I am SO frustrated right now

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I contacted the shop who sold me the G&L on Reverb. They first said they’d exchange it, but they don’t have any of that specific model left, and that’s the model I wanted. So they offered to either fix it, or to let me have a local tech fix it and reimburse me the cost of the repair.

They’re in National City, CA, which is down by San Diego. I’m in La Habra, CA, which is up by Los Angeles (not really, but close enough for this). It’s just over a 2 hour drive, one way. I thought about bringing it down to them (I don’t want to hassle with shipping), and initially planned on it, but… second thoughts crept into my head. Over four hours is a LONG time to be on the road, with a possible return trip if they can’t fix it while I wait (which I assume would be the case).

So I have an appointment on Tuesday at 10:30 in the AM with 13th Street Guitars in Huntington Beach to get it all fixed up and figured out. I really love the look and feel of this G&L, so I’m really happy to have this avenue in front of me. Even if 13th Street has to keep it for a while to get it up to par, I’m totally fine with that. I’ve heard nothing but good about them, so I’m sure that the instrument will come out awesome.

6 Likes

You could always return it and buy another one from another shop. You shouldn’t have to be fixing a new bass.

1 Like

Or as Canadians call it, just popping to the shops.

7 Likes

Yeah, it’s 3 hours plus a ferry ride for me to the shop, and I’m in the states

2 Likes

I could… but I have inanimate object personification and attachment issues. That one is mine, so I’d rather see it get fixed then wind up wherever, and it would probably be sad if I returned it. :smiley:

3 Likes

I’m from the UK and I’m always amazed when Americans say that they’re “just going down the road” even when they’re travelling about 500 miles :dizzy_face:. In contrast, we rarely say that when we’re going any further than down the village about a mile or 2 to get some shopping.

2 Likes

So, technically, it’s about 109 miles from my house to the shop in question, and it pretty much is just down the road. Granted, that road is the I-5 freeway, but it’s pretty much a straight shot. LOL.

1 Like

One time I had a couple friends from Japan that were going to visit the Bay Area, and they said they were going to rent a car on Saturday for a day trip. I asked where they wanted to go, and they said “Texas!”

I felt bad breaking the news but having done that drive a few times, I couldn’t let them just go :rofl:

6 Likes

I want to do that drive on my motorcycle :slight_smile: I did the ride down to SF and up the OR coast a few years ago, about 4000km but i didnt have enough time to really enjoy it.

Several years ago i met up with some customers visiting Montreal, QC from Israel. They wanted to go back to my office and talk with the engineers… the office is in Kelowna, BC, about 4500 km away :smiley: and even with a direct flight, it’s going to take you about 8 hours.

When you come from a country one can walk across in a few hours at its narrowest point, it’s difficult to comprehend the vastness of Canada. It takes about 3 days just to drive across Ontario :joy:

I need to find a good way to transport a bass on my motorcycle :smiley:

1 Like

I had a 6hr drive for a job last week and i’ve done so many 10-14 hr drives lately, it seemed short :joy: I spent 2 weeks driving from BC to ON and back last summer, about 10K km.

I never did the ride from CA to TX on my bikes but I have done Portland<->SF many times. About 650 miles.

Weirdly (to me anyway) I live closer than that to Russia now.

1 Like

I live in rural Ontario and several years ago we had relatives visit from England. The airport is about 60 Miles/100Km away and when I picked them up at the airport all they kept saying on the way back north was how far it was. Once at my place all they kept commenting on, for the week they were here, was how much distance there was between the houses and how big each lot was.

Made me realize how fortunate I was and how people can take so much for granted.

4 Likes

I grew up on several acres in a literal forest. My bus ride to school was an hour.

I think it’s why I’ve preferred city life since age 16 or so :rofl:

1 Like

:joy:
That’s one of the reasons I moved out of the city.
Actually where I live is part of the Simcoe County forest.

When we moved up here in 1977 it took me 2-3 months to get used to how quiet it is here at night.

On long weekends the highways around here are just packed with people spending 4-6 hours, risking life and limb, just to get out of the city for a couple of days.

2 Likes

I love NYC, especially as a photographer, but it sure makes me appreciate wide open spaces :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

I was born in the Bronx. I hate cities. Living out here on a peninsula where all I can see is mountains, the ocean, and British Columbia is perfect.

3 Likes

Funny how that works :slight_smile:

1 Like

Pretty sure the view of BC is better from over there than up close :thinking: especially during summer when I can’t see across the lake because the smoke is so thick :sweat_smile: glad I had bass to play this summer because I couldn’t do much outdoors.

Just be aware that it’s not always the basses that have the issue.
My practice amp Roland Bass Cube 100 got replaced with a Peavey Mega Mini and a Phil Jones mini 8 stack
All my problem basses went silent, but still make heaps of noise on the other amps.

3 Likes

Just got back from 13th Street Guitars in H.B. with my G&L.

OIP
SIGH

So, they plugged it in, heard the buzz, re-soldered some of the joints, replaced the jack, tested it, no buzz.

Tim was happy.

Took it home, plugged it in, same buzz. No different. Which must mean one of two things:

  1. It’s environmental, or…
  2. They must have been touching the bridge or strings when they tested it.

I’d like to think it’s not #2, because 13th Street is a VERY reputable place. But I have tried multiple amps, multiple cables (including a brand new one I bought today at 13th Street), and multiple rooms and the bass buzzes like an angry hive of bees equally in all situations. And none of my other basses do (including my Carvin B4 which, like the G&L, is a J/J single-coil bass).

So I don’t know what to do. The G&L is… almost unplayable for me. As soon as I clear the strings or bridge, it’s buzzing as loud as the notes that were being played. But I’m past my return window, so I probably can’t refund it.

It’s such a pretty bass, too. And when it’s not buzzing, it sounds amazing.

Blargh.

2 Likes