Here's another thought:
Somewhere around here is the details of how the six string Ursa's were improved by adding magnets to the bottom of the pickups.
I wonder if that would work for the four stringers.
As for being gig-worthy, my son's short scale SX P was perfectly playable out of the box. He's 8, and already playing old Sabbath. That's my boy.
My newest, the Ursa 2 (Ash) with maple fretboard w/ black blocks and binding, didn't arrive in the same manner. I had to level the frets to even be able to play the G string. The frets ends were extremely sharp. There's a scratch in the binding near the 15th fret. I'm assuming that after the slip that caused that scratch, whoever was doing the fretwork just quit.
But the grain on mine is beautiful, on both the neck AND body. I didn't want to return it and have the replacement show up with boring grain or worse, a lifeless tone. After I leveled the frets and gave her a setup, this one sings. The fretboard has some really cool grain on the upper region, and the neck itself has this really cool, almost quilt look. I saw that as being a good enough reason to break out the tools rather than exchanging.
I'm at some point going to make a new nut, but it's fine for now, just a little sloppy looking. It's functional but if I take the time to make a new one, I will be able to get the action even lower.
I would like to swap the hardware out for black, but I love playing it so much that I don't want to take it out of commission to mod it!!
Somewhere around here is the details of how the six string Ursa's were improved by adding magnets to the bottom of the pickups.
I wonder if that would work for the four stringers.
As for being gig-worthy, my son's short scale SX P was perfectly playable out of the box. He's 8, and already playing old Sabbath. That's my boy.
My newest, the Ursa 2 (Ash) with maple fretboard w/ black blocks and binding, didn't arrive in the same manner. I had to level the frets to even be able to play the G string. The frets ends were extremely sharp. There's a scratch in the binding near the 15th fret. I'm assuming that after the slip that caused that scratch, whoever was doing the fretwork just quit.
But the grain on mine is beautiful, on both the neck AND body. I didn't want to return it and have the replacement show up with boring grain or worse, a lifeless tone. After I leveled the frets and gave her a setup, this one sings. The fretboard has some really cool grain on the upper region, and the neck itself has this really cool, almost quilt look. I saw that as being a good enough reason to break out the tools rather than exchanging.
I'm at some point going to make a new nut, but it's fine for now, just a little sloppy looking. It's functional but if I take the time to make a new one, I will be able to get the action even lower.
I would like to swap the hardware out for black, but I love playing it so much that I don't want to take it out of commission to mod it!!
