- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,627
- 222,205
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I saw this inexpensive 8-string SG style bass (from China) on eBay, and hit the buy tab. I usually avoid buying from China and I'm not generally an 'impulse' consumer, but it seemed like a fun project bass. Not a lot of info so I wasn't sure what scale it was, but it looked like a long scale which would be ok with me. The pics of it avoided showing the hs face, so I suspected it had a counterfeit Gibson logo. The back of the hs is stamped Made In USA - again... counterfeit. One of the many reasons I don't buy from China. It initially was slated for an early Oct delivery - but it showed up today.
1st off - FedEx left the box (clearly a guitar box) exposed on my landing. I was home waiting for the doorbell - which they didn't use. My partner Beth luckily came home for some lunch and brought it in! I was checking our front door off & on all morning and had literally checked 15 minutes before! ~ "porch pirates" are ramped these days and I have already had a FedEx package (custom 12 string, gilded and Pat Wilkins final clear-coated guitar body) stollen that FedEx left exposed on my landing. (and the driver forged my signature!) After months of fighting them (it was insured/signature required) they finally paid the insurance claim. Arg! The decline of western civilization is in full swing.
Anyway - the packing was sufficient to get it to SF from China in one piece. (moulded styro usually is good) and even though it had an added extension 'cap' with styro - it arrived w/o issues. The box was probably for a ss SG bass.
It came with a cheap cable and a couple hex wrenches...
Everything I describe next will describe the bass as is. After checking it out from top to bottom, I decided I can remedy all the 'cons' along with adding my own personal touch to it. Kinda' right up my alley.
First off - the bass is a beast. It is in fact 34" scale as I suspected, and it weighs 9lbs/12oz. Also as suspected, it has a counterfeit Gibson branding. It's inlaid abalone and as much as it isn't a perfect forgery, it's actually fairly well done.
Close-up of the counterfeit MADE IN U.S.A. stamp... I appreciate the periods between USA...
So the obvious cons - this is not the pot configuration I ordered. (see pic above) I wanted the version I ordered - and was sent this. They will hear from me before I give them any feedback rating. I don't want to deal with the hassle of returning it - and I already have idea's of modding the bass so I can deal with it.
This is the second con - (see pics above of what I ordered) - a much larger heel and (hard to see in this pic) some bad finish droops. Not happy about this either - and they will hear from me. But once again - I'll deal with it.
Ouch... nasty control cavity with tiny pots and hack-job jack install.
And no shielding (not surprised) I can deal with it. I have plenty of pots/jacks in my parts bin and shielding is no problem.
Even the control cover is a hack-job. (back shown) No problem.
The set-neck is pretty darn straight & frets are acceptable. (haven't checked the tr yet) but the strings are pretty high off the fb. (7/16" at the heal)
The culprit is the bridge. All of the saddles are bottomed-out, so the whole bridge needs to be routed lower into the body. I definitely can do that having done that on some of my custom builds.
I tuned it, plugged it in and played it as much as I could with such high action. The neck is huge - so the combination of high action and a big thick/wide neck (1-3/4" nut X 2-3/4" heal) makes it very hard to play. I will most likely shave it down - I like the feel of a wood neck better than paint anyway. Sound wise, it's ok - but it's hard to tell what it really sounds like with the strings so far from the pu's. Once the bridge is lowered - I'll have a better impression.
When I ordered the bass - I bought some guitar tuners for the active strings. You don't have to wonder if it neck-dives... it absolutely does. So the smaller tuners were ordered mostly for differentiation (easier to tune) and won't make much of a weight difference. That is where the modding part comes in.
1st off - FedEx left the box (clearly a guitar box) exposed on my landing. I was home waiting for the doorbell - which they didn't use. My partner Beth luckily came home for some lunch and brought it in! I was checking our front door off & on all morning and had literally checked 15 minutes before! ~ "porch pirates" are ramped these days and I have already had a FedEx package (custom 12 string, gilded and Pat Wilkins final clear-coated guitar body) stollen that FedEx left exposed on my landing. (and the driver forged my signature!) After months of fighting them (it was insured/signature required) they finally paid the insurance claim. Arg! The decline of western civilization is in full swing.
Anyway - the packing was sufficient to get it to SF from China in one piece. (moulded styro usually is good) and even though it had an added extension 'cap' with styro - it arrived w/o issues. The box was probably for a ss SG bass.
It came with a cheap cable and a couple hex wrenches...
Everything I describe next will describe the bass as is. After checking it out from top to bottom, I decided I can remedy all the 'cons' along with adding my own personal touch to it. Kinda' right up my alley.
First off - the bass is a beast. It is in fact 34" scale as I suspected, and it weighs 9lbs/12oz. Also as suspected, it has a counterfeit Gibson branding. It's inlaid abalone and as much as it isn't a perfect forgery, it's actually fairly well done.
Close-up of the counterfeit MADE IN U.S.A. stamp... I appreciate the periods between USA...
So the obvious cons - this is not the pot configuration I ordered. (see pic above) I wanted the version I ordered - and was sent this. They will hear from me before I give them any feedback rating. I don't want to deal with the hassle of returning it - and I already have idea's of modding the bass so I can deal with it.
This is the second con - (see pics above of what I ordered) - a much larger heel and (hard to see in this pic) some bad finish droops. Not happy about this either - and they will hear from me. But once again - I'll deal with it.
Ouch... nasty control cavity with tiny pots and hack-job jack install.
And no shielding (not surprised) I can deal with it. I have plenty of pots/jacks in my parts bin and shielding is no problem.
Even the control cover is a hack-job. (back shown) No problem.
The set-neck is pretty darn straight & frets are acceptable. (haven't checked the tr yet) but the strings are pretty high off the fb. (7/16" at the heal)
The culprit is the bridge. All of the saddles are bottomed-out, so the whole bridge needs to be routed lower into the body. I definitely can do that having done that on some of my custom builds.
I tuned it, plugged it in and played it as much as I could with such high action. The neck is huge - so the combination of high action and a big thick/wide neck (1-3/4" nut X 2-3/4" heal) makes it very hard to play. I will most likely shave it down - I like the feel of a wood neck better than paint anyway. Sound wise, it's ok - but it's hard to tell what it really sounds like with the strings so far from the pu's. Once the bridge is lowered - I'll have a better impression.
When I ordered the bass - I bought some guitar tuners for the active strings. You don't have to wonder if it neck-dives... it absolutely does. So the smaller tuners were ordered mostly for differentiation (easier to tune) and won't make much of a weight difference. That is where the modding part comes in.
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