Yeah - whatever you choose; make sure you're 100% happy with your purchase. NBD is far too important to waste on mediocrity.
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New bass and a dead spot.......
- Thread starter suddenlysane
- Start date
I received an e-mail today informing me that they received the return and approved the refund. I was unable to convince myself to wait until the funds had actually posted so I called them to place a new order. I ordered a 2012 Black and Maple American Standard Precision. I was delighted to learn that they were shipping it to me 2 day air at no charge and were throwing in a new set of strings for my troubles. It actually shipped today and will be here by Tuesday.
I have been really torn over not being able to have the Road Worn I've wanted for a long time. And I've been apprehensive about online purchases of Sunburst finish basses after seeing the second one. I think I solved both issues today.....sort of. With the order of the Black/Maple American Standard, I am confident the playability will be great and the grain won't matter. But that alone doesn't solve my need for a Road Worn. Sooooooo...........I ordered a Fender Road Worn 50's Strat today too.....in Black/Maple.
Funny thing is.......I can barely play bass and cannot play guitar. This G.A.S. thing is REAL and may require treatment.
The Strat will be here tomorrow. Saturday delivery!!! Will I get flamed/banned if I post pics of a Strat on TB?
I received an e-mail today informing me that they received the return and approved the refund. I was unable to convince myself to wait until the funds had actually posted so I called them to place a new order. I ordered a 2012 Black and Maple American Standard Precision. I was delighted to learn that they were shipping it to me 2 day air at no charge and were throwing in a new set of strings for my troubles. It actually shipped today and will be here by Tuesday.
I have been really torn over not being able to have the Road Worn I've wanted for a long time. And I've been apprehensive about online purchases of Sunburst finish basses after seeing the second one. I think I solved both issues today.....sort of. With the order of the Black/Maple American Standard, I am confident the playability will be great and the grain won't matter. But that alone doesn't solve my need for a Road Worn. Sooooooo...........I ordered a Fender Road Worn 50's Strat today too.....in Black/Maple.
Funny thing is.......I can barely play bass and cannot play guitar. This G.A.S. thing is REAL and may require treatment.
The Strat will be here tomorrow. Saturday delivery!!! Will I get flamed/banned if I post pics of a Strat on TB?
We are cut from the same tattered cloth. I may be the worst bass "player" on here but I love the gear and end up with a lot. Accidentally came home with a reverse Jag today.
Screw it. If you like it, buy it. The more you like it, hopefully the more it will motivate you to practice. They say that's one way to improve.
Black and Maple is perfect! If that shows up a mess, I'll eat your hat. I don't have any anymore. Can't afford em.
I received an e-mail today informing me that they received the return and approved the refund. I was unable to convince myself to wait until the funds had actually posted so I called them to place a new order. I ordered a 2012 Black and Maple American Standard Precision. I was delighted to learn that they were shipping it to me 2 day air at no charge and were throwing in a new set of strings for my troubles. It actually shipped today and will be here by Tuesday.
I have been really torn over not being able to have the Road Worn I've wanted for a long time. And I've been apprehensive about online purchases of Sunburst finish basses after seeing the second one. I think I solved both issues today.....sort of. With the order of the Black/Maple American Standard, I am confident the playability will be great and the grain won't matter. But that alone doesn't solve my need for a Road Worn. Sooooooo...........I ordered a Fender Road Worn 50's Strat today too.....in Black/Maple.
Funny thing is.......I can barely play bass and cannot play guitar. This G.A.S. thing is REAL and may require treatment.
The Strat will be here tomorrow. Saturday delivery!!! Will I get flamed/banned if I post pics of a Strat on TB?
WHAT! you don play! well i guess that mean you want to like me. i just purchased my jazz deluxe and a les paul faded studio and i cant play either one, but im practicing every day!
Just for the heck of it - check out the Sweetwater website. They take pics of actual basses for sale & post them so you see exactly what you're getting. I purchased my last two basses from them for that reason, and they're really nice people there.
It won't hurt to look - here's the Fender pages. If they have the particular one you're after in stock - they will have actual pics (if it's one with a variable finish ... woodgrains/flame/quilt/bursts ect.).
http://www.sweetwater.com/c581--Fender--4_String_Bass_Guitars
It won't hurt to look - here's the Fender pages. If they have the particular one you're after in stock - they will have actual pics (if it's one with a variable finish ... woodgrains/flame/quilt/bursts ect.).
http://www.sweetwater.com/c581--Fender--4_String_Bass_Guitars
I received the Road Worn Strat this morning. You absolutely will not believe me when i tell you that I haven't even seen the body yet. Nope. I got as far as grabbing the neck to pull it out of the foam wrap and I knew we had problems.
So let's recap:
First Fender Road Worn 50s Precision Bass (NEW). The bass itself was perfect EXCEPT for a dead spot on the 3rd fret E string that I couldn't get resolved. I sent it back for an exchange:
Second Fender Road Worn 50s Precision Bass (NEW). This one looked terrible. The neck looked like it was sprayed in a dusty parking lot, the grain under the Sunburst finish looked worse than the picture reflects, but it set up and played EXCELLENT. I sent it back for a full refund:
First Fender Road Worn 50s Strat (NEW). It hasn't seen the light of day yet. I got as far as grabbing the neck to pull it out of the foam wrap and knew something was wrong. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I'm pissed:
I placed printer paper under the strings so the frets are more visible. The frets on this guitar are actually SHARP. If I attempted to play it without extreme care, I would literally shred my fingers. This neck is the first I've ever come across like this. It is TERRIBLE. What the hell is going on with Fender?
So let's recap:
First Fender Road Worn 50s Precision Bass (NEW). The bass itself was perfect EXCEPT for a dead spot on the 3rd fret E string that I couldn't get resolved. I sent it back for an exchange:
Second Fender Road Worn 50s Precision Bass (NEW). This one looked terrible. The neck looked like it was sprayed in a dusty parking lot, the grain under the Sunburst finish looked worse than the picture reflects, but it set up and played EXCELLENT. I sent it back for a full refund:
First Fender Road Worn 50s Strat (NEW). It hasn't seen the light of day yet. I got as far as grabbing the neck to pull it out of the foam wrap and knew something was wrong. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I'm pissed:
I placed printer paper under the strings so the frets are more visible. The frets on this guitar are actually SHARP. If I attempted to play it without extreme care, I would literally shred my fingers. This neck is the first I've ever come across like this. It is TERRIBLE. What the hell is going on with Fender?
Hard to believe, but, either really sloppy fretwork or green wood when built which dried out after having frets installed! NOT! I'd say, Crappy quality control!
When fret sprout happenes, it often happens after an instrument leaves the factory. I've seen it happen as much as a year or so after purchase as the neck acclimates to it's envrionment so I wouldn't be so quick to blame QC for not catching it.
Not necessarily, some pieces of wood react more to environmental changes than others. Though it's not fret sprout, it serves as an example: I've had necks that need adjusting 2-3 times a year, and others that I haven't had to adjust in a couple of years.
In any event, an instrument with fret sprout out of the box should go back.
Mismatched grain happens on US standards and AVRI's too, which is why I won't buy a burst sight unseen. Return this and try to order from Sweetwater. You can often see the exact bass you order right on their website.
I can't believe what's happening to you. What did you do? As a youth, did you ding dong flaming bag o dog doo ditch a distant relative of Leo?
I have had good luck ordering Fender products through a Mom&Pop for the same price as BigBox or Online BigBox. When the bass shows, they give it a once-over and the two Fenders I bought there were perfect. One was a $169 Squier SS Jag, the other a Reverse Jag.
If there's a local place that can do that for you, try it. I sympathize for you, but maybe Fender just hopes the Road Worn buyer won't be very picky. But those frets are stupid.
My hatred for BigBox and their online sister grows. Sweetwater is a step above. The place I go to completely rocks.
Good luck.
I have had good luck ordering Fender products through a Mom&Pop for the same price as BigBox or Online BigBox. When the bass shows, they give it a once-over and the two Fenders I bought there were perfect. One was a $169 Squier SS Jag, the other a Reverse Jag.
If there's a local place that can do that for you, try it. I sympathize for you, but maybe Fender just hopes the Road Worn buyer won't be very picky. But those frets are stupid.
My hatred for BigBox and their online sister grows. Sweetwater is a step above. The place I go to completely rocks.
Good luck.
First time? I guess that would be alarming.
I've seen it dozens of times over the years, with basses in just about any price range. As mentioned, it's fret sprout and it can happen with wooden necks. Wood can react to environmental changes, even aged wood. It could've been fine when it left the factory.
You could see if they'll take care of having it fixed locally, it's not very dificult to address. That's if you don't have any other issues with the guitar of course.
Once it's fixed it usually doesn't reoccur.
First time? I guess that would be alarming.
I've seen it dozens of times over the years, with basses in just about any price range. As mentioned, it's fret sprout and it can happen with wooden necks. Wood can react to environmental changes, even aged wood. It could've been fine when it left the factory.
You could see if they'll take care of having it fixed locally, it's not very dificult to address. That's if you don't have any other issues with the guitar of course.
Once it's fixed it usually doesn't reoccur.
I had a file in my hand and had decided to just have a go at it but I changed my mind when I noticed that the pick guard had a bow in it too. I'm done. It's back in the box and ready to be shipped back. I'm sure that plenty of good Road Worn guitars are received by people daily.......I'm just not one of them.
I have had a run of personal bad luck lately (and no I didn't ding dong flaming bag o dog doo ditch a distant relative of Leo's.......although, I just might consider it at this point
). Maybe when the American Standard Pbass gets here Tuesday it will make all the frustration go away. @ all of you.....thanks for the tips, opinions, advice, suggestions, and most of all the laughs.
I looked at Sweetwater but they didn't have anything I wanted or pictures of guitars I may have wanted so I went to......wait for it....GC! I walked out with this:
2012 Fender American Strat
I thought I had really looked it over and it sounded good. But once I got home I noticed a couple of the tuners felt....not smooth (not sure how to explain it). Then I noticed that one of the tone knobs was very hard to turn. I called and was told that when another one came in they would call me and exchange it for a boxed one. It's pretty sad when I can't get it right IN PERSON.
I began to think that maybe....just MAYBE...I've become a picky old fart to the point that NOTHING will satisfy me. That thought hit me as I was walking by my mower. I looked at it and thought...how the hell could I possibly be "picky" if I have no problems mowing with THAT POS. So in order to PROVE to you all that I'm not "picky" I am including a photo of my mower:
I know what you're thinking. How did we go from bass guitar dead spots to Stratocasters to lawn mowers?
I dunno....
2012 Fender American Strat
I thought I had really looked it over and it sounded good. But once I got home I noticed a couple of the tuners felt....not smooth (not sure how to explain it). Then I noticed that one of the tone knobs was very hard to turn. I called and was told that when another one came in they would call me and exchange it for a boxed one. It's pretty sad when I can't get it right IN PERSON.
I began to think that maybe....just MAYBE...I've become a picky old fart to the point that NOTHING will satisfy me. That thought hit me as I was walking by my mower. I looked at it and thought...how the hell could I possibly be "picky" if I have no problems mowing with THAT POS. So in order to PROVE to you all that I'm not "picky" I am including a photo of my mower:
I know what you're thinking. How did we go from bass guitar dead spots to Stratocasters to lawn mowers?
I dunno....
