Official Halo Guitar Review Thread

[Acoustic356]

I spoke with @rockerjeff at Halo Guitars about receiving a demo bass.

Although their bass builder thread shows beautiful custom guitars, the street value of the bass that I receive will be about $300. The bass was upgraded with Nordstand pickups. As a result, I will compare it with my Cort A5 which has Nordstrand Big Singles as well.

The primary difference is that the Cort has active pickups and the Halo is passive. As a result, I will run the Cort in passive mode.

My goal is to use this bass in studio, band practice, and gigs (If we have any on the calendar while I have it.)

 

[Dradder]

Looking forward to reading your impressions.

 

[TheCrimsonKing]

Cool, but how come you're only getting a 300 dollar bass?, are they releasing a budget series or something?

 

[wvbass]

The pictures of instruments look nice.

Out of curiosity, what is the business model here? A one-man luthier shop probably couldn't afford to spend on a website like that. Are these one-off imports? I don't think I've seen anybody else do that; it is an interesting idea. I like the custom bass-builder tool, and the multiple options for fan frets. Cool finish options, too. Body shapes are clearly targeting the metal crowd, but I see a couple I like.

I do have two negative comments, though:
1) Did I miss the preamp options or do they only sell passive basses?
2) I won't give a website my money if they won't give me a physical address. I couldn't find a physical address on the site - just a phone number that looks like San Jose.

 

[Acoustic356]

Hopefully Jeff will chime in with their official answer. I vaguely recall what I was told, but I don't want to misquote the company.

From our brief conversation, they sell more guitars than basses. They are trying to ramp up their bass presence. I think the bass they are sending is their NAMM demo. Here's a link on their website: Halo Custom Basses and Nordstrand Pickups | Blog

There is an address on the invoice. I made it a point to talk with Jeff before requesting the demo.

 

[wvbass]

Hopefully Jeff will chime in with their official answer. I vaguely recall what I was told, but I don't want to misquote the company.

From our brief conversation, they sell more guitars than basses. They are trying to ramp up their bass presence. I think the bass they are sending is their NAMM demo. Here's a link on their website: Halo Custom Basses and Nordstrand Pickups | Blog

There is an address on the invoice. I made it a point to talk with Jeff before requesting the demo.

Thanks for the link. I like the looks of those. Very metal in a good, ESP kind of way.

 

[Dradder]

They are trying to ramp up their bass presence.

Well, this is why I'm looking forward to your comments on their demo bass. A lot of the old comments one finds online about Halo instruments seem to indicate that the company went through a rocky phase QC-wise, but things like the blog post you linked to sure look like an effort to do the right thing. If they have indeed turned the boat around, more power to them.

 

[Lethgar]

The pictures of instruments look nice.

Out of curiosity, what is the business model here? A one-man luthier shop probably couldn't afford to spend on a website like that. Are these one-off imports? I don't think I've seen anybody else do that; it is an interesting idea. I like the custom bass-builder tool, and the multiple options for fan frets. Cool finish options, too. Body shapes are clearly targeting the metal crowd, but I see a couple I like.

I do have two negative comments, though:
1) Did I miss the preamp options or do they only sell passive basses?
2) I won't give a website my money if they won't give me a physical address. I couldn't find a physical address on the site - just a phone number that looks like San Jose.

+62,384

Seems very odd, but this blurb I found may explain some of our questions:

"Assembled and Set Up in the USA.
Components assembly (ex: bridges, pickups, potentiometers, switches, frets, etc.), set up and quality control is done right here in Cupertino, California. While some companies ‘hide’ address and contact information, our facilities, including the office, showroom and warehouse, are always open by appointment during business hours (Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm"

So, they are a 1 off import gig.

 

[rockerjeff]

Cool, but how come you're only getting a 300 dollar bass?, are they releasing a budget series or something?

Halo is not releasing a budget series bass. To be honest, we didn't have a lot of basses to choose from. The reason is because Halo is mostly involved with electric guitars and commissioned builds. But, we're hoping to change that and offer something valuable to the bass guitar world moving forward.

I originally mentioned this $300 bass in a different thread... I offered to send it to somebody who was willing to give it an honest review. I mentioned this particular bass because I just happened to be excited about it due to the Nordstrand pickups we had recently (at the time) installed into it. Acoustic356 was the first person to respond to my offer, so we're shipping it to him tomorrow!

 

[rockerjeff]

The pictures of instruments look nice.

Out of curiosity, what is the business model here? A one-man luthier shop probably couldn't afford to spend on a website like that. Are these one-off imports? I don't think I've seen anybody else do that; it is an interesting idea. I like the custom bass-builder tool, and the multiple options for fan frets. Cool finish options, too. Body shapes are clearly targeting the metal crowd, but I see a couple I like.

I do have two negative comments, though:
1) Did I miss the preamp options or do they only sell passive basses?
2) I won't give a website my money if they won't give me a physical address. I couldn't find a physical address on the site - just a phone number that looks like San Jose.

We're a small company located in Cupertino, California.
Our shop address is actually published on our Contact Us/About Us page: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The trouble is, though, that we have a "Contact Us" page that links to a contact form, which doesn't include any of our contact info.
I can see how that is confusing and we'll improve our site navigation soon.
It should've been super easy to find our address - sorry about that.

We didn't include preamp options yet because we don't have a clear understanding of what preamp options bass players actually want. I would love to hear any preamp suggestions/recommendations.

 

[rockerjeff]

I'll go ahead and expand on this one-off import gig thing a bit:

- Halo instruments are designed in Cupertino and made in China at the Halo China Factory
- Halo owns and operates the Halo China Factory
- Halo instruments are not produced by a 3rd party factory

I actually work at the Halo China Factory at least once a year, every year, for several weeks to months at a time. It's nice. I've been doing that since 2007. When I'm not there, I'm working in our main office/warehouse/shop in Cupertino.

 

[Lethgar]

Very nice to see yet another company handing out great responses here on TB. Can't wait to see the bass and hear more about price structure/etc.

 

[Dradder]

I can see how that is confusing and we'll improve our site navigation soon.

You might also want to think about putting your satisfied customers' testimonials on an easily discoverable page on your main website. Rooting around in your company blog, I found some nice things that customers had said about their Halo instruments; you should give those a little more prominence, IMO. A lot of other instrument builders do that, and I expect there's a good reason why.

 

[4stringmachinepete]

I'll go ahead and expand on this one-off import gig thing a bit:

- Halo instruments are designed in Cupertino and made in China at the Halo China Factory
- Halo owns and operates the Halo China Factory
- Halo instruments are not produced by a 3rd party factory

I actually work at the Halo China Factory at least once a year, every year, for several weeks to months at a time. It's nice. I've been doing that since 2007. When I'm not there, I'm working in our main office/warehouse/shop in Cupertino.

I've seen a few of your guitars at the tap tempo must shop in San Jose

 

[4stringmachinepete]

I've seen a few of your guitars at the tap tempo must shop in San Jose

* music shop

 

[Kirk Bryant]

How about a "slightly" more traditional bass body shape. And to clarify not a Fender style specifically just a little less metalish for those of us who don't roll that way. I think it might widen your potential sales demographic quite a bit. I Personally have a number of non fender body shape basses but for me personally (YMMV etc.) and for many others these body shapes are simply a deal breaker. And to be clear I Would not diss anyone who wants to rock that it's just not my cup of tea.

 

[Dradder]

for me personally (YMMV etc.) and for many others these body shapes are simply a deal breaker.

+1. Count me as one of the many others. I only saw three or four shapes on the Halo custom builder page that I would even remotely consider. There were quite a few shapes that, IMO, fell into the "teenage cornball metalhead" category. Which is fine if that's what you want, but not for me.

 

[scourgeofgod]

+1. Count me as one of the many others. I only saw three or four shapes on the Halo custom builder page that I would even remotely consider. There were quite a few shapes that, IMO, fell into the "teenage cornball metalhead" category. Which is fine if that's what you want, but not for me.

How about a "slightly" more traditional bass body shape. And to clarify not a Fender style specifically just a little less metalish for those of us who don't roll that way. I think it might widen your potential sales demographic quite a bit. I Personally have a number of non fender body shape basses but for me personally (YMMV etc.) and for many others these body shapes are simply a deal breaker. And to be clear I Would not diss anyone who wants to rock that it's just not my cup of tea.

I was just on there customization tool. There were the 3 "metal" body shapes you must select from at first, but if you select one, then select "body-shape" at the top, there are many "traditional" shapes to choose from (335, tele, jag, lp, and strat). If you select one it shows a bass with that body, I'm not sure if this is just an oversight in the customization tool's design or if they actually offer those shapes for basses.

 

[wvbass]

We're a small company located in Cupertino, California.
Our shop address is actually published on our Contact Us/About Us page: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The trouble is, though, that we have a "Contact Us" page that links to a contact form, which doesn't include any of our contact info.
I can see how that is confusing and we'll improve our site navigation soon.
It should've been super easy to find our address - sorry about that.

We didn't include preamp options yet because we don't have a clear understanding of what preamp options bass players actually want. I would love to hear any preamp suggestions/recommendations.

I'll go ahead and expand on this one-off import gig thing a bit:

- Halo instruments are designed in Cupertino and made in China at the Halo China Factory
- Halo owns and operates the Halo China Factory
- Halo instruments are not produced by a 3rd party factory

I actually work at the Halo China Factory at least once a year, every year, for several weeks to months at a time. It's nice. I've been doing that since 2007. When I'm not there, I'm working in our main office/warehouse/shop in Cupertino.

Thanks for chiming in! I think this approach has lots of potential. And yeah, I got confused by the Contact Us form and couldn't find the physical address. Glad to see that it is there already.

As for preamps...you already have the right starting points by looking at your pickups: Nordstrand and Bartolini. Beyond that, there are lots of TB flavor-of-the-month preferences, but for my money, the Aguilar preamps are a safe choice, and an excellent line of products.

I probably won't be buying any new basses in the near future, but I am curious to see some product reviews here on TB. You never know when I'll add something new to my collection...

 

[Acoustic356]

I just checked the tracking... the bass should be here on Monday 5/18.