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NBD...G&L...bummed
- Thread starter godblender
- Start date
He contacted the dealer and they told him to call G&L. This guy should be able to return this bass to the dealer because is not what he ordered and get a brand new bass. Simple as that.
awesome looking bass- I hope that they amend the situation for you! I would think G&L/your local dealer will do the right thing.
Unfortunately it doesn't work as easily as that. You have to return it directly to G&L, which makes sense since that's what the dealer is going to do anyway. But G&L will pick up the shipping (or they should be anyway) and issue a call tag. Then once they get it, it will probably take a week or two to inspect the bass and figure out what's wrong with it and then make a decision on how to proceed.
Why even have a dealer then?
The dealer would not have received full payment if we found any defects when I ordered my G&L. I discussed that with him when I ordered and he agreed. That's what a good dealer should do. They go to bat for you when there is a problem. Fortunately my bass arrived in perfect from G&L. I would never accept a "repaired" brand new anything.
Any updates?I've already posted this over on the bassesbyleo forum but I figured that I'd drop it in here as well.
After going back and forth for about a month I finally settled on exactly what options I wanted for a new L2000 build: #12 neck (quartersawn), vintage tint gloss, ash body with clear red finish and k-wiring. I placed my order less than 4 weeks ago and much to my surprise and delight I received an email from the dealer last Wednesday that the bass was complete and was shipping out to me! I received the bass on Saturday and immediately began un-boxing it. Once I saw it I was very happy about the color choice...it looks fantastic.
I immediately gave the bass a quick going over and noticed several things that weren't as they should be. First off, the A string tuning key is loose to the point that if plucking any of the strings there is a loud buzz. The leaf-like portion of the key is loose from the stem of the key. I know that this isn't a terribly uncommon thing and I could fix it with some solder (however I don't own a soldering gun). In addition all 3 of the knobs on the bass are wonky. They were attached crooked on the pot shaft and turned unevenly so that they actually dug into the body of the bass somewhat. I removed the volume and treble knobs to try and remedy this, but I'm unable to get them straight on the shaft for some reason. The pots don't seem to be bent but I haven't gone in through the control cavity for further examination. I was able to raise the knobs enough so that they aren't digging into the body, but they're still crooked on the pot and don't turn smoothly. The bass knob I wasn't able to remove at all. I completely removed the screw that holds it in place and tugged very hard but it would not come off. I really didn't want to pry and yank at it too much to be honest. After tugging at it for a while I was again able to get seated just slightly higher on the pot so that it no longer digs into the body but like the others it's still crooked. At this point I wanted to plug in and play but there was some significant back bow in the neck so I needed to looses the truss rod a bit. When using the provided allen wrench to make a slight adjustment it was difficult to do so because the truss rod itself doesn't seem to be seated evenly with the access slot. Some of the wood inside the cavity is kind of frayed/distressed looking and the truss rod appears aimed downward so that if you tried to pull it straight out it would be impeded by the headstock and not cleanly through the access cavity. I was able to seat the wrench into the truss rod after a bit of fiddling around.
The bass sounds fantastic, of course, but I have to admit that I'm disappointed with the overall quality control for a brand new, from-the-factory $1500 instrument. I contacted my dealer the next day and they responded that I should contact G&L directly. The G&L website seems to indicate that all issues should be handled by the authorized dealer however. Two of the issues are seemingly very minor although I don't like the idea of having to do repairs on a brand new bass including buying additional equipment to do so. The truss rod situation may not prove to problematic in the long run but it still has me worried to be honest. Two full days since receiving the bass and I still can't get rid of fret buzz, either. I've adjusted the string height and truss rod one additional time. The action is currently quite a bit higher than I like it but it still buzzes quite badly. I'd say that it's on par with a Squier jazz bass that I own and much worse than two Fender p basses that I have and the previous L2000 I owned (which was flawless and one of the sturdiest feeling basses that I've played).
I snapped a couple of really quick n dirty shots for appearance purposes. None of the pics I took of the truss rod turned out well at all. Thoughts? Opinions?
a piece of packing tape on the tuner for an interim fix!
There is that. I wouldn't sign on the dotted line to pay for a brand new car before I drove it. And I wouldn't take a brand new bass home from the dealership without playing it first - giving it a complete evaluation, either.
But then, I bought 2 brand new basses in the past and I don't ever expect to do that again, anyway. I'd rather spend that extra money on women and whiskey and then waste the rest.
Well in the case of ordering something from a dealer that is not in your local area, most will not work with you to make sure that you receive a defect free bass before you pay for it. You have to pay for it in full or they won't ship it. In my case the dealer actually installed a new set of strings, did a setup etc.. and didn't even notice that I had a twisted neck. There was a ding on one of the frets and he had to fix that, but the real problem wasn't noticed by him at all. After that, the replacement neck and the subsequent replacement bass got shipped directly to me.
Sucks to hear. And really, what good is a dealer here? "we've got your money, it's not our problem now"
I exchanged a few emails with Chris Robosan, warranty/repair guy with G&L, yesterday. He responded very quickly and emailed me a return slip to send the bass back to G&L on their dime. My dealer told me that there are no refunds on custom orders but that he's confident that G&L will make things right. So far everyone seems to think that the issues with the bass were all as a result from shipping. I'm not convinced of that, but I'll try and remain neutral. Both G&L and the dealer were supposed to have performed an inspection and setup on the bass. G&L may have but I'm convinced that the dealer didn't inspect it, let alone do any kind of setup.
That's where things stand as of now but I'll certainly post with any new developments. I appreciate the responses from everyone. I initially started the thread not to piss over G&L or anybody else, but rather because I thought maybe I was overreacting and wanted to know if others had similar experiences to mine and how they handled it. Truth be told if I could I'd just return the bass and have my money refunded.
That's where things stand as of now but I'll certainly post with any new developments. I appreciate the responses from everyone. I initially started the thread not to piss over G&L or anybody else, but rather because I thought maybe I was overreacting and wanted to know if others had similar experiences to mine and how they handled it. Truth be told if I could I'd just return the bass and have my money refunded.
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DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
That is a whole 'nother set of problems right there. I wouldn't be recommending them very highly. Either their tech knew damn well it was ruined and hoped you wouldn't, or he is really that clueless. I know my L&M passes garbage basses off on unsuspecting customers. There is a $1900 Fender Dimension in their shop right now with fret ends so long you can actually see them protruding out from both sides of the neck if you look at the back of the neck.
I have to agree with those saying shipping damage. The L2X00 basses use solid shaft pots and set screw knobs and if knobs are crooked and digging into bass top, that means this bass took a SERIOUS hit in shipping! The kind of thing you describe can be found on used G&L basses where someone replaced the solid shaft pots with split shaft pots and didn't use a converter bushing. But never on a new one!
Given the amount of force it takes to bend a solid 1/4 inch pot shaft, I'd say that bass needs a good careful going over looking for other hidden damage and cracks! You see the force of the hit with the tuner tab weld being broken etc. In my opinion the new bass is now B stock and accepting a "refurbished" bass as new without some kind of discount (presumably paid by shipping insurance) would be out of the question.
Unfortunately shipping insurance is often designed only for money to go in and never to come out even if you have iron clad proof of fault (Once I had them refuse to pay when their OWN RECORDS showed they left the instrument on the porch of the wrong address where it disappeared).
if the knobs are crooked it's the pots, not the knobs. Either they've left the tabs on the pot on (like this: http://i.imgur.com/69XS7Xa.jpg) or they're not in some holes they're meant to be in or they have those pesky star locking washers that make your pots all slightly crooked. Even Fenders come like that.
the pot shaft will pull out of its base or break what its mounted in before you bend the shaft.
the other issues are unacceptable though.
the pot shaft will pull out of its base or break what its mounted in before you bend the shaft.
the other issues are unacceptable though.
Man nothing pisses me off more then knobs that aren't straight. I don't know why but its probably my number one pet peeve haha.
Just a quick update:
Chris from G&L left me a voice mail to let me know that the issue with the knobs was that someone used a harness which featured the wrong potentiometers for the knobs used. They will be replacing the harness with a new one as well as a new set of tuning pegs. He also told me that he's ordered me a completely new neck. I'm not sure if that indicates that after inspection they found that there actually was an issue with the truss rod or that the frets were bad (which would explain the bad fret buzz up and down the neck) or what. Either way I'm glad to hear that they're going about making things right. It sucks waiting for the bass to return but in the end I want a quality instrument that I expected when I paid. Hopefully it's fairly quick turnaround.
Chris from G&L left me a voice mail to let me know that the issue with the knobs was that someone used a harness which featured the wrong potentiometers for the knobs used. They will be replacing the harness with a new one as well as a new set of tuning pegs. He also told me that he's ordered me a completely new neck. I'm not sure if that indicates that after inspection they found that there actually was an issue with the truss rod or that the frets were bad (which would explain the bad fret buzz up and down the neck) or what. Either way I'm glad to hear that they're going about making things right. It sucks waiting for the bass to return but in the end I want a quality instrument that I expected when I paid. Hopefully it's fairly quick turnaround.
Oh wow, that's a surprise but nobody's perfect. Glad they're working with you, figured they would.
That's great advice - give the manufacturer the chance to make things right. No one stays in business very long that doesn't take care of legitimate problems. G & L is a good company and I believe they'll hand care of you.
