• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

My Moses neck twisted.

Benjamin Strange

Benjamin Strange

Commercial User
Dec 25, 2002
9,737
310
49
New Orleans, LA
www.ufodeathcult.com
Disclosures
Owner / Tech: Strange Guitarworks
#1
I've had a Moses neck on one of my Strangebergers for about 4 years now, and I just noticed the other day that it had developed a pretty severe twist. I hadn't played my fretted bass in about 10 months, so I'm not sure when the twist developed. Perhaps I'd been playing on it for a while without noticing; it kind of twists like the Lace Helix or Torzal system. It's a pretty severe twist - I'd guess between 3 to 5 degrees. It doesn't affect playablility just yet for some odd reason, but I still am less than thrilled with this development. It's graphite, and it's supposed to be super stable. My fretless neck hasn't moved, and is as perfect as the day I got it. Hmph.

This is not the first problem I've had with this fretted neck. When it arrived, the heel wasn't properly planed, and caused the neck to angle in towards my body, which made a setup impossible. I ended up planing the neck heel myself, which wasn't too hard, but I shouldn't have had to fix a brand new $350 neck. The neck does sound better and feel better than the original Steinberger neck, so I didn't complain much and kept it.

Now this. I'm not happy. I called Moses on Sunday and left a message, and then I called again today and left a message. I don't know what the warranty is on these necks, but I'm hoping that Steve Mosher will do right by me and help me out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
 
#3
Weird. I've got a moses neck on a jazz type bass and its never moved a mm in the years I've had it. Its the only bass I'm not afraid to leave in the car during the winter. I would definitely contact them about this. I've never talked with them so I have no idea what their customer support is like.
 
#4
mongo2 said:
Planing the neck heel may have voided any warranty.
Click to expand...

Well, there's more to this story than I initially let on. The heel was pretty far off, so I sent it back to Moses to fix. They replaned the heel and sent it back, but it still wasn't dead on perfect so I fixed the rest myself. It's not like I made any significant mod to the neck - just fixed what they didn't get right in the first place.
 
#9
lowtide said:
Wow. This is the first time I've heard of a Moses twisting. How bad is it? You said it doesn't effect playability . . . got any pix?
Click to expand...

It's pretty bad, but doesn't affect playability - yet. I tried to take some pics, but they don't really come out very well. It's hard to shoot straight down a hole neck and get everything in focus to the point where you can see the warp.
 
#12
Benjamin Strange said:
I've now called them four times, and each time had to leave a message. This is getting ridiculous. Not answering calls and not returning calls is no way to run a business.

I'm beginning to get a little pissed.
Click to expand...

Moses has never had stellar CS. I once had a Moses Jazz neck and received no support from Moses when I had installation questions. After taking it to a local dealer to have it installed, I simply was not liking the weight, feel, or sound the thing produced. I really cannot recommend their product to anyone, especially when companies like Status have such a good reputation for quality.
 
#13
I wanted a Status neck, but they didn't offer one for a lefty, so I went with Moses. And yeah, the customer support is definitely bad there; I paid with a money order that sat on someone's deck for over a month, while waiting for my neck to arrive. I called several times before getting ahold of Steve, but when I finally did, he figured out the problem and got the neck out to me quickly. When I got it, it had a few cosmetic issues, but I didn't want to be without a neck for another month, so I kept it. Fortunately, it's been fine structurally. So yeah, for a lefty who doesn't really have another option, I'd say get one, but only if you can afford to wait.
 
#14
I just got a call from Steve Mosher. He claims that they were having a hard time getting a hold of me... I'm not 100% convinced of that, but at least Steve is making up for it. They are already making a new neck for me to replace my twisted one - without even asking to see the defective neck first. Pretty sweet. Hopefully I will have a new neck in my hands in the next weeks.
 
#16
Benjamin Strange said:
I just got a call from Steve Mosher. He claims that they were having a hard time getting a hold of me... I'm not 100% convinced of that, but at least Steve is making up for it. They are already making a new neck for me to replace my twisted one - without even asking to see the defective neck first. Pretty sweet. Hopefully I will have a new neck in my hands in the next weeks.
Click to expand...
Just curious--did you have to make any allusion to potential bad rep being formed in the online community, or did Steve straight up offer the replacement unprompted?
 
#18
Marcus said:
I really cannot recommend their product to anyone, especially when companies like Status have such a good reputation for quality.
Click to expand...

I'd personally stick with Status because they are so high quality and easy for me to get my hands on (being an English company). However, they're considerably more expensive than Moses, but then, I've never heard of a Status neck warping!
 
#19
waseok said:
"Where have u been?? our mail pigeon was looking all over for you!"
I use that excuse ("i could not get a hold of u") often, so i think it's not even true
I still am confused how come they charge 350$ for a neck that should not twist - but twists and has cosmetic problems :confused:
Click to expand...

Things can always go wrong, the only thing is how you handle it... if they charge you 350 and replace the neck without question, what's the problem?

and if you use that excuse often, maybe you should rethink what you're doing... cause it ain't a thing to be proud of...:rollno:
 
#20
Benjamin Strange said:
I just got a call from Steve Mosher. He claims that they were having a hard time getting a hold of me... I'm not 100% convinced of that, but at least Steve is making up for it. They are already making a new neck for me to replace my twisted one - without even asking to see the defective neck first. Pretty sweet. Hopefully I will have a new neck in my hands in the next weeks.
Click to expand...
nothing like a complain in TB to make things workout, anyway I am looking for a graphite neck, for a 5 custom, and it will not be a moses one for sure , I thought about a zon bass instead a custom but after what I hear, 500 for new neck if it comes defective, screw it, I am after a cia that stand back their product , a cia that I do not need to use the customer service and if I even need to, it has to have a good one, that look after for the costumer like modulus, only if their basses was not that expensive, maybe I can afford a used one
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back