Recently I bought a used 2003 MIM Fender Mark Hoppus P-Bass from Guitar Center's online used section. I asked if it was possible to ship used inventory from store to store before I bought it (the item was in Michigan, I'm in Washington), but the manager in charge of used sales insisted on finalizing the sale right then. Questioning the condition, he said it was in excellent condition and had a straight neck and the price being what it was (less than half of how much it costs new), I bit the bullet and bought the bass.
After receiving the bass, it was in great condition for being a 6 year old bass and had barely any signs of use outside of slight buckle rash and picking across the pickguard (it even had the stock six year old Fender strings). However, there were a few quality control issues I noticed -
Daphne Blue paint was caked inside of the neck pocket - they didn't even bother to wait for the paint to dry and they crammed the neck onto the body. After popping off the neck to clean out the caked in paint (paint was sponged all over the neck heel as well), I noticed that the guitar had Olympic White paint that had been covered over. I had suspicions that it may have been refinished, but the light wear on the pickguard and the lack of a string change tells me that the previous owner probably wouldn't have taken the effort to refinish the bass.
One of the things I like to do is shield the interior cavity with copper foil tape. When I opened up the cavity, thick Daphne Blue (with Olympic White) flakes fell out. I was suspicious that the body may have been a fake, but little MIM details were present, like the barcode MO stickers.
After cleaning it up and doing a quick setup, the bass sounds great and plays really well. But the bass as a whole seemed to be assembled sloppily and needed tightening up in certain spots. Was this a frequent occurrence in early 00s MIM basses?
After receiving the bass, it was in great condition for being a 6 year old bass and had barely any signs of use outside of slight buckle rash and picking across the pickguard (it even had the stock six year old Fender strings). However, there were a few quality control issues I noticed -
Daphne Blue paint was caked inside of the neck pocket - they didn't even bother to wait for the paint to dry and they crammed the neck onto the body. After popping off the neck to clean out the caked in paint (paint was sponged all over the neck heel as well), I noticed that the guitar had Olympic White paint that had been covered over. I had suspicions that it may have been refinished, but the light wear on the pickguard and the lack of a string change tells me that the previous owner probably wouldn't have taken the effort to refinish the bass.
One of the things I like to do is shield the interior cavity with copper foil tape. When I opened up the cavity, thick Daphne Blue (with Olympic White) flakes fell out. I was suspicious that the body may have been a fake, but little MIM details were present, like the barcode MO stickers.
After cleaning it up and doing a quick setup, the bass sounds great and plays really well. But the bass as a whole seemed to be assembled sloppily and needed tightening up in certain spots. Was this a frequent occurrence in early 00s MIM basses?
