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NBD fail

#21
Bald-N-Bassy said:
they were apologetic about the discrepancies. Offered a discount or replacement, said they would make sure it was 100% perfect before shipping it. They handled it professionally. just unfortunately none of the others in stock were the weight I wanted to be at. So I opted to just send it back for a refund. Since the selection for 5 strings were pretty slim.

I'm keeping an eye out for a used Lakland for the time being. It was a bummer that one didn't work out.
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I would have taken the discount and had Lakland take care of the issues being that's it's a brand new under warranty bass- but that's just me. At least Sweetwater is great to deal with. Good luck on your future purchases.
 
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#22
@Jefus

I would definitely consider a Sandberg. I have only ever held 1 sandberg, it was one of the ultra light models. It was like 6lbs and a 4 string. I actually looked for a Cali VM3 on reverb before ordering. Just didnt find an in stock 5 in a color I liked.
The more I think about it. I am probably just going to try and find a USA made Lakland like a 55-14 or 55-94. The skylines I previously owned, were great. Just wanna weigh my options in case I'm overlooking something. Not in any rush at this point.
 
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#23
@Clark W I have 3 GC's all 2hrs in different directions. I rarely go to them bc the selection is pretty hit or miss for basses.
Being a business owner myself, I do try to support locally owned businesses when I can. Luckily I do have an awesome small bass store close by owned by a fellow talkbass user. Bass Pluckers in Wilmington NC. I do a lot of business with Greg. He is an awesome guy to deal with and super fair. He's usually the first person I check before buying online.

The music loft in Wilmington also has a pretty good selection of basses.

In my town, its pawn shops and music stores that cater to the beginner musician. Not much of a selection in strings or accessories either.
 
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#24
Bummer to hear that.

The B-string on my '00 55-94 crushes that of perhaps every other bass I've ever owned or tried, including Smith, Fbass, MTD, Warwick, EBMM, Muckelroy, and maybe Zon (which might win on clarity).

Hope you find a good one. They're out there.
 
#25
Do you have pics of the issues with this particular bass?
Bald-N-Bassy said:
I was looking forward to receiving this Lakland 55-02 sweetwater exclusive. Until it arrived…..right of out the box I noticed some scratches and dings. Upon closer inspection the bass had more than what I'd consider acceptable wear for a new bass.
Bubbles in the clear coat, scratch on pickup, and to top it off the B string was significantly lower output than the rest.
The previous Laklands Ive owned were excellent basses and the B string sounded great. This one was very dead sounding and had no resonance. thankfully sweetwater has an easy return process.
Just disappointing to spend $1740 on a bass and it arrive in this condition.
I hear so many good things about sweetwater, this was the 2nd time they sent me a bass with issues. Im not going to write them off completely. Bc they were pleasant to deal with on the phone. Just wish they were a little more thorough on the inspection part.

Any recommendations on a 35" scale 5 string under $2k?
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#26
@bobdabilder Unfortunately I didnt take any photos before sending it back.

@31HZ Thank you, I've only had Skylines. Im keeping and eye out for a USA Lakland. I really like the way the Laklands look. To me its like a perfect Stingray 5. The took away the things I wasnt fond of on the SR5's and added features I like.
 
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#30
Bald-N-Bassy said:
I was looking forward to receiving this Lakland 55-02 sweetwater exclusive. Until it arrived…..right of out the box I noticed some scratches and dings. Upon closer inspection the bass had more than what I'd consider acceptable wear for a new bass.
Bubbles in the clear coat, scratch on pickup, and to top it off the B string was significantly lower output than the rest.
The previous Laklands Ive owned were excellent basses and the B string sounded great. This one was very dead sounding and had no resonance. thankfully sweetwater has an easy return process.
Just disappointing to spend $1740 on a bass and it arrive in this condition.
I hear so many good things about sweetwater, this was the 2nd time they sent me a bass with issues. Im not going to write them off completely. Bc they were pleasant to deal with on the phone. Just wish they were a little more thorough on the inspection part.

Any recommendations on a 35" scale 5 string under $2k?
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I am sorry to hear about your disappointment. I am very happy with my MTD Kingston Super 5. They are currently listed at $1,249 or $500 cheaper than a 55-02 with very high build quality and 35" scale with 19mm spacing at the bridge and a bigger nut than Lakland.
 
#32
Bald-N-Bassy said:
they were apologetic about the discrepancies. Offered a discount or replacement, said they would make sure it was 100% perfect before shipping it. They handled it professionally. just unfortunately none of the others in stock were the weight I wanted to be at. So I opted to just send it back for a refund. Since the selection for 5 strings were pretty slim.

I'm keeping an eye out for a used Lakland for the time being. It was a bummer that one didn't work out.
Click to expand...
If you can source a used Roscoe that should fit the bill. I just picked one up here for $1.8k. It's a 90s Roscoe but I prefer older instruments so it worked out for me and it sounds amazing.
 
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#35
@DeepHz and @conttador id love to support a local builder and my dogs name is Roscoe. So that's be pretty sweet to have. I looked in their website last night and didn't see many specs. But I did see some of the pricing wasn't too far from what I'd like to spend. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm definitely going to consider a Roscoe.
 
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#37
I'll second the Ibanez BTB comment, not because the other suggestions are bad, but you can find used ones on the market for a better bargain than you'll find with Roscoe or Sandberg etc.. For instance right now on reverb there's a BTB1305 prestige model being sold for like 800 bucks. It has a 35" scale, neck thru construction, US bartolini humbuckers and preamp, monorail bridge (features you'll find on high end basses costing 5 times as much) and the guy is asking 800, absolutely ridiculous deal. Only downside is they're usually not light weight, they've got some heft to them. But when it comes to tone and sound, the same US bartolini electronics found in many roscoes and other high end builds can be found in some older Ibanez prestige BTBs, and the newer ones with Nordstrands sound great in their own way as well. Plus with the bargain prices you could probably install whatever electronics you want and have the fretwork done and still have money left over in comparison to what you spent on the lakland from sweetwater..... this is just me getting tunnel vision though, definitely explore all your options :)
 
#38
Clark W said:
I understand about music stores being a round. I do have a GC 12 miles from me. Every time I've bought a bass there, 3x so far, it was never planned. Got lucky and they had something that I didn't know I wanted :laugh:

Where I would really like to buy basses at is a locally owned mom and pop shop, but they specialize in guitars, very few basses there, though I have bought 2 used basses from them. And they currently have an Adam Clayton Jazz that is to drool over.
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I can relate to what you're saying, Clark - we have a GC 5 miles away, and I've never had a bad experience with them. If I get a bass with issues, they will either replace it, or give it to the tech guy to adjust, free of charge. That's my only issue with them, I'm not sure they always do a good inspection job before slapping the basses up on the wall. We also have an excellent, well known mom and pop store in the area, where they usually have a combination of vintage and used instruments - have purchased a couple of them form them.
 
#39
I ordered a brand new Fender Steve Harris Precision Bass from Sweetwater. It arrived with one of the four pickup screws broken off in the body and an unacceptable neck pocket gap. It was like they didn't do any inspection at all - even though they claimed they did.
 
#40
Bald-N-Bassy said:
I hear so many good things about sweetwater, this was the 2nd time they sent me a bass with issues. Im not going to write them off completely. Bc they were pleasant to deal with on the phone. Just wish they were a little more thorough on the inspection part.
Click to expand...

I've received two rejects from Sweetwater over the years, both of them recent 2017-2018. The whole 55-point inspection is pure BS. The two I returned had overwhelming problems that a 10 year-old could see. Two different California companies that we all know and love. It's a sad testimony to SW.
 
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