seeing as every bass I have bought from there has needed its action lowered and strings tuned DRASTICALLY...I would say no, they don't setup any instrument before shipping them out. that being said, I also have never had any other problem than those minor tweaks.
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musicians friend basses
- Thread starter trueno87
- Start date
Lakland's usually have a pretty nice setup. The final setup on the Skylines is done in Chicago; they also use PLEK machines.
Relayer71 said:
I see they say things like "nearly all" and "almost all" in the wording. Hmmm...
A. MF does not do a setup.
B. Sweetwater does indeed do a setup as a part of their 55 point inspection, but the 55 pt. inspection is only available at a certain price point. I.E. A Fender Standard at about $500 is eligible, but not a $300 Squier.
B. Sweetwater does indeed do a setup as a part of their 55 point inspection, but the 55 pt. inspection is only available at a certain price point. I.E. A Fender Standard at about $500 is eligible, but not a $300 Squier.
Hey all,
I just wanted to add clarification from Musician's Friend. We ship all guitars and basses as received from the manufacturer with the exception of our Private Reserve guitars and basses. We have a team at our distribution center that specifically manages these instruments and they can be contacted regarding the setup as well as a bunch of other things I won't go in to for fear of violating the commercial use policy here at TalkBass.
If you have any other questions, you're always welcome to reach out to me and I'll respond as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Chris Baker
Musician's Friend
I just wanted to add clarification from Musician's Friend. We ship all guitars and basses as received from the manufacturer with the exception of our Private Reserve guitars and basses. We have a team at our distribution center that specifically manages these instruments and they can be contacted regarding the setup as well as a bunch of other things I won't go in to for fear of violating the commercial use policy here at TalkBass.
If you have any other questions, you're always welcome to reach out to me and I'll respond as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Chris Baker
Musician's Friend
Thanks Chris from MF! I surely don't want anyone setting up the new basses I buy online. Direct from the factory is always best. Only way to do a proper setup is to have a one on one meeting with a professional and describe and show them how you specifically like your bass set up. One size MOST DEFINITELY does not fit all.
I suspect Sweetwater probably changed their policy to avoid disputes with their suppliers. If there were a problem with an instrument after it was setup by Sweetwater, the manufacturer and Sweetwater would need to determine who was responsible for the problem. If they never open the boxes, then they clearly didn't cause it.
That's not too comforting to know. I've bought Schecters recently, very very good basses especially for the money, but all the setups I got were the worst I'd ever seen, one had the strings literally laying on the frets and not because they loosened them to ship either, they all needed a complete setup.
I know I know, what do you expect for 350 bucks right? Anyway just be aware the setups out of the factory I've seen on Schecters are as bad as I've ever experienced.
Yep they come straight from the factory. Every bass I ever have purchased has gotten a full setup with new strings, first thing right after purchase. I consider it manditory unless I bought it with a fresh setup( never happened) . Imo this should be manditory on any bass and added to the purchase price you expect to pay.
Why? Once you learn to do your own setups your going to do a better job for action then anyone else can. Since they are not you. If a shop says they do setups thayts ok, but Ive never had such a shop do as good a action setup as I do for myself. And these instruments have all of course needed tweaking by me once they arrive and Ive finished doing my other initial inspections for any loose screws and nuts and any mfg flubs. Its a waste of money to pay some long distance shop to do a setup imo. If you cant do your own, find a good local shop that will do setup and teach you how to do your own. Imo
One shop mentioned earlier for doing setups did the worst inspection Ive ever seen. On a $1,200 bass. No slots for strings on bridge done, pups in peices, literaly, nut not attached. Medium high action. And peep swore his head tech did the setup. Needless to say I took pics and sent them to these fools and of course vowed to never do business with them again ever.
Everybody says they do a set-up. In fact, it's so overused it's like the cliches baseball players use in every interview (sorry, watched Bull Durham last night). I once ordered an upright bass straight from the distributor (bypassing a music store) and they went on and on about how it was all set up in the factory. That's great, however, when I got it I had to put the sound post in, figure out where the heck the bridge went, and put on the strings. How do you "set it up" and then take apart all the stuff you just set up?
The set-up issue is one of the most misunderstood aspects of buying an instrument. Back when I worked at a music store, the most common thing I heard from people looking to purchase a fairly serious guitar (Am. Strat, etc) was "I go by how the neck feels". Set-up has a HUGE impact on that, yet every time I walk into Guitar Center to try out a bass amp, I can't find a single bass on the wall with less than three times my normal string height. If they actually tended to the set-ups they would sell a whole lot more.
Also, every review I read on here for inexpensive basses includes a ton of replies like "I ordered one the other day and it buzzed a little bit, so I returned it and bought a [insert horribly cheap bass here] and it didn't buzz at all. I'm totally happy with the new one. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!" It sounds like the action was set a little too low for the player, that's all. A few turns of an allen wrench could have taken care of that.
Set-up is more important that most realize, and it's not too hard to do a basic job. Plus, your bass will change as the weather changes, so expect to tweak it a couple times a year at the least. If you don't want to do it yourself, find a qualified person, but that could get expensive.
There is only one store in my area that I shop at. Since I know all the guys that work there, they let me set-up the instruments to my liking while I'm trying them out. How can you decide if you like how it feels if it's all outta whack???
The set-up issue is one of the most misunderstood aspects of buying an instrument. Back when I worked at a music store, the most common thing I heard from people looking to purchase a fairly serious guitar (Am. Strat, etc) was "I go by how the neck feels". Set-up has a HUGE impact on that, yet every time I walk into Guitar Center to try out a bass amp, I can't find a single bass on the wall with less than three times my normal string height. If they actually tended to the set-ups they would sell a whole lot more.
Also, every review I read on here for inexpensive basses includes a ton of replies like "I ordered one the other day and it buzzed a little bit, so I returned it and bought a [insert horribly cheap bass here] and it didn't buzz at all. I'm totally happy with the new one. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!" It sounds like the action was set a little too low for the player, that's all. A few turns of an allen wrench could have taken care of that.
Set-up is more important that most realize, and it's not too hard to do a basic job. Plus, your bass will change as the weather changes, so expect to tweak it a couple times a year at the least. If you don't want to do it yourself, find a qualified person, but that could get expensive.
There is only one store in my area that I shop at. Since I know all the guys that work there, they let me set-up the instruments to my liking while I'm trying them out. How can you decide if you like how it feels if it's all outta whack???
