First Act Basses?

[Kano2864212]

Ive had one of their older entry level basses for 10 years and it still plays well. All I did was a refin and setup with lighter gauge strings and its good to go

 

[robbotbass]

guess you could hot rod them with some nicer pickups and pay less then buying a MIM Fender or something like that. I'm not a name dropper but I wouldnt' buy one just for the fact my wife would kill me if I bought anything at the moment with out selling some stuff I have now.

 

[altamont]

I meant for the endorsing artists. As for the bands I saw them playing, I don't think they're sporting the full Custom shop builds. Maybe modified and upgraded versions of the cheaper builds.

I know the First Act Custom Shop basses are high quality made instruments, nothing to compare with the lower end thingy and they are priced accordingly.

I'm not trying to bash on First Act here, not at all.
The same thing is happening in the drums industry. Take for example Ddrums. There's a lot of bashing on them in the industry. They're making 300$ D2 sets and their higher end regular stuff is selling at 1.5K. Also they've got a custom shop series, selling for 3K and up. Can't even compare the two..

 

[electracoyote]

I'm not trying to bash on First Act here, not at all.
The same thing is happening in the drums industry. Take for example Ddrums. There's a lot of bashing on them in the industry. They're making 300$ D2 sets and their higher end regular stuff is selling at 1.5K. Also they've got a custom shop series, selling for 3K and up. Can't even compare the two..

Yeah, that makes sense. I've seen that kind of pricing/quality disparity with other gear.

I think First Act Custom/Artist basses have kind of declined over the years. It seems they used to have more styles and catered to players across more genres. A couple of my favorite body styles aren't available anymore, and like you said, a lot of metal types playing them these days.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I don't teach (bass) but I'm active in the High School as a substitute teacher and everyone knows I play so I have students (not bass students) ask me to look at their basses to see what I think.

Same here.

 

[robbotbass]

Same here.

Nice!!!!!!! you sub then?

 

[Joe Nerve]

Nice!!!!!!! you sub then?

Been doing it a lot longer than i care to admit. Works well into the musician lifestyle.

 

[robbotbass]

Been doing it a lot longer than i care to admit. Works well into the musician lifestyle.

I agree it's nice for a musician! I have a full time job as a Train conductor as well as doing the Sub thing on the side. But soon I'll be a full time Sub till I finish my Teaching degree. So I'll have more time devoted to music!

 

[Fresh Eddie]

The First Act Custom Shop used to be two blocks from where I live... it moved a couple years ago and is now a gym. There used to be a First Act store in town as well, but it closed. They used to give a lot of the custom shop models away around here (Boston) to bands. I know someone who got a Mosrite shaped one for free, but still plays his Les Pauls.

 

[robbotbass]

I see they make amps to or do they farm those out?

 

[bassbenj]

A friend of mine has a First Act P-Bass... The neck has bowed so much its hardly playable, I tried fixing it up for him but the truss rod hardly has any effect its bowed so much. Also, the frets are really sharp and I can see potential for a nasty hand wound happening. Not to say every one of these is like this, but its definitely a temporary instrument. The instrument allowed my buddy to learn bass and that's really what counts, he plays a MM Stingray now.

I love turning a pig's ear bass into a booteek treasure, but First Act entry level just don't measure up. That's why I've got six SX basses instead. The problem is that the First Act has no decent raw materials to start with. The SX basses come with real wood and a strong good-feeling neck that actually works. So with some relatively easy mods the basses really become nice. With a First Act you'd start modding and by the time you got the bass playing the way you want, there would be NONE of the original bass left!

Of course the very fact that they are so crappy makes it VERY tempting to put the mod effort in on one just to take to gigs to "show class". But basically First Act is like so many "entry-level' basses you find out there with names that nobody ever heard of; They just don't have enough initial quality to make it worth trying to make them playable.

 

[electracoyote]

I love turning a pig's ear bass into a booteek treasure, but First Act entry level just don't measure up.

+1

Coming from a fellow modder, this is not what we're looking for in a foundation to modify. Most of the entry level First Act models are far inferior to the cheapest Squier and SX models.

However, mysteriously, they do make decent starter instruments. They are cut and pieced together well.

 

[pwnyman]

The bassist/guitarist of Boris plays a pretty sweet rick copy done by first act.

 

[ArcadeNate]

I have a First Act bass that I bought from a friend, along with a cheap Ibanez electric guitar and a useless Peavy 10-inch guitar amp combo that buzzed, hissed and cracked like a demon siren. He was going through hard times and was looking to sell stuff he didnt use or need. I threw the amp away immediately. I still have the guitar for learning on. As to the bass, I never touch it. It just sits here. It is a P-bass with an ugly rounded body design. The sound it produces is somewhere between average and good. Not quite good. It stays in tune. Neck is fine but plays as sticky as a wet Dixie cup. No playability whatsover. Frets are not smooth but not awful. This bass would be perfectly fine for a beginner. If I removed the tacky white pearl pickguard, sanded the brand name off the headstock, changed the strings and lowered the action, I could gig this and get away with it, as I have pedals that could compensate. I really don't know what I am going to do with it. Maybe sell it to a pawn shop for $50.