I bought a Tennessee Pro 7 string acoustic on ebay on Jan 09. In fact... the item that was recently on sale on ebay, I'm pretty sure the picture listed was actually my bass. He probably got a a couple of the exact same bases from China and mine was the one he took the picture of. But besides the fact that I didn't take possession of the bass from the seller till a couple months later
It was worth the wait. I'm glad I didn't bail on the transaction.
I really really like this bass. Problems:
1. the string spacing is too narrow by the sound hole. My fat fingers don't really fit between the string which makes it difficult to get under the strings. Slapping is challenging to make sure your hitting the right string sometimes. I had the bass a year and I've compensated my playing.
2. The strings that come on the bass are crap... You have to bring this to a luthier to make a new nut. I personally have the bass tuned (E,A,D,G,C,F,A). I bought flat wound strings. I had a new saddle made as well.
3. There are some spots where the inlays are that buzz. Which is annoying because one is right at middle c. It's because of the inlays. I would having much rather preferred the no inlay version. (Actually, this is the one I bid on. was out of stock and hence... the 2 mo. delivery delay).
But.... I really like this bass. I play it all the time.
-- Sound is pretty good both plugged in and acoustic. Pickup is pretty good. If I turn up the mid range on the eq plugged in it has a nice warm fretless sound. It's acoustic so the sustain has a shorter decay.
-- Its well made for a $400 bass. tuners are good. fretboard is decent. No visible cracks or body issues.
-- has decent volume. It quiet in an ensemble without amplification.
All In all, I wouldn't really use this bass as a substitute for a fretless electric. For me.. as a unique sounding instrument in the baritone range its pretty cool. All in all... props to the luthier who made this (my guess in China). My no.1 beef is the string spacing issue. If the luthier reads this.... i would be interested in purchasing another with this corrected.
Does anyone own any of the above or had any dealings with Tropical Moon Music. Their prices seem too good to be true and that's a red flag to me.
