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Squier P Bass '03 for 70$!!! but its got a crack..

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ohnoadrummer

May 30, 2010
12
0
#1
Howdy y'all

I went to the punkottawa.com flea market yesterday and found a Squier P bass from 03 crafted in indonesia. I was interested to see if it was short scale (though it turned out not to be), and even more interested when I learnt the seller was asking 70$ for it and the hard case.

So I bought it and brought it home. It sounds sooo good with the tone rolled off. I really like the sound of it with tone as well. I've played 2 other Squier Ps and I've liked both of them. I figured one of these would come to me eventually. But there's a catch to the price.. I found a crack. I was initially thinking of flipping it on the chance I may not like it but I think I want to keep it. But I'm concerned about this crack. Is it fixable and is it a real cause for concern?

Crack: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Body: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The seller told me she used to live in Vancouver which is way on the other side of Canada. The case had flight stickers all over it. I'm guessing it might've cracked while being thrown into the plane :rollno:

Thanks for any input
 
#4
That's a very common place for a crack to develop, and it's usually no deeper than the finish, which means it will have no affect on the playability or tone of the instrument. That one looks a little longer and deeper than most I've seen, and only a luthier looking at it in person can give you a 100% answer. If it does go into the wood, the luthier can do a little wood glue and clamp, that's probably about it. For a budget bass like this, you might even be better doing it yourself, or just ignore it, play and enjoy for all it's worth.
 
#7
I don't like the looks of that. If it were my bass, I'll pull the neck and get into that neck pocket with a good 10x loupe and look for evidence of structural damage. (On the other hand, for seventy bucks, I can see the argument for "Just play it." But then the question becomes whether you want to be able to rely on it.)
 
#8
craig.p said:
I don't like the looks of that. If it were my bass, I'll pull the neck and get into that neck pocket with a good 10x loupe and look for evidence of structural damage. (On the other hand, for seventy bucks, I can see the argument for "Just play it." But then the question becomes whether you want to be able to rely on it.)
Click to expand...

+1, that was my gut reaction, it looks a little longer and deeper than the typical surface crack.

It's up to the owner how far he wants to go with the diagnostic/correction action.
 
#13
Spinal Tapper said:
That's definitely just the poly IMO. Fender Poly is SO thick. It's like 1/8" or something rediculous.

I seriously doubt it goes into the wood. For a $70 it'd be kinda silly to take the time/money to repair something cosmetic like that...
Click to expand...

+1

For $70 how can you go wrong. Even better it seems to play just fine and you love it. What more could you want? Oh yeah. That crack. Well the deal is this. That crack just might be a crack in the thick finish, in which case you simply ignore it. If it's a crack in the wood then you have to glue it. You'd need to take the neck off to check it out for sure. So should you bother to do that? My view would be that I'd only go further if there was a problem with the bass. This will be either a tonal problem like serious lack of sustain or a problem with neck stability where the bass never seems to hold a tuning. It appears you have no problem with tone or sustain. So it comes down to how stable is your neck.

IF you find neck instability and you take the neck off for a look-see. AND you find a crack in the wood. The answer is pretty simple: Gorilla glue in the split and clamp it until it sets up. For minor splits it can sometimes be tricky to force the glue into crack (need to spring the crack open and poke glue in with thin wires etc.) but once glued it's good to go and better than new. I broke the neck completely OFF of my Resonator guitar and gorilla glued it back on and it's been perfect for years. You can't even see the seam (sanded it smooth and matched finish over it).

Some people talk about using wood glue, but that is only for parts that you might want to take apart later (with heat). You will never want to take a crack repair apart later.

That's it. A pretty simple and cheap repair for a $70 bass if you ever need to do it at all!
 
#15
I know you only paid $70 for it, and that looks like it might be a finish crack. I've had a guitar or two like that that I played for a long time and never had a single problem. Chances are you'll be fine.
However, if it were mine I'd remove the neck and take a magnifying glass to the neck pocket and look whether the crack extends into the wood or not. If so, I'd try to wick in some thin CA(superglue) into that crack(tape off the finish first). Let it dry and you're good to go.
Having said that, i bet you'll be just find to ignore it and play on!
 

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