So for those of you keeping score, the bass is no bueno. My tech guy looked it over a little while ago. He agreed the action is really, unplayably high. He confirmed my suspicion that the bridge was maxed out and could not go any lower. He removed the strings and the neck and found not one, not two...but THREE different shims under the neck heel. So this neck has been crapping out for a while.
The tech said "if you got this bass for like $500 (I didn't) then it might be worth it to keep. But if you paid more and you can return it, I would return it." Just as an FYI to ALCON; the tech guy owns a high end bass shop that deals in brands like modulus, Sadowsky, Zon, etc. and he's been in business for more than 20 years. Not like he's some guy working out of his basement. Anyway, he said As far as he could tell, the only real fix was to send it to Modulus and get a new neck. He said he did that once for a customer and it was around $900 and took several months.
The bass is superb up until about the 9th or 10th fret. Then it's unplayable. I really wanted it to work out. It sounds so good. And it looks pampered. But when I stretch up into 5th position, it's damn near impossible to play. That doesn't work for me.
Oh well...at least the seller had been super cool and he already agreed to the refund. I really don't think he was being dishonest. I legit think he put this bass away years ago and remembered it being awesome and then pulled it out to sell and maybe played a g major scale in first position and thought "hell yeah it's still awesome" and boxed it up. It's a shame really. But I'm getting a full refund so I'm now bass shopping again.
I guess I'll steer clear of 90's era, no truss rod modulus Basses..which really sucks because that's what I want. Maybe the newer models with the truss rods is the way to go.
