A lot of you know I inherited Moose's Ibanez, and then sold my SR305e that I loved. Well, after clearing things out in the new house, I ended up with a nice little bit o change to spend in my guitar fund. After getting the Solar AB2.4, I really wanted a 5 string Solar. But, I have Moose's 5 string so I didn't really need another but... Moose's doesn't quite get the sound I want. After exploring options for months, I found I just couldn't bring myself to mod his bass - it is just as he wanted it and I just feel like I gotta leave it that way.
Anyhoo, I spent a few weeks looking for a deal on a Solar AB2.5 and the only avenue to get one I liked was directly thru the Solar website. As life goes, with shipping and customs and such it ended up out of my price range. Then, I dug back thru the Metal Bass Gee Tahs thread and saw Leon raving about his SR305e and decided I wanted to get my old one back and/or replace it with one just like it.
I looked and looked and couldn't find one in that Black Planet Matte finish. I even messaged the guy who bought mine trying to buy it back, but no dice. Then tried to just buy a new one and they don't make 'em in that finish anymore. After digging further, a local music store posted a picture of their guitar wall on Facebook and lo and behold they had one hanging there. So, I drove up there (about 25 mins away) and was all set to buy it. Walked in and ... nope. They'd sold it a few days before and the picture on FB was taken a few weeks before they posted it.
Bummer.
Once again I changed gears and looked through the new models, and decided I really liked the pearl white. After a few days of hunting, I found one on Reverb through Musicians Friend they had listed as "b stock" and marked down by $40. The listing said it was b stock as a customer had bought it brand new and returned it right away, but it was pristine.
So, we negotiated a bit and agreed on a price about $55 under retail. I ordered it and a few hours later realized I still had my old address in Reverb and it was set to be shipped there. Since that house is literally a 4 minute walk from here, and I still own it, having the bass go there wasn't the end of the world. But, I reached out to MF anyway and asked if they could ship it here instead.
A minute later I got a refund notice and my money back... (?)
Puzzled, I reached out asking WTF and was told "Sorry, we refunded your order because we cannot change ship to addresses." and nothing else.
Seriously?
I then replied and said, ok, but I want the bass. The sales droid on the other end told me I would just have to reorder it. Sigh. So, I went back to their Reverb page and looked, but it was gone. Then, I checked their website, gone there too. Once again I replied to the sales droid and asked for a link where I could reorder it. They replied "Sorry, it will take a day or two to relist it, you'll have to check back..."
Really?
So, I decided they could go piss up a rope and went looking for another bass.
The next morning, the listing reappeared and after looking at it for few minutes, I decided I was gonna give someone a hard time for it. So, I put in an offer $120 under retail and ripped into them for piss poor customer service. Not 3 minute later I got a reply "your offer has been accepted."
This, of course, made me happy and nervous all at once. Was there something wrong with the bass? Would they do a crappy packing job and have UPS bust it on the way here... ??
Thankfully, it showed up yesterday and it is indeed pristine. Seems like the first buyer and/or some chucklehead at Ibanez messed with the action cause the strings were practically laying on the fretboard and it buzzed like crazy. But, I raised the action and now only get a little buzz around the 10 fret on the E string. Plugged it in and it sounds just like my other one, so I is being happy now.
Going to replace all the hardware with black stuff sooner or later (hate black chrome), but otherwise, this will do nicely. Meanwhile, I'm going to hang Moose's bass on the wall by itself where I can look at it all the time, and occasionally play it, but not feel like I want to change it.
Anyhoo, I spent a few weeks looking for a deal on a Solar AB2.5 and the only avenue to get one I liked was directly thru the Solar website. As life goes, with shipping and customs and such it ended up out of my price range. Then, I dug back thru the Metal Bass Gee Tahs thread and saw Leon raving about his SR305e and decided I wanted to get my old one back and/or replace it with one just like it.
I looked and looked and couldn't find one in that Black Planet Matte finish. I even messaged the guy who bought mine trying to buy it back, but no dice. Then tried to just buy a new one and they don't make 'em in that finish anymore. After digging further, a local music store posted a picture of their guitar wall on Facebook and lo and behold they had one hanging there. So, I drove up there (about 25 mins away) and was all set to buy it. Walked in and ... nope. They'd sold it a few days before and the picture on FB was taken a few weeks before they posted it.
Bummer.
Once again I changed gears and looked through the new models, and decided I really liked the pearl white. After a few days of hunting, I found one on Reverb through Musicians Friend they had listed as "b stock" and marked down by $40. The listing said it was b stock as a customer had bought it brand new and returned it right away, but it was pristine.
So, we negotiated a bit and agreed on a price about $55 under retail. I ordered it and a few hours later realized I still had my old address in Reverb and it was set to be shipped there. Since that house is literally a 4 minute walk from here, and I still own it, having the bass go there wasn't the end of the world. But, I reached out to MF anyway and asked if they could ship it here instead.
A minute later I got a refund notice and my money back... (?)
Puzzled, I reached out asking WTF and was told "Sorry, we refunded your order because we cannot change ship to addresses." and nothing else.
Seriously?
I then replied and said, ok, but I want the bass. The sales droid on the other end told me I would just have to reorder it. Sigh. So, I went back to their Reverb page and looked, but it was gone. Then, I checked their website, gone there too. Once again I replied to the sales droid and asked for a link where I could reorder it. They replied "Sorry, it will take a day or two to relist it, you'll have to check back..."
Really?
So, I decided they could go piss up a rope and went looking for another bass.
The next morning, the listing reappeared and after looking at it for few minutes, I decided I was gonna give someone a hard time for it. So, I put in an offer $120 under retail and ripped into them for piss poor customer service. Not 3 minute later I got a reply "your offer has been accepted."
This, of course, made me happy and nervous all at once. Was there something wrong with the bass? Would they do a crappy packing job and have UPS bust it on the way here... ??
Thankfully, it showed up yesterday and it is indeed pristine. Seems like the first buyer and/or some chucklehead at Ibanez messed with the action cause the strings were practically laying on the fretboard and it buzzed like crazy. But, I raised the action and now only get a little buzz around the 10 fret on the E string. Plugged it in and it sounds just like my other one, so I is being happy now.
Going to replace all the hardware with black stuff sooner or later (hate black chrome), but otherwise, this will do nicely. Meanwhile, I'm going to hang Moose's bass on the wall by itself where I can look at it all the time, and occasionally play it, but not feel like I want to change it.
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