How lucky am I...? I just happen to have the day off from work, and my bass was delivered this morning. The box it came in is HUGE!!! Looks like a coffin! Ha ha ha. But once I took it out, it was great to see the bass itself isn't that massive, and I think I might fit it into my Golf.
My initial impressions are: Big! Everything is just waayyy big, especially having only experience playing the cello. The bass itself is much heavier, the neck is so long, the scroll is huge, the tuners... everything feel gigantic... for now. The FIRST thing I noticed, but never had certainty about, was the painted purfling. But, I didn't expected it to be inlaid. The nut grooves will need some slight deepening, especially on the lower two strings I think. I am going to try and do this myself. The bridge itself is cut extremely beautifully and is very very neat. It isn't fitted precisely in the right position, but only needs adjustment of a few mm. This I will do myself today. Soundpost seems to be in the exact 'theoretical' position, so I am not concerned about it at all at this stage. The clear varnish (my bass is Blonde) is applied very well all over the bass, and I cannot find any inconsistency whatsoever. In general, the bass seems to be very well constructed, and there are no obvious flaws. What I can say though, is that there wasn't much attention given to, shall I say, 'neatness' on the INSIDE. There are a few drops and streaks of glue visible on the inside, and what seems to be some pencil-lines on the inside of the back plate. Not that it particularly bothers me, but it gives one an idea of what their focus is.
As I have mentioned before, I ordered this particular instrument as I had played on a Stentor cello in the past, and that particular instrument was wonderful. The cello, however, was in a higher 'category' than this bass, and if I had to purchase the equivalent, I would not be able to have afforded it. Hence my expectations were NOT the same as with the cello. Overall, currently, I think I had made the right decision to purchase this bass. I trust the brand, and I'd rather have a less 'flashy' instrument from them, than a prentious Crapatino!
Lastly, I just want to say that, since it arrived at my place about 2 hours ago, I have been fooling around with it somewhat, and my god... my fingers hurt like hell!! LOL!!
