]

Got home late last night and opened the box to do a quick visual on the Rascal HH.
- Wow, it's GREEN! Not sure if it's my kinda green as it is rather bright. It's really hard to show the color in my photos.
- The distance of the E string to the edge of the fretboard and the G string to the edge of the fretboard are noticeably off towards the bottom of the fretboard. At the nut they seem fine.
- The pole pieces are not necessarily under the strings. I have not plugged it in to hear it is that much of an issue but in looking at some photos of other Fender basses with the humbuckers that seems 'normal'.
- Bridge... not sure about this one.
- Knobs look like what's on the Bronco bass - economy of scale, I get it.

Hope other people are getting theirs soon, would love to hear other thoughts.

Cheers

 

[Naviiin]

First impressions by @LowEndLobster :

 

[timendous]

First impressions by @LowEndLobster :

Yessssssss!

 

[Yahboy]

Got home late last night and opened the box to do a quick visual on the Rascal HH.
- Wow, it's GREEN! Not sure if it's my kinda green as it is rather bright. It's really hard to show the color in my photos.
- The distance of the E string to the edge of the fretboard and the G string to the edge of the fretboard are noticeably off towards the bottom of the fretboard. At the nut they seem fine.
- The pole pieces are not necessarily under the strings. I have not plugged it in to hear it is that much of an issue but in looking at some photos of other Fender basses with the humbuckers that seems 'normal'.
- Bridge... not sure about this one.
- Knobs look like what's on the Bronco bass - economy of scale, I get it.

Hope other people are getting theirs soon, would love to hear other thoughts.

Cheers

View attachment 5087520
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Nice green !!

Is there any dent on the fretboard edge?

 

[TyBo]

Got home late last night and opened the box to do a quick visual on the Rascal HH.
- Wow, it's GREEN! Not sure if it's my kinda green as it is rather bright. It's really hard to show the color in my photos.
- The distance of the E string to the edge of the fretboard and the G string to the edge of the fretboard are noticeably off towards the bottom of the fretboard. At the nut they seem fine.
- The pole pieces are not necessarily under the strings. I have not plugged it in to hear it is that much of an issue but in looking at some photos of other Fender basses with the humbuckers that seems 'normal'.
- Bridge... not sure about this one.
- Knobs look like what's on the Bronco bass - economy of scale, I get it.

Hope other people are getting theirs soon, would love to hear other thoughts.

Cheers

View attachment 5087520
View attachment 5087522
View attachment 5087523
View attachment 5087524 View attachment 5087525 View attachment 5087526

That string placement is far enough off that I'd want to send it back, myself. Not the nut, so it's gotta be a misplaced bridge ... unless the neck picket is pretty sloppy , leaving a neck misalignment that could possibly be pulled across into alignment - but that in itself would be an unacceptable flaw in a new instrument. Again, for me, ymmv. Too bad. Then again, if the green is too much, that might be another reason ...

 

[dAs]

Nice green !!

Is there any dent on the fretboard edge?

View attachment 5087722

Good Eyes... I haven't had that much time overlooking the close details, just a basic look through. Thank you.

 

[dAs]

That string placement is far enough off that I'd want to send it back, myself. Not the nut, so it's gotta be a misplaced bridge ... unless the neck picket is pretty sloppy , leaving a neck misalignment that could possibly be pulled across into alignment - but that in itself would be an unacceptable flaw in a new instrument. Again, for me, ymmv. Too bad. Then again, if the green is too much, that might be another reason ...

I talked with Fender this morning and they're guessing it's a misaligned neck. It's in pretty tight and I didn't see any gaps so I'm not sure. They suggested 2 options, 1) being bringing to an authorized service center or 2) send it back and wait until sometime in July for new ones to arrive. I'm bringing it to a service center and we'll see what happens. Thanks.

 

[timendous]

Fed Ex has said mine was going to be delivered today (in Ohio) for over a week. But the last tracking update was from 6/5 telling me that it was "in transit" from Bloomington, California

 

[andare]

Just about every bolt-on guitar may exhibit that issue. Sit down, loosen the bolts 1/4 turn, put the bass in playing position but with the strings facing you, secure the body under your right armpit and with your left arm push up or down on the headstock to tilt the neck in the direction that will even out the string to edge distance. While keeping tension on the neck with your left arm that way, tighten the bolts with your right arm.

 

[Kijuer]

If only there was a 5 string version...

I've spent so long hoping for a Cabronita "V" too in the past. Something tells me this will go the same way...

 

[thrashingbass]

Looks great, and it seems it sounds better than I expected, from what I heard on Mr. Lobster's video. A winner if you do not mind the short scale on a larger body (I have an even larger body on my lone short scale bass, so it's no problem for me.)

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Just about every bolt-on guitar may exhibit that issue. Sit down, loosen the bolts 1/4 turn, put the bass in playing position but with the strings facing you, secure the body under your right armpit and with your left arm push up or down on the headstock to tilt the neck in the direction that will even out the string to edge distance. While keeping tension on the neck with your left arm that way, tighten the bolts with your right arm.

Good advice! Lots of bolt-on basses arrive with a slightly misaligned neck after transport. This procedure will only take a couple of minutes and may prevent the need for a return/replacement.

However, this doesn't ALWAYS work. I've seen more than a few Squiers lately with misaligned necks that couldn't be re-aligned. The neck pocket on this Rascal looks very tight (based on the pics) and in this case that's actually not a good thing as it leaves very little room for re-aligning the neck.

It makes me wonder if Fender design them like this on purpose, to make Squiers less attractive than more expensive Fender models. I mean, in this day and age, with modern CNC machines, I can't see any reason why guitars/basses should leave the factory with flawed neck pockets (or a misaligned bridge for that matter). The factories that currently manufacture Squiers (Yako, Cort, Samick) make guitars for LOTS of other brands too. The problem with misaligned necks with no room for re-aligning them seems to mainly affect Squiers, from ALL these three factories. Or maybe I just see a lot more Squiers than basses/guitars from other brands in this price range...?

A slightly misaligned neck isn't necessarily a problem though. As longs as the strings don't "fall off" the fretboard when playing it's really just a cosmetic flaw.

 

[andare]

Good advice! Lots of bolt-on basses arrive with a slightly misaligned neck after transport. This procedure will only take a couple of minutes and may prevent the need for a return/replacement.

However, this doesn't ALWAYS work. I've seen more than a few Squiers lately with misaligned necks that couldn't be re-aligned. The neck pocket on this Rascal looks very tight (based on the pics) and in this case that's actually not a good thing as it leaves very little room for re-aligning the neck.

It makes me wonder if Fender design them like this on purpose, to make Squiers less attractive than more expensive Fender models. I mean, in this day and age, with modern CNC machines, I can't see any reason why guitars/basses should leave the factory with flawed neck pockets (or a misaligned bridge for that matter). The factories that currently manufacture Squiers (Yako, Cort, Samick) make guitars for LOTS of other brands too. The problem with misaligned necks with no room for re-aligning them seems to mainly affect Squiers, from ALL these three factories. Or maybe I just see a lot more Squiers than basses/guitars from other brands in this price range...?

A slightly misaligned neck isn't necessarily a problem though. As longs as the strings don't "fall off" the fretboard when playing it's really just a cosmetic flaw.

There have been reports of misaligned necks on MIAs as well so I don't think Fender is consciously making Squiers worse. They already made sure to make them less appealing by using certain materials. I think it's simply workers rushing through the process. CNC machines are only as good as the person operating them.
You are right about the tight neck pockets on Squiers. I took me a good 5 minutes to take the neck out of my Bronco the one time I did that. Much better than any Fender I've ever seen, MIA, MIM or MIJ.

My Epiphone Coronet has a slight misalignment of the strings and the P90 that I can only correct by moving the strings on the wraparound bridge, as it is a set neck.

Unfortunately it seems QC is at an all time low across the whole Fender product line.

 

[Old Blastard]

If they've gone like so many other industries, the pressure is to produce quickly and move on to the next item. Quality is a concern only as a marketing term

 

[Deleted member 271037]

There have been reports of misaligned necks on MIAs as well so I don't think Fender is consciously making Squiers worse. They already made sure to make them less appealing by using certain materials. I think it's simply workers rushing through the process. CNC machines are only as good as the person operating them.
You are right about the tight neck pockets on Squiers. I took me a good 5 minutes to take the neck out of my Bronco the one time I did that. Much better than any Fender I've ever seen, MIA, MIM or MIJ.

My Epiphone Coronet has a slight misalignment of the strings and the P90 that I can only correct by moving the strings on the wraparound bridge, as it is a set neck.

Unfortunately it seems QC is at an all time low across the whole Fender product line.

The difference is that the sloppy neck pockets on Fender actually makes it possible to re-align the neck.