P-Belly Evans Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 It's been six weeks since my Mustang was sent back to Fender with a misaligned neck. I have just been told by the retailer that they are waiting for a part (wtf?). I know the world is a bit messed up at the moment but I am starting to miss it now. How long do you think is acceptable to wait for it to be returned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Judging by my experience that was well before COVID, you’ve still got a while to wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Here’s the thread. It was months, but was out of warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Think yourself lucky, G4M sent a Jaguar Bass I had back to Fender (despite me telling them not to) and they then wrote it off and sent me a refund. It was the last one in the country and it was gone...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 1 hour ago, P-Belly Evans said: It's been six weeks since my Mustang was sent back to Fender with a misaligned neck. I have just been told by the retailer that they are waiting for a part (wtf?). I know the world is a bit messed up at the moment but I am starting to miss it now. How long do you think is acceptable to wait for it to be returned? How was the neck misaligned? I thought everything is machine manufactured with precision these days, no? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Belly Evans Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 11 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said: How was the neck misaligned? I thought everything is machine manufactured with precision these days, no? Strings were far too close to the g edge of the fretboard and the d string was bent round the string tree rather than parallel to the a. Funny thing was, I had a look at another hanging in the shop and it was worse. In fact I would say that more than 50% of the £800 + fenders on show were off😳. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Strings not aligning with the neck but not necessarily be solely the neck. Did you take it off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Belly Evans Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 31 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said: Think yourself lucky, G4M sent a Jaguar Bass I had back to Fender (despite me telling them not to) and they then wrote it off and sent me a refund. It was the last one in the country and it was gone...! That's a bummer. I am not as precious over this, and although it is a cracker in terms of tone, and I paid pretty much a second hand price for it new, I would rather have the cash back than wait x amount of months. I will definitely be going over it with a fine tooth comb if and when it returns. Given what I saw in the shop, I am half expecting to have to send it straight back again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Belly Evans Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: Strings not aligning with the neck but not necessarily be solely the neck. Did you take it off? Exactly, but it was sent back described as a misaligned neck. What part they need is beyond me. I didn't do too much to it as I was afraid of invalidating the warranty. Although you have to take the neck off to adjust the relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 1 hour ago, P-Belly Evans said: Strings were far too close to the g edge of the fretboard and the d string was bent round the string tree rather than parallel to the a. Funny thing was, I had a look at another hanging in the shop and it was worse. In fact I would say that more than 50% of the £800 + fenders on show were off😳. Sounds like the bridge was misaligned, no? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-Belly Evans Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 50 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said: Sounds like the bridge was misaligned, no? Could be...but why is the turnaround so long if that is the case? I need to ask what is being done to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 12 minutes ago, P-Belly Evans said: Could be...but why is the turnaround so long if that is the case? I need to ask what is being done to it. Shame you sent it back, you could have aligned the bridge correctly, takes all of 10 mins, done it myself several times. Easy stuff. Maybe the delay is a backlog. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 4 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said: Sounds like the bridge was misaligned, no? Well, it certainly could be that. I bought a not inexpensive bass some time ago to find the strings didn’t sit right across the fretboard. I was advised that the long standing method of dealing with Fender’s that suffered from this was to give the neck a good whack and 99 times out of 100, everything would come back into line. I believe @Chiliwailer may have pointed this out. I didn’t actually do that. I took the strings and neck off and reassembled - problem solved. Same method, just less violent 😂. If it isn’t that in the OP’s case, it could be the bridge, the nut, the saddles or a bit of all three. There are a number of basses in the Marketplace that have strings way out of true. There is one particular one that I really like, but the photos just don’t sell it to me. I don’t understand how there can be that many hi-res photos blatantly showing a bad misalignment in the hope that it will sell. It still hasn’t sold, so I guess the proof is right there. The first thing I look at on a bass that pique’s my interest is string alignment. If the photos don’t include a straight down the neck shot to the headstock showing that, then I either ask for one or pass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiliwailer Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: I was advised that the long standing method of dealing with Fender’s that suffered from this was to give the neck a good whack and 99 times out of 100, everything would come back into line. I believe @Chiliwailer may have pointed this out. I didn’t actually do that. I took the strings and neck off and reassembled - problem solved. Same method, just less violent 😂 Lol, no, not me advising you to whack the neck! Try that with a late 70’s Fender and you’ll be on the wrong end of that fight... 😂 But taking it off and attempting to realign, yes 👍 Edited September 24, 2020 by Chiliwailer 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Chiliwailer said: Lol, no, not me advising you to whack the neck! Try that with a late 70’s Fender and you’ll be on the wrong end of that fight... 😂 But taking it off and attempting to realign, yes 👍 Probably a wrong choice of words. I think you (I thought it was you anyway 😂) mentioned that it’s what some guitar shop employees may have done back in the day i.e. a little nudge to bring back in line. Apologies if it wasn’t you old chap x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiliwailer Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 25 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: Probably a wrong choice of words. I think you (I thought it was you anyway 😂) mentioned that it’s what some guitar shop employees may have done back in the day i.e. a little nudge to bring back in line. Apologies if it wasn’t you old chap x Nah - it was just the big ego customers that needed a ‘little nudge to bring back in line’ 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 9 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: Well, it certainly could be that. I bought a not inexpensive bass some time ago to find the strings didn’t sit right across the fretboard. I was advised that the long standing method of dealing with Fender’s that suffered from this was to give the neck a good whack and 99 times out of 100, everything would come back into line. I believe @Chiliwailer may have pointed this out. I didn’t actually do that. I took the strings and neck off and reassembled - problem solved. Same method, just less violent 😂. If it isn’t that in the OP’s case, it could be the bridge, the nut, the saddles or a bit of all three. There are a number of basses in the Marketplace that have strings way out of true. There is one particular one that I really like, but the photos just don’t sell it to me. I don’t understand how there can be that many hi-res photos blatantly showing a bad misalignment in the hope that it will sell. It still hasn’t sold, so I guess the proof is right there. The first thing I look at on a bass that pique’s my interest is string alignment. If the photos don’t include a straight down the neck shot to the headstock showing that, then I either ask for one or pass. Yup, I've done that a few times in the past. The first couple of times I simply moved the bridge 2-3mm one side or the other. You need to be careful and you should really plug the old holes as the new ones tend to be right by the old ones and even overlap a bit, but it's easy to do. Then I learnt that most times it's not that the bridge is mounted at the wrong place (CNC, templates... it all makes it extremely unlikely), but an issue with how the neck was mounted on the body. There's always a tiny room for manoeuvre there and all it takes is a movement the size of a gnat's baw hair to angle the neck off-centre. It's very very slight, but enough. I only learnt this the first time I tried to swap necks on a guitar... After I noticed that, every single (bolt-on) bass that was not quite aligned could be set right by reinstalling the neck carefully ensuring it stays centered. There may be exceptions, of course, but CNC manufacturing techniques make them very rare. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 I had a six month wait for some saddles for a Japanese Fender when I had my shop. Fortunately the owner had contacted Fender directly and knew it wasn't me messing him about. Was still pretty embarrassing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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