NBD Ibanez GSR206SM

[Flatwound]

I've been playing 4-stringers for a few years now, due to my arthritic hands not really liking wider necks. I will most likely continue playing my '92 longhorn Jazz bass in the cover band for the foreseeable future. However, at church, we play max 6 or 7 songs per service, and I think I could handle a wider neck for that amount of work. So I was thinking of trying a Ktaxon or something, but this GSR206SM popped up on Craigslist, so I nabbed it. It was basically new in the box, apparently having had two previous owners that never played it.

I have to admit that for a cheap bass, it doesn't look cheap. The spalted top, or veneer, or whatever, is IMO, attractive. The cheapness mostly shows through in that stupid "BOOM" control that comes on GSR's. When I got it, it was in desperate need of a setup. The strings were barely in the same hemisphere as the neck. It has two truss rods, and I found that the bass side truss rod was almost completely loose. So far, I've put nearly 3/4 of a turn on that truss rod, and about 1/4 turn on the other one. Neck is flattening out nicely, and I'd call it reasonably playable at this point. The pickups are both cocked longitudinally, so I'll have to remove them and see what's going on underneath. Nonetheless, for "cheap" pickups, they're not bad, and sound surprisingly throaty. They're the same size as EMG 45's, but that may not matter since they sound so good. It takes me a while to set up a bass, as I like to make adjustments and then recheck in 24-48 hours. I'm not a pro at this, so I don't mind if it takes a little while. I think it's going to be a decent, usable bass.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Good to take your time, those do punch above their weight don't they?

 

[crazycloud]

I have one as well, but in the horrible brown finish. No marks on it though and it plays and sounds great. It was less than $300 new.
I have a whole bunch of other 6s and this one is in no way ashamed in their company. It's also been used at the last couple of gigs.

A tip to acclimatise as quickly as possible to the 6; put away the 4 and play the 6 exclusively until it feels like home.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

Congrats!!

 

[Flatwound]

Good to take your time, those do punch above their weight don't they?

It does seem pretty solid. I think it has the original strings on it still, but I have a set of Slinky nickels waiting in the wings.

 

[Flatwound]

OK then. I finally got around to replacing the (original?) strings with a new set of Slinky nickels .032-.130. Tweaked the truss rods a bit more, removed the pickups to make them not slanted, and so on. Found a few interesting things. For one, the pickups have a combination of foam and springs under them, and there's a little slot routed in the body for the springs to fit in. Two good sized springs, somewhat similar to some Warwicks. I discovered under the bridge pickup that there was a ground wire protruding into the spring rout, which tended to slant the pickup a bit. I realized then that the pickup cavities have grounding paint in them, and there's a ground screw screwed into the body/paint. Nice detail on a "cheap" bass. The pickups are epoxy-sealed, so who knows what's inside. The pickups are somewhat nondescript, except for having a kind of nice pebbled finish on the top.

As I said previously, the pickups sound surprisingly good. I find the B string to be a bit weak, but I still have some adjusting to do. Truss rods turn easily. One of the few signs of cheapness that I have seen is that there is polishing compound in the neck screw holes on the back of the body. Otherwise, it seems like a pretty nice bass. I opened the control cavity, which is secured with the usual little phillips head wood screws, and saw that the volume pots are Hongh 500k pots, and the tone pot is a 250k Hongh pot with some sort of teensy capacitor attached. I think the electronics are basically passive except for the "boom" control. So, if you're used to a VVT setup, just keep the boom control at zero, and you'll be right at home.

I don't know how far down the six-string road I'm going to go, partially because of arthritis. But now I have a decent sixer to noodle around on.

Edited to point out: the separate battery compartment has a couple of machine screws with brass threaded inserts. Again, nice touch.

 

[vlad_drac]

I bought the same bass a few days ago. Going through the same process of getting the neck in a better position and swapped the strings for DR Lo Riders. Sounds very nice through the pedalboard setup I normally run.

Did you wind up keeping it? If so did you make any other updates? The only thing I can see me doing is removing the active "boom" controls and going entirely passive. Maybe swapping pickups for EMGs.. Or maybe a single EMG 45P closer to the bridge...

 

[Flatwound]

I bought the same bass a few days ago. Going through the same process of getting the neck in a better position and swapped the strings for DR Lo Riders. Sounds very nice through the pedalboard setup I normally run.

Did you wind up keeping it? If so did you make any other updates? The only thing I can see me doing is removing the active "boom" controls and going entirely passive. Maybe swapping pickups for EMGs.. Or maybe a single EMG 45P closer to the bridge...

I still have it, still trying to figure out what to do with it. I mean, it sounds fine, plays nice, looks nice. I was thinking of using it with various effects to add textures at church, but I haven’t really gotten too far on that. A P or a J is good for the cover band.