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Post subject: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 2:04 pm
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Can anyone tell me what the unboxing experience of a Fender American Standard Precision bass should be? I.e. in what state do they package the bass in the case? Let me explain:

Last week I ordered new a Fender Mike Dirnt signature Precision bass from a reputable Dutch online music store. It was the first time I ordered a new bass from an online store. My previous basses I've all bought in a guitar store and was able to play them before buying. This also means they had already been unboxed and in most cases already been played by other potential customers.

This time I opted to buy a brand new bass that was supposed to come right out of the retailer's warehouse. When the new bass arrived I noticed the cardboard box seemed to have been resealed (re-stapled). Also, I noticed the various labels (Fender P-Bass, Road Worn, etc.) that normally (in guitar stores) are fixed to the headstock were lying in the compartment next to the bass. Also the plastic bag containing the booklets/manuals had already been torn. This bass case had definitely been opened before. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed by this. Because I also didn't like the bass itself, I decided to return it.

Because I still wanted a Fender P-bass, I decided to pay a little extra and exchange it for an new American Standard Precision bass (the Olympic White/rosewood neck). I contacted the retailer and they assured me this time was a brand new bass. When it got delivered I noticed one side of the cardboard box had some extra tape, as if it had been opened before. But it wasn't as clear as with the Mike Dirnt, so I wasn't sure. Then I opened the box and took out the hardshell case. I immediately noticed two big dents in the case. I found that pretty strange, because the cardboard box didn't have matching damage, which would mean the damage had either happened at Fender before final packaging or this bass too had been unboxed earlier. When I opened the case the bass looked brand new. However, again the Fender labels weren't attached to the headstock. One of the labels (Fender Gigbags & Cases) was even a bit torn. Also I noticed the pickups and the tuners weren't covered by pieces of tape, but did have some sticky residue on them. I've played several new Fender American Standard basses in guitar stores that did have tape over the pickups. The bag containing the manuals, strap and cord did seem pristine.

So this time I'm not so sure as to whether this bass has been opened before. Can anyone on this forum tell me how Fender American Standard basses leave the factory? Is my experience a normal one? Or did I really get a bass that had already been unboxed before? Is it possible that they ship a dented hard shell case? Does Fender always put pieces of tape over pickups and tuners? Is it normal for those labels to not be fixed to the headstock?

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 5:46 pm
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I've never had an Am. Std. come with the Fender Gig Bags And Cases tag, and usually the tuning keys can have tape on them. The Inspection head tag, is usually strung to the E tuning key. Tape in most cases tape covers the pups also. The dents in the case are somewhat unusual, and the case handle usually has foam taped to the handle to protect the case's handle.

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 2:41 am
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Any shipping carton being imported into another country has to go through customs inspection and import duties or taxes must be paid. Therefore the shipping carton is subject to opening for inspection at every border it crosses. That explains the opened carton in most cases when buying outside North America. Customs people can be pretty thorough but I doubt they'd be removing protective plastic from pickups or tuners. They might even handle it some to verify it is working and not hollowed out filled with drugs or worse.

Sadly, when buying outside North America you are out of the home territory of FMIC and you are not buying from FMIC but from an international distributor who bought the instrument from Fender, imported it paying duties and/or taxes and then either resells it to you direct or sells it to one of their dealers who then resells it again to you.

While International buyers expect the same consumer experience when buying a USA made Fender in their country as buying one in the USA that just is not often the case even though they pay way more than the USA list price. Some distributors have been known to cut costs in "creative" ways.

For example some international distributors buy instruments without cases at all then use inferior cases made in their home country so they don't have to pay import duty on the cases. Or they can even buy up damaged cases importing them as used at a lower value than a brand new case in new condition. That would explain the banged up case and the telltale gig bag hang tag. It was probably shipped to the distributor in a gig bag who put it in a used case and their worker goofed up and let the gig bag tag fall into the case.

I can not explain the decal issue as I have never heard of that one before. I'd contact the seller and find out the story on that. It could be that distributor orders them that way to save a buck or two and applies them in country but on yours that step got overlooked.

Crazy isn't it? Import duties can be astronomical. In fact up to 100% or more on some items in some countries. For just one example, The Bahamas.

Further, export Fender instruments are not supported by FMIC but by the dealer first and the distributor second. That is probably who you need to contact for answers.


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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 3:23 pm
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Thanks, brotherdave, for you reply. Very informative!

Today I received a replacement bass and the difference in packaging was day and night! Just at these photos. The bass has protection tape on the tuners and pickups, labels stuffed between the strings and fixed to headstock, no gig bag label to be seen. The case handle was covered in protective material. Everything about this bass is brand new.

What I found interesting is that this time both ends of the hard shell case were covered by polystyrene protection material. The previous basses had cardboard protection. Weird, right? Maybe that's because those were repackaged basses?

Anyway, I'm happy now... :-)

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:02 pm
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Glad it worked out for ya Stringray.
Just for the record.....on a newer instrument, normally there is very good tracking by serial number available through Consumer Relations in Scottsdale. Instruments going overseas can be tracked from "completion" date to the date it ships overseas.
Again, glad it worked out for ya.
All the best,
rob

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:01 pm
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How mine arrived back in January, when I had it delivered to work what a great day that was.
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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:52 pm
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Glad you got the replacement. That's basically how they should show up.

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 1:29 pm
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Good looking bass you have there 8)

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:21 am
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luckman67 wrote:
How mine arrived back in January, when I had it delivered to work what a great day that was.

From your photos it looks like your bass was also already unpackaged by someone else. You can see they added the brown tape on one side of the box and the labels weren't fixed to the headstock anymore. But at least your bass still had the cover tape on the tuners and pickups. So they probably just inspected the contents of the box.

Nice bass, indeed :-)


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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:31 pm
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Stringray wrote:
luckman67 wrote:
How mine arrived back in January, when I had it delivered to work what a great day that was.

From your photos it looks like your bass was also already unpackaged by someone else. You can see they added the brown tape on one side of the box and the labels weren't fixed to the headstock anymore. But at least your bass still had the cover tape on the tuners and pickups. So they probably just inspected the contents of the box.


Nice bass, indeed :-)


I got my bass through my insurance which I was in touch with them regularly, & the guitar store that they used. So when they received the bass from Fender, they rang me and asked me if I wanted them to set it up for me and I said yes please, Hence why the tags were moved from the fret board & the outer box was re-taped. They did leave me with the job of removing the plastic from the tuners, pickups, & scratchplate. And even rang me to ask if everything was ok after I received it, which I thought was a nice touch.

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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:13 pm
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luckman67 wrote:
So when they received the bass from Fender, they rang me and asked me if I wanted them to set it up for me and I said yes please, Hence why the tags were moved from the fret board & the outer box was re-taped. They did leave me with the job of removing the plastic from the tuners, pickups, & scratchplate. And even rang me to ask if everything was ok after I received it, which I thought was a nice touch.

That indeed sounds like great service!


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Post subject: Re: American Standard Precision: how are they packaged?
Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:28 pm
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Stringray wrote:
luckman67 wrote:
So when they received the bass from Fender, they rang me and asked me if I wanted them to set it up for me and I said yes please, Hence why the tags were moved from the fret board & the outer box was re-taped. They did leave me with the job of removing the plastic from the tuners, pickups, & scratchplate. And even rang me to ask if everything was ok after I received it, which I thought was a nice touch.

That indeed sounds like great service!

It was they were a great company to deal with :D , and kept me informed from ordering to receiving. In my signature picture you see all of the items that were, delivered to my work place on Jan 14th 2015 from my insurance. And apart from the Rumble 200 combo inside the box was an extra strap, as I wanted to keep the case candy unopened (still is). The box on top of the Rumble was a Hercules guitar stand, for my Precision to be secure on when not played :D

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