Just got a neck off eBay with an undisclosed issue...

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Bardagh

Bardagh

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What would you do? I am putting together a partscaster and while I intend to have the neck I really want made down the road, I wanted to go ahead and get it together so I was looking out for Strat necks with ebony boards. There aren't too many of those out there but a MIM neck off a limited edition Fender Player strat popped up and fit the bill at a not outrageous price so I jumped on it.

Well getting it in hand today I was surprised to find the crack you see below just above the nut. I was especially surprised because it is plain as day in person and I did not recall seeing anything in the pictures and I was damn sure it wasn't disclosed in the description. Well I looked back and I am right, it isn't mentioned in the description but now that I know its there, I can see it in one picture, but wouldn't have known that's what it was.

I messaged the seller to tell him about it and sent him my pictures and basically just said I think this should have been disclosed plainly in the description and photographed clearly. My first reaction is the seller was being passively dishonest, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think I want to return it, as it isn't TOO much of an eyesore and I'm hoping it won't get worse but I'd like an explanation at least.

Here are my pictures:
neck2 (2).jpg


neck1 (2).jpg


Here is the only picture from the listing that shows it:
s-l1600 (1).jpg


Now that I know its there its obvious, and maybe I'll be even more paranoid in the future, but I thought it was maybe dirt or a discoloration. I guess I should have questioned it, but also I would never personally list something like that without full disclosure.
 
It's just the fingerboard so it's not structural. If you really like the neck and got a great deal, I'd just get some filler for it. Or put a Floyd locking nut on it :cool:
Yes, the seller should have disclosed that. But you know how that goes these days :no:
 
That sucks but if there isn’t anything structural there then at least there’s a chance that it kicks ass in every other way. If it does kick ass then you won’t care once strings are on it.

But if you have to flip it then you’ll have to take the loss which sucks.

I wonder if that happened while trying to remove the nut? And if the nut needs to be removed is that area compromised? Kind of looks like it.
 
SpiderWars said:
That sucks but if there isn’t anything structural there then at least there’s a chance that it kicks ass in every other way. If it does kick ass then you won’t care once strings are on it.

But if you have to flip it then you’ll have to take the loss which sucks.

I wonder if that happened while trying to remove the nut? And if the nut needs to be removed is that area compromised? Kind of looks like it.
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That's actually my main concern. I also think its already been "repaired" i.e. glued with something. That's probably the discoloration on the edge of the nut. I think that if I had to remove the nut and just made sure to score the back of it with a sharp blade and tap it out with a small hammer so it pops out the other side from the crack it would probably be OK, but there's definitely a risk. For it being an actual Fender neck with an ebony board it was an OK price but not a steal by any means. Frets are in really good shape and it is a nice non-streaky ebony board.
 
Ebony can be brittle. I would be hesitant since replacing the nut could be problematic, as you said.
 
Even if it’s not structural, it’s the principle of the matter. Send it back.
 
I would also send it back. Not just because of the crack, but also because of whatever else they might not be telling you.
 
Yeah I’m thinking if he doesn’t offer some kind of significant mea culpa I’m going to tell him it’s going back. This guy sells a lot of partscaster stuff with thousands of transactions and 100% positive feedback so I’m certainly surprised.
 
Findthetone1 said:
It's just the fingerboard so it's not structural. If you really like the neck and got a great deal, I'd just get some filler for it. Or put a Floyd locking nut on it :cool:
Yes, the seller should have disclosed that. But you know how that goes these days :no:
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Depending on how he responds that’s what I’ll do, maybe some Goodfilla ebony. Never used it before but have heard good things and seen some pretty crazy furniture repairs with it.
 
This fucker is going back, this guy had the audacity to say he never noticed the crack after already claiming to have mounted the neck on a body and played it. Doubly bullshit because I test mounted it and realized the nut is messed up, with the slots skewed off to the treble side so that it is impossible to have the strings spaced right. Of course that means the nut has to be replaced, which is probably why the crack is there in the first place from some numbnuts who didn't know what he was doing.

Don't buy shit from this guy "Seabiskits" on eBay. He has a long history with almost 10k items sold and some-fucking-how 100% positive feedback.
 
Im looking for a neck right now and hope I don't buy from him lol cuz if there are thousands of sales he new damn well that crack was there...
 
just42dave said:
Im looking for a neck right now and hope I don't buy from him lol cuz if there are thousands of sales he new damn well that crack was there...
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Seriously, I haven't bought stuff from eBay in forever and I almost immediately get burned when I try. :LOL:
 
just42dave said:
Living in Topeka I have no choice but Reverb or Ebay for stuffs;(
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I intend to order a custom made neck for this build but Parklane, who I’d like to use, isn’t taking orders for a while and Butala, who does have very attractive prices, has a long ass turnaround time right now (as much as 6 months for a neck with a finish last time I checked).

For round two I just pulled the trigger on one of the WD Music licensed replacement necks, which was pretty cheap. It’s got the necessary ebony board, 10” radius which is OK, narrow tall frets and supposed to have the Clapton neck profile, which I think I’ll like.

We’ll see how fucked I get this time!
 
The Fender MIM necks are all made like shit. The next one would be worse.
 
Geo said:
The Fender MIM necks are all made like shit. The next one would be worse.
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Neck profile and fretwork were actually not bad, just the issues around the nut. I have no way of knowing if it had come from Fender with that nut but if it did, holy shit. I mean look at this:
A98BCF6D-6453-41B0-9B69-4CD127964B2C.jpeg
 
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