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Kona Select 5-string bass

Gus Borden

Gus Borden

Oct 21, 2007
2,727
26
Bergen County, New Jersey
#1
Okay, so I'm curious, has anyone ever played/owned a Kona Select 5-string bass?

Here is a link to the bass at Kona's website: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I am not looking for somebody to assume it's crappy, b/c they haven't heard of it before, or b/c its made in China (or Korea or wherever). I am looking for somebody who's owned one or owns one to weigh in and tell us what they think of it.

I suspect that the electronics may be shoddy, but I am wondering how the build quality is, structurally and that type of thing.

Thanks folks!
Gus
 
#3
Very much Warwick inspired.

I mean I know it's built in China or Indonesia, or Korea - probably # 1, but it is neck-thru, walnut and maple. How bad could it be? I know, bad - right?

The thing I am figuring is that I know I am probably going to have to replace the electronics, so what is it really worth...
 
#4
This may not EVEN relate or apply, but I recently unpacked a lovely earthenware fireplace, which was marked *Indonesia*
BTW, I've been to Bali and there was at the time a HUGE tourist-fed woodworking *industry* of locals carving all sorts of trinkets as well as genuinely useful furniture- they(non-PC-yet-positive-stereotype alert)are fine woodworkers.
Anyway, I noticed that the packing crate for the aforementioned fireplace was made entirely of solid mahogany- not the nicest grade I'd ever seen, but I saved it all & will make something(a skateboard or two to start)w/the stuff.
The part that may relate to the bass is that the crate wood was very green & will undoubtedly shrink, warp, check, etc for quite awhile- I'd be suspicious of that possibility- to some extent at least- in an inexpensive offshore wooden instrument.
 
#7
Just got the bass by UPS yesterday. It's pretty cool, overall. The top wood (Sapele?) is exceptionally nice. The truss rod needed a lot of tightening; the edges of the frets are a bit rough; pickups a little loose; wood is a little rough in spots. The action is a little high and it could use some wax on the finish. Basically - it needed a setup. But minor, easy to work with kinds of things - and definitely worth the effort because this thing does have some tone. The neck is a little wider and chunkier than I expected, but it turns out to have the 19 mm string spacing. So it's great for slap technique, and it definitely has the tone. Sustain is great, though it does have one dead spot up at E on the G string. There's a lot of walnut in this bass, which must give it the warm tone it has. Kind of half way between scooped mids and burpy mids - balanced. But definitely the sound of wood, so to speak, for a tenth the price. Except for the bass control, the tone controls are pretty subtle. But they each do operate at a well chosen frequency, and the bass control has a lot of range. It has a partially potted preamp that interestingly enough, appears to have several metal can transistors in it. Has very nice full bottom end. Fairly punchy and full range, but you won't be able to get enough top end out of it to get clanky. For an edgier tone I would just turn down the bass a bit and it's there. The pickups are the Music Man type, and at this point I don't see a reason to change them unless you wanted a name brand in there. I got this bass just to check it out because I've already got enough basses. (Alembic, Spector 5, MIA Jazz, Schecter Stiletto 5, Cort A5, Ibanez Artcore, etc.) But this is the only 5 I have with enough room to slap on, it sounds great, and I love the wood - I want to keep it.
 

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