hey Dave.This is Bryant from Tennessee. Thanks for your channel.I love watching you every day.if I'm having a bad day I can watch your movies and some how feel better.I found out I've got cancer and your vids get all that off my mind.Your videos has helped me on several of my builds to.I build guitar kits.keep up the good job buddy and a big shout out from Tennessee. thanks for making my day brighter.talk to you soon friend
Fender intentionally makes them with this string spacing, because that's exactly how they are on Geddy Lee's bass... It isn't a bug, it is a feature. Every one of them was made that way. Mexico, Japan, US and even the hand-made ones from the Custom Shop.
Love your videos and your honest, straightforward comments. The anecdotes are fantastic as well. It's nice to see Sweden represented in the SKF measures you are using. Keep up the good work!
Comedy....originally made in America...built in Mexico...fixed in Canada! Great video Dave, your care package is on it's way to you, thanks again for the education on how to fix what should have been done right in the first place!
Something you might want to consider when making new bridge holes is to run a straight edge down each side of the neck all the way past the bridge, and mark both sides. Then just measure the distance across (going over the old holes) and divide it in half to find the center for the bridge. I don't know if I would rely on that rear pickup rout being straight or not. They did mess up the bridge after all. I'd use a drill press for those new holes too. It would be a lot easier, and the holes would be straighter too.
Made in Mexico in 2012 would of been one of the first batches of the Geddy Lee Jazz bass when Fender moved production from Japan. I have a 2006 Crafted in Japan Geddy Lee Jazz Bass & a 2014 USA Geddy Lee Jazz bass . . Both are good working man ( no pun intended) basses .. both also have different necks , the USA version has a slightly thicker neck, which is spect from the current neck on Geddy's #1 Jazz bass the neck wasmade for him by Fender custom shop ( Geddy's #1 is on its 3rd neck ) I like both necks though I tend to grab my USA version with the slightly thicker neck more often .. It has a nice feel to it. IMO Anyway .. good video as usual Dave .👍
I have a MIM Tele body I bought on eBay that had the exact same bridge problem. I just loosened the neck and pulled it to one side while tightening it back down, and that did the trick, although I did have to sand the bass side of the neck pocket a little.
Dave, I had exactly the same problem! Re: the metronome, I asked my father the exact same question! His answer was, tap your foot while you're playing then. The long term result is, I'm still tapping my foot when I'm playing!
My low E string on my MIM Getty Lee Bass is about 1/16 off the center of the pickup. But weird thing it’s only the low E string (well only E string). $800 for that. I just bought a new Rickenbacker 4003 ($2,200)and love it. Always been a Fender man. So now it’s a stickinmybacker for now. Haha
I recently spent a Saturday afternoon playing a bunch of MIM and American Standards. I couldn't justify the cost difference of the two. The hardware and finish on the American is better but as far as play-ability and sound they were comparable.
Yeah I was with you until you said comparable. The differences we find is mostly in labor just like Davey so aptly illustrated here. If we were to charge real shop costs like we're supposed to--- to do what Dave just did and more BTW. The cost difference between American and Mexican starts to look a lot more doable if you get my drift. CHeers folks.
Gedward likes his action very low, to get a little of that grindy fret buzz. He likes his necks as straight as possible. IIRC I read that in a gear rundown article from the Time Machine tour. And yes, I made up "Gedward" because it's very amusing to me ;) .
I really don't understand this, the strings seem to be running center along the neck as they are. Why would you want to pull them to the bass side (so that the E string almost falls of)? The neck-bridge alignment seems to be ok (though the birdge is a little crooked). The pickups are off which doesn't seem to matter that much.
I have that exact bass, and it’s awesome. No real flaws. I hate the placement of the truss rod adjustment, only complaint. Biggest change I made in setup was to raise the pickups and wow... it sounds incredible.
Bridge mounting position was a recurring problem at Fender. In 2012, a friend got an American Strat, I got a Mexican Tele. In both cases, the bridge was mounted too close to the neck, so the low E and A strings couldn't be intonated properly without removing the saddle springs (couldn't back up the saddle enough). I just bought a new 2022 Mexican Tele, it does not have this problem, so hopefully some progress has occurred? Or maybe I just got lucky...
I had a Japan Geddy... the neck was way too thin for my enormous hands, now I have an MIM 70's jazz bass.. has a meatier U shaped neck.. I added a set of 1/4 pounders & stack knobs, high mass bridge & an ashtray... now it looks & sounds like a "74 jazz bass" without having to pay $2,399
I understand wanting to have clean holes so you take a countersink to the hole to clean up the top so the bridge sits better but jeez!! Big fan Dave - Love the patreon
Don't say that so loud, the racists might hear you and have to face up to the fact this is a Fender issue, not an issue relating to the apparent racial deficiencies inherent to non-Americans
I bought the last MIJ Geddy Lee bass that I could find. Five years on, I still love it. Glad I got that one, as opposed to a MIM. I did own a MIM jazz, which wasn't bad. Took some work (Bad Ass II bridge, DeMarzio silent single coils) and it was pretty good. After all that, though, it didn't compare to the GL bass. It now resides with my old guitar player (with flatwounds!).
This is EXTREMELY frustrating. Fender doesn't charge peanuts for their instruments and MANY buyers aren't professional musicians with thousands to blow. It's shameful that this passed Q.C. knowing it would be sold for 950.00$! I started playing in 1990 but because I was working and living on my own at 17 (and always had people to take care of that I was responsible for) I couldn't get a Fender. It took me until a few week ago to be able to FINALLY afford a legit fender. If you are going to charge a premium for anything with your name; make sure it meets a minimum standard and has been produced within reasonable specification tolerances. I'd be upset if I dreamed about owning a real fender for 30 years only to end up with an incorrectly assembled instrument that requires MAJOR professional restoration new out of the box. I hope the owner kept the signature tag that shows everyone at Fender who "ok'd" that bass for sale. I would expect this kind of thing out of a chibson; not a legit manufacturer like Fender.
Bought a Fender player precision last year. Had to repair four different issues out of the box. Nut cut way, way off and a jack that was not assambled right and so on. Since I live in europe i payed over $900 for this bass plus shipping. It's not ok in any way to ship out guitars that are broken and unusable for that kind of money!
I'm thinking most of these MIM Geddy Lee Jazz basses were sent out like this. I have one and it has/had the same problem. Had to had somebody do this same job, moving the bridge.
I bought a geddy Lee mim 10 months ago. March of 2022. I have a slight bend forward. Took it into long and mcquades to get it looked at. Did not buy it from there. I bought it from Amazon. They told me my string spacing is off. I guess it must be common with Mims. Hope to get it back this weekend and turns out as well as this one on the video.
Dave you should give us a place to print the set up specs you use on the various makes of guitars you service. That would help us fans who chose to gooch our own guitars.
I'm gonna check all my basses now... odd point here, couldn't you just move the bridge forward or back along the correct axis and make the repair tidier ? After all there is enough play in the bridge to alter the intonation up and keep scale length and string tension
my MIM has wrong bridge holes too :( fortunately I bought a grooved badass II and I can adjust the string position a little bit better than the stock bridge
Bridge and strings lined up with neck first, then I install the pickups with pole pieces lined up under the strings. And in a perfect world the center line of the body should run right under the center of the bridge.. Also, some Fender pickup sets have the pole pieces closer together on the neck pickup than the bridge pickup to compensate string space taper from bridge to nut resulting in the pole pieces being directly under each string.
Dave, another fine job of making things right. I have a '94 Mexican P Bass. I did change out the pots and pickups. Seymore Duncan. More punch. Happens to have a 1 piece body. There are tons of gigs on it. Love the bass. Who makes the drill bit set you use ?
is it just me or do the strings look evenly spaced at the beginning of the video? I realize the bridge isnt perfectly centered behind the pickup but the distance between each outer string and the edge of the fretboard looks the same to me. Maybe the camera angle? idk
That's really bad - annoying enough in the cheaper version, but the higher price should get you better quality control. Have they really rejected a return?
You better check whether the CENTRELINE of the neck agrees with the CENTERLINE of the body. That bridge position is compensating for that. (Experience!)
Yes. This is actually way more important than pickup pole piece alignment which as we all know is forgiving due to the broad magnetic field on the string. Of course that doesn't stop Fender from putting out instruments with incorrect string alignment on the neck.
I think this is very common problem on guitars. Just watched 2017 namm vid of ibanez premium guitar which low E was like 1cm off the edge of neck and high e was on the edge of the neck. Must be fun times straightenin that floyd rose bridge lol. Those guitars go around 1300$
Do the Geddy Lee's have more problems than other MIM Fender basses? Or are they just getting more attention? I love mine, but I have no experience with other MIM Fender basses.
I got a shit £2 lapel mic from Amazon, it's surprisingly good. I only bought it to yell at people on video games but I've recorded a bit of guitar on it and it holds up surprisingly well.
The string grooves on the nut, the neck position, the pickups, the bridge all must be aligned. How do you know the bridge is the part that is out of alignment? 28:27 why are you thoroughly convinced the other parts are in the right position? How did you determine the center line? How do you know the pickups and bridge are exactly perpendicular to the center line? You drill out the bridge holes and say you'll reglue the sawdust then 10 seconds later you vacuum the sawdust. Huh?
I think he has a point. All the pockets were made with (NC) machines. The only part that could be screwed (bun intended) by humans, is the bridge. I think he also made some crude measurements to confirm that.
Commenting on a 3year old vid seems odd but I was thinking was you were assuming the Bridge pocket was cut straight since your measuring off the pocket. If the pocket was off slightly then ... you know.
That's it !!! From now on, i'm making my own basses........ ha B & L J Bass in my classifieds, afther investigation, all sorts of factory falts..... Good show man, keep it up !
I once bought a 5 string musicman and the G sting was too close to the edge of the fret board and I paid well over a thousand dollars! Just goes to show no matter how expensive the bass they all come with some kind of defect , just the luck of the draw.
I just now looked at the pictures on the Fender website. That misaligned bridge seems to be a standard feature for these basses. Damned stupid shame for a 1200 euro bass.
Yeah the Japanese Geddy's have a BadAss II and were better in every way. Sadly, they are no longer made and Fender installed shitty alternative bridges, pickups, a fatter neck, and tuners. Totally different instrument.If you want a real Geddy, get a Japan one.
I just got my Geddy Lee Sig MIM today from Musician's Friend. Same bass and same issue with the bridge shown in this video. Can't decide if I want ship it back or have a guitar shop fix it.
Hello! I´ve had my eyes on this Geddy Lee MIM jazz bass for a while... I would love to get your opinion on them....is this bass that you have in this video a good bass for the money? What´s good and what´s bad about it? =) Thanks in advance.
I have one.(MIM)...bought it a few years ago. Mine is great..no issues at all. Like all things that are made on a production line there will be a few boo boo's that make it out of the Factory. I have seen some well made Japanese Fender basses and some that are horrible. Examine any bass carefully before you buy.
just bought a mij of this model, it's absolutely perfect. The american coil pick ups on this baby are incredible, who needs active , if they all sounded deep like those. Wish you would grade the build quality on the bass you get. This one is not impressive to say the least.
Now you've got the bridge in a better place it looks like the neck could do to rotate in the pocket a bit (headstock upwards). The G is a lot nearer the edge of the neck than the E. It would place the strings a bit more even over the pole piece pairs also. Just sayin... What you've got is a fair save already. Maybe it's my OCD
I would use the neck as a centerline . Or use the straight line of the strings to the nut . While the bridge will dictate the line of the strings I would take 3 centerline points of the neck and see where the strings are at . Then use either use a string line to align the bridge .
Dave, Dave, Dave. Lots of work, but some is not necessary in my view. If the 4 strings are centered on the neck (which they were here), not much else matters for playability. The modern pickups will still make great tone even if off center by 1/16 of an inch. The bridge had the strings centered on the neck, so no need to move it. The pickups looked visually off center, which is disturbing, but makes no difference tone wise. Overall, great work again by the RU-vid Master Dave, but Made In Mexico is about as good as made in china. Not Good. In the meantime, I am loving my Yamaha TRBX304 Active Bass.
