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What the heck is going on with Ibanez?

#22
I took a good look at the area, and removed the jack´s nut (inside the electronics cavity). With a little patience, I was able to clean a lot of the area. No big deal here, and the area looks better. So thank you all for your inputs, hope this will help someone else if such a thing happens. These instruments are a great value, and a delight to play. Great bass!
 
#26
Dang that is terrible. I would take the bass completely apart,
gently buff the remaining dust residue with 0000 extra fine steel wool, paint over it with fingernail polish, seal it with 3 more coats of clear nail polish, then buff on a couple coats of
auto wax and some Howard's Feed N Wax and you're good to go. Shouldn't take more than a week or two.
 
#27
Hamlet7768 said:
Speak for yourself. My BTB is one of the finest basses I've ever played.
Click to expand...

I loved my BTB as well but mine happened to not have QC problems, Ibanez has been slipping in the last couple years. It is usually the SR prestiges/premiums that people have issues with though. I have seen multiple TBers go through multiple brand new basses.

My BTB also had super cheap fret wire that was cracking after two years of ownership... I was not impressed by the time I sold it.
 
#28
I have an SR-700 that I picked up a couple years ago used that has a similar issue. The finish is beautiful save the input jack (although it's slightly less noticeable on mine due to the lighter Amber finish). GC knocked like 5-10% off the used price as "blemished" for me and I just figured "eh..it's a used bass" and loved how it played and sounded, plus I can't see it at all when the cable is plugged in and I'm jamming.
 
#30
Ibanez is probably my favorite bass brand - lots of consumer great basses that work. BTBs and ATKs are fantastic instruments, and SRs are great for many too - Groovelines sound fantastic, feel fantastic, look a little fugly to me, and their semi-acoustics are fun to play.

Off the rack, they're better for my money than just about any equivelently priced bass, aside from G&L and MM, who I've observed have really fantastic quality. At 800, many an Ibanez has some imperfections...but nothing I can't find on any Fender, ESP, Gibson, Squier, Dean, etc etc at the same price point - and the Ibanez will tend to out feature those basses and sound great.

My BTB7 has some sharp fret ends, and the laminations aren't boutique clean. My ATK has some irregularities in the neck finish and a high 15th fret on the D/G side - but not so high I've had to deal with it in 5 years of ownership.

Modern Ibanez is great stuff. Early 2000s Ibanez...look elsewhere, in general.
 
#31
IME all basses made in the far east tend to have buffing compound left in all the hard to reach places. If you open the control cavity there is probably some in there too. Blow it out with compressed air. You can't expect great attention to detail for under $1k.
 
#32
kleinenenten said:
So it was just dust?
Click to expand...

Looked like it was from polishing/buffing compound, but it shouldn't have been there. That's something I would expect a store to have handled before selling/shipping it. There's a certain amount of setup required by the dealer and this one dropped the ball, IMO. Having worked for a boat dealer, this is really not a big deal but again, it should have been cleaned up before it ever left the store/dealer.

OTOH, if someone bases their buying decisions on price, they shouldn't expect to be treated like a king. Mass production means "get 'em in, ship 'em out", not "Let's make everything as close to perfection as possible".
 
#33
Seriously , if the rest of the bass is as good as it seems, clean the jack area and let it go. Play the bass. I have had customs built that had more wrong than this and just fixed them because that was what I wanted in a bass. I clean and polish any new or used bass that I purchase anyhow.
 
#34
Then you're not aware of other brands I assume? ;)

Every bass / guitar builder has it's ups and downs. Sometimes these things just pass through, especially if they are mass produced.

gwangi said:
$800.00 is still alot of money, but that's me, Ibanez back in the 70's and early 80's built really nice basses, what is happening now, Ibanez quality sure isn't what it used to be, that is for sure.
Click to expand...
 
#35
Other than that the condition looks good Hapa mentioned q tip cleaning should be good to go after that. I have seen imperfections I more expensive basses. I enjoy ibanez cause many especially the sound gears play just as good as basses twice the price.

And if I drop thousands on a bass I would be afraid to play it out to gigs or scratch it. That finish is hand done like on higher priced basses no two will be exact not to mention could be the ware house that shipped it you never know contact them about it if it's detrimental.
 
#38
Good grief. The owner is happy with the bass. It's polishing compound that got missed when they were wiping it off before it got assembled. Should it be there? No. Is it hurting anything? No. Is it hard to get rid of it? No. Why all the hate toward this when it's not your instrument and, most importantly, he's happy with it.

The way some people are on here, I sure hope you never mess up at work. If so, you deserve to be fired immediately.
 
#39
Like someone else said, for under 1k its really not much of an issue. My $500 SR500 had something similar going on when I bought it. Only one who knows is me, a cable pretty much fills that whole cavity and you can't see it when its plugged in.

Its a mass produced instrument with way more contours controls and special designs than Fenders. They have more detail to go over than Squier/Fender basses, things will sometimes be missed. That said, I've handled about a dozen Ibby's with that type of jack and only two of them looked like that, the one I bought and a 505 a played with a few years later. If I got a CS fender or USA Spector or Fodera with something like that I'd be pissed. Those are instruments that someone takes time and patience to put together.
 

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