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NBD - Fender T-Bucket Acoustic Bass

Hi All!

Bought this beauty last week, I was looking for and acoustic bass to fill in an acoustic project I'm working. I looked for other brands but most of them were oversized guitars, difficult to play or semi-hollow versions with a hole in the front.

What I liked most from the T-Bucket was the small body (easy to play and carry), loud acoustic sound (I mean for a bass), and construction (even knowing that this is a laminated wood guitar, it feels and sounds solid). It's also remarkable that it was perfectly set up out of the box.

I played mine for an hour unplugged at the store, trying to get the sound I was looking for; and once I was convinced by that warm acoustic sound, I plugged it into a Fender Rumble 100 combo amp. I was happily surprised by the full and rich tone I heard with the Fishman Isis III preamp and Combo Amp controls in flat. What you got from it is a sound with lots of bottom end and plenty of middle bite and rich highs.

Workmanship and finish is just what you can expect form a Fender product. This one is made in China, but the Fender standard is there. I was also surprised by the strings it came with, Fender Phosphor Bronze; nice definition and just enough zing for an acoustic bass.

Once at home I played it for a couple of hours unplugged, loving it even more; and finally plugged it into my Markbass Rig (CMD 102P Combo + Standard 151HR Cabinet). The result was just amazing.
 
Some pics from the bass, I'll add some more later with a couple of sound clips...

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Went shopping yesterday for a gigbag for this bass, turned to be a really difficult matter. Finally I found that it fits perfectly inside a Vertigo Acoustic gigbag. Because of the 32" I had to remove the inside sole, but it is easy to remove because it cames attached with 2 strips of velcro. Couldn't be happier...

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Nice acoustic! I have one myself. I traded a Goldtone Microbass to a guy for it. The Microbass was nice but I think I got the better deal! I strung it up with D'addario Tapewounds and it sounds great. The stock bronze strings sound a bit too brash for my liking. It really is a nice bass! Enjoy!
 
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Nice acoustic! I have one myself. I traded a Goldtone Microbass to a guy for it. The Microbass was nice but I think I got the better deal! I strung it up with D'addario Tapewounds and it sounds great. The stock bronze strings sound a bit too brash for my liking. It really is a nice bass! Enjoy!

I'm really enjoying it, nice little bass... :)
 
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I'm really enjoying it, nice little bass... :)
I found that LaBella Tapewounds made my T-Bucket go sharp, and my luthier told me that that was unavoidable because of the gauge and tension of the string. He says lots of acoustic basses are designed to maintain good intonation only with certain gauge strings. I put the stock Phosphor Bronze strings back on and no problem at all with intonation. Has anyone else had this issue? How did you overcome it? (BTW, I started out hating the PBs but have actually learned to like them.) A pianist I regularly gig with told me tonight that he loves the T-Bucket with the bronze strings on it.