NBD - Cort Elrick NJS 4 (but...)

[dirgefornovember]

Just taken this ex-demo/showroom model from GuitarGuitar and unfortunately I'm gutted.

 

The bass itself is stunning - and at £499, I had to bite. I love the shape, and I did expect some imperfections for the price.

 

But the fretboard inlays are yellowing quite significantly, there's a dent in the headstock and the bass control pot is very loose - it doesn't stop naturally, and creates a 'crunching' sound instead of coming to a natural stop.

 

All of that would annoy me too much to keep unfortunately, so I've asked to return it.

 

It was a £600 discount (!) which leads me to wonder whether I'm being too fussy or not. But £499 is still a lot of money and those imperfections - particularly the inlay yellowing - would just annoy me too much down the line.

[ahpook]

The dent I could live with, it being ex-demo, but not the control knob and the yellowing.

 

Either way, it's up to you...you're not being fussy if it's not what you expected.

 

 

[LeftyJ]

The yellowing actually looks like it's just the glue or the filler used to seal the gaps between the fingerboard wood and the inlay. Looks very minor, and might well clean up easily.

The control knob issue sounds like an easy fix too, that wouldn't bother me at all. Either the potentiometer isn't properly fixed to the bass and turns along, or it's broken and won't stop which is an easy replacement that will only cost a few pounds.

The dent is not that bad, and for something that has lived on the store floor to try out, I guess it happens. 

 

All things I could live with at more than 50% reduced price, and the pots and fingerboard I would definitely try to fix myself  

[BassApprentice]

You're totally within your rights to return it but it's ex-demo?  You can't expect a mint bass

 

It's been hung on a wall under direct lights or in a window and played by a whole bunch of people who will be spinning knobs and probably caused that dent too.

 

I'm sure there's some stores that advertise exactly what the faults and marks are that make it B stock, which GG could adopt to stop situations like this happening.

Edited September 12 by BassApprentice

[PaulThePlug]

Would £500 not be a fair SH price?

Demo @ £600 off is a bargain!

Yellowing of the inlay glue is gonna happen to them all, headstock dink is gonna happen, Loose or faulty vol pot to be investigated...

But your €£$

[AndyTravis]

I’m currently looking for £500

 

none of that would bother me for £600 off.

 

I’d take the price of a new pot as a refund…ex demo shouldn’t mean goosed - so that’s bad form…

 

looks lovely 

[dirgefornovember]

All those comments are totally fair, and I'm definitely not quibbling the price. Hard to say no to £600 off.

 

The condition report on the listing was: 

 

"ex-showroom/demo model from Cort. This product might have slight imperfections or light play wear but is otherwise as close to new condition as possible at a discounted rate."

 

So was definitely willing to take a punt on it based on that text. And I don't really mind the headstock dent at all. But the yellowing would just annoy me, and the goosed pot shouldn't be there.

 

Also noticed some yellowing on the finish too.

 

It's a bargain for someone, but not for me I'm afraid.

[crazycloud]

Good grief.

Apart from the pot, which shouldn't be hard to fix, they are the most trivial quibbles for the price.

[dub_junkie]

My NJS-5 has the same yellowing around the inlays. 

 

It's a fine bass and gets more playtime than other more expensive basses I own

[Mokl]

It's your money, and if these issues bother you then you might always struggle to see past them. I do think that it's a huge amount of bass for the price though. Either way, hope everything is resolved to your satisfaction.

[BigRedX]

IMO there's a big difference between ageing and wear that an instrument has accumulated during ownership by the person playing it, and that which is already on a model that is being sold as new, albeit with an ex-showroom/demo description. If that was a second hand eBay purchase any buyer would be totally within their rights to return it with "product not as described" as the reason unless photos clearly showing all those defects had been included in the listing.

 

To me ex-showroom/demo means that the instrument might be a bit dusty and need a new set of strings, but I certainly wouldn't expect a big dent in the headstock and have been hanging around for so long that the finish was starting to change colour and manufacturing defects (the wrong glue having been used for inlays on a maple board) to have become obvious.

 

That bass needs to be listed as "used" and some more money knocked off and then any potential purchasers won't be disappointed.

[LeftyJ]

6 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

manufacturing defects (the wrong glue having been used for inlays on a maple board)

 

That's actually a really good point! Hadn't thought of it that way. 

Still, at less than half of the normal retail price, that's a LOT of bass. And as an ex-demo, it more or less IS being sold as "used". 

[Bigwan]

I would have paid 499 for it even with the issues. The only one that'd bother me is the bass control and it's a simple fix, but YMMV

Edited September 13 by Bigwan

[lemmywinks]

Really when a bass has noticeable age related wear, discolouration and surface damage it should just be sold as used, maybe with a mention in the description that it's an ex-demo instrument or whatever and pictures showing everything so there's no unfortunate surprises when you open the box. Can't speak for everyone but when I see something described as ex-demo I get the idea that it's basically a new instrument with maybe the odd surface mark or something.

 

The only thing that would bother me with that bass (assuming the pot is replaced FoC) is the yellowed paint near the control cavity which looks really unsightly on a white bass.