Ibanez PNB14E Parlor Acoustic-Electric Bass Guitar Natural

Most Liked Negative Review

Good product, quality control issues

I like playing 19th-century historical reenactments. I've made a point of accumulating or modifying the guitars and banjos I use for them to look as accurate as reasonably possible. But my bass player has nothing to play at those things - bass guitars were invented in the mid 20th century. A few months back I bought one of these and gave it to my bass player to practice up on. But then I decided I wanted one for myself. Except for the bass strings and the big tuning pegs, this is a good stand-in for a 19th-century "Size 0," or "Concert" guitar, which Martin invented before the Civil War (though smaller guitars were far, far, more common in those days). The first one I bought and gave to my bass player was fine. The first one I bought for myself had a buzz that I traced to the bridge (some users erroneously consider it "fret buzz", but I know how to test for that and for sympathetic vibration buzzes). If I had bought it used, I would have kept it and fixed it, but since I actually bought it new (a rarity for me), I contacted Ibanez. They told me to try all the things I had already tried, then said to send it back. So I contacted Musician's Friend. The customer service guy was extremely helpful; and helped me order a new one for the same cost as the one I was sending back (the price had gone up in the meantime). So it was all good, except for MF, who has now paid shipping three ways. The new one had exactly the same problem as the one I sent back. And, no, it wasn't the same instrument. I figured the whole batch probably had the same problem. At the time of this purchase (and at the time of this writing), no one else is making a bass in this configuration. And Ibanez includes a spare saddle and a shim for the thing. So I could either give up altogether or keep this one and troubleshoot it myself. I haven't got it fixed yet because there were other projects ahead of it in line. A few days later, the MF guy called me and asked me if I was satisfied with the replacement instrument, and I explained that I wasn't entirely satisfied, but I'd rather try to fix it on my own than go through the whole return process again and get a third instrument with the same problem. He offered to let me return that one, and I declined. As we ended the conversation, he sounded more confused than anything.