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Originally Posted by Elisa  ... Mine has a date stamp of 1993 way down on the bottom inside. Ebony fingerboard, which I wanted, and the set-up feels fine. Nice bridge. Helicore Orchestras were on it; I like them... |
I bought an Eberle plywood from Ideal in January. Built the same year and purchased with the same strings, basic setup, plus I had them add an adjustable bridge. I just had to get the bridge in the right place and file down the nut slots a little on the E and A strings, but otherwise it was in playable condition after shipping to Washington State in the biggest box of packing peanuts you've ever seen. You can also get them without setup for $850 and have a luthier do a better setup to your spec's.
Played many Englehardt's and some Shen's and Christopher plys and hybrids before buying and think it was a very good deal for the $ and had the most fundamental "thump" of any I played. Maybe not the best Bluegrass bass for under $2500, but with adjustable bridge, shipping, a bow from Upton and a bag from (all hail) Bob G., I was up and running for about $1500.
As a newbie with the bow (I just use it to work on intonation and rarely in jams) I like the medium helicores too though the bass is very nasal above D on the G string. I didn't bow any plywoods while shopping so don't know if that's typical of plywood or a setup issue... seems like you'd have to have the soundpost in there tighter than optimum to ship 2500 miles without the strings on it without the soundpost falling over (ya think?
) I'll also have a pro setup done eventually and am thinking Evah Pirazzi for strings, but in the meantime I've got something decent to learn on and its loud enough for big old-time fiddler and celtic jams.
The only problem I've had with the Eberle (her name's Diedre) is the tailpiece hanger wire broke a couple of weeks ago where the ends are twisted around each other behind the tailpiece. I got 3 ft of 7/64" Amsteel cord from West Marine for $ 0.73 a foot, enough to do it twice in case i messed up, and tied it on with a carrick bend knot. It has been a week now and she's just now settling down - this knot is not supposed to slip, but I think it takes awhile to get to maximum tightness and also for the cord to "stretch" (it's not supposed to stretch, so maybe it's the braid compressing, but it definitely was getting longer)
Start with the string afterlength a bit long, say 8 1/2 inches, so when the cord lengthens you will wind up at 8 1/4 (the magic 1/6th of total string length or 2 octaves and a 4th length for the Eberle scale) After 4 days I had to adjust the knot, but a few days after that played a 6 hr jam, was very pleased with the improvement in sound and feel of the action, and wasn't retuning any more than I would playing outside with the temperature changing. I've seen TB postings of up to 5 weeks for these amsteel hangers to completely stabilize, so don't expect to swap it out and play a gig tomorrow. If you don't have the patience, the steel aircraft cable is a good way to go and is easier to get adjusted to the right length.
I'd recommend anyone with a "coat hanger wire" tailpiece hanger get rid of it ASAP and replace it with Amsteel, Clef, Pecanic, whatever brand flexible hanger, or aircraft steel cable that lets the tailpiece move and resonate with the bass. The sound and action were both noticeably improved for very little expense.
Eberle Plywood 
