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Official ESP club

#662
LoveThatBass said:
I guess I am confused. The above LTD B-5E shows in Black Ebony on the body. The one I ordered shows to be more dark brown (which I hope is true). Can anyone shed some light on this please??? Please do not misunderstand the above bass is very nice. I just like brown woods that's all

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/esp-ltd-b-5e-5-string-bass-guitar#productDetail

Here is from the ESP site showing the LTD B-5E with a dark brown ebony top

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Click to expand...
Well, the B-5E you ordered may look very different in person from the one shown in ESP's site. The ones in sweetwater have a very, very lighter shade than the ones you'll see online. Another fact why mine looks a lot darker may have something to do with the country. Mine says it was made in China. One thing I have noticed is that mine has a very dark ebony fingerboard. Whereas, the ones I see in Sweetwater nowadays have a very lighter shade. If yours is made in Indonesia, the wood color may very well be different :) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B5ENShttp://
 
#663
Loving my LTD Vintage 214 I picked up on Amazon for $188. Very good build quality, incredible value and feels and sounds better than comparable Squier models. Just played it at my temple gig and everyone loved it.

IMG_20131208_215050_967_zpsc5d18647.gif
 
#665
BassKick said:
Well, the B-5E you ordered may look very different in person from the one shown in ESP's site. The ones in sweetwater have a very, very lighter shade than the ones you'll see online. Another fact why mine looks a lot darker may have something to do with the country. Mine says it was made in China. One thing I have noticed is that mine has a very dark ebony fingerboard. Whereas, the ones I see in Sweetwater nowadays have a very lighter shade. If yours is made in Indonesia, the wood color may very well be different :) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B5ENShttp://
Click to expand...

Thank you for the helpful reply. I grew up with the misconception all ebony was black. Appartently there are species from Indonesia that are lighter. If I were going for a black bass I wood definately consider a dark ebony like yours.
 
#670
The B-5E has a mahogany body. When the body appears to have a cap on top, is that mahogany, or another wood cap?

BTW, that B-104 has great looks, too!

If anyone has a closeup of a lighter ebony fretboard made in Indonesia, post it.
Here's a rosewood board made in Korea (B-204FM)...
 

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#671
Staccato said:
The B-5E has a mahogany body. When the body appears to have a cap on top, is that mahogany, or another wood cap?
Click to expand...


I got my new LTD B-5E in tonight. The ebony fretboard is lighter with brown mixed with black and is genuine Macassar ebony (Diospyros Macassar) from Indonesia. The same for the top wood on the wings. It is Ebony (dark brown mixed with some black that is a species from Indonesia) and dark but dark brown (darker than some photos on websites but still brown mostly).The Headstock top wood appears to be the same as the fretboard which is lighter than what's on the top of the body. Definitely tell it is brown but with some black streaks in it. It came set up nicely. Only had to tune it. Intonation very good, action good. I think I am going to love this bass. One nice thing, they changed from the horrible SIT's that came on the D-5 last January to Cleartones. They are decent, good balance, piano like tone but It still prefer DR Silverstars light Nanoweb coated for feel and tone.
Need to do some back pedaling here. The strings that come with the base are Cleartone coat rounds (tag says Cleartone Premium coated strings) as I play them more along with some songs on the computer actually sound pretty nice, just the right tension for my tastes. They seem to work here. I am going to leave them on a while and give them a decent chance. Who know I may just like them for this particular bass.
 

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#672
I don't deal with flat finishes very well (except the back of the neck) so with that, I took all the hardware off and electronics out and used extra fine polishing bar and rotary pads from Stewmac on a drill motor and spent a couple hours buffing all but the back of the neck to a nice shiny luster. It brought that Ebony and Mahogany out nicely. Done enough for tonight. Will put it back together tomorrow.
 
#674
Your welcome, with that said I have installed two mini switches on the front ( Series/Parallel) and (split coil/full coil) and am going to install my Lace Alumitone Bar pickups. I had the Lace in the D-5 trying them out until I got this bass. Here's hoping they come in this evening and I get them installed. If not then by the weekend.
Also, I made install a recessed true pre-amp bypass on the back plate. Recessed slide switch so it doesn't get in the way. This will be about all I am going to do to this bass besides Schaller strap locks. Can you tell I love to tinker and customize my basses to my liking (LOL) ;);)
 
#675
LoveThatBass, Very nice B5-E, I think those and the B5-Bs are great.

Note to tastybasslines...

Ltd uses Sung-Il hardware on their instruments that don't have Hipshot hardware. Here is the Sung-Il website, most items can be bought on eBay using the listed part #. http://www.sung-il.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=b071_02

I believe the Vintage-214 has a BB-009 bridge. http://www.sung-il.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=b071_21

And in other news, I'm so happy with my B-1005 that I've taken the plunge and ordered a Surveyor-4 from Sweetwater. It's 9lbs, 13oz, which is a bit heavy but not awful.

To those who don't know, the Surveyor line seems to be quite the deal. It's a swamp ash body, w/one-piece maple neck that's jazz-width, but thicker. It's got EMG pickups, an EMG 35P-4 toward the neck, and an EMG MM-TW with split switch, along with an EMG B30 preamp. This makes it basically an active P/MM, P/J bass.

The black/maple combo is currently $399.99 (4 string) and $449.99 (5 string) at Sweetwater. I'll report back after I get mine in.

Bob
 
#678
I very nearly purchased (in fact I ordered but the shipment was cancelled) a Sung-Il bridge for a bass that I am modding. I thought it was a no-name brand that was worth giving a chance for the price (and they do the bridge I wanted in black).

Today I find out that the my new Ltd uses these bridges!?! Maybe I should replace the order!

(BTW they are also available on Amazon, at least in the UK)
 

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