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Which bass guitar company has the best QC?

#25
I expect most production line bass will have a few with obvious mistakes get through. Even EBMM, I know that from my own experience. But they fixed it with no hassle and that is worth something in and of itself.
 
#26
My only issue with Musicman is their standards for what is acceptable design wise. On the dual pickup models you can see that the front pickup is the same as the rear so the coils do not line up with the strings properly in the front. Their answer is "Oh, that's fine it doesn't hurt anything" but to me that is not an answer you should get on a $1500 bass. The quality control is great it's more the design itself I question. They should really spend the money to tool up for a front pickup.
 
#31
NecroticImbecil said:
In my experience, Alembic. Though I would expect Fodera, Ritter, etc. to also be top-notch. A small shop producing limited numbers of extremely high end instruments should have great QC to go along with the quality of the instrument (and price tag.)
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This^^^.

The level of quality control is inversely proportional to the sheer numbers of instruments produced.

Small builders, excellent QC
Mass-production factories, not-so-good QC.
 
#36
Just a quick question about QC. I've heard people make the blanket statement that the Fender QC isn't the best and that you need to 'try before you buy'. When you do get a 'dud', what exactly are the problems? Are they completely unplayable or do they just need a setup and a little work? I ask because I will probably need to buy a bass sight unseen and while I would hope that an Am. Standard would be perfect out of the box, I could live with some imperfections if I knew they could be remedied.
 
#37
sigmafloyd said:
Just a quick question about QC. I've heard people make the blanket statement that the Fender QC isn't the best and that you need to 'try before you buy'. When you do get a 'dud', what exactly are the problems? Are they completely unplayable or do they just need a setup and a little work? I ask because I will probably need to buy a bass sight unseen and while I would hope that an Am. Standard would be perfect out of the box, I could live with some imperfections if I knew they could be remedied.
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I've only ever seen good American Standards in the shops (stores!) in the UK, but I have had issues with US and Japanese Fenders in the past. I've had cracked lacquer in a US built bass, peeling lacquer on a JV Squier and a badly cut neck pocket on an original Fender Japan. I think Fenders suspect quality control in the past has been a bit difficult to shake off. I've never played a bad (new) one over the past few years but over in the UK they're quite expensive compared to Mexican and Japanese built Fenders so buyers tend to want perfection.
 
#39
Pupiit said:
IME, Ernie Ball has the best production line. Obviously, smaller, boutique buileds like Sadowsky, Modulus, etc will have better QC, but they're all custom builders. Fender, as has been stated many, many, many times is a try-before-you-buy, even with MIA. Most EBMM instruments have been fantastic, in action, fit and finish, and comfort. Even the RAY34s and SBMMs I've played have been good.
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I wish the ones hanging on the wall at GC reflected that. :hmm:
 

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