Hi folks,
Yesterday, I received a Chinese made 12-string bass that I bought off of eBay. The nice part about that is that it arrived in 5 days rather than 3 months as when you order from AliExpress.
Being a lover of Carlo Robelli basses, I did search the internet to see if there was a CR 12-string for sale, but I didn't see one. That being said, even if one was available, it's a bit out of my current price range at the moment. Hence my purchasing an inexpensive Chinese 12-string.
(As an aside, I find it interesting that many regard Carlo Robellis basses as nothing special, yet the 12-string version has had its value go way up over the years. Anyway, I digress.)
I've only had the chance to unbox it, tune it up, and play it for a few minutes. Here are my initial impressions.
I really like the body shape, color, and binding (more on the binding later). I also REALLY like the headstock shape. I find it interesting, especially with the cutouts, and the way the tuning pegs are mounted. I do hope it can take the added string tension as time goes on.
The neck is WIDE! Widest neck I've got on any bass. That makes sense, though. It doesn't feel bad, but I do notice the extra width. It's got a flat and thin profile, which makes it easy enough to move around on and to play all the strings. Playing all those strings, and playing them well is going to take some getting used to, that's for sure.
When tuning it up, I wasn't sure how 12-strings are typically tuned. I've since found out that the "normal" strings are tuned as normal to EADG, and the two thinner, accompanying strings are tuned one octave higher.
My two thinner strngs are of different gauges. When I tried to tune the thicker E string an octave higher, it seemed like it was putting way too much tension on the string and that it would snap. So I tuned it at the same octave as the normal E string. This makes it too floppy, though.
I did the same with the rest of the thicker of the two accompanying strings. Those are not too floppy.
I'll play around with it and see if I can retune them all an octave higher.
Fret work is good. No buzzing, no sharp ends. However, fret sprout tends to be the norm here in Albuquerque, so I won't be surprised if it rears its ugly head, eventually.
I haven't done a set-up yet, so not sure how the intonation is, but string height seems good enough for now.
It has a Tune-o-matic type bridge. The string retainer is set up in an interesting way in that each ball end on the strings sort of pile one on top of the other, as opposed to a seperate space for each. I understand the why of it, but have never seen that before. I'm not sure if all 12-string basses are set up this way. It seems a bit "just get 'er done", willy-nilly type of engineering LOL!
The pickup selector works well, and has positive engagement. Volume and tone knobs work well (more on those later).
I like the output of the pickups. Clear, powerful, good amount of adjustability, not micorphonic.
All-in-all, I'm happy with it. I'll know more as time goes on and report on my findings, if anyone is interested.
So, regarding the binding, and knobs. In the original advertisement pics (see my first two pictures), the knobs were black, similar to J bass style knobs. I like those a LOT better than the silver knobs it arrived with.
Regarding the binding, the original ad pics show the binding as having 2 thin black lines in the design. The binding on the bass I received only has 1. I know this is a small point but, part of the reason I ordered this particular bass was that I liked the binding in the ad pics, and also the black knobs. I've written to the seller to point these things out and see if they will provide me with the black knobs and if they'll give me a discount in regards to the binding. I'm still waiting to hear back from them.
Yesterday, I received a Chinese made 12-string bass that I bought off of eBay. The nice part about that is that it arrived in 5 days rather than 3 months as when you order from AliExpress.
Being a lover of Carlo Robelli basses, I did search the internet to see if there was a CR 12-string for sale, but I didn't see one. That being said, even if one was available, it's a bit out of my current price range at the moment. Hence my purchasing an inexpensive Chinese 12-string.
(As an aside, I find it interesting that many regard Carlo Robellis basses as nothing special, yet the 12-string version has had its value go way up over the years. Anyway, I digress.)
I've only had the chance to unbox it, tune it up, and play it for a few minutes. Here are my initial impressions.
I really like the body shape, color, and binding (more on the binding later). I also REALLY like the headstock shape. I find it interesting, especially with the cutouts, and the way the tuning pegs are mounted. I do hope it can take the added string tension as time goes on.
The neck is WIDE! Widest neck I've got on any bass. That makes sense, though. It doesn't feel bad, but I do notice the extra width. It's got a flat and thin profile, which makes it easy enough to move around on and to play all the strings. Playing all those strings, and playing them well is going to take some getting used to, that's for sure.
When tuning it up, I wasn't sure how 12-strings are typically tuned. I've since found out that the "normal" strings are tuned as normal to EADG, and the two thinner, accompanying strings are tuned one octave higher.
My two thinner strngs are of different gauges. When I tried to tune the thicker E string an octave higher, it seemed like it was putting way too much tension on the string and that it would snap. So I tuned it at the same octave as the normal E string. This makes it too floppy, though.
I did the same with the rest of the thicker of the two accompanying strings. Those are not too floppy.
I'll play around with it and see if I can retune them all an octave higher.
Fret work is good. No buzzing, no sharp ends. However, fret sprout tends to be the norm here in Albuquerque, so I won't be surprised if it rears its ugly head, eventually.
I haven't done a set-up yet, so not sure how the intonation is, but string height seems good enough for now.
It has a Tune-o-matic type bridge. The string retainer is set up in an interesting way in that each ball end on the strings sort of pile one on top of the other, as opposed to a seperate space for each. I understand the why of it, but have never seen that before. I'm not sure if all 12-string basses are set up this way. It seems a bit "just get 'er done", willy-nilly type of engineering LOL!
The pickup selector works well, and has positive engagement. Volume and tone knobs work well (more on those later).
I like the output of the pickups. Clear, powerful, good amount of adjustability, not micorphonic.
All-in-all, I'm happy with it. I'll know more as time goes on and report on my findings, if anyone is interested.
So, regarding the binding, and knobs. In the original advertisement pics (see my first two pictures), the knobs were black, similar to J bass style knobs. I like those a LOT better than the silver knobs it arrived with.
Regarding the binding, the original ad pics show the binding as having 2 thin black lines in the design. The binding on the bass I received only has 1. I know this is a small point but, part of the reason I ordered this particular bass was that I liked the binding in the ad pics, and also the black knobs. I've written to the seller to point these things out and see if they will provide me with the black knobs and if they'll give me a discount in regards to the binding. I'm still waiting to hear back from them.
