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Double Bass Warranty and repair question
- Thread starter Bass Customer
- Start date
I had CBC put a new fingerboard and bridge on my bass. About a 5 hour trip for me from Chicago. They did a great job. But, when I returned to pick up the bass, I didn't have time to stick around and make sure the setup was perfectly the way I like it. When I got home, I fooled around with it for a few days and decided I needed the bridge tweaked to get the strings where I like them. I called Andy and he arranged for a Chicago guy to tweak the bridge, at his cost, so that I wouldn't have to make another trip to Cinci.
i would think that packing and shipping a bass, especially a damaged one, would be more costly and risky in most cases.
i had to have some work done on the board of my wan-bernadel at the time that i purchased it... i played on it in phoenix and loved the instrument, so steve koscica sent it to me where i lived at the time in sacramento to try it out for a little while. there was a buzz in the fingerboard in the lower positions on the g string, just bad enough to be annoying. i tried raising the bridge, but it was still there. turned out it was just an inconsistency in the board, but steve paid for it to be taken care of by my luthier in sacramento. since it was a new instrument, he just agreed to get an estimate for the work and take it off the cost of the bass if i wanted to purchase it (which i did and couldn't be happier about by the way). pretty simple, and kudos to steve for making sure the bass played the way i wanted it to.
this stuff seems to be standard procedure for a lot of guys out there. they know that their reputation and word of mouth is a top factor in their bottom line. lemur has built a major presence in the bass world, primarily on their good reputation and customer service. it really is a shame that they took such a long time to contact you, however, the approach they took afterwards is what i would hope to encounter, and above what i would expect. bass customer - offering to buy a damaged instrument back for it's full retail value is tremendous, and a point that i would have expected you to mention in your original post.
i would suggest you send a better photo to jerry though. if it really was a defect in the wood, a higher resolution photo may make that easier to believe. from what you say, you have nothing to hide.
i had to have some work done on the board of my wan-bernadel at the time that i purchased it... i played on it in phoenix and loved the instrument, so steve koscica sent it to me where i lived at the time in sacramento to try it out for a little while. there was a buzz in the fingerboard in the lower positions on the g string, just bad enough to be annoying. i tried raising the bridge, but it was still there. turned out it was just an inconsistency in the board, but steve paid for it to be taken care of by my luthier in sacramento. since it was a new instrument, he just agreed to get an estimate for the work and take it off the cost of the bass if i wanted to purchase it (which i did and couldn't be happier about by the way). pretty simple, and kudos to steve for making sure the bass played the way i wanted it to.
this stuff seems to be standard procedure for a lot of guys out there. they know that their reputation and word of mouth is a top factor in their bottom line. lemur has built a major presence in the bass world, primarily on their good reputation and customer service. it really is a shame that they took such a long time to contact you, however, the approach they took afterwards is what i would hope to encounter, and above what i would expect. bass customer - offering to buy a damaged instrument back for it's full retail value is tremendous, and a point that i would have expected you to mention in your original post.
i would suggest you send a better photo to jerry though. if it really was a defect in the wood, a higher resolution photo may make that easier to believe. from what you say, you have nothing to hide.
Most string instrument sellers are reluctant to guarantee instruments for several reasons: They cannot control the climatic conditions under which the instrument will be used/stored; instruments are subject to abuse and wear and tear; wood is an imperfect organic material, and may swell, shrink, or crack for no apparent reason; etc., etc. Most dealers work on a case-by-case basis in evaluating and correcting problems with recently sold instruments. Doing so long-distance is problematic at best. Lemur could certainly have been more responsive when this problem was brought to their attention. But it seems Jerry has gone way beyond reasonable customer service with his offers to repair or buy back the bass in question, in the interest of good public relations. And now I have helped beat this thing to death...
Just to quickly add my 2 cents. I've done business with Jerry and Lemur for some time. They have always been great. I even own one of those Chinese basses, it wasn't that cheap, but a great value for the money, (just under 5K). I thought that it would be my 2nd bass but it has become the bass I play almost all the time. It plays and records great! My other bass is a Czech/German bass about 100 years old. You can check out my link if you want to hear the bass I bought from Lemur. In my mind, Jerry has gone above and beyond in terms of customer service. I live on Kauai out in the middle of the Pacific so it is no easy thing to ship a bass or have a bass shipped to my location.
Thanks to many of you for providing us with information. Given that Lemur did not communicate with us for two months and we were given very conflicting information about this repair we did not know where to turn for good information from neutral sources. Please be assured that I did call Jerry (from overseas several times) and was able to talk with him after a few calls and many weekly e-mails but it took about two months to get a direct reply from him.
The offer to buy the bass back was not made to us until after I posted my request for information on this forum...it was made within a day after the posting. That solution was not in the mix when I posted my question. We appreciate that this is now an option for us and are considering it. It does seem fair to us.
It does now seem that the the gluing and cleating procedure is widely used and not the cheap fix we had been told it was. It is also clear that top removal is too invasive for this issue.
With this range of information and Jerry's recent offer to buy the bass back we are considering next moves. Please be assured that this was not someone offering "half truths" as one poster suggested. The full truth was offered along with honest questions by a bass neophyte looking for answers in a situation where we had purchased an instrument for thousands of dollars that mysteriously developed a crack after two months in use.
The offer to buy the bass back was not made to us until after I posted my request for information on this forum...it was made within a day after the posting. That solution was not in the mix when I posted my question. We appreciate that this is now an option for us and are considering it. It does seem fair to us.
It does now seem that the the gluing and cleating procedure is widely used and not the cheap fix we had been told it was. It is also clear that top removal is too invasive for this issue.
With this range of information and Jerry's recent offer to buy the bass back we are considering next moves. Please be assured that this was not someone offering "half truths" as one poster suggested. The full truth was offered along with honest questions by a bass neophyte looking for answers in a situation where we had purchased an instrument for thousands of dollars that mysteriously developed a crack after two months in use.
Just realize that this can happen for various reasons to any bass you buy that isn't a ply.
wayne holmes
Inactive
May I ask--what do you think happened to it? If someone hasn't already asked this question? Do you think that humidity or temperature had anything to do with it? The circumstances, that is, the location of the bass could have something to do with it. For example, if you had your bass in a cold temp and then took it inside, this could produce a crack--or, you are driving down the road and your bassmobile hits a pot-hole...
I am sure that Lemur, or anyone else who sold you a bass would fix it or work out something, but you would be responsible for getting the bass to them, most likely. I have never had anyone bring a bass to me with a crack that wasn't caused by either an accident or temp/humidity- I'm sure that it happens, but I have never experienced it in any other way. Were the ribs wavy looking-suggesting weakness? Just trying to help- I know it's fruatrating to have a crack in your instrument- good luck. Your post will certainly get someones attention if needed.IME,IMO
I am sure that Lemur, or anyone else who sold you a bass would fix it or work out something, but you would be responsible for getting the bass to them, most likely. I have never had anyone bring a bass to me with a crack that wasn't caused by either an accident or temp/humidity- I'm sure that it happens, but I have never experienced it in any other way. Were the ribs wavy looking-suggesting weakness? Just trying to help- I know it's fruatrating to have a crack in your instrument- good luck. Your post will certainly get someones attention if needed.IME,IMO
wayne holmes
Inactive
May I ask--what do you think happened to it? If someone hasn't already asked this question? Do you think that humidity or temperature had anything to do with it? The circumstances, that is, the location of the bass could have something to do with it. For example, if you had your bass in a cold temp and then took it inside, this could produce a crack--or, you are driving down the road and your bassmobile hits a pot-hole...
I am sure that Lemur, or anyone else who sold you a bass would fix it or work out something, but you would be responsible for getting the bass to them, most likely. I have never had anyone bring a bass to me with a crack that wasn't caused by either an accident or temp/humidity- I'm sure that it happens, but I have never experienced it in any other way. Were the ribs wavy looking-suggesting weakness? Just trying to help- I know it's fruatrating to have a crack in your instrument- good luck. Your post will certainly get someones attention if needed.IME,IMO
I am sure that Lemur, or anyone else who sold you a bass would fix it or work out something, but you would be responsible for getting the bass to them, most likely. I have never had anyone bring a bass to me with a crack that wasn't caused by either an accident or temp/humidity- I'm sure that it happens, but I have never experienced it in any other way. Were the ribs wavy looking-suggesting weakness? Just trying to help- I know it's fruatrating to have a crack in your instrument- good luck. Your post will certainly get someones attention if needed.IME,IMO
