Acrylic bass from Ali Express

[Whale]

Any more, all music companies rely on CNC machines to build their instruments. Whether the CNC machine is located in the US or Europe or Asia, they all work exactly the same. Unless the company is using crap wood for the neck, I would be more concerned about the tone of the bass rather than the workmanship or the hardware (which is likely substandard but can be upgraded).

The single coil looks very much like those used in the early P Basses. If the tone sucks finding a decent replacement might prove more difficult than if it had a Musicman humbucker or another more common pickup. Also, the single coil will likely be somewhat noisy vs a humbucker design pickup.

But maybe the OP places more importance on appearances than other bassists. If so, that’s totally cool.

 

[mongo2]

I've been thinking about that exact same one or maybe in orange

View attachment 5135762

Does it come in red?

 

[InhumanResource]

Did it involve hot pants and the 70's?

Not the 70s

 

[c10]

I found a matching strap for the bass the OP posted:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...656045056!sea!US!0&curPageLogUid=7e0bjsPUuF8Q

 

[Muaddibb]

 

[Leigh Semmens]

And the problem is????? It looks like a clone of a good Gretsch. Even if it does need a setup the OP will come out ahead. I've had more trouble with product on eBay than on AliExpress. Sure, there may be shonks there, too, but I always pay via Paypal and have never needed to open a dispute. GO FOR IT! Don't forget to tell us about the results.

 

[Boneless]

Anyway, I can buy the bass and pay on arrival at no extra cost. I'm not afraid about not getting anything.

 

[chadds]

Any more, all music companies rely on CNC machines to build their instruments. Whether the CNC machine is located in the US or Europe or Asia, they all work exactly the same. Unless the company is using crap wood for the neck, I would be more concerned about the tone of the bass rather than the workmanship or the hardware (which is likely substandard but can be upgraded).

The single coil looks very much like those used in the early P Basses. If the tone sucks finding a decent replacement might prove more difficult than if it had a Musicman humbucker or another more common pickup. Also, the single coil will likely be somewhat noisy vs a humbucker design pickup.

But maybe the OP places more importance on appearances than other bassists. If so, that’s totally cool.

If it is the dimensions of the original single coil P there are too many manufacturers to list who make great ones. That noise story is exaggerated unless you’re in an old bldg.

 

[MichelD]

My main bass is a 1970 Dan Armstrong. It weighs exactly 9 lbs, 1 oz… which isn’t much heavier than most basses.

I have somewhere around twenty basses on hand that I can choose from (all high end models), but the Dan Armstrong is my number 1. It has a MASSIVE amount of “punch”, a surprisingly wide variety of different tones, and a ton of sustain, which is supposedly due to the density of the lucite/acrylic body (though I’m never really in need of much sustain while playing).

I can’t say that the bass you’re looking at would have the same attributes. If you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket, it’s worth a try. Let us know what you think of it should you decide to buy the bass.

View attachment 5135378

Lovely.

I passed on one for a decent price about 30 years ago, but I still had a mortgage then and every nickel counted so there was none to spare for another bass.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Buy it! Buy it!Buy it!

 

[funkinbottom]

I found a matching strap for the bass the OP posted:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805686938418.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.25.a8e56325LlrvQ5&algo_pvid=abc816ee-20ad-4ec3-b297-0fa0ec99d879&algo_exp_id=abc816ee-20ad-4ec3-b297-0fa0ec99d879-12&pdp_npi=3@dis!USD!19.58!19.58!!!140.06!!@211bf2da16902425970534872d0790!12000034656045056!sea!US!0&curPageLogUid=7e0bjsPUuF8Q

Awesome. Now OP just needs matching rig.

 

[GIBrat51]

I'm really thinking of pulling the trigger on this one.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExlPdsR

How bad can it be?

Well, it could be pretty bad; or, it could be perfectly playable, and you'll have a lot of fun with it. If you can afford to throw away $280 (assuming it's a piece of ), without messing your finances up - I say go for it. And, let us know how it turns out.

 

[funkinbottom]

Buy it! Buy it!Buy it!

Agree. I mean why not. Folks around here are always preaching how good cheap basses are, and the build quality/playability is on par or better than their more expensive basses. There are even clubs praising their greatness. Who knows, could turn out to be a killer little bass. And, as others have stated, most of us can easily p!$$ away a couple hundred bucks just foolin' around on the weekend. Lunch with the misses and a couple few beverages and like that, a couple hundred $ bill.

 

[Michael Eisenman]

…how do I type the infinity symbol on a macbook?

I didn’t want to start up my Mac for this, but it works on my iPad hardware keyboard: Option+5 = ∞

Now you can go back and edit your post.

 

[superheavyfunk]

I'm really thinking of pulling the trigger on this one.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExlPdsR

How bad can it be?

I recently bought a guitar from DH Gate, which I’m sure probably came out of the same or similar factory as this one did. It looks great but definitely needed a bunch of work to be made to feel good as well. The tooling was pretty bad, frets weren’t seated well, fret ends finished poorly, and the wiring needed to be completely redone. Lucky for me, I am capable of doing most of the work myself and that which I didn’t know, I was able to find advice on this forum and others before beginning to tinker with it.

If it speaks to you and you’re either willing to pay for the necessary work or are capable of doing it yourself, I say go for it!

Because as long as people dish out money for this !#%$@, the more it will be put out, rather than decent player grade instruments.

Save your money for something that will last you.

Or maybe just let ppl do what they want with their own money?

Save yours and go buy something nice for yourself

 

[sabre79]

How bad can it be?

Watch out! That's not Acrylic. It's ice. When it arrives from China, your nice bound and blocked neck will be sitting there with all the loose hardware. When you order, have them throw in a couple dozen desiccant packets so at least it will be dry.

 

[Funky-Wunky]

China will have all of your personal information.

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I think it might burn easier if you find some way of cutting it into smaller chunks before you try to set it alight.

Well ... they do provide a cardboard box for kindling.

 

[sdjfoh]

I think that body shape is cool when it’s painted solid, but with the translucent lucite it kind of takes away from the presence of the shape and introduces weird angles you can see through from front to back. Regardless of how it plays, I think lucite bodies in that shape are just not aesthetically pleasing - they’re confusing and just whatever. My take is that it’ll just be a heavy $200 dice roll. Knowing that it’s ugly ahead of time would prevent me from pulling the trigger.

 

[Ric Vice]

In the early 1970’s the Dan Armstrong bass appeared at B&B Music Annex in my home town of Muncie, Indiana. I played one and came to the conclusion that it was not the bass for me. At the time, I did think the swappable pickups were a clever concept, but as far as I know they only ever made one style of bass pickup.