Was thinking something very similar. They're not known for their attention to detail. How accurate will their fretwork be? That's a pretty decent sized roll of the dice.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
aliex to be trusted
- Thread starter mysticblaze
- Start date
-
- Tags
- al
Was thinking something very similar. They're not known for their attention to detail. How accurate will their fretwork be? That's a pretty decent sized roll of the dice.
I think you're misled about what AliExpress is, just like I was until a few months ago. It's a market that comprises a LOT of different sellers. There's all kinds of things there. Yes, some sell counterfeit instruments (and clothing or whatever), and I'm not keen on that. But many just offer instruments that are not trying to be a counterfeit even if they're clearly inspired on other known designs, and many are simply original.
One thing I like is that you can find some of these sellers actually have their own manufacturing business and they can customise anything. The quality is variable, it seems, but it seems safe to treat them as budget instruments... instruments that will probably structurally ok, but you may want to do a little simple work on to make them play nicely.
I'll give you an example of something I was looking at myself recently. They advertised a 5-string Jazz-inspired bass for just over $200. It has no pickguard, and 2 MM style pickups instead. Ash body with some thin pretty veneer, done reasonably well (not flawless, which i not unreasonable at that price), natural finish, maple neck with maple fingerboard and black marker blocks. It had a Fender logo in the picture even if nobody would take it for a real Fender.
They said they can customise anything. I contacted them and they'd be willing to take that basic idea and make one for me with the following mods:
- no Fender logo, I will supply my own design as a PDF
- no marker blocks on the neck
- instead of a Jazz body, make it a Precision (smaller, lighter, better balanced for me)
- I choose the colour, a translucent purple tint.
- one pickup only, place exactly where I want it (Stingray sweet spot)
THAT is what AliExpress is good for. I'll still get a budget instrument, but all I wanted was a cheap 5-string to have around (I don't use 5-string in any of my bands) and I get to choose exactly what I want. As long as it's reasonably well made (functional truss rod etc), I love tinkering and I'll fix any non-cosmetic flaws.
So this NYE I get to play a couple of gigs where I'll have fun, and my fee share can pay for this bass and still have some cash left over for a couple of drinks. What's not to like? I mean, I can see it's not for everybody. But if you fancy an interesting bass that you cannot really buy in the low price bracket market... this allows you to do so. It's only counterfeit if you choose to go for a counterfeit option. They do a lot more than that. And some builders can actually make pretty good stuff (above $200, of course), just because they're Chinese it doesn't mean they're all interested in making cheap rubbish.
Last edited:
I always smile when people talk of Aliexpress. It's no more a problem than buying from ebay items that their sellers know little about. Aliexpress is all about box shifting. In variably, in hundreds of purchases, you get the clear idea after a while that you are buying from novices who know nothing about what they sell. Many are in the same building. What happens is that these people rent and office and a small workshop in a huge complex. Everything is made in there somewhere. Their skill if you can call it that is making complete items - so somebody makes necks, somebody has a woodwork shop and does bodies. Somebody else probably finishes them and somebody else sprays them. The packaging is bought from another tenant and wrapping and dispatch done by somebody else. They do not speak English, and use Google translate in any communications. If the guitar has electronics, then this will be made by somebody else and perhaps understood, perhaps not? If this can create a product you want, at a price you can afford, then you take a gamble, like on ebay.
Most times, it's a good transaction. If you need a spare part later, then they won't have a clue what pickups they used, or who they got them from, so wanting one pickup might be better asking for two. If you contact them, they will happily put any logo you want on them - rather than Gibson or Fender. Their culture is different, they see brand names as names that infer quality. Sales gimmick sort of. They don't have our concepts of intellectual property or ownership. They're not thinking like we do. Consider this. Why does every Gibson labelled guitar feature a bridge not remotely like the real Gibson ones? If they were trying to make faithful counterfeits, they'd counterfeit those too, but they don't. They have access to the ones they use - they're close enough. They, I firmly believe, just produce whatever WE ask for. If WE buy products from them, we're at least on the same moral ground. You could buy that 5 string with any makers name you like - but we don't. It's easy to blame them, but if we didn't buy them, they wouldn't make them.
Most times, it's a good transaction. If you need a spare part later, then they won't have a clue what pickups they used, or who they got them from, so wanting one pickup might be better asking for two. If you contact them, they will happily put any logo you want on them - rather than Gibson or Fender. Their culture is different, they see brand names as names that infer quality. Sales gimmick sort of. They don't have our concepts of intellectual property or ownership. They're not thinking like we do. Consider this. Why does every Gibson labelled guitar feature a bridge not remotely like the real Gibson ones? If they were trying to make faithful counterfeits, they'd counterfeit those too, but they don't. They have access to the ones they use - they're close enough. They, I firmly believe, just produce whatever WE ask for. If WE buy products from them, we're at least on the same moral ground. You could buy that 5 string with any makers name you like - but we don't. It's easy to blame them, but if we didn't buy them, they wouldn't make them.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
You are buying something knowing only something what it looks like. That is without getting into the ethical issues of counterfeiting.
I would save my money and buy from a legal and known source.
I would save my money and buy from a legal and known source.
From what I've heard, the seller isn't going to be the problem. The problem is going to be customs. The few days it spends in customs, someone could easily open it, see it's a fake instrument and seize it. To avoid that, you could order it without a logo or with a custom logo.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
To me, an instrument is only a counterfeit if it has a company's logos on it, e.g Fender or Gibson. If you get it without the logos, to me it's just another copy like Tokai or Harley Benton.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
It's not up to you - that's why we have laws.
If you were the owner of the IP, you likely would feel differently.
True, true. This is just my opinion. I personally think that the companies making Chinese counterfeits will do a lot better if they just took a week or so to set up their own brand name and shop on a website that doesn't specialise in counterfeits mostly.
Aliexpress is just like eBay.
Sellers from all over the place, and it is a large place, having nothingmuch to do with one another... Some will buy their stuff from other suppliers, being resellers, as usual. Some go a little further. Aliexpress is no more a 'huge complex' than an industrial estate in Milton Keynes can be... and in Milton Keynes they don't necessarily buy from their neighbours to produce an item to sell. This is no different.
Aliexpress is nothing. Just like eBay is nothing. The outcome of your purchase will depend on the actual seller you deal with. There's nothing magical about Aliexpress, except that in China it seems you can openly make and sell counterfeit items, so you get those for sale too. But that's it. It's not a counterfeit market, it's a market based in China so you do get counterfeits.
Just don't buy the counterfeits.
Is the OP's bass a counterfeit?
I didn't recognise it as such... it's just a fan-fret bass with no particular brand association.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Don't know. OP asked about buying from that source. As I said, even without the ethics/counterfeit issue (or the unknowns of buying unknown hardware and wood), it is a @#$~-shoot. It is an unknown builder/marketer - other than a photo as to what the instrument MAY look like, you have no idea how it sounds, plays, or how professional the actual work is. If there is a QC issue, you have no reliable warranty, never mind you would have to ship halfway around the world.
As I said, I would rather save up and buy something I feel more comfortable about. In general, you get what you pay for.
that has been my experience. if you can go with 'machine' made bodies and necks i haven't found any difference between chinese made and any other make/made. except the impact on the pocket book.
you pays your money and you takes your chance. I don't know how anybody knows you what you are going to get.
Buying a bass is like a box of chocolates?
Stay away from anyone/anything that sells counterfeits. Even though that thing doesn't say Fender or Rickenbacker on it, they sell counterfeits all day long, and I'll never give them any business. Also, you get what you pay for, and most often, people receive horrible instruments that need a lot of work to become playable.
It is a bit of a gamble, no doubt. But there's enough information out there to allow people to make their own choices. Now, if someone expects top quality for 200 bucks, then they only have themselves to blame.
The OP's link shows a very interesting looking bass. I haven't researched the seller/maker but at over 400 GBP, I would be cautious. For that kind of cash, or little more, you can get something that you know will be decent. At the same time, there's not much out there in maple fingerboard fan-fret basses... so if that's what you want you may need to take the gamble. Aliexpress seem good at returns, but the cost of posting it back to China won't be small...
I'd definitely check carefully their feedback and history...
Electric instruments are relatively uncomplicated provided the basics are there, especially with bolt-on necks, so there is a lot that you can do to transform a poorly playing bass into a decent one... but if you're not good at or don't enjoy that kind of work, then it's probably best to buy something that is a known quantity and closer to home. But again, the information is out there so a buyer can have a realistic expectation, I think.
Never forget the "if something looks too good to be true..."
