Fender Pa'ini... Possibly warped neck?

slusamson

Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
Hammond, LA
I bought a used Fender pa'ini on eBay last week and it came in today. After tracking down the FedEx man after he tried to make delivery today and failed, I was very excited to get home and test out my new toy. After playing a couple of my favorites, I noticed a lot of buzz coming from the G string. I gave it a look at eye level from the bottom up towards the tuners and it looked like the neck was twisted towards the buzzing string. I'm no stringed instrument expert, but this doesn't seem normal to me. I have an old Kamaka soprano and gave it a look and it's as straight as a arrow. Should I send this Fender back and put my money into something else?
 
I'd let the uke settle down a few days and see if anything changes. If not, take it into an instrument repair shop for an assessment before you send it back. Your problem may not be as dramatic as it seems. But do notify the store that you have encountered a problem straight away.
 
A while back I played that uke at a local shop and based on their recommendations and the amplified sound, I tried it out. I ordered it on line to save a hundred bucks. The first one had distinct buzzes on two of the strings. A fresh set of strings showed the same buzzing at the same points. The replacement had the worst pickup balance you could imagine, with the A string barely audible. Two strikes and yer out, Fender. Dug the Tele headstock, though... BTW, my 30 dollar Leolani soprano was louder and fuller than the Fender... I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'... I play a Mainland concert now.
 
Last edited:
I think I'm going to send it back... i spent most of the day playing around with it and even put some Worth strings on it to see if that would help. No luck with that... I noticed that the saddle is adjustable and decided to see if i could correct the buzz by raising that up some... upon further inspection, I discovered a piece of zip-tie that was cut and put under the pickup under the saddle to try and raise that side to correct for the twisted neck. I piddled with it for about another hour by adding extra/thicker zip-tie to raise it up with no positive results. I also realized why the pickup sucked when i plugged it into my girlfriend's son's practice amp... from what I have read under-saddle pickups need contact all the way across the saddle to work correctly. The original shim that was placed under the pickup was probably the culprit of the bad pickup performance. I'm not sure if the zip-tie shim was put there by the seller or if it came from the factory like that, but i suspect it was put there by the previous owner. I don't think I'm going to go after another Fender uke. I was expecting much more from a company with a name like their's regardless of the instrument I bought being used. The problems it has are clearly due to poor workmanship...
 
Oh wow, zip tie shim...that's not too good. I've got a shim in my Taylor Guitar which has a Fishman Matrix II UST in it, but it's a legit shim that cost money, and I put it under the UST, so it still sounds great amplified. Now a zip tie shim definitely screwed up your pickup balance. And of course, by adding that shim, you're raising the action which is no fun.

Good choice sending it back. Don't waste those brand new Worths, be sure to take them off before you send it back, and hopefully you can save them for another uke.

I doubt that fender put the zip tie there, and it was probably the previous owner, and the warped neck was most likely why he sold it. I hope he disclosed that to you before the sale.
 
Top Bottom