You don't need to defend the Mikro, I like it and said so in my comment. The bridge that came with my bass was defective and would not intonate. "The 20 cent easy fix for the older bridge is to just replace the two screws with two longer screws" would certainly not have helped because the saddle was against the back of the bridge. I didn't replace the bridge on a whim nor was I seeking vague tone improvement, the factory bridge was defective and would never intonate on E and A.
Relax. Nobody is doubting your experience. My point was that it was an issue on the first release of the MiKro bass, and has long since been addressed by Ibanez. Of those that
did have instruments made in late 2007, 2008, or early 2009, swapping out those two screws fixed the problem pretty much universally. This is very well documented. There are other issues at play here, but I'll leave it at that.
The Mikro works fine with the $21 Allparts bridge but I'm still not playing it much until I can shield the cavity to knock back the hum. Again, in my personal experience, most cheap instruments lack shielding, and this doesn't bother me on a $90 ax and is easily fixed. I'm not implying your or anybody else's Mikro has a defective bridge or hums from lack of shielding. But mine does. And that's OK, I'll fix it soon and it'll sound good.
Are you sure it's a shielding issue?
These things happen with cheap basses and are to be expected. But they are not unusual aberrations in $190 instruments. People read comments online and swap out parts because of what they read about perceived weak points. But not all of them are fools wasting their money. Sometimes you buy a bass built on a Friday and the bridge is crappy.
On top of owning two fretted MiKros, a fretless MiKro, and a piccolo MiKro, I have bought dozens of used MiKro basses over the years, restored them, corrected any issues they may have, done complete setups, including fret leveling and crowning, shielding, in many cases completely stripped and refinished them, and donated them to children's charities.
I have done repairs and setups on countless other people's instruments. I have also helped, coached and guided many MiKro owners over in the Official MiKro Bass Club.
My experience with this instrument is not just coming from having picked one up at a flea market. None of that is to discount your personal experiences in any way, but when you post general over-arching proclamations like:
The weak point is the bridge. Many volks replace the Ibanez branded bridge with a heavier replacement bridge from Allparts or Sweetwater.
and:
they are not unusual aberrations in $190 instruments.
I do have to point out that the MiKro Bass Club is currently at 12,283 posts, and I've only seen ONE person claim that their bridge on a modern production MiKro was defective (that would be you). So in my experience, that makes it an unusual abberation.
What I
have seen countless times is that people read posts claiming that "the weak point is the bridge" (or the tuners), and get all worked up about having to replace parts before they even have the instrument. Once you plant that seed, it will always be lingering in a person's mind.
Glad to hear that you're loving your MiKro, if you're good with doing the shielding on your own, have at it, otherwise we've posted lots of pictures and step-by-steps over in the MiKro Bass Club, and/or there are many of us who can coach you through the process. Come on over, join the club, post some pics along the way.
