Defect for sure...but I probably wouldn't have minded too much if the whole thing looked like that haha. I'm hoping massdrop or spyderco will just send me a new scale that i can install myself. Otherwise I'll end up waiting another month before I have a new one in hand.
doosCompared to mine that's definitely a defect. Hopefully Massdrop will make it right with you.
Still a really cool knife. I think Spyderco should have milled out their spider logo out of the liners on this one since you can see through these scales. Mabye Massdrop can put in an order for a version with that and texturing ;)