Actually received it a couple of weeks ago.
I need a 5 string for an upcoming songwriting project so I wanted something inexpensive (check), short or medium scale (check), P pickup (check).
My initial impressions:
The neck is comfortable, nicely finished, no pokey frets.
Tuners are decent enough.
P pickup sounds really good.
My body preference is Jaguar style, and this is kind of a squat, chunky Jag-ish body.
Now, the downside was that out of the box the E and A strings were buzzing out at my preferred action height (6/64). I went over it with a fret rocker, and it was definitely not a boutique fret job (duh).
I don't like the control plate jack orientation, and the control layout bugs me
The wiring and pots are junk.
So....
I did a fret leveling, and that sorted out the action. It plays great at 6/64ths, and I might be able to drop it a little more.
I don't have any urge to replace the pickups because the P sounds really good, and I will almost never use the J. No need to replace the tuners. Might replace the bridge, but mainly because the break angle is pretty flat compared to my other basses, although I have no tuning or intonation problems with the Dunlop Super Brights I put on it.
I will definitely replace the electronics at some point. It'll be more of project because I want to cut a custom one piece pick guard for better pot and jack placement.
I need to break out the nut files and lower the slots just a little. That'll be good enough for now, but I'll most likely replace the nut at some point. I'm not sure if Graphtech has a drop in TusqXL replacement, but I'm game for getting a TusqXL blank and cutting my own.
For my small hands, it's a manageable neck, and dealing with the frets has made it super playable.
This is going to suit me just fine for the task at hand, and with a little sweat equity, it's playing nicely.
Sounds good, feels good. Price was good. So it's all good.
I need a 5 string for an upcoming songwriting project so I wanted something inexpensive (check), short or medium scale (check), P pickup (check).
My initial impressions:
The neck is comfortable, nicely finished, no pokey frets.
Tuners are decent enough.
P pickup sounds really good.
My body preference is Jaguar style, and this is kind of a squat, chunky Jag-ish body.
Now, the downside was that out of the box the E and A strings were buzzing out at my preferred action height (6/64). I went over it with a fret rocker, and it was definitely not a boutique fret job (duh).
I don't like the control plate jack orientation, and the control layout bugs me
The wiring and pots are junk.
So....
I did a fret leveling, and that sorted out the action. It plays great at 6/64ths, and I might be able to drop it a little more.
I don't have any urge to replace the pickups because the P sounds really good, and I will almost never use the J. No need to replace the tuners. Might replace the bridge, but mainly because the break angle is pretty flat compared to my other basses, although I have no tuning or intonation problems with the Dunlop Super Brights I put on it.
I will definitely replace the electronics at some point. It'll be more of project because I want to cut a custom one piece pick guard for better pot and jack placement.
I need to break out the nut files and lower the slots just a little. That'll be good enough for now, but I'll most likely replace the nut at some point. I'm not sure if Graphtech has a drop in TusqXL replacement, but I'm game for getting a TusqXL blank and cutting my own.
For my small hands, it's a manageable neck, and dealing with the frets has made it super playable.
This is going to suit me just fine for the task at hand, and with a little sweat equity, it's playing nicely.
Sounds good, feels good. Price was good. So it's all good.
