Dilemma - what would you do?

[filthyPierre]

Hey,

Ok, so half-way through building my first PBG kit (GSF-1) and I've started playing bass again jamming with some mates, so figured I would also build myself a bass. Only, I figured I would rather buy a finished body and neck, adding hardware and so on, so essentially I would be making a PartsCaster P-Bass. I did look at what PB had to offer first, but didn't want a neck that I would have to carve to make the headstock. And I also wanted a lacquer finish rather than wax/wood as I already have a bass like that.

So, I found a nice Surf Green body at Guitar Fetish, and ordered it along with two of their pick guards, as I couldn't decide which one would look better. As the pick guards are reasonably cheap, what the hey, get two.

So the package arrived on Friday. First thing I notice is that there is a small dent in the body on the edge just above where the strap button would go (bridge end). Damn. It's small and not very noticeable but my stupid OCD brain will hate that forever. Here's a shot.



Secondly, and this is the show stopper for me, is that neither of the two pick guards fit properly. That is, if I line them up so that it fits correctly around the neck pocket, the routed channel for the pots and output socket isn't covered. Yes indeed FFS.

Here's a couple of shots:









I will upload a few more shots in the next post, as it only allows five per post.

The cost of the body and pick guards was ~$80US. Postage was roughly the same. So with conversion to AUD, about $220. Yep.

So here's my dilemma:

Do I send it back, at my cost, probably for around the same ~80 to 100 AUD to get them to replace it or refund (doubtful whether I would get my shipping costs back)?

Or do I just keep the body and get a custom pick guard made and try to ignore the small ding? It's already cost me too much so is it better to try make do with what I've got, or try get some satisfaction out of GF? I hear they're not great at customer service.

Stay tuned, I will be back with part two in a minute....

[filthyPierre]

...ok so here's a few more shots. As you can see, if I line up the pick guard so it fits over the routed channel, it's at best 3mm short of the neck pocket, which would look shite, IMO.





Here's a snip from their website, the product entry for the pearloid pick guard. The one for the tortoise shell version says the same thing:



It says that you may have to "massage" a few holes to get it to fit, but there's no way that either of these two can be "massaged" to fit.

So there you have it. As yet I haven't bought a neck - I was going to buy one from within Oz as I want a rosewood fingerboard, and rosewood is an endangered species, so needs one of these new CITES certificates to ship internationally, which just makes it a major PitA. And a lot of places won't ship them any more.

There is a crowd in Sydney that sells genuine Fender necks and I was considering one of those but not sure what to do at this stage. Don't want to waste any more money shipping the damn body back to the USA if the replacement is the same.

Any advice or opinions much appreciated.

Cheers,

Pete

[Dedman]

Just get a new pick guard. I'd write to them and show them the photos, they might refund you on the pickguards and tell you to keep them .

[andrewdosborne]

Yep agree go for a new pickguard and lodge a complaint...

Sent from my Moto G4 Plus using Tapatalk

[filthyPierre]

Yeah, seems like the easiest course of action. I have sent them an email detailing basically what I've said here, just a little less verbose

Will update when I get a reply.

Cheers

[wazkelly]

Agree with the complaint email seeking a response from them as to what they are prepared to do. I would even ask if they are prepared to provide you with a partial refund to offset the cost of obtaining a custom made pick guard plus some compensation for the ding on the rear edge.

I ordered a hard guitar case here in Oz from Gallins and once opened noticed a pretty big scratch where the complaint email got me half the price refunded as they didn't want it sent back.

[Simon Barden]

One possible option with the dent (if the location and spacing works) is to fit two strap buttons on the end, at equal spacing either side of the centre line, with one button covering up the dent. It's sometimes done on purpose by makers to help the guitar stand to straight without falling over when not using a stand. I'm currently working on a friend's Taylor T5 Custom that's got two strap buttons fitted like this as standard.

[Dedman]

I've had good service from them in the past when they only sent 1/2 of a tail piece, so hopefully you will get it sorted

[Simon Barden]

It is more likely to be a non-standard routed body than two non-standard scratchplates. I had a hard time making a standard scratchplate fit (what was supposed to be) a Mighty-Mite P-Bass body (from eBay), and had to stick some bits of wood in the control cavity for the scratchplate screws to screw into.

[filthyPierre]

Ok, so it's been a while.... life intervenes.

So I sent them an email, stating the issues. Two different people replied. Regarding the pickguards, the first guy says that they're not intended for their bodies, but as replacements for genuine Fender P-bass. I replied and said that perhaps the product page should say that. Another guy replied, saying that if I juggle it around (his words) it might fit. The first guy replies again and says a similar thing. I replied again and said that the photos I'd sent sorta prove that no amount of "juggling" would make it fit.

Regarding the ding, they were non-committal about how it might have happened. I did say that there was no damage to the shipping box, so it was probably like that when it left their shop. They initially offered 10% refund, upping it to 20% in a subsequent email even though I didn't ask for it. So on a 50 USD dollar body I got 10 back. About 13 AUD. Woo hoo. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Just.

Oh well, let that be a lesson to me.

I saw a neck on ebay (Chinese of course) for 69 AUD. It appears in the photos that the rosewood fretboard is longer than the maple neck by about a quarter of an inch, so maybe if that fits it might just negate the ill-fitting pickguards. Only problem is, it's not finished. So would have to do that when it was my goal to *not* have to do that. Sigh.

The other thing I thought about was, instead of getting a custom pickguard made, use the one(s) I've got and convert it to a J-bass style. My J-bass has a metal "tail" (for want of a better term) where the knobs are. And a fair few other Fender models have a similar arrangment. The pickguard is in two parts, one plastic bit, one metal bit. So I thought of getting some brass plate, cutting the pickguard(s) and making a plate to fit over the route properly, and join them up. Only problems with that is 1) not much of a metal worker and 2) would have to get it chrome plated, which would probably cost a similar amount to getting a custom pickguard made.

Ah well, live and learn.

Thanks for all the advice.

Cheers,

Pete