Nobody here implied that, you inferred it incorrectly. What in the world are you on about? Someone poop in your soup?
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Double Bass Recognise This?
- Thread starter Oz levett
- Start date
I checked out a Z bass a few years ago. It played well and was well made. It’s not a bass guitar.
Do you play doublebass? I checked your profile, quickly, and saw no indication that you do.
If you do not, why are you trying to force your opinion on someone who does, and has many years of experience with a quality EUB?
Not being a luthier, I am not sure how a scroll affects the fundamental, but lots of EUBs don't have one, including some very good ones.
Lots of EUBs have open peg boxes as well, and this one has been there a long time so may not be all that fragile.
The company reports the fingerboard to be ebony and the mensure to be 42.5", neither of which set off any alarms.
Looking at other pictures on the web, it is obvious that the fingerboard is not mounted on the body. Granted, it does not have the overstand that I would expect on my DBs but I would not be too concerned with the effects that it has on vibrating the top on this instrument. The bridge may be a little off center and the string choice may be questionable (I don't know, I'm not very well-versed in strings) but both are easily changed.
The pickups are strange but the rate of failure in magnetic pickups is pretty darn low so I wouldn't worry about that. I would worry that they sound awful but that's kind of inherent in that kind of pick up. One could add a piezo to the bridge pretty cheaply.
It has as much afterlength as a lot of other EUBs so I wouldn't worry about string vibration being weird and since there is no top to vibrate I wouldn't be concerned with the design.
It sure ain't the Belle of the Ball but for $200 bucks to try playing an EUB, it may not be a bad deal to the OP. I'd rather spend the money on a nice dinner somewhere but then again I have all of the gear I need.
Lots of EUBs have open peg boxes as well, and this one has been there a long time so may not be all that fragile.
The company reports the fingerboard to be ebony and the mensure to be 42.5", neither of which set off any alarms.
Looking at other pictures on the web, it is obvious that the fingerboard is not mounted on the body. Granted, it does not have the overstand that I would expect on my DBs but I would not be too concerned with the effects that it has on vibrating the top on this instrument. The bridge may be a little off center and the string choice may be questionable (I don't know, I'm not very well-versed in strings) but both are easily changed.
The pickups are strange but the rate of failure in magnetic pickups is pretty darn low so I wouldn't worry about that. I would worry that they sound awful but that's kind of inherent in that kind of pick up. One could add a piezo to the bridge pretty cheaply.
It has as much afterlength as a lot of other EUBs so I wouldn't worry about string vibration being weird and since there is no top to vibrate I wouldn't be concerned with the design.
It sure ain't the Belle of the Ball but for $200 bucks to try playing an EUB, it may not be a bad deal to the OP. I'd rather spend the money on a nice dinner somewhere but then again I have all of the gear I need.
I found a bunch of images by googling. Tailpiece appears to be a solid block that the strings go through. Neck dimensions look normal. Magnetic pickups produce a perfectly usable sound for a lot of musical situations, as long as steel strings are used; there's a piezo in some of the pix, so there might be a blend knob among the four pictured. As I opined before, I don't think one could go too far wrong at $200 plus another $3-400ish for a setup by a bass luthier.
If the bass is an Atelier Z, it will be an early model - the newer CUBs have the controls located on the side of the bass rather than the face. From memory the neck is bolt-on, so the fingerboard will not be attached to the body. The four control layout suggests there is (or was) a piezo - the old specs indicate that it would be a Fishman. The magnetic pickup unit is modular and can probably be removed.
Atelier Z is a boutique instrument maker that takes huge pride in their product. Whilst the CUB Custom was their entry level EUB, I would expect that it is made with a high level of care. The typo re the bridge on the spec sheet is not unusual for the period - these instruments were made for the domestic Japanese market and translations to English were of secondary importance (an oversight which has since been addressed on their website). The new CUBs specify ebony boards, maple tailpieces and maple bridges. They retail around USD 2,500 now in Japan, and around USD 2,000 back in the day, so they're not bottom-of-the-barrel instruments.
Edit: If it's an Atelier Z, and there are no major structural or electronic issues, I'd buy it in a heartbeat for the ask.
Atelier Z is a boutique instrument maker that takes huge pride in their product. Whilst the CUB Custom was their entry level EUB, I would expect that it is made with a high level of care. The typo re the bridge on the spec sheet is not unusual for the period - these instruments were made for the domestic Japanese market and translations to English were of secondary importance (an oversight which has since been addressed on their website). The new CUBs specify ebony boards, maple tailpieces and maple bridges. They retail around USD 2,500 now in Japan, and around USD 2,000 back in the day, so they're not bottom-of-the-barrel instruments.
Edit: If it's an Atelier Z, and there are no major structural or electronic issues, I'd buy it in a heartbeat for the ask.
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Thanks again to everyone that left a comment, very much appreciated and valued.
I'm off to see this in an hour, any last minute advice?
I'm off to see this in an hour, any last minute advice?
I'm back and with the EUB / CUB whatever it may be. At the sellers house I went quietly through a small vocal PA and absolutely fell for it in regards of tone, everything was good so handed over 180 and came home. (Yeah i haggled lol)
So, since being home I've plugged into my TH500 and 2 DB 112 cabs and got some volume going on and wow !! The harder i play the better it sounds and those weird little pick ups are really good. To my ears it has a clean and warm tone, no rattle and no buzzes. Very happy with this leap of faith purchase, the only thing that was a negative was the hip rest, man that thing is uncomfortable!
Thanks again, I've added some better pictures.
So, since being home I've plugged into my TH500 and 2 DB 112 cabs and got some volume going on and wow !! The harder i play the better it sounds and those weird little pick ups are really good. To my ears it has a clean and warm tone, no rattle and no buzzes. Very happy with this leap of faith purchase, the only thing that was a negative was the hip rest, man that thing is uncomfortable!
Thanks again, I've added some better pictures.
The cr5m looks good, nicer shape than mine. One thing that might be an issue with mines is that the bridge doesn't look like it could be used with a bow very well. Its also well heavy lol
