Not if he called RIC and put in a claim and they advised him to pop the top. Also, they wouldn't necessarily know the p/g was off.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Although I fully expect and most often do receive new products in perfect working condition, there are times when this is not the case. In those rare cases my course of action is to inspect and try to understand what the problem is to whatever extent my abilities allow. If the fix is exceedingly simple and does not compromise the "newness" of the item then I take care of it. Heck, I'm gonna own whatever it is moving forward and will be responsible for maintaining it down the line anyway. If the required fix incurs expense, exceeds my abilities, takes too much time, or compromises the condition of the item then I return it. Passive basses are 99% woodworking and finishing and 1% electronic crap from the 1950's. Most production passive basses would be better if you ripped out all the wiring and did it all again from scratch anyway. What is inside the control cavity of a typical Fender or Ric is usually the least expensive and least skilled workmanship to be found on the instrument. Is it right? No. But you don't really start to see pristine cavity work until you get into the boutique range - unless you're buying a cheap $150 bass that is just as good as a boutique bass of course.
If this issue was simply a wire blocking the switch contacts then it would have been a no-brainier. Also, it would have changed the problem from a QC issue to a design issue.
If this issue was simply a wire blocking the switch contacts then it would have been a no-brainier. Also, it would have changed the problem from a QC issue to a design issue.
Last edited:
If you want to send a bass back due to a bad pot, or a bad switch, by all means do it. If I have an issue with an instrument, I usually start with the dealer, and usually he takes care of the problem. I agree with Jeff Scott, If the dealer can ship me parts for free and let me do the repair myself, I'll do it every time.
But I always start with a reputable dealer.
But I always start with a reputable dealer.
As it happens, about 10 years ago I spent a couple of days upgrading a machine at the Yamaha plant outside of Atlanta where they make WaveRunners and ATVs, and you could practically eat off the floor there. They had an issue on the ATV assembly line, and a worker a couple of stations up from me stopped the line. About half a dozen engineers practically teleported out there to see what was going on. Their philosophy was that whenever they find an issue, they want to fix it because they don't want it cropping up again, even if properly fixing it means having the line down for an hour at $10K per minute. They're very hardcore about process improvement and QC, at least at that plant, and my own experience is that Yamaha products in general have no equal in consistency (this isn't to say they're the best, just consistent).
I do think John Hall's intent is to build good instruments, but I also don't think he does everything he should to insure that the customer gets a premium product without issues, and I don't think he will as long he's selling everything he can make. If a cable can move enough during transport to render the instrument non-functional in any way, then it's a design problem that needs to be fixed IMO.
Very cool to hear, and I'm not surprised, I couldn't imagine how else such a lasting empire of various products could be built. I agree on the consistency, and it seems to be a consistent production of substantial but not wastefully frivolous quality. I always tell potential new music students on a budget "Go find a used Yamaha guitar or bass", and so far that has never backfired. I always find their instruments to have a musical and dependable voice as well.
I'm a bit on the fence, although not for quality reasons. I've played a number of Yamaha tubas, and while they're all exceptionally well made, they just never really fit me as a player. Same thing with their pianos and basses, although I do find my wife's TRBX-174 to be quite nice, especially for such a low-cost instrument.
Compared to the sophistication and incredible complexity of the computers we are all typing these threads on, the average bass guitar wiring harness may as well be a hand made flint spearhead. This is 1950's technology. I'm a DIY kind of guy, so I would have popped the hood and tried to find the problem, but at this price point, I undeniably shouldn't have to. These threads have a tiresome sameness wherein somebody points out a legitimate QC problem, then somebody else tells him why this should not be considered sloppy QC, it's due to rough shipping, etc. If I bought a brand new car and the alternator crapped out on me, I know how to pull it out and fix it myself, but why should I? I love Rics, best tone on the planet IMHO, but they really have to get their act together on QC and CS. Maybe JH's son taking over will be a breath of fresh air.
I'd like to apologize: I dashed off a reply, thought better of it and edited it out, but not before you caught it. I was guilty of the very thing I was pointing a finger at you for and that's not cool.
Exactly.
The bass you see in my avatar is my new Kiesel Icon 5. It had (and still has, despite being returned to the factory twice) fret buzz at various points on the neck if I play a touch too hard (as you may sometimes do for effect).
People immediately chimed in and started telling me I had to learn to be a luthier if I wanted to be a bass player. Umm.... not mutually exclusive, but not necessarily hand-in-hand, either.
I bought a brand new 4004cii Cheyenne3-4 months ago. Love it and still do about 3hrs of playing time into it the neck pickup craps out. Two months later I still don't have the part and can't play it. I'm better off ordering and paying for the 95.00 dollar pickup off their website than this nonsense.
RIC's warranty is one year from date of *manufacture*, so it's entirely possible to buy a new bass that has no factory warranty at all.
Warranty was sent in day of purchase. Request for new pickup and problem pickup was sent 3 weeks later-time between them actually inputting my warranty and addressing my pickup we are at 2 months. No other explanation given. Could have bought said 95 dollar part a month and a half ago and have been playing my bass for the last 5 weeks.
I am an electronics tech and maybe that would make me even more inclined to send it back, even if I could fix it myself. Especially in this scenario. I'd probably think to myself "We do a thorough QC inspection on everything we ship at work, and they can't? That's BS." I understand that one bad unit can slip through every now and then on mass-produced instruments, but I'd return it anyway. I'm a total G&L fanboy, but I would have sent back my custom bass in a heartbeat if anything had been wrong with it.
Kaizen/TPM is a philosophy that is dominant at Yamaha and less evident at Rickenbacker.
I've loved the look and tone of Rick basses since I started playing, but it seems to me like they are resting on their laurels.
Talking to people who work at Rick dealers, they send a lot of the instruments back.
I hope Rick fixes it, because they have a unique and wonderful product.
1 year on the finish, 5 years on everything else. There never was a lifetime warranty, where did you hear that?
Well, the 4001/4003 series are the worst instruments that Ric has from a design/reliability point of view.
The flaws in them have been corrected in newer models, but people still keep spending money on the bad ones.
So many people want them It has to be annoying to them on some level to be forced to churn them out.
Sort of like how some bands write an ultra simple song they don't care for to use as filler to an album
And then that one crappy song is the one that makes them and they are forced to play it forever after that...
You stop caring. I think that's what's happenning here.
I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying it's a theory that is understandable.
It's probably nothing like that really, I just like to randomly speculate. Carry on.
The flaws in them have been corrected in newer models, but people still keep spending money on the bad ones.
So many people want them It has to be annoying to them on some level to be forced to churn them out.
Sort of like how some bands write an ultra simple song they don't care for to use as filler to an album
And then that one crappy song is the one that makes them and they are forced to play it forever after that...
You stop caring. I think that's what's happenning here.
I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying it's a theory that is understandable.
It's probably nothing like that really, I just like to randomly speculate. Carry on.
Unfortunately the finish warranty starts at date of manufacture, not date of sale, which seems odd because your warranty could theoretically expire before you even own the bass. Is this industry standard for other guitar makers? Haven't bought a new bass in years, but I know my Steinberger and G&L warranties started on date of sale.
