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NBD-- Ibanez Mikro lefty from Sweetwater

alaskaleftybass

Will Hanbury, Jr.
In Memoriam
Mar 21, 2012
9,920
22,352
Sitka, Alaska
Greetings TB'ers. Happy Friday. Today I received my new Ibanez Mikro bass left handed. I bought it from Dave Hoffman at Sweetwater. He followed through with the sale and provided delivery tracking. Nice guy and a cool bass player too. First class service. Free candy too!

I had asked him to have the warehouse to pick out the lightest one, per @pcake 's suggestion, and sure enough they sent one at least a pound and a half lighter than my last one! I had to flip the strings as I play left handed but string right handed. The neck is absolutely silky. I know with most of these economy basses the neck will have fret wire issues or dips etc. but this one was perfect. Sweetwater does a 40 point inspection and it did come in nearly perfect. It will be once I adjust the truss and string height.

Playing around with the controls, they are pretty lively. Turning off the P pickup, the bass sounds really like a single coil reminiscent of a J bass, and turning off the J pickup the P pickup gives the bass a nice thumpy P style sound. If I turn on the P-pickup about 25% and the J-pickup 100% surprisingly I get a tone very similar to my EBMM bass. All in all, great purchase for me, great service from Sweetwater. And I'm not an employee! LOLL!

mikro 1.jpg

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Greetings TB'ers. Happy Friday. Today I received my new Ibanez Mikro bass left handed. I bought it from Dave Hoffman at Sweetwater. He followed through with the sale and provided delivery tracking. Nice guy and a cool bass player too. First class service. Free candy too!

I had asked him to have the warehouse to pick out the lightest one, per @pcake 's suggestion, and sure enough they sent one at least a pound and a half lighter than my last one! I had to flip the strings as I play left handed but string right handed. The neck is absolutely silky. I know with most of these economy basses the neck will have fret wire issues or dips etc. but this one was perfect. Sweetwater does a 40 point inspection and it did come in nearly perfect. It will be once I adjust the truss and string height.

Playing around with the controls, they are pretty lively. Turning off the P pickup, the bass sounds really like a single coil reminiscent of a J bass, and turning off the J pickup the P pickup gives the bass a nice thumpy P style sound. If I turn on the P-pickup about 25% and the J-pickup 100% surprisingly I get a tone very similar to my EBMM bass. All in all, great purchase for me, great service from Sweetwater. And I'm not an employee! LOLL!

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Nice! I heard one at an outdoor summer show. That thing sounded incredible! Congrats.
 
Do you flip the nut around too?
Yup! I'm an oddball! I have to flip the nut around because of the string size...

Nice! I heard one at an outdoor summer show. That thing sounded incredible! Congrats.
Thanks @StereoPlayer ! I'm imagining when we get back to playing live again I will be trying out this little hot rod! :)
 
Yup! I'm an oddball! I have to flip the nut around because of the string size...


Thanks @StereoPlayer ! I'm imagining when we get back to playing live again I will be trying out this little hot rod! :)
How hard is that? I tried doing it on a fender acoustic once and the damn thing broke so I just said screw it and glued it back together and kept it strung backwards.
 
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Greetings TB'ers. Happy Friday. Today I received my new Ibanez Mikro bass left handed. I bought it from Dave Hoffman at Sweetwater. He followed through with the sale and provided delivery tracking. Nice guy and a cool bass player too. First class service. Free candy too!

I had asked him to have the warehouse to pick out the lightest one, per @pcake 's suggestion, and sure enough they sent one at least a pound and a half lighter than my last one! I had to flip the strings as I play left handed but string right handed. The neck is absolutely silky. I know with most of these economy basses the neck will have fret wire issues or dips etc. but this one was perfect. Sweetwater does a 40 point inspection and it did come in nearly perfect. It will be once I adjust the truss and string height.

Playing around with the controls, they are pretty lively. Turning off the P pickup, the bass sounds really like a single coil reminiscent of a J bass, and turning off the J pickup the P pickup gives the bass a nice thumpy P style sound. If I turn on the P-pickup about 25% and the J-pickup 100% surprisingly I get a tone very similar to my EBMM bass. All in all, great purchase for me, great service from Sweetwater. And I'm not an employee! LOLL!

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you got the lightest one - how's the neck dive? sounds like it's workable or non-existant.

congrats on your new bass, and enjoy it :)
 
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I can find no faults in the stock Dynamix pickups in ours, not sure why everyone wants to change them out so quickly.
Just so you know, the B100 bridges are cheap & they allow for quick-release of the ball-ends:

Hey, KBD! Agreed. It sounds pretty good right out of the box. I'm a 40+ year player and I know a good sounding pickup. I'm amazed at the quality of the pickups. Do you know where I can get a Quick Release bridge? Thanks!

How hard is that? I tried doing it on a fender acoustic once and the damn thing broke so I just said screw it and glued it back together and kept it strung backwards.

Very carefully my friend! I have string nut files and I have to be very careful how much I shave off the string nut. I've done this a few times before. I HAVE to shave down the nut and flip the strings-- I can't play the bass strung left handed LOL.

you got the lightest one - how's the neck dive? sounds like it's workable or non-existant.

congrats on your new bass, and enjoy it :)

Thanks, @pcake ! There is no neck dive and once I get the strings properly settled, this is going to be a very fun bass! Thanks for the suggestions and guidance!
 
I played one of those a few months ago, i recall it being bolt on but i dont see a neck plate or bolts for that matter on this one. Is it Set-Neck?
As @WestyBassBob mentioned, the picture isn't clear enough to show that it uses four bolts.

There’s no neck plate and the bolts are painted black so it’s probably hard to see in the picture.
Yes, @WestyBassBob I'm kind of surprised that Ibanez doesn't use a plate there but it does work as it is. I'm enjoying the heck out of it!
 
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