Which reminds me: Knowing that, what if anything would you apply to a soft cloth when cleaning the bass?
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There's nothing special about the finish of that bass.
Any guitar polish will do ya fine.
So I got a Goldtone on Monday. Picked it up from Total Music Source in Florida. Great folks to deal with. They let me come to their warehouse and try several before bringing it home. Same thing I did with my u-bass. I wish I had tuned it up before taking it home because when I got it home and tuned it up it was buzzing horribly on some but not all low notes. I called them and returned it the next day and tried out others which I tuned up this time and found the one shown in the photo with my fretless hog and Squier CV 60 Precision bass. Sounds great through the Carvin MB15/15 rig in the background. Running most everything in the amp flat and volume at 3, the windows and pictures on the wall were rattling. This bass has a lot of output. I keep the treble on the preamp at half or below and bring the bass slider down just a tad and it sounds great. The gold tone seems to have a bit more midrange bite than the ubass, which seems a bit heavier in the low end. May be the difference in strings or the fdeck hpf I use with the ubass. Kind of mixed feelings about the thunder guts. They are sticky but seem to produce less finger noise and squeaks than the silver rumblers I tried on the ubass once. Ill try them for awhile and see. The action seems a bit lower and better setup than the 1st one I brought home. The nut was barely cut on the first one and the strings were really high at the 1st fret and about 1/4 or so at the 12th fret. I tried tweaking the truss rod some but couldnt get rid of the buzzing. Seems like its still a hit or miss thing with QC like with the ubasses. No problem with the frets on mine since I live in Florida where I purchased it. May have something to do with the extreme weather thats going on around the country causing fret lift that others are experiencing. All in all its a great bass, but Im still more comfortable on the ubass, but i have been playing it for over a year and it feels quite natural to me now. Fit and finish and quality seems to be on par with my ubass which was great. So I would recommend the Goldtone or the Ubass, depending on what you feel most comfortable with. Try before you buy can be difficult for most unfortunately. I was blessed to have someone who sells both within 30 minutes of my house, so it was easy for me to bring it back instead of having to ship it back which most will have to do if their is an issue. Oh yeah, and my Goldtone is fretted since My ubass is fretless. Just wanted something a little bit different!
Attachments
I got mine last Wednesday. I love this thing. The problem I have is that when I took it out to a coffee house show, my amp died. I had it plugged into the PA system, but it had no monitors, so I couldn't hear it. The 23" scale is perfect for me.
My G is fine. In fact the output is good across the board. The first one I had was low on output on the E string. I do have a bit of fret buzz on the E and A above the 12th fret if I play a bit too aggressive, so I take it easy there. Probably won't play much up there anyone, but at least I have the option to which is something I can't do with the ubass. Also it resonates fine anywhere I play.
Any word when the Labella tape wounds will be available? I'm considering putting pahoehoes on my goldtone. Don't think I can deal with the Thunderguts for too much longer!
Go for it.
Pahoehoes + microbass = awesome.
I had to sort of whiddle down the D string to a point to fit through the bridge, but they sounded great once they were in.
You'll need this set from roadtoad:
Pahoehoe Black Std Set
22.5" to 24" scale for
longer scale Solid Body and
Semi-Hollow Basses
Pahoehoes + microbass = awesome.
I had to sort of whiddle down the D string to a point to fit through the bridge, but they sounded great once they were in.
You'll need this set from roadtoad:
Pahoehoe Black Std Set
22.5" to 24" scale for
longer scale Solid Body and
Semi-Hollow Basses
Thanks I will probably go that route. How do you like your goldtone now? Do you still like it with a Paehoehoes? I still have my fretless u-bass and prefer the Paehoehoes on that over the goldtone with the thunderguts.
I sold it a while back. Once I heard about the solidbody and the labella tapewounds that would fit, I figured I'd sell the acoustic and hold on to the funds for that. That money's long since spent, but I still want the solidbody.
The more I play my MicroBass, the more I like it! Fun to play, good sound, very playable and it's so ... *cute*.
I just picked up an SKB-300 case at GC and I'm in the process of reshaping the headstock area so it'll fit the MicroBass without putting undue pressure on it.
Are you into doing it yourself? My relatively inexpensive Dot Studio conversion is working out well and uses Labella strings for the Beatle Bass (I used a lot of parts I already had lying around). Maybe you could try something like that and save a few bucks?
Nooooo.... I stink at DIY. My toolbox consists of a paper supermarket bag containing a hammer, 2 screwdrivers, and a tape measure. My bass setup tools are in the pouch of a gigbag. I used a pencil sharpener to whittle the d string. I attached straplocks to my pbass the other night. I was very proud of myself.
I'm starting to get worried about the LeBella MB23-T and MB23-N strings for the MicroBass. I no longer see them available for preorder at bassstringsonline.com and they don't seem to be on the LaBella site, either. I am fretting that they might have decided not to make them after all, or perhaps there's been a serious delay in production.
UPDATE: Some bad news, folks. I spoke by phone this morning with a very nice lady at LeBella who apologetically told me that they have indefinitely shelved production of the MB23-T and MB23-N strings because of the non-adjustable bridge on the current GoldTone MicroBass, and that they may try again in the future for models with an adjustable bridge.
Apparently, the process was quite frustrating for them. Bummer!
Apparently, the process was quite frustrating for them. Bummer!
Well, that stinks. I wonder if the U-Bass strings have become vaporware as well, since they don't have adjustable bridges, either.
The PiccoBass 25.5" scale bass has an adjustable bridge, as well as some of the guitar-to-bass conversions I've seen. This would seem to be a viable market for them, at least on a custom set basis.
I wonder if I ought to send back my MicroBass and ask for credit toward the adjustable bridge model. Either that, or find a luthier who can install some sort of adjustable bridge.
My computer's acting the fool right now so I can't find the video on the youtubes right now. I don't remember if the solidbody has an adjustable bridge. I really hope it comes out some time soon.
