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Czech made instruments (Spector, AV, who else?)

#24
Have had experience with Czech MTD Grendel and Beast 5-string basses, and an early Czech Spector 5. All very well made - and the Grendel is an incredible beast. The West readily underestimates Czech manufacturing, but that may well be an artifact of all of those years behind the Iron Curtain. Some of the pre-WWII Skoda automobile designs were way cool, and Skoda also was a first-rank maker of munitions and heavy industrial products, with the Auto division now integrated with Volkswagen/Porsche/Audi. And...for those who drink beer, note that a major Skoda facility was located in Pilzen, the home of Pilsner.... And it appears that the traditions for woodworking and instrument-making are deeply seated, and well realized.

No, I am not Czech. Just czhecking things out, as life goes on...
 
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#25
Dincrest said:
I'm excited to learn all this. I know Czech Republic has a long and rich history with instrument making, yet aren't the most prominent/talked about place in terms of guitar and bass luthiery. It's almost like a best kept secret.
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My Czech made MTD import is hands down the best playing instrument Ive ever touched. I have scoured the the north american hemisphere for a better playing bass and i don't believe she exists
 
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#28
Dincrest said:
I simply cannot stop jamming on my ReBop. But that made me curious. What other bass guitars are made in the Czech Republic? I feel like because that country has such a rich and incredible heritage for instrument making (Janek Juzek among others), there has to be some amazing stuff being created there that I know nothing about.

Obviously I'm aware of Spector's Euro basses. And thanks to TalkBass, I'm aware of AV basses AV Basses, custom made electric bassguitars by Aleš Vychodil, Czech Republic. | AV Basses (Although I'm GAS free, those AVs seem incredible). But who else?

I've played US made instruments (e.g. my old Guitar Factory 6-string), European instruments (German Warwick, my Czechtor Rebop), various Asian-made instruments (Ibanez, ESP/LTD, Zon Standard), and something about the European instruments just vibed with me like nothing else... particularly my ReBop.

So, yeah, I'm just simply curious about other cool basses coming out of the Czech Republic.
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Elrick has some really high quality basses coming from Czeck..
 
#30
Czech made Spectors?

20190607_170247.jpg

Tobacco Euro.png


Check, check, and check.:D
 
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#32
Dincrest said:
I simply cannot stop jamming on my ReBop. But that made me curious. What other bass guitars are made in the Czech Republic? I feel like because that country has such a rich and incredible heritage for instrument making (Janek Juzek among others), there has to be some amazing stuff being created there that I know nothing about.

Obviously I'm aware of Spector's Euro basses. And thanks to TalkBass, I'm aware of AV basses AV Basses, custom made electric bassguitars by Aleš Vychodil, Czech Republic. | AV Basses (Although I'm GAS free, those AVs seem incredible). But who else?

I've played US made instruments (e.g. my old Guitar Factory 6-string), European instruments (German Warwick, my Czechtor Rebop), various Asian-made instruments (Ibanez, ESP/LTD, Zon Standard), and something about the European instruments just vibed with me like nothing else... particularly my ReBop.

So, yeah, I'm just simply curious about other cool basses coming out of the Czech Republic.
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Elrick manufactures there the Expat series ... got an Evo 4 and I have to say that:

1. It’s the lightest bass ever played.
2. The body manufacturing quality is top notch.
3. The neck has got a very thick and dark Wenge board - very nice.
4. The truss rod in the neck and the neck itself are extremely responsive to any adjustments - super neck I’d say.
5. Full Bartolini USA electronics package.
6. Control cavity fully shielded.

Only drawback is that I recently noticed that the frets presence can be felt when sliding across the neck.
This, however, can be easily corrected.
 
#34
SgtHulka said:
How does one do that?
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The frets’ ends have to be ground (the fretboard’s sides, of course, have to be protected with masking tape).. if one is not confident enough in his/her manual work skills, the job can be done by a technician.

Edit:

In my case this slight frets sprout situation is not a big deal at all, also because I bought the bass used at a nice price; I’ll keep the bass as is for a long time I assume.
 

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