Is it me ... or my new Mitchell short-scale?

[Ralph124C41]

OK, this is what happened today.

I gave up on my Ibanez TBM100 ... not because it doesn't play good and has an arsenal of sounds ... but I just couldn't get used to playing a long-scale bass after years of playing my Rogue "Beatle" bass, a short-scale (but you have to use at least medium-gauge strings on it because of that bridge design). So I went to my local Guitar Center and asked if they could match the price of today's Stupid Del of the Day at Musician's Friend, a Mitchell short-scale bass for $99 or so. They said they could so I bought the only one in stock ... a display model without a box and without even those neck and saddle adjustment things.

First I got a full refund on my TBM100 as it was within the 45-day limit. I took the Mitchell home and started doing some adjustment. The strings were WAY off the fingerboard so I lowed the saddles. I checked the intonation; it was OK. Then (maybe before actually I did the saddle adjustment) I measured the neck relief and it was high so I tried to use the neck wrench to adjust it. As I said I don't have the stock model but I have a slew of them from other guitar and bass purchases in the past 20 years or so. I tried every one of them ... and I couldn't get any to fit. I tried looking at the socket and I saw what appeared to maybe be a sliver of metal in it but deeper so that should not interfere with the threading.

Am I doing something wrong ... or do I need a special wrench or is there something wrong with the bass itself? It is fun instrument to play and sounds OK(ish) ... the pickups are passive and not very powerful but it would do its job as a backup, especially for what I paid for it. But I don't want a bass that I can't adjust the neck on ... plus the resale value would be next to nothing.

I am taking it back to GC tomorrow to see if anybody there can help me. They no longer have a dedicated tech person so I don't know. But it's not rocket science I should think. I've adjusted the neck for years on my acoustics, electrics and a few basses. Some are harder to adjust than others .. but I have never encountered a problem like this one.

Btw, I like low action as I'm not a hard player so I like something like .008 to .010 inch at the 7th fret. The lowest I can get right now at t he same spot is about .019/0.020 inch ... is that that bad/ Then again, as I said, I really don't want to keep a bass that has a problematic neck.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

It’s probably a 4mm hex key. Could be 5mm but most newer instruments I’ve seen are 4.

 

[MCF]

OK, this is what happened today.

I gave up on my Ibanez TBM100 ... not because it doesn't play good and has an arsenal of sounds ... but I just couldn't get used to playing a long-scale bass after years of playing my Rogue "Beatle" bass, a short-scale (but you have to use at least medium-gauge strings on it because of that bridge design). So I went to my local Guitar Center and asked if they could match the price of today's Stupid Del of the Day at Musician's Friend, a Mitchell short-scale bass for $99 or so. They said they could so I bought the only one in stock ... a display model without a box and without even those neck and saddle adjustment things.

First I got a full refund on my TBM100 as it was within the 45-day limit. I took the Mitchell home and started doing some adjustment. The strings were WAY off the fingerboard so I lowed the saddles. I checked the intonation; it was OK. Then (maybe before actually I did the saddle adjustment) I measured the neck relief and it was high so I tried to use the neck wrench to adjust it. As I said I don't have the stock model but I have a slew of them from other guitar and bass purchases in the past 20 years or so. I tried every one of them ... and I couldn't get any to fit. I tried looking at the socket and I saw what appeared to maybe be a sliver of metal in it but deeper so that should not interfere with the threading.

Am I doing something wrong ... or do I need a special wrench or is there something wrong with the bass itself? It is fun instrument to play and sounds OK(ish) ... the pickups are passive and not very powerful but it would do its job as a backup, especially for what I paid for it. But I don't want a bass that I can't adjust the neck on ... plus the resale value would be next to nothing.

I am taking it back to GC tomorrow to see if anybody there can help me. They no longer have a dedicated tech person so I don't know. But it's not rocket science I should think. I've adjusted the neck for years on my acoustics, electrics and a few basses. Some are harder to adjust than others .. but I have never encountered a problem like this one.

Btw, I like low action as I'm not a hard player so I like something like .008 to .010 inch at the 7th fret. The lowest I can get right now at t he same spot is about .019/0.020 inch ... is that that bad/ Then again, as I said, I really don't want to keep a bass that has a problematic neck.

JMO. But. You get what you pay for. Mitchell is a GC/MF house brand. And buying a bass from GC is always a crap shoot. Return it and buy a decent bass from a reputable retailer.

 

[madscientist]

I hope you get your truss rod issue solved at GC. I picked up one of those basses during a Black Friday sale about two years ago. Off the rack, I loved the ergonomics, and the electronics were... ok, honestly, they were blah. I had an older Fender USA P pickup laying around from a Highway One that I'd owned back in the day, installed it, and now the bass is a tone monster. Some fretwork would complete the package, and I'll get to that eventually.

If yours has a functional truss rod, it's definitely worth holding onto, and probably worth modding down the road.

 

[leftyc]

I have 2 Ibanez TMB30 Short Scale Basses that play way above their price point.

 

[jd56hawk]

I am taking it back to GC tomorrow to see if anybody there can help me.

Forget about asking them to fix it.
Return it and buy a good short-scale bass.
More available now than ever before.
Other than that, if you like the Talman, why not go with the short-scale TMB30?

 

[Ralph124C41]

jd56hawk,

That's exactly what I am thinking about doing. I will take it in anyway but I'm guessing the inner rod may be stripped but your opinion is good, too. Just return it and buy the TMB30. I found a used one but the bridge seems to have been put on at a weird angle so I don't think I want to go that route.,

The Mitchell does have a great neck I think ... but that isn't everything. I have read a few reviews that cited problems with the neck possibly being bowed ... but I haven't found anything like the problem I've encountered.

 

[newfuture]

As stated, almost certainly a 4mm hex. Tiny chance it's a larger size, but I doubt it.
Any chance the hex socket is rounded or misshaped?

 

[braud357]

A couple of years ago GC ran a special on the Mitchell short scale basses - $89.95 ! I had been wanting a short-scale bass so I pulled the trigger on one in blue. Due to demand it was back-ordered, and I was given the option of a refund or wait for them to become available. I decided to wait and did not receive the bass until 4 months later. The fit and finish was above par for a bass that retailed for $160. The action was pretty high, but the intonation was dead-on. I played it once on a short 2 hour gig at a benefit. The bass sounded all right but would not stay in tune. It has resided in my rack unused until recently. I decided to invest in a set of strings and would endeavor to make it more "playable". The GHS 3135 Bass Boomers short scale set solved the tuning problem. After tweaking the truss rod and installing 2 neck shims I have the action a good bit lower. Upon playing it I found it to have a good, punchy sound. Last Saturday my horn band played another 2 hour show at a benefit to help a fellow band mates cousin who has incurred some significant medical bills. The were 2 other bassists present, and they both came up to me and asked what kind of bass I was playing, and stated that it really sounded good out front. Summary - if you want to invest some time with set up and detailing you can have a decent-sounding bass for low bucks !

 

[Ralph124C41]

I took it to GC and a guy I know looked at that obstruction and fished it out with a saddle wrench. I think it was a piece of wood shaving. Anyway he got the thing adjusted and I've been playing it a bit. I've lowered the saddles and raised the pickups a bit and it seems OK now. Intonation remains fine. So at the moment it seems OK for a backup bass which may never be played at a gig, And it was just $100 or so new.

I also like that is so short that I can put it in a well-padded guitar gig bag.

As for strings, the Mitchell website says the stock strings are D'Addarios. But the website says they are EXL-170s but I'm guessing they are the EXL-170S short-scale strings. I haven't played it enough to notice tuning instability but there may be some.