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NBD: Squier Paranormal Rascal Bass in CANDY APPLE RED!

#23
MaxCellExcelWon said:
Could you please check the neck pocket for stress cracks? I'm thinking of ordering a red one.

I went through eight (8!!!) of the pink Rascals directly from Fender before I got one that didn't have stress cracks at each side of the neck pocket. Big cracks. Here are some pictures; these are all different brand new basses right out of their sealed Squier boxes shipped directly from Fender in California over a period of a few months:

View attachment 7073874View attachment 7073875View attachment 7073876View attachment 7073877View attachment 7073878


I have two green Rascals as well, and they are fine. Every black and green Rascal I have seen in stores has been fine as well. Impeccable finish work.

I haven't seen a candy apple red Rascal yet, so perhaps they are fine (I hope). But the pink is definitely prone to cracks at the neck/body joint. It has been a huge time-consuming hassle getting a good one.

Fender took them all back without issue. They basically said, "They all do that, it's common on Fenders and doesn't affect anything." Yeah, but it looks crappy. I got the feeling they thought I should accept the cracks and that I was being too picky. The people at Fender were nice, though.

Rascals are great basses, but that pink paint seems to have a bigger tendency than the other colors to crack.

It'd be really helpful if you could please inspect the neck joint on your red Rascal very thoroughl
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That type of finish cracking is fairly common in the Rascal basses. When I bought my Sherwood green Sweetwater had a bunch of them on sale as demo units that had those same exact kind of cracks I don't know if it's the type of poly finish that Fender is using or what but I see this happening more and more on Fender and squire instruments. TBH I sometimes wonder if when Fender puts something for sale on its website that are really returns from dealers who refuse to accept them so Fender turns around and resells them.

No dealer I know would accept one of those brand new out of the box from Fender. For someone at Fender to actually tell you that it's not that big of a deal because they all do that is absolutely ridiculous. That would be the same things if you went into a new car dealer and there was a scratch or a dent on your new car because it's going to happen anyways.
 
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#24
nixdad said:
I had it made.
I bought a plain white/black/white pickguard for this Paranormal model through either eBay or Etsy, then sent it to Carmedon to apply the paisley graphic. Not cheap, but it looks good, dunnit?;)
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It looks awesome and we all know that sometimes awesomeness cost you a little bit more to achieve. Which is okay if the end result is worth it and in your case it is that's a real beauty that bass.
 
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#26
MaxCellExcelWon said:
Could you please check the neck pocket for stress cracks? I'm thinking of ordering a red one.

I went through eight (8!!!) of the pink Rascals directly from Fender before I got one that didn't have stress cracks at each side of the neck pocket. Big cracks. Here are some pictures; these are all different brand new basses right out of their sealed Squier boxes shipped directly from Fender in California over a period of a few months:

View attachment 7073874View attachment 7073875View attachment 7073876View attachment 7073877View attachment 7073878


I have two green Rascals as well, and they are fine. Every black and green Rascal I have seen in stores has been fine as well. Impeccable finish work.

I haven't seen a candy apple red Rascal yet, so perhaps they are fine (I hope). But the pink is definitely prone to cracks at the neck/body joint. It has been a huge time-consuming hassle getting a good one.

Fender took them all back without issue. They basically said, "They all do that, it's common on Fenders and doesn't affect anything." Yeah, but it looks crappy. I got the feeling they thought I should accept the cracks and that I was being too picky. The people at Fender were nice, though.

Rascals are great basses, but that pink paint seems to have a bigger tendency than the other colors to crack.

It'd be really helpful if you could please inspect the neck joint on your red Rascal very thoroughly with a bright light and let us know if you find any cracks.

Thanks in advance. :)
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Well, hadn't noticed any, but sure enough, there is this one on the bass side of the neck. BARELY noticeable with the metallic paint. Had to twist it around at different angles before I could see it. ROYAL pain the butt to photograph. Took four different pictures before it finally showed up in the pic.

20241118_191903.jpg


Maybe they ARE all like that, including the green and black ones, but just hard to notice because of the metal flake in the paint? šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø

I don't care. All of my basses are going to end up with worse than that in time. Besides, THIS is the one my wife bought me.
 
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#27
JC BASS 91 said:
Well, hadn't noticed any, but sure enough, there is this one on the bass side of the neck. BARELY noticeable with the metallic paint. Had to twist it around at different angles before I could see it. ROYAL pain the butt to photograph. Took four different pictures before it finally showed up in the pic.

View attachment 7080771

Maybe they ARE all like that, including the green and black ones, but just hard to notice because of the metal flake in the paint? šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø

I don't care. All of my basses are going to end up with worse than that in time. Besides, THIS is the one my wife bought me.
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Thank you for taking the time to report.

The crack in the red definitely doesn't look as bad as those cracks I posted with the pink basses. One of them I could actually make the crack wider by simply putting pressure on the middle of the neck.

I understand you wanting to keep it. My first green Rascal was a gift from my girlfriend, and it had a crushed bottom strap button up into the body due to incompetent packaging by Guitar Center (who sent a used bass from a store - but sold it as new). However, since it was the bass SHE bought me, I wanted to keep it. I simply found an oversized strap button that covered the cracked finish, and had Guitar Center send me a free case due to them selling my girlfriend a used damaged demo store display that they dishonestly described as new. I told her, "Don't buy anything from them."

I then bought a new green Rascal (it really was actually new this time, since it wasn't from Guitar Center) that I initially intended to replace the damaged one with. But, the damaged one had a distinctly different, more vintage-y "muffled" tone that worked really well with dead old muted strings while the new one was bright, modern, middy, and super zingy. So, I kept them both.
 
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#32
JC BASS 91 said:
So, last year when this bass was released I played one at my local store. My wife was with me that day and I told her that I really liked the tone and playability and the design, but hated the green color. She looked it up then and saw that it also came in black and told me to order the black one. I really didn't want another black bass, but thought to myself, and expressed to her that if it came in Candy Apple Red, I would most likely pounce on it.

Months later, Fender's website had the exclusive Shell Pink version. I thought to myself that I could buy that, strip it and repaint in in CAR, and intended to do that once I got where I could do it financially.

I was on Fender's website last week and noticed they had the bass in CAR, now!!! I sent the link to my wife and said, "Of course they have it in candy apple red, now! When I have insurance due for my GTO and Christmas for the family to buy. Grrrr!"

Yes, I realize it isn't a bank breaker, and yeah, I could have bought it, but I try and keep my credit card balance at a very manageable level.

Anyway, my wife and I don't buy gifts for each other for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day or anniversaries. We buy each other things throughout the year as 'just because I love you gifts" and I am off all this week for my birthday, which is Thursday. (I had time to burn and didn't want to be sitting at work as we are in a weird lull right now with not a lot to occupy us.)

I'm sitting here working on a Christmas gift for my oldest boy and there is a knock at the door, and my wife comes running into the room from the bedroom (she works from home) with a big grin on her face as I go to the door and there sits a guitar box.

I bring it, open it and there it is. The Candy Apple Red Rascal. This thing is freaking gorgeous! The color does NOT photograph even remotely well. I can't get the color in the pictures to show up like it is in person. I've tried different lighting and it just doesn't pop in the photos. Anyway, here is what she looks like...soft of.

View attachment 7070515
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She's begging for a different pickguard, though. Really don't care for the stock one. As soon as the vendor has one, a white pearl pickguard will be ordered. I considered black pearl and tort as well, and even with my utter love for tort, I don't think this candy apple red will look good with a tort pickguard, but will absolutely POP with white pearl!

Still love the sounds this bass can do. Very different from anything else I have here. I have seen some people state that this is the "best Gibson bass you can buy". :roflmao: I will admit, it does have a kind of Gibson tone to it, like an EBO or SG bass. Really dig it, though!
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Love your Rascal, especially the matching headstock. The Sherwood Green also looks great. Here's what white pearl on CAR looks like - mine is a Squier SS so prolly the same paint, which is done very well.

Jaguar-SS-Bass-HD-03.jpg
 
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#34
I just ordered the CAR from Fender at the black friday price. An almost-invisible crack out of the box will spike my OCD. šŸ¤žšŸ»

Currently searching for a white pearloid or full-on 80ā€™s checkerboard pickguard but Iā€™m not paying $100+ from WD for a $300 bass. Any links or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Iā€™m torn about the dealer return scenario. One could make a case for it by considering that virtually no retailer has them in stock right now. Iā€™m not so sure its an actual thing because most retailers arenā€™t going to open every box when they arrive from the factory. In every situation when Iā€™ve asked for ALL, in-stock units of a particular bass or guitar to be brought from the back, most, if not all except the floor model, were still factory sealed. I would not think that dealer returns of 1-2 randomly over time would be enough ā€œreturned stockā€ to warrant an actual product listing on the Fender website to resell them.
 
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#36
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#38
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#39
JC BASS 91 said:
Upgrade day!

New white pearl pickguard arrived today, so that got installed, and I was right, it makes the bass POP visually! While I was waiting for the pickguard to arrive, I decided to add another little mod. It took a little trial and error, but managed to get it right: a custom made, red pearl D20 die for the pickup selector switch. :smug: :cool:

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Where did you get the pickguard?
 

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