Up to now I always played jazz basses and hollowbodys, never tried a precision, so I ordered a MIM standard p-bass, just to get an idea what they're all about. It's one of the new ones with the Pau Ferro fretboard.
Yesterday I received the package and what can I say? Well, let's just get into it...
Bare with my english, I'll give my best.
NECK
As soon as I took the bass out of the package I noticed that there's something
off about the neck.
See that edge? It feels just as sharp as it looks, almost like holding a 2 by 4.
The fretboard is very rough for the most part, only in the upper register you find some smoothness. The frets are not polished as far as I can tell, they look dull, feel rough and most of them have these dark spots on the sides. First I thought, they cut to deep into the fretboard and filled it up with woodfiller but these spots seem to be markers. The back of the neck is covered with some very weird, plastic-like stuff that feels very slippery and unorganic. Very different from any neck I ever hold in my hand.
NUT
While tuning the thing up I had problems with the E-string. It's impossible to get a stable
tuning and I think I found the reason.
The slot for the E-string is far to wide as you can see.
TUNERS
They turn smooth and everything but the holes where you put the string in are far too small.
A lot of people including me bend their strings, before cutting them so you end up with a
hook type of string end which you put into the tuner. Well that's not possible here and even
just getting the strings in and out is a pain in the neck because it's so narrow in there.
Take a look:
For comparison my CIJ jazz bass:
TRUSS ROD
Does it work? Probably yes, because the neck has a back-bow but I'll never know for sure.
Why? First of all, the tool they gave me is FREAKING BROKEN:
Fortunately I have several allen keys in the exact same size but none of them did fit!
Btw, the foil is intact so the allen key must have been broken, when they put it in there.
SETUP
There is none to speak of. The Instrument comes in virtually unplayable condition.
ASSEMBLE QUALITY
I don't know if the guys and gals in mexico are working under extreme time pressure
and I don't wanna judge anyone but they surely didn't look too close, while assembling this bass. There is a cable stuck under the pickguard:
The knobs are not aligned but that's a minor thing compared to everything else.
This is how it looks, after I got in there:
Yup... still bent. They used a cheap ceramic capacitor btw. At least the solder job is decent.
But this is another thing, I've never seen:
TONE CONTROL
Roll it off 95% and you have a nice high-cut, roll it off 100% and it sounds, like you rolled
it off 50%. This is NOT how a tone control is supposed to work. Probably just cheap, bad pots.
BRIDGE
The bridge is... weird. I love high action and set it up just like my jazz bass, take a look:
Compare it to the bridge on my jazz bass:
As you can see almost everything about this bass is weird and off but not everything!
Let's talk about the good stuff!
BODY AND FINISH
The way they combined the wood pieces, the sunburst... just perfect, I love it.
It looks like one solid piece of wood. Nice on photo but stunning in real life:
SOUND
After spending a good hour or two setting this mess up with some Labella's I had laying around it was ready for a sound check. Good thing the Labellas are high tension, they just about cured the back-bow. I'm sure the pickups are not the best and they sound kind of
one dimensional but it's sooo much fun to play this thing! Put some foam by the bridge
and thump thump thump, great.
So yeah that's my experience with this thing. It's a fun instrument but honestly it feels
like a cheap toy and the thought of someone getting this bass as a birthday present made
me feel sad, lol.
Yesterday I received the package and what can I say? Well, let's just get into it...
Bare with my english, I'll give my best.
NECK
As soon as I took the bass out of the package I noticed that there's something
off about the neck.
See that edge? It feels just as sharp as it looks, almost like holding a 2 by 4.
The fretboard is very rough for the most part, only in the upper register you find some smoothness. The frets are not polished as far as I can tell, they look dull, feel rough and most of them have these dark spots on the sides. First I thought, they cut to deep into the fretboard and filled it up with woodfiller but these spots seem to be markers. The back of the neck is covered with some very weird, plastic-like stuff that feels very slippery and unorganic. Very different from any neck I ever hold in my hand.
NUT
While tuning the thing up I had problems with the E-string. It's impossible to get a stable
tuning and I think I found the reason.
The slot for the E-string is far to wide as you can see.
TUNERS
They turn smooth and everything but the holes where you put the string in are far too small.
A lot of people including me bend their strings, before cutting them so you end up with a
hook type of string end which you put into the tuner. Well that's not possible here and even
just getting the strings in and out is a pain in the neck because it's so narrow in there.
Take a look:
For comparison my CIJ jazz bass:
TRUSS ROD
Does it work? Probably yes, because the neck has a back-bow but I'll never know for sure.
Why? First of all, the tool they gave me is FREAKING BROKEN:
Fortunately I have several allen keys in the exact same size but none of them did fit!
Btw, the foil is intact so the allen key must have been broken, when they put it in there.
SETUP
There is none to speak of. The Instrument comes in virtually unplayable condition.
ASSEMBLE QUALITY
I don't know if the guys and gals in mexico are working under extreme time pressure
and I don't wanna judge anyone but they surely didn't look too close, while assembling this bass. There is a cable stuck under the pickguard:
The knobs are not aligned but that's a minor thing compared to everything else.
This is how it looks, after I got in there:
Yup... still bent. They used a cheap ceramic capacitor btw. At least the solder job is decent.
But this is another thing, I've never seen:
TONE CONTROL
Roll it off 95% and you have a nice high-cut, roll it off 100% and it sounds, like you rolled
it off 50%. This is NOT how a tone control is supposed to work. Probably just cheap, bad pots.
BRIDGE
The bridge is... weird. I love high action and set it up just like my jazz bass, take a look:
Compare it to the bridge on my jazz bass:
As you can see almost everything about this bass is weird and off but not everything!
Let's talk about the good stuff!
BODY AND FINISH
The way they combined the wood pieces, the sunburst... just perfect, I love it.
It looks like one solid piece of wood. Nice on photo but stunning in real life:
SOUND
After spending a good hour or two setting this mess up with some Labella's I had laying around it was ready for a sound check. Good thing the Labellas are high tension, they just about cured the back-bow. I'm sure the pickups are not the best and they sound kind of
one dimensional but it's sooo much fun to play this thing! Put some foam by the bridge
and thump thump thump, great.
So yeah that's my experience with this thing. It's a fun instrument but honestly it feels
like a cheap toy and the thought of someone getting this bass as a birthday present made
me feel sad, lol.
