Ibanez GWB1005: Wha, huh?

[neurotictim]

My GWB35 is pretty sweet. It's Korean, but it is a ton* of fretless action.

My last fretless was a 1967 Jazz**, and this is a better instrument.

*Light as a feather. Really really light. The sound is what's heavy, nothing else.

**Oddly enough, made by Fender in the USA in 1967

I'm glad you like it - there's a lot of growl in that GWB35. Half-rounds bring out the best of it. If I was more of a fretless player, I never would have let it go.

 

[Wwolof]

I had a BC5CBC-T installed.

Any Bart BC series soapbar for 5-string will fit right in to the pickup rout on a GWB35.

I thank you, Sir!

 

[Wwolof]

While I'm here, hi Tim!

 

[SiliconElle]

I am looking for a high quality fretless bass and I was seriously considering the GWB1005! Now I feel discouraged. Now I don't know what to get. Is there a higher quality alternative for a similar price?

 

[SiliconElle]

Has anyone here actually tried a GWB1005?

 

[Ian Perge]

An F Bass BNF5 with passive electronics and no preamp starts at $4,599 (list), and somehow it's allegedly worth it? MTDs are awesome, but a 535 lined fretless (24 frets, ebony board and no other options) lists for $4,500? A Roscoe LG3005 for roughly $3800 ($225 more if you want a black Ebony board)?

I'm thinking that most of the complaint here is because the name on the headstock says Ibanez.

I disagree - I believe by far the main problem is that Ibanez had already offered virtually the same bass (and in some cases better, as the GWB1 had an matching ash headstock overlay and ebony fingerboard as opposed to the ebonal and black headstock featured on the 1005) for a far lower and much more reasonable price... and dumped it for a version apart from the fingerboard and headstock, countersunk threaded inserts for the ramp, and supposed "one-person construction" is nearly two thousand dollars higher! One can hardly help but feel "ripped off" when they could have gotten almost exactly the same bass for $1,00-$1,200 a few years ago. There's also the point of dumping the fretted version, or more to the point hardly building any and them canceling the line. I know more than a few GWB-series owners (one or two professional-level players) that would love to own a fretted version, and I believe this shows the larger scope of Ibanez's lack of time in give a model to find a segment of buyers. I've seen it myself when I purchased an RKB-900 at an insane clearance price when the bass was sold for less than a year and could have easily become a MIM-killer.

Yes, all of the basses you've listed are around the same price-point, but let's be honest - the GWB is simplistic by design and certainly when compared to MTD, Roscoe, F-Bass and the others you've mentioned. They all would likely take much more time in simply their finish curing compared to the Natural Flat finish the 1005 has. And economically, all the high-end basses you listed are known for being hand-built or "finished" over many years and therefore worth their prices. Ibanez hasn't had a public custom shop since the early '90s, so they simply don't have the reputation to charge 2K for a hand-built minimalist bass.

My first "good" bass was a '92 SR-800 and I've owned two other fantastic Ibani throughout my playing career, so I'm hardly a "hater". I simply won't let myself get ripped off by any company.

 

[Beta]

Yes, all of the basses you've listed are around the same price-point, but let's be honest - the GWB is simplistic by design and certainly when compared to MTD, Roscoe, F-Bass and the others you've mentioned. They all would likely take much more time in simply their finish curing compared to the Natural Flat finish the 1005 has. And economically, all the high-end basses you listed are known for being hand-built or "finished" over many years and therefore worth their prices. Ibanez hasn't had a public custom shop since the early '90s, so they simply don't have the reputation to charge 2K for a hand-built minimalist bass.

Emphasis mine.

The reputation of the person whose logo is on the headstock is worth at least two thousand dollars to you?

I'm thinking that most of the complaint here is because the name on the GWB's headstock says Ibanez. The GWB1005 is still going to cost much less than all the other basses I mentioned.

I own a GWB2. I don't think it sold well during its run. I'm not willing to part with mine, so I understand why the people you know would want one. But when is the last time you saw Gary Willis play a fretted bass, whether it had his signature on the headstock or not? It's a great bass, but it's still a gimmick.

 

[Ian Perge]

The reputation of the person whose logo is on the headstock is worth at least two thousand dollars to you?

When it's a bass I'd likely have to special order and therefore lay down a sizable deposit (I've never seen a 1005 stocked, not even at the Bass speciality stores), one in which few, if any people own that I could enquire about as well as the $2,000+ price-tag, yes - the reputation of the builder is worth something to me...

As an example, I had narrowed my search for my "Dream Bass" and found it after playing a friend's Mike Lull for a few minutes. Now certainly I wasn't able to spend the hours I would have *liked* to examining it, but between the time I did, the Word of my friend, and Mike Lull's general status as a top-notch luthier, when the chance to purchase not one but two (a Modern 4 and 5) on the used market I jumped at the chance to purchase because of Mike's reputation and in those 5 minutes I knew I had found My Bass.

Ibanez certainly doesn't have any one person publicly that I could insert into the above tale and come up with the same outcome. That's simply why touting that "(the) Japanese handcrafted GWB1005 model raises the fretless bar..." in ad copy doesn't sell basses at that high a price when you don't know whose hands are doing the crafting.

The GWB1005 is still going to cost much less than all the other basses I mentioned.

As you bolded part of this, even you agree to a certain point that the GWBs are very much minimalist basses - why then should it not it be held up to the same standards as a bass near it's pricepoint? Take a Spector US-made bolt-on: from 4-to-6 string they average the GWB1005's $2,999.99 MSPR price. You get:

• [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
• Graphite Reinforced 3pc Bolt-On Rock Maple Neck, 24 Fret Pau Ferro Fingerboard, mother of pearl Spector inlays
• FM models feature Figured Maple Top, EX models feature Spalted Maple Wood Top
• Black Hardware, including custom aluminum Hipshot bridge with brass saddles and Hipshot UltraLite tuners
• Aguilar OBP-3 3 band active tone controls, special EMG CS-TW single/dual coil mode pickups
• Available in lined or unlined fretless at no additional charge
• Options Solid Rosewood Neck Option, 4 & 5 string models
  Buckeye Burl Top on EX models
• Limited lifetime warranty against defects to the original owner

People, especially *here* don't have problems purchasing Ibanez basses. They have problems purchasing overcharged basses that simply aren't worth their price.

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

Ibanez certainly doesn't have any one person publicly that I could insert into the above tale and come up with the same outcome. That's simply why touting that "(the) Japanese handcrafted GWB1005 model raises the fretless bar..." in ad copy doesn't sell basses at that high a price when you don't know whose hands are doing the crafting.

Sugi guitars of Japan build these basses. Their guitars go new for $3k to $5k and used they still go for $2k. Now, I'm not try to say that the GWB1005 is worth the asking price, but a bass that is built by a team of 5 individuls and that is sold for $3k is fairly normal.

 

[Dr_Bassius]

sorry to bump such an elderly thread....


today i talked to Gary himself about the 1005....they're made by hand from start to finish and are (to use gary's words) "perfect"


hence the price tag.

I asked him about my gwb1 (discont) he said that if it's set up right it would be an excellent instrument....which it is.


my $0.02