Interesting string through Chibson body.Faux Pelham Blue . Kinda coolI saw this inexpensive 8-string SG style bass (from China) on eBay, and hit the buy tab. I usually avoid buying from China and I'm not generally an 'impulse' consumer, but it seemed like a fun project bass. Not a lot of info so I wasn't sure what scale it was, but it looked like a long scale which would be ok with me. The pics of it avoided showing the hs face, so I suspected it had a counterfeit Gibson logo. The back of the hs is stamped Made In USA - again... counterfeit. One of the many reasons I don't buy from China. It initially was slated for an early Oct delivery - but it showed up today.
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1st off - FedEx left the box (clearly a guitar box) exposed on my landing. I was home waiting for the doorbell - which they didn't use. My partner Beth luckily came home for some lunch and brought it in! I was checking our front door off & on all morning and had literally checked 15 minutes before! ~ "porch pirates" are ramped these days and I have already had a FedEx package (custom 12 string, gilded and Pat Wilkins final clear-coated guitar body) stollen that FedEx left exposed on my landing. (and the driver forged my signature!) After months of fighting them (it was insured/signature required) they finally paid the insurance claim. Arg! The decline of western civilization is in full swing.
Anyway - the packing was sufficient to get it to SF from China in one piece. (moulded styro usually is good) and even though it had an added extension 'cap' with styro - it arrived w/o issues. The box was probably for a ss SG bass.
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It came with a cheap cable and a couple hex wrenches...
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Everything I describe next will describe the bass as is. After checking it out from top to bottom, I decided I can remedy all the 'cons' along with adding my own personal touch to it. Kinda' right up my alley.
First off - the bass is a beast. It is in fact 34" scale as I suspected, and it weighs 9lbs/12oz. Also as suspected, it has a counterfeit Gibson branding. It's inlaid abalone and as much as it isn't a perfect forgery, it's actually fairly well done.
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Close-up of the counterfeit MADE IN U.S.A. stamp... I appreciate the periods between USA...
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So the obvious cons - this is not the pot configuration I ordered. (see pic above) I wanted the version I ordered - and was sent this. They will hear from me before I give them any feedback rating. I don't want to deal with the hassle of returning it - and I already have idea's of modding the bass so I can deal with it.
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This is the second con - (see pics above of what I ordered) - a much larger heel and (hard to see in this pic) some bad finish droops. Not happy about this either - and they will hear from me. But once again - I'll deal with it.
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Ouch... nasty control cavity with tiny pots and hack-job jack install.
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And no shielding (not surprised) I can deal with it. I have plenty of pots/jacks in my parts bin and shielding is no problem.
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Even the control cover is a hack-job. (back shown) No problem.
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The set-neck is pretty darn straight & frets are acceptable. (haven't checked the tr yet) but the strings are pretty high off the fb. (7/16" at the heal)
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The culprit is the bridge. All of the saddles are bottomed-out, so the whole bridge needs to be routed lower into the body. I definitely can do that having done that on some of my custom builds.
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I tuned it, plugged it in and played it as much as I could with such high action. The neck is huge - so the combination of high action and a big thick/wide neck (1-3/4" nut X 2-3/4" heal) makes it very hard to play. I will most likely shave it down - I like the feel of a wood neck better than paint anyway. Sound wise, it's ok - but it's hard to tell what it really sounds like with the strings so far from the pu's. Once the bridge is lowered - I'll have a better impression.
When I ordered the bass - I bought some guitar tuners for the active strings. You don't have to wonder if it neck-dives... it absolutely does. So the smaller tuners were ordered mostly for differentiation (easier to tune) and won't make much of a weight difference. That is where the modding part comes in.
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V8 project
- Thread starter JIO
- Start date
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
It offered up enough interesting elements to do a number on it. Out of the box it was as expected but I'm going to see if I can make it something special.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I too am puzzled by this "update". Meant for another thread perhaps?
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Perhaps... as you all know, I'm always open to a bit of wandering as long as there is a connection of some sort. I mean.., it's a well designed bass and aesthetically pleasing...
Last edited:
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
A bit of Batman Noir lighting... MDF double-stick taped to the guide piece (which happens to be one of the pg-units/islands!
Worked like a charm!
Ready for beveling -
One guide - two bookended units!
Routing table set for beveling -
Done and installed! Routed for the Wilkinson bucker while I was at it. Next stop - weight reduction!
Worked like a charm!
Ready for beveling -
One guide - two bookended units!
Routing table set for beveling -
Done and installed! Routed for the Wilkinson bucker while I was at it. Next stop - weight reduction!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
A couple of good questions. I'll have to test that - flat-head screws at that area will help. But I wasn't counting on spending big money on a replacement 8-string bridge... or at least I'd have to look into it.
Some careful work with files can produce compensated saddles... and the metal is probably quite soft and easy to work. It won't be as good as individual saddles but will get you closer to decent intonation.
Didn't @Bruce Johnson find that double courses tended generally to not require much difference in the saddle locations? I thought this was the case from the work on Marvin Guitars' 10 string bass development.
I just searched the 10 and 12 stringer threads but could not find reference to it... sorry to tag you Bruce, I tend to avoid doing it as I'm conscious of your time and how much you already give here.
I just searched the 10 and 12 stringer threads but could not find reference to it... sorry to tag you Bruce, I tend to avoid doing it as I'm conscious of your time and how much you already give here.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Just ordered this Schaller fully adjustable individual saddle 8-string bridge. Big fan of Schaller's 4-string 3D bridge and even if there is only minimal difference intoning both as pointed out - it will weigh a fraction of what the beast that came on it does and most likely won't need to be sunken into the body. Good price too. (score!)
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,967
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Filled the mud-bucker cavity with a mahogany plug, mostly for neck reinforcement. Will rout the pu cavity to 1/4" and remove wood around it with a variety of Forstner bit drills, as I have done successfully a number of times. I feel a 'honeycomb' approach to removing wood maintains structural integrity compared to a swimming-pool route. I will do a small rout like that at the lower E-side section where structure is a mute point. Now with the lighter bridge - I'm pretty sure I can get the finished bass under 9lbs.
Where did you find one?!
I think they're discontinued and my GAS fund is always depleted when they come up for sale.
Yep, that's the post where I talked about the intonation on Octave basses. Thanks for spotting it, diegom!
On our 10-strings, we found that when it was all set up and intonated perfectly, there was very little difference in saddle position between each root string and its octave string. All the extra work to make 10-saddle bridges may not have been worth the trouble. The difference was small and predictable, and could have been done by filing a two-string saddle.
But the 10-saddle bridge sure looks cool....and helps justify the high cost of the bass. Because it was expensive.
