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bass_japan_direct
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Good thread! I usually pack basses wrapped in soft foam wrap, packed in their soft case, wrap that in bubble wrap, put in a box with bubble wrap at the bottom for extra cushioning, put toilet rolls (or similar sized cardboard bolstering) down either side of the neck part of the gig case to hold the bass firmly in place, put more bubble wrap around the top and sides of the case, seal the box and wrap the entire box in bubble wrap too, mark fragile, and ship! No issues so far. As for hard-cases, yes exposing the handle is a great idea! I try to do this as often as possible to make handling easier. Only ever had one incident of damage due to dropping out of hundreds of shipments. In that case the quality of the box was sub par, being a bit flimsy....in such cases now, i double box or wrap more cardboard around the outside for extra protection. Cardboard is free at recycle points all over the place. In short; If you are gonna sell gear, be prepared to ship and be prepared to pack well because happy customers equals repeat business or at least recommendations....it is a worthwhile investment. -
This is Danny from Bass Japan Direct. Didn't catch this till now, and thank you Gary Mac! No you wont need to pay 25% tax if you use our new Facebook store instead of Ebay, or go direct through our website. We have ways and means! Why not just contact us direct, visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/bassjapandirect and see what people are saying there. We have a good reputation so far with many happy customers all over the world (admittedly mostly in the US), most of whom avoid using eBay due to their exorbitant commission fees which pushes up the listed prices! Thank you for your interest and feel free to contact us if you are interested in anything. Best regards Danny
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I agree with you, Fender's build quality is inconsistent and their priority appears to be profit not quality. I had only a couple of US fenders in my time, but i sold them on as other Jazz basses by other makers / brands were actually better. I'm based in Tokyo Japan presently, and I am lucky to work with some of Japan's finest builders, including, on occasion Fujigen, the current builder or Fender Japan. Now, here's my point, 10 or 11 years ago Fender Japan's were quite a bit better than they are now....this is not Fujigen's doing as the builders, but is rumored to be Fender's decision [size=4]to cut costs and sell to a market that will just "lap it up" so to speak. [/size] Specifically, the bodies are now mostly three piece not two like they used to be, the hardware is mid range Gotoh not high end like they were up to 2004. The necks do not hold out well probably due to not curing / seasoning for long enough (again a time and cost cutting exercise). Case in point; A student of mine has an MM signature made in late 2004 by Fender Japan. The neck is unstable, it loses tuning, it doesn't set up nicely and the grains look awful on the three piece body. It cost him around $1500. Here's what i heard happened, and if this is indeed true this illustrates Fender's priorities, at least for the Japanese market. In the late 90's Atelier Z were approached to make MM's, as were Bacchus (Deviser), and Fujigen too, all of which made excellent handmade prototypes.....but Fujigen won the bid because of higher, cheaper output capabilities due to use of NC Routers, but post 2004 their production quality went right down. [size=4]Seriously, the matching of grains is appalling in some cases and I rarely find an MIJ fender that plays nicely or sets up well unless it is of older stock.[/size] In fact Fujigen's own brand of Jazz bass such as the FGN Neo-classic is way better than post 2004 MIJ Fenders and runs similar prices (i would thoroughly recommend them), but it doesn't have a fender headstock or logo so it doesn't sell as widely... It clearly is a case of lower budget and higher quantity equals lower quality but more profit for the brand. It seems this sadly may be the company culture now. So much for the legacy eh [size=4] [/size]