Got my Pilot...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slackmaster2K
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Slackmaster2K

Slackmaster2K

Gone
Well, after all the hassle with Sam Ash, I finally got my Pilot Pro Bass today.

Problems though...the treble knob was smashed down against the little plastic guard thing that ships with the bass. However, the knobs are just held on by a set screw, so I just raised it up and it seems to function properly. No big deal.

Bigger deal: I noticed that when I'd turn the blend knob fully to the left, I'd get no sound. I popped the cover off the back and sure as shit, a wire had come loose off the blend knob, so only the bridge pickup was active. By trial and error I figured out where the loose wire goes and I'll have to solder it on tonight...or should I? Part of me wants to send the whole thing back...but a disconnected wire is no big deal. The wiring was altogether sloppy, so it's not the fault of sam ash or the shipping process. I'm not really sure it'd be worth the hassle to ship the damn thing all the way back, and my chances of ruining something with the soldering iron are very slim...

As far as the instrument goes, I took it into the music shop today and let the bass guy play it. He said it was a fine guitar for the $200 I payed for it. The neck seemed fine and the only adjustment will be intonation. So I'm happy about that. He complained that it's a little heavy, but I smiled at that...I LOVE heavy guitars, and was actually hoping it would be heavier than it is.

Overall, I'd say that the bass is decent enough for the 70% off sticker price. I wouldn't have bought it for $700, but for $200 it's just fine. The workmanship is decent enough for a korean made instrument, except for the wiring which was pathetic on the one I got. The hardware is exceptionally nice, and I really like the slim neck.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Buying a guitar that you've haven't played was always a no go area for me; that is until you see some of the prices available, oh go on then, I'll have one, oh and I'll have one of those as well please.
 
Slack-
If you sent it back, you wouldn't get another. They're all gone...you got lucky!

I picked up a S-73 in natural mahogany, just cause I figured what the heck, it;s only $200. I think these are a great deal. If I could find the right Pilot (I want the 5 piece neck) I would grab it up, too.

H2H
 
I agree not to send it back...but I would call another 100 times and bitch and maybe get them to knock something off the price......
 
Fuck this korean made garbage. Now the blend knob broke...whatever kind of resistance there was in it is gone and it's totally loose.

There's no way in hell that these things sold for 700 bucks new. It doesn't sound all that great either.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Ok they had another one in stock... I'm exchanging it. But I'm going to turn the fuck out of the fucking knobs when it gets here....even the slightest snap or pop and the fucker is going back.

What a hassle this shit has been. At least sam ash is paying the shipping back...but I don't like their RA procedure. I have to wait for a CALL to get the RA number and call tags.

You know this kind of shit is always happening to me. I never catch a big break...maybe there aren't any...maybe I'm just a whiner.

I'm also beginning to wonder if DeArmond went "out of business" or if they were just bought out. Their website is still up. Sam Ash is still placing orders for new basses.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Slack- Here's the scoop.

Fender (FMIC) Owns DeArmond, and always has. he name came from the Guild pickups, when Fender bought Guild years ago, they got the DeArmond name in the bunch. FMIC decided to release a korean line of guitars to compete with the likes of Epiphone, so they used the DeArmond name since the pickups already had a good reputation associated to it.

Fender has recently decided to discontinue the entire line of DeArmond guitars and basses. They have no more in the warehouses, ZERO. If Sam Ash is taking orders, that is a bad move on their part. I am seeing many problems with fufillment on DeArmond orders where retailers "assumed" they could get the guitars, and they CAN'T.

I have all this info straight from the horse's mouth, my friends in high places at Fender. I really hope they DO have a bass they will exchange for you, but be prepared for it to be gone by time they get around to try to ship it to you. Sorry about your bad luck, but blame it on Sammys, not Fender. :) :(

H2H
 
You're the first person I've encountered who didn't LOVE the Pilot basses of any model.

Sounds to me like the pot was damaged in shipping. I had the same problem on my Pilot DeLuxe where the knob was whacked down tight where it had been bumped. Fortunately, it was relatively loose and slipped on the shaft rather than fracture something internally in the pot.

Because these have more guts in them, the pots are smaller to fit and are apparently more fragile as a consequence than the American pots in the guitars.

The wiring is the only weak spot in the entire DeArmond line. Sometimes it is great, sometimes pretty weak. The active circuits in these basses are quite intricate and are much more delicate due to miniaturizing the circuits. Smaller gauge wiring, smaller components, etc.

With the exception of the wiring, the workmanship on the DeArmonds is _much_ better than on any Fender or Gibson production model. I've bought FIVE DeArmonds in the past few weeks and the workmanship was top-drawer in every one of them, with the exception of the wiring.

My suggestion is to get a new pot, or get Ash to send you one, and fix the thing, or else take it to a Fender warranty repair station and have it done.
 
Slackmaster2K said:

What a hassle this shit has been. At least sam ash is paying the shipping back...but I don't like their RA procedure. I have to wait for a CALL to get the RA number and call tags.
Click to expand...

No, you don't. If they don't get ahold of you, they just send UPS for it unannounced! That's what happened to me when I called in a return for the damaged Starfire Special I got. I told Ash that I wasn't going to keep off the phone for two days just to get their RA call and gave them my e-mail address. They promised faithfully that they would contact me one way or the other. Didn't. Not to this day.

They never called nor wrote, just sent UPS for it. I hadn't repacked it, so I told UPS to come back in a week.

You know this kind of shit is always happening to me. I never catch a big break...maybe there aren't any...maybe I'm just a whiner.
Click to expand...

Could be. :D

I bought three DeArmonds from Ash and had some kind of trouble with each order. I got an M-77 today that - disregarding the scary color scheme - is pretty much perfect, but I got jacked around on the price and had to raise hell about it being shipped at a higher price than I was supposed to pay for it when I placed my order at the beginning of last month. The Starfire Special I got was screwed up from bad storage since '99 and the Pilot Bass was fine except they lost the rest of the order for some other stuff I ordered at the same time to go with it.

So far, I have _never_ ordered from SamAsh.Com or MF and had the order go smoothly.

NOT ONCE.
 
Ok, well if they send UPS over that's not going to be any good...I WORK all damn day. I've got a bad feeling about this whole deal...I should have just gotten the pot replaced but when you buy a brand frickin new guitar, you expect it to work for more than an hour.

And I didn't dislike the bass, in fact I've got the replacement coming...but I'd just like other guys to know that these Pilot's are solid entry-level basses at good prices. Certainly worth 200 bucks...in fact I would expect them to sell for $400. The wood is real, though low density. The satin-krome hardware is sharp and feels good.

What you said about the pot on one of your Dearmond's being smashed down is kind of interesting. The treble pot on mine was smashed down when I got it, but I raised it up no problem. However, it got stuck again like the blend knob did, but it freed up without any trouble. The blend knob wasn't smashed down, but stuck and when I twisted it free, something inside the pot snapped. I am convinced that had I kept the bass, at least the treble knob would have broken, and perhaps more. Not something I want to deal with.

The thing that sucks is that the replacement I've got coming is blue...bummer...but that's ok I guess because the "black" is really purple :)

Anyways, I was just really pissed off when I wrote the above nasty message. I still don't feel good about this whole deal though...especially with sam ash being involved.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Yeah, it sounds to me like these were damaged pots, smacked somewhere along the line.

As far as I can tell, mine are OK.

I know what you mean about hassle killing your enthusiasm for a deal and giving you a bad feeling. I've spent all morning trying to get sense out of SamAsh.Com about that return, and it's still not very clearly resolved. I've now made TWENTY-ONE calls about it.

The M-77 I got yesterday is a very nice instrument, but the color is pretty strange.

How strange? Check it out:

I took it out in the back yard yesterday evening and it was immediately swarmed by hummingbirds trying to eat it or mate with it!

Dig it, I'm holding the thing out at arm's length and three hummingbirds are hovering around about 8" away from the iridescent metallic blue top trying to figure out what's in it for them.

Verily, this is the oddest guitar story I've ever had in many decades and hundreds of axes.
 
bummer.....my cheaper, Indonesian Pilot Pro is wonderful...not heavy (weight-wise),but that's my preference...and the plain pickups sound great........I guess I was lucky to get it shipped in one piece....

by the way, what year is yours?.......I ask because my bass is a 2001, but one of the guitars that has arrived (also in great shape) is a 2000..........(the serial number system is very similar to regular fenders......mine start off with I (Indonesia), then C (crafted?) then 00, or 01...i.e. IC01 + seven digits, IC00 + seven digits......

I have read on other boards that lots of folks got some 1999's....

just wondering.........gibs
 
gibs said:
I have read on other boards that lots of folks got some 1999's.
Click to expand...
1999 was the first year of production, 2001 the final. The Starfire Specials seem to all be 1999s and also seem to have been bounced around from place to place for a couple of years, judging from the conditions of the boxes and guitars.

The new-production instruments seem to arrive with the boxes in good shape, but the old ones are apparently pre-crushed from past years.

The Starfire Specials from 1999 closely duplicated the old Guild piano-leg necks and turned off buyers, along with the ghastly-looking sunburst finish and white pickups. It looks like a $29.95 discount store import from 1969. Has that style down perfectly. Gradually, you realize that it's a high-quality guitar, but it looks cheap, cheap, cheap.

They apparently couldn't give these away, much less sell them for a grand. The later ones in other color schemes and with more modern necks looked more attractive. ALL the ones Ash have sold recently and the ones they have coming in (yes, there are more, unfortunately) are these damned ugly old sunbursts.
 
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