I bought a '93 B4CENT (cutaway electric, natural top) bass today. Looked like it was in pretty good shape. Has a good hard shell case that was 17" across but wasn't a really good fit, as the case was too deep for the thin-line bass and the bass 'sat funny' in the case. Also the fingerboard and the nut area were pushed hard against the inside of the top. A lot of padding under the body will/would be needed to ensure that the bass sits level in the case.
The action was really high but the price was really low, so I bought it! Then things got interesting.
I'm a big boy and I've looked over guitars prior to buying them for at least 48 years. For example, I checked the neck out on the bass and didn't see a problem. I saw that the bridge was lifting a little with a very small belly on the top behind the bridge. I noted that the truss rod had been used to make the fingerboard totally flat, which is a common procedure that people will use to treat the symptoms of high action without doing anything irreparable.
I thought the neck angle was not perfect, but it certainly wasn't the worst. As well, the Saddle was too high, which means that the action issue might be totally adjustable by lowering the saddle.
Anyway, I took it to my luthier's shop, 15 miles away. He looked at the bass for a minute, turned to me and asked, "You did see the crack in the neck, didn't you?" He went on to say that the bridge needed to come off and the saddle could be brought down to completely correct the high action.
But boy, that was a bad feeling!!! I had missed the number one problem! Cracked neck! So, back to place of sale, aka the Pawn Shop. That's when things got more interesting:
First, I looked at the repaired neck in the not-quite-bright overhead lighting of the pawn shop. I knew exactly where the crack was but still couldn't see it. I picked up the guitar and looked at the neck inches away from my face; I couldn't see a crack! I took off my glasses. Again, no crack! I would literally have had to taken the B4CE outside and looked the neck over in the bright sunlight to have a chance of finding it.
What was the problem? Cataracts Stage One, complicated with Old Age Stage 66. Argh!! To add insult to injury, the young female salesperson saw it right away and pointed it out to me, "Here it is!" Mmmn, I guess she didn't have Cataracts, just Tattoos..
Now, here's the high point of the whole Saga. The young female saleperson said,
"Our manager is a guitar player (true) and saw the neck problem, too, so we priced it accordingly (arguable). We spent time today setting up an amp for you to check out the pickup with, putting a battery in the bass, getting the case from the back, setting up a chair (true) but we know that you've got some time in this transaction, too, like going to the bank and back to get cash when we couldn't take a check, then taking it to the repair shop and coming back. So, knowing that we all have time in this situation, how much money do you want Returned To You so we can call it Even For Both Sides?"
Gang, forty-eight years into guitar trading with pawn shops and I had never heard it put quite that way. I told her the amount I would settle for. She conferred for a while with the rest of the salesmen and brought back $124.75. Mmmn, that's what I asked for.
I gave 'em back the 75 cents for the battery and took the bass back to luthier to remove the bridge and take the saddle down.
I'll let you know how it sounds in a couple of weeks and I'll put pics up when I get them.
gilded
The action was really high but the price was really low, so I bought it! Then things got interesting.
I'm a big boy and I've looked over guitars prior to buying them for at least 48 years. For example, I checked the neck out on the bass and didn't see a problem. I saw that the bridge was lifting a little with a very small belly on the top behind the bridge. I noted that the truss rod had been used to make the fingerboard totally flat, which is a common procedure that people will use to treat the symptoms of high action without doing anything irreparable.
I thought the neck angle was not perfect, but it certainly wasn't the worst. As well, the Saddle was too high, which means that the action issue might be totally adjustable by lowering the saddle.
Anyway, I took it to my luthier's shop, 15 miles away. He looked at the bass for a minute, turned to me and asked, "You did see the crack in the neck, didn't you?" He went on to say that the bridge needed to come off and the saddle could be brought down to completely correct the high action.
But boy, that was a bad feeling!!! I had missed the number one problem! Cracked neck! So, back to place of sale, aka the Pawn Shop. That's when things got more interesting:
First, I looked at the repaired neck in the not-quite-bright overhead lighting of the pawn shop. I knew exactly where the crack was but still couldn't see it. I picked up the guitar and looked at the neck inches away from my face; I couldn't see a crack! I took off my glasses. Again, no crack! I would literally have had to taken the B4CE outside and looked the neck over in the bright sunlight to have a chance of finding it.
What was the problem? Cataracts Stage One, complicated with Old Age Stage 66. Argh!! To add insult to injury, the young female salesperson saw it right away and pointed it out to me, "Here it is!" Mmmn, I guess she didn't have Cataracts, just Tattoos..
Now, here's the high point of the whole Saga. The young female saleperson said,
"Our manager is a guitar player (true) and saw the neck problem, too, so we priced it accordingly (arguable). We spent time today setting up an amp for you to check out the pickup with, putting a battery in the bass, getting the case from the back, setting up a chair (true) but we know that you've got some time in this transaction, too, like going to the bank and back to get cash when we couldn't take a check, then taking it to the repair shop and coming back. So, knowing that we all have time in this situation, how much money do you want Returned To You so we can call it Even For Both Sides?"
Gang, forty-eight years into guitar trading with pawn shops and I had never heard it put quite that way. I told her the amount I would settle for. She conferred for a while with the rest of the salesmen and brought back $124.75. Mmmn, that's what I asked for.
I gave 'em back the 75 cents for the battery and took the bass back to luthier to remove the bridge and take the saddle down.
I'll let you know how it sounds in a couple of weeks and I'll put pics up when I get them.
gilded