If you're not even happy with it in the "honeymoon phase," you're probably never going to be happy with it.
Applies to basses, guitars, and first wives.
Applies to basses, guitars, and first wives.
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NBD bitter disappointment
- Thread starter SpanishDave
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For reasons you mention early about the seller wanting it back so he can sell it to someone else at a higher price when he doesn't even own the bass anymore, steers me towards keep it yourself. He is not a person you can trust as you have already found out. You have already cleaned it up and if plays well I say make his new deal disappear in the wind.
I would still report the issues, so maybe they can ban his account having it still up for sale seems to me like he has done this before and maybe with the same instrument.
I would still report the issues, so maybe they can ban his account having it still up for sale seems to me like he has done this before and maybe with the same instrument.
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Ooooh....!Option C: Find his other listing, and re-list the newly cleaned bass for more than he’s asking (due to the issues you’ve fixed). You’ll get your money back and then some, and successfully cut him out of his own deal (a deal he cannot make anyways due to the bass being in your possession).
That's some devious action, I like it!
This seems to be the best option if you're not going to keep it.
I wouldn't worry about the skunk stripe. It is wood doing what wood wants to do. I've done a superglue fill and light sand on a couple of 10 - 15 year old Fender necks with slightly proud skunk stripes.
The body and headstock would look great if you treated it with auto polish and a rotary foam pad on a drill or car polisher.
The scratch could he drop-filled with superglue.
I think this is an issue with an older bass that one owner has had for a while. They don't notice small marks and dings creeping onto the instrument, so to them it is always 'mint'. I've seen similarly worn basses that the seller considers to be totally clean because there is no bare wood exposed or missing parts.
The body and headstock would look great if you treated it with auto polish and a rotary foam pad on a drill or car polisher.
The scratch could he drop-filled with superglue.
I think this is an issue with an older bass that one owner has had for a while. They don't notice small marks and dings creeping onto the instrument, so to them it is always 'mint'. I've seen similarly worn basses that the seller considers to be totally clean because there is no bare wood exposed or missing parts.
I'd keep it if I liked the way it plays and sounds. I would do what someone else said and strip every part off it and give everything a good cleaning. I would lightly polish the body, sand the whole neck except for the headstock face, reseal the maple back part of the neck and back of headstock with wipe on poly, and treat the fretboard with lemon oil or butcher block conditioner oil, and then put some new strings on.
I chose "Send It Back" based solely on that crack in the neck. To me, that's a hard stop, regardless of any of the rest.
Keep it - no way the seller should get value from your cleaning and new strings. If you don’t like it, sell it for more money - there seems to be at least one guy out there willing to pay more. That said, disclose everything about the bass in your ad. Last thing you need is to sell it and the guy wants to return it bc of the skunk stripe feel or the scratch.
Lots of people try to negotiate the price after the sale based on any rational or irrational fear - in your case , the fear that it might fall apart in the near future. The seller doesn’t want to negotiate (I wouldn’t either).
Can you live happily with the bass for the price that you paid for it? If so , keep it. If not , send it back.
Can you live happily with the bass for the price that you paid for it? If so , keep it. If not , send it back.
Turnaround
Commercial User
I had one of those back in 1990. A really well made bass but I didn't bond with it - I just don;t care for the P/J combination.
But it is well worth restoring, or at least fixing it up. I changed the pickups on mine, but the stock pickups were OK. Of all the issues you mention, none would be of particular concern to me. I would be looking at the condition of the fingerboard as the critical element. Is the fingerboard close to being flat with the strings off and the truss rod completely loosened? If so the neck is OK. Feeling a little edge on the skunk stripe is not a big deal.
Though the bridge is not original, it is arguably as good as the original black cast zinc bridge that corroded within a few years on mine. I'd replace it with something like a black Gotoh 201. The tuners are good on that bass.
A good clean up and polish should yield a really decent bass, and a good platform for some upgrades if you feel so inclined.
At a local jam I let another pro bassist play mine. He was so taken by it that I almost had to pry it out of his hands to get it back.
So my advice is if you didn't pay too much (???) and you otherwise like it, look past the cosmetics and fix 'er up.They are really good basses.
I was going to say that the skunk stripe would be a deal breaker for me but after reading Turnaround's post above (who's probably forgotten more about building basses than I know) I'd probably keep it and tidy it up..... as long as you didn't pay too much.
The cost of shipping. Even with the neck taken off for shipping it is still stupidly expensive these days.
Just last week a very kind TB member offered me some TI Jazz Flats he'd taken off one of his basses. I'd like to try them but they are stupidly expensive here in New Zealand so he offered to mail them to me. He was quoted $25 (USd) just to mail a set of strings..... how much do you think shipping a bass would be these days?
I was looking at getting a Warmoth Dinky P body recently but the shipping is a killer at just under $150 for just a body. That works out at $235 NZd.
The cost of shipping. Even with the neck taken off for shipping it is still stupidly expensive these days.
Just last week a very kind TB member offered me some TI Jazz Flats he'd taken off one of his basses. I'd like to try them but they are stupidly expensive here in New Zealand so he offered to mail them to me. He was quoted $25 (USd) just to mail a set of strings..... how much do you think shipping a bass would be these days?
I was looking at getting a Warmoth Dinky P body recently but the shipping is a killer at just under $150 for just a body. That works out at $235 NZd.
The skunk stripe isn't an issue for me, but what looks like a deep scratch across the grain on the neck is. How deep is that? It certainly doesn't look good and looks deep. I voted to return it. Just take a packing video like you did with the unpack.
The fretboard is in good shape. You can replace the extremely rusty bridge and keep the old one in case you sell it. The body looks ok. If it plays well I would keep it. Sounds difficult to get shipping to Spain. That's the same headstock as my boxer reissue less the serial number.
Evening all,
I have opened a dispute via the website asking for a return. The seller has accepted the return. It’s now up to me to decide what to do next. I opened the dispute because I only have 48 hours after receiving the bass to open a claim.
I’ve read through this whole thread twice and have been swayed both ways.
I took the bass to a rehearsal studio this evening and enjoyed it. The tone knob takes some getting used to but the bass played, felt and sounded good, but I wasn’t happy.
I think this seller/experience has gotten into my head, I’m not normally one for Juju but the seller/bass/situation is giving bad juju when I wanted good mojo.
I shall sleep on it tonight and see if I wake up excited about trying the bass again or grumpy about having to send it back.
I have opened a dispute via the website asking for a return. The seller has accepted the return. It’s now up to me to decide what to do next. I opened the dispute because I only have 48 hours after receiving the bass to open a claim.
I’ve read through this whole thread twice and have been swayed both ways.
I took the bass to a rehearsal studio this evening and enjoyed it. The tone knob takes some getting used to but the bass played, felt and sounded good, but I wasn’t happy.
I think this seller/experience has gotten into my head, I’m not normally one for Juju but the seller/bass/situation is giving bad juju when I wanted good mojo.
I shall sleep on it tonight and see if I wake up excited about trying the bass again or grumpy about having to send it back.
SHAME on whoever let that bass get in that condition 
Now that you've fixed it up, don't you dare let him have it back
Now that you've fixed it up, don't you dare let him have it back
If the truss works and the neck is not twisted ect...if that so called scratch is not deep and can be sanded or filled...Get some flitz metal cleaner ,clean up the pick ups , screws ect...some boiled linseed oil on the board...Sand the finish of the neck and use some Emmetts good stuff..Check the wiring and rock on...
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