Guitar Fetish now selling basses!

[typ73]

Looks nice!

Sounds like you do fretwork? I've always wanted to learn, but the cash outlay and learning curve discouraged me!

[Rip Topaz]

Yeah, I made the investment last year, and to date have built 14 basses of my own.

After playing the P for a few, there's some sharp fret ends to deal with as well as the high fret. I'll deal with that tomorrow when I set it up, but as I said in my earlier post, it's definitely a keeper. The things I've found wrong are all fixable, and without a ton of effort.

[JHandley]

Originally Posted by Rip Topaz

The brown truck finally showed. Sweet.

First impression. Out of the box, setup isn't that bad. The strings suck but I expected that. Overall, worth the money.

The body is two piece. I can barely see the join. Very well made.

Everything works, there's a high fret around the 15th, but I can fix that. Tomorrow is another day.

Tonight I'll play it for as long as I can, and tomorrow I'll shoot some pix and post a review, after I've had a few hours with it.

$186 for a P-bass, delivered. I'm not complaining.

NICE!

I havent had time to dig into my Xavier the last couple of days, working 12 hours PLUS I was givin an Electra Outlaw X620 as a gift from a coworker yesterday!
So Last night I was messing with it and kinda drooling over it (The Electra)
What a cool bass and a very unexpected gift!!

[Rip Topaz]

Something that's kinda cool, is that the logo is only screen printed onto the headstock. It'll make my life a bit easier when I go to reshape. The neck itself doesn't have much of a finish overall. This is gonna be a fun project.

[Rip Topaz]

Alrighty then. I got some time in on the Xaviere this morning, got the sharp fret ends smoothed out. I didn't fix the high fret just yet, I gotta wait till I can make it over to the local GC for a new set of strings. It only effects above the 15th fret, and I have band practice tomorrow. I rarely play up that high anyway, so for a few days I can live with it.

Overall, there are very few gripes. The fretwork was expected so I didn't care too much about having to file a few ends.

There's a few tiny little black spots that are buried in the finish. You can barely see them but they are making me insane. Luckily, this bass will be getting a new paint job in the spring.



Also, on the neck near the body join, there are some scratches that look like they were done with a chisel while fitting the neck. No real big deal, again it'll get refinished later anyway.


And lastly, there's this.

It looks to me like instead of using felt under the strap buttons, they bolted on a strap and then cut around the button. The tail end one looks worse, but they're both like this. It'll get fixed when I install strap locks.

Again, these are little things as far as I see it. I've already fixed the sharp fret ends, and the other stuff will get fixed eventually.

The important thing to me is that the neck is solid and straight, the truss rod works, and after a good setup, this thing plays frickin' SWEET.

[typ73]

Originally Posted by Rip Topaz

Alrighty then. I got some time in on the Xaviere this morning, got the sharp fret ends smoothed out. I didn't fix the high fret just yet, I gotta wait till I can make it over to the local GC for a new set of strings. It only effects above the 15th fret, and I have band practice tomorrow. I rarely play up that high anyway, so for a few days I can live with it.

Overall, there are very few gripes. The fretwork was expected so I didn't care too much about having to file a few ends.

There's a few tiny little black spots that are buried in the finish. You can barely see them but they are making me insane. Luckily, this bass will be getting a new paint job in the spring.

Mine has a few of those black specks as well. They don't really bother me on the sunburst finish. For $200, I'm not going to complain.

I just ordered some copper shielding tape, Fender (CTS?) pots, a Switchcraft output jack and Fender vintage bridge. Definitely want to get a 3-string Hipshot retainer as well. After that, a trip to the local guitar tech for the fret job and she will be good to go!

Rip, keep us posted on the project!

[DJ Bebop]

Any of you cats that have one of these and an SX, how does the neck profiles compare?

[Rip Topaz]

The fret job on mine makes me think they hit the 14th fret and just quit. I used the fret rocker on it and everything from 14 up is off at least a little.

I'm gonna goof with it over the weekend so I don't have it ripped apart for band practice. Once I get new strings, I'll level the rest of the frets and get it playing a lot better. As is, I've got the action pretty low and it's not complaining. I'm actually having a bit of trouble putting it down!!

Can't really say about the SX. The only SX I have is a shortscale we got for our 7 year old last Christmas. Can't really compare that.

To me, the neck profile definitely is NOT a P. it's more like a Carvin to me. Very thin. Comfy, though.

[typ73]

Originally Posted by DJ Bebop

Any of you cats that have one of these and an SX, how does the neck profiles compare?

SX - baseball bat
Xaviere - yardstick

Well, that's somewhat of an exaggeration, but you get the idea! The Xaviere neck is much more comfortable to play for me, but YMMV.

[JHandley]

I looked and looked and didnt see any specks, but one of the strap locks does have the CUSTOM washers! LOL not a big deal to me either.
Im really liking this bass with the Precision Flats on it!
This neck is much better for me than the GSR200 neck, I have fairly big hands though.

[Rip Topaz]

Totally. I can't put the damn thing down!!

[SirGrotius]

I'm not sure why people want to buy backup basses. I have never even come close to a situation where I thought I might need a backup or something might be wrong with my bass. On top of that, I hate lugging things around so another bass would be a disaster.

I can see these as more applicable for the teenager who finds out that the guys down the street need a bass player and he has no idea what a bass is.

[Stev187]

Originally Posted by JHandley

Im really liking this bass with the Precision Flats on it!.

I practiced for a couple of hours on my P with GHS Precision Flats last night. The strings are starting to calm down a bit, and the bass is great for what I am studying:



I bought this bass specifically for this project, and so far it's going great. I did the setup myself on this one, and it's just perfect for the 60s R&B thing. I am sending the J out for a pro setup at Elderly Instruments, which is my favorite store on planet Earth.

Quick Poll: I am on the fence about what strings to add to the J. I have it narrowed down to another set of the GHS P-Flats, or just their standard Boomers. Both sets have the same guage, so I could swap back and forth, I suppose: 45-65-85-105. What would you do?

--Steve

[JHandley]

Originally Posted by SirGrotius

I'm not sure why people want to buy backup basses. I have never even come close to a situation where I thought I might need a backup or something might be wrong with my bass. On top of that, I hate lugging things around so another bass would be a disaster.

I can see these as more applicable for the teenager who finds out that the guys down the street need a bass player and he has no idea what a bass is.

Its very applicable to this 56 year old man getting back into bass playing after a 30 year hiatus.
Im thrilled to have such a nice NEW P Bass copy this well built at this price point.

[JHandley]

Originally Posted by Stev187

I practiced for a couple of hours on my P with GHS Precision Flats last night. The strings are starting to calm down a bit, and the bass is great for what I am studying:



I bought this bass specifically for this project, and so far it's going great. I did the setup myself on this one, and it's just perfect for the 60s R&B thing. I am sending the J out for a pro setup at Elderly Instruments, which is my favorite store on planet Earth.

Quick Poll: I am on the fence about what strings to add to the J. I have it narrowed down to another set of the GHS P-Flats, or just their standard Boomers. Both sets have the same guage, so I could swap back and forth, I suppose: 45-65-85-105. What would you do?

--Steve

I hit the bargain cd bin at dollar general yesterday and picked up a Motown Classics cd for $5.

I'll be somewhat studying that for awhile.
Love them bargain cd bins man! LOL

Jeff

[Rip Topaz]

Originally Posted by SirGrotius

I'm not sure why people want to buy backup basses. I have never even come close to a situation where I thought I might need a backup or something might be wrong with my bass. On top of that, I hate lugging things around so another bass would be a disaster.

I can see these as more applicable for the teenager who finds out that the guys down the street need a bass player and he has no idea what a bass is.

Play a show without a backup. Break a string. Then tell me you don't need a backup while your band is watching you change a string in the middle of a song.

Also, I've been a semi-pro bassist since the mid 80's. I know what a bass is. I also know that what matters isn't the name on the headstock, it's the tone coming from your amp. If the bass sounds good, plays good, and inspires you to pick it up every time you walk past it, then who gives a rats a** what's written on the head? These are good basses. I can say that because I own one. I can also say that as someone who has built 14 basses of my own in the last year. These things are solid. I don't feel the least bit guilty for sinking a few bucks into it to make it my own.

I also don't feel the slightest bit bad that after all these years, a cheap $150 bass has become my main player.

[typ73]

Originally Posted by Stev187

Quick Poll: I am on the fence about what strings to add to the J. I have it narrowed down to another set of the GHS P-Flats, or just their standard Boomers. Both sets have the same guage, so I could swap back and forth, I suppose: 45-65-85-105. What would you do?

Flats, baby!!

I assume you have rounds on your primary J so I'd go for the flats, all the way.

[JHandley]

Originally Posted by Rip Topaz

Play a show without a backup. Break a string. Then tell me you don't need a backup while your band is watching you change a string in the middle of a song.

Also, I've been a semi-pro bassist since the mid 80's. I know what a bass is. I also know that what matters isn't the name on the headstock, it's the tone coming from your amp. If the bass sounds good, plays good, and inspires you to pick it up every time you walk past it, then who gives a rats a** what's written on the head? These are good basses. I can say that because I own one. I can also say that as someone who has built 14 basses of my own in the last year. These things are solid. I don't feel the least bit guilty for sinking a few bucks into it to make it my own.

I also don't feel the slightest bit bad that after all these years, a cheap $150 bass has become my main player.

Well stated, RIP.

As far as any mods, I think I'll be putting Black knobs, tuners, and bridge on mine over time.
Ive always thought that a natural finished bass with black hardware would look sweet.

[Rip Topaz]

Lol. I'm planning a blackout on mine, too. The natural finish might stay as well. I'm still debating butterscotch, but the finish is so close to what I want, I may just leave it.

[typ73]

I apologize in advance for taking this way OT.

Originally Posted by Stev187

The strings are starting to calm down a bit...

If you want instant old school thumpy dead flats (which are perfect for a P, IMHO) rub some Vaseline on them.

I'm sure some of you are shuddering at the thought of this, but I've done this on several different sets of flats and it WORKS. In a matter of 5 minutes your strings will be transformed from sounding brand new to sounding like they're 10 years old.

My experimentation with this has shown the following method to be the best:

1. Loosen the string to be treated. If you want to be extra cautious, remove it from the bass, but I don't find this is necessary as long as you are very careful not to get any Vaseline on the fingerboard.
2. Get some Vaseline on your fingers and slide it up and down the string, making sure to cover the entire string from the nut to the bridge. For the D and G in particular, I've found you need to cake it on pretty thick. The thinner strings tend to be obnoxiously bright out of the box, depending on the brand.
3. Wipe off the string thoroughly with a clean rag.
4. Repeat for the remaining strings*

* For the A, you might want to consider using less Vaseline than for the D and G. Also, I've come to the conclusion that the E string needs extremely little or no treatment at all. I've found that a thick coating on the E makes it almost TOO dead.

If you are squeamish about doing this, just use a lot less Vaseline. You can always repeat the process.

Sometimes I wipe the strings down with a rag moistened with denatured alcohol after this process to remove any residual Vaseline.

I've done this successfully on Chromes, Rotosound and TI flats. I probably wouldn't do it on the TI flats again, as those strings are intended to be brighter and have more mid-range than conventional flats.

The Chromes and Rotosound flats tend to be brighter than your usual flats so I'm guessing a darker string would probably need a much lighter application.

BTW, the Rotosounds had this treatment 7 years ago and I see no signs of any damage or degradation to the string.