Your thoughts wanted on used bass's pickup mismatch

[uOpt]

I personally do not like the MM H with 3 band. Just my preference. Aside from the buzz which needs repaired, do you like the way this bass sounds? No doubt it is worlds different from a MM H 3 band. Whether that is good or bad is personal preference. You may well fix the buzz and have a bass you are quite happy with. I probably would be happier with the configuration you currently own than the original MM H 3 band. Again, it's a preference thing.

Many people get caught up in the original parts only aspect of instrument ownership. If your primary concern is collectibility and resale value, you will never be happy with this instrument. Even if you got all the parts together, date codes will be wrong, etc and it will always be a cobbled together MM SR4. Get your money back and buy the instrument you want. If you need MM parts to get the true MM SR4 sound, get your money back and buy the bass you want. If you want a MM SR4 that you like playing and like the sound of as it is currently configured, you might have a winner.

Not knowing what you paid for the instrument, it is difficult to ascertain what the seller is willing to adjust on the price. How much did you pay for it? I personally would not give you more than $200 to comp for the unoriginal parts. I occasionally see complete original Stingrays selling sub $700 now, so there's no reason to subsidize a $400 electronics package to satisfy this deal. This bass does not look like anything really special (BFR, 1970's, etc,) so I wouldn't worry too much about having genuine MM parts in it.

If you're worried about the chimpy pots, buy a set of good pots. They're pretty inexpensive.

I payed $860 shipped which is the upper end for a vanilla 4H.

The sound out of the ceramic Seymour Duncan is better than the original pickup in my 2000 4H with 3-band. I didn't cross-swap yet but it's pretty obvious that the 3-hand alnico MM has... issues.

The seller stalls now, I don't think he'll offer money so I have to decide whether I want to send the whole thing back or keep it as is. Keeping isn't a too bad option since the pickup is obviously good sounding. However, that leaves resell value - and the buzz. I should probably give buzz-fixing another go but I have absolutely no time until Sunday at the earliest.

 

[Ray Salamon]

Yuck. Too bad it's not a 5er, as there's a pickguard + pre + pickup on eBay for a 5H right now, $245. I might pick that up just to have for a potential future build.

I'd be a bit upset about the non-original parts, especially if it wasn't called out. I would consider opening a dispute with PayPal to see if you can get a partial refund - that may or may not be an actual solution depending on wording used during the sale period. That may be a good trigger to get a partial refund. Barring that, me personally, I would go for a return + refund. To get it back to spec, you're looking at a $1100 bass in total, at least, which is pretty hefty price tag for a used 4H IMO. Of course, you may like it as-is, but as you point out - if you ever want to resale it, I'm betting you'd be very lucky to clear $600 (as of this writing, as I watch a few beatup 'rays sell for $700 on ebay).

 

[uOpt]

Yuck. Too bad it's not a 5er, as there's a pickguard + pre + pickup on eBay for a 5H right now, $245. I might pick that up just to have for a potential future build.

I'd be a bit upset about the non-original parts, especially if it wasn't called out. I would consider opening a dispute with PayPal to see if you can get a partial refund - that may or may not be an actual solution depending on wording used during the sale period. That may be a good trigger to get a partial refund. Barring that, me personally, I would go for a return + refund. To get it back to spec, you're looking at a $1100 bass in total, at least, which is pretty hefty price tag for a used 4H IMO. Of course, you may like it as-is, but as you point out - if you ever want to resale it, I'm betting you'd be very lucky to clear $600 (as of this writing, as I watch a few beatup 'rays sell for $700 on ebay).

The seller has not refused a refund or partial refund. I have been trying to fix the buzz and I wanted your opinions on what would be considered fair.

As you say, vanilla 4H stingrays are way down, I have seen two sell for $700 on tb, and that is with the original pickup and electronics. And the buzz is a real problem. I have been unable to fix it and I have been very successful in shielding work for more than 20 years. This buzz really looks like it's coming from inside a (then broken) preamp. And the SD preamp sells for $80 used ($123 new), too, it's not a $10 piece either.

I just got him the bad news which is $250 if he wants to do a partial refund. If the thing was properly working with the SD preamp it would have been a different matter but now I'm looking at work time and uncertainty, too. Plus working on the wiring of a Stingray is about 10x as annoying as on a passive Fender.

 

[Ray Salamon]

$250 sounds fair in my book. Have you tried contacting EBMM Customer Service to see what they may be able to do for you?

 

[uOpt]

$250 sounds fair in my book. Have you tried contacting EBMM Customer Service to see what they may be able to do for you?

No, the seller can do that if he ends up not wanting to take the resell price hit.

(I don't think it'll work anyway)