Is this normal? Scratched truss adjustment pocket

[Heket]

I just bought a brand new Fender American Special P-bass, after a 2 month wait of having it on order from my friendly local store. Everything seemed ok, but when I got home alas! The tone pot stopped working. Then, now i had proper lighting, I noticed that the area where the truss rod is adjusted is all scratched. I understand adjusting the truss rod is tricky on these without removing the pickguard or even the neck, but surely a new bass shouldn't exhibit wear like this?



I spoke to the owner of the shop and I'll take it in tomorrow, but he warned me to expect sending it back to Fender. I've waited so long and this was to be my special present to myself for my 30th birthday after a bit of a crap year, so I'm sad. Here's another picture I took, of it's general sexiness:

[White Cloud]

I am really sorry to hear that you have had these problems, this kind of thing is disheartening....no, both of these issues are totally unacceptable on a new instrument.

Despite having a massive following Fender quality control is notoriously inconsistent and this seems to be another example. Good luck getting these problems addressed.

[KiOgon]

It's not right & there's no way you should have to wait for it to be sent back anywhere. It's entirely the dealer's responsibility - if it came into the shop like it & they haven't touched it - or even if they have attempted a setup or whatever, it's their problem & not yours

Such a shame to be disappointed over a lovely new bass, but stand your ground & get it replaced 'cos it's always going to niggle you if you don't. I'm sure Fender UK - East Grinstead will get it sorted

[stingrayPete1977]

Are they scratches? Looks like plastic swarf in the picture and a bit actually on the pickguard.

[Heket]

Well now I feel stupid The "scratches" cleared up with a heavy application of cotton bud so I guess it was swarf. Thanks for the suggestion! The tone pot still doesn't work so I don't know if it'll still get sent back.

[stingrayPete1977]

Do I win a prize?

[EBS_freak]

If its a great player, have the tone pot on the bass looked at. Cant be that much wrong with it!

Finding a great playing bass is key - although I do appreciate that it's a bit cack that things just don't work out as they should!

[Heket]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1417550434' post='2621669']
Do I win a prize?
[/quote]

My eternal respect, Sir Pete. Plus warm fuzzy feelings that you've made someone's NBD a less crap than it was.

It is a great player, but so were the American Special Jazzes I tried (nowhere had any Ps). I think it's a feature of Special that, to save money over the Standard, they make the body and neck slimmer. This helps a lot with comfort and speed.

[stingrayPete1977]

I'll take whatever I can get and I agree if everything else is good I'd be happy to keep it if its fixed quickly/properly, finding another nice one could be hard

[HowieBass]

I'd be inclined to ask the shop to get the tone pot attended to by a trusted local luthier (hopefully they have someone they use regularly or in shop) - should be a easy fix.

[drTStingray]

What a shame - that's a really nice looking bass. I would be well pissed off.

I would tend to agree with Howiebass. However I would wonder also what the dealer thought they were up to letting an instrument go to a customer in such a state - or perhaps Fender are as bad with their dealers as one hears they are with customers.

You could ask for your money back and buy a different make with more certainty of quality control.

What is it with Fender? It seems to rely on the name alone and from what one hears has a disregard for customer focus, has fluctuating quality control, and poor after service. This type of attitude has seen whole industries go to the wall in the past ( British car manufacturers and motor bike manufacturers spring to mind).

Edited December 3, 2014 by drTStingray

[Heket]

Acutally - and I'm a bit embarrassed to say this - the problem wasn't with the guitar at all, it was with my amp! I only have one dedicated bass amp to test it with so I didn't even think about it. When I tested it with my guitar amp that also does bass (but is tiny and therefore not on my radar for bass) the tone worked fine. Apologies again to the tech and setup team at Fender... but not Fender themselves because the amp is a Fender too! This is good because I do very much enjoy the feel of this P-bass. I did some posturing in front of the mirror and it's remarkably light, easy to finger, (steady on), a bit neck heavy but otherwise ergonomic and fast. The tones I heard from the amp in the shop were brilliant, just what I wanted. It'll remain to be seen whether I'll stick with the Greasebucket, but for now the whole tone spectrum is very usable and warrants much exploration.

[HowieBass]

So now we've got to work out what's wrong with the amp! Good news about the bass though!

[stingrayPete1977]

I was going to ask if you were sure about the tone pot!

[rungles]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1417550434' post='2621669']
Do I win a prize?
[/quote]

I think you should at least be allowed to keep the swarf! Maybe even the cotton bud...

[stingrayPete1977]

That's as good as anything else I have ever won!

[Heket]

Well, funny you should mention it, but I do still have the swarf - laden cotton bud! I was still trying to entice the stubborn bits next to the rod out last night. It's yours for the taking

[Moos3h]

Nice! Now fit a black 'guard and you have my favourite colour combo on a P!