NBD sterling SUB

So I picked this guy up locally on the old Facebook marketplace today for what I would consider to be a very decent price. I am completely impressed with this instrument. This thing punches well above its weight and could hang with many American made basses. I can't believe how far "cheap" basses have come in the last 15 years. It's insane. I'm to the point where I think if you get a good knockoff version of the brand (squier, epiphone, sub, etc) the only reason you'd want the American made equivalent is because of the name on the headstock.

Now I am not gonna go crazy and say this is totally on par with an ernie ball, but it is good enough.

Obviously when I got it I had to immediately tear it apart to see what makes it go.
And there it is... what I assume to be stock wiring. About ten washers per pot because all they had in the parts bin were long shafts I guess?



That's the humbucker you get. I'm not even mad its bar magnets. The thing sounds great.

Now obviously the thing was filthy when I got it from the guy, but the strings have life in them still and it's a fantastic player.

 

It is heavy. I don't own a scale so I couldn't tell you exactly how heavy, but it feels heavier than my mexican fender PJ which I consider to be "kind of" heavy. It doesn't help that the pickup itself probably weighs a pound by itself.... (that might be an exaggeration but it is pretty weighty) I have yet to try it out live, so I'm going to see how that goes.

I would definitely recommend it. It seems like they are a little hard to find used, but it looks like you can get them new for 299 everywhere, and I would consider that a very good deal for a bass of this quality. Like I said, if you don't care what it says on the headstock you can't go wrong.

The only thing I would point out that is lacking about the bass is that the fret ends are slightly rough in places, but that seems to be a common issue with cheap guitars. They aren't cheese graters, but you can notice if you try. Also, the truss rod is a bit tight when its adjusted to spec, but that might change as it settles since I messed with it for a while.

 

For sure I would say its cheaper to buy washers. From what I've seen there are surface mount versions of this bass too (-no control plate) and that would dictate a longer shaft pot. Now really its just lazy to fire a few washers in there to compensate for the correct pot, but if it keeps the price point low and it works, who is going to argue?