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Yes, an AliExpress question.

#21
Don't waste your money and time! Some years ago, a friend bought a "Sterling Ray 35" for $350. It was the worst bass I've ever played:

1. Crap electronics and hardware.
2. Misaligned and too chunky neck (like a baseball bat).
3. Poor fret job.
4. Never got a comfortable string action without fret buzz.

Even Fender and Squier basses made in China are crap, you can't expect something good from chinese replicas.
 
#24
I have a guy locally who buys frequently AliExpress gee-tars and brings them to me to set up. This is what I have observed:
Two of them were pretty good basic instruments, with understandably cheap electronics. Easily replaceable, an easy fix for anyone with extra money and a soldering iron. But you should probably figure in the cost of some good electronics almost immediately.
Only one had really crappy fretwork, but, again, I was able to level those, file the sharp ended ones off and re-crown, so it finally played pretty decently. I have only had that one in the shop once, so I also do not know if the structure (like the neck wood) was going to warp or twist under tension with time, which would be my main concern.
One thing I've seen in MOST of those guitars was certain weird "non-attention-to-detail" things, for example, a Prince "cloud" replica guitar where the pickups were a good inch from the strings even with the mounting screws all the way up... because the flat pickup mounting rings were just too short. On another one, the tone controls were simply wired backwards (full clockwise was treble cut). Just small oddities that give me the idea that these were built to LOOK like real guitars by people who don't actually play them.
So... what everybody else has already said... it IS a crapshoot. If you're not into working on your instruments yourself, like fret leveling or electronics swapping... I'd avoid buying from that source.
 
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#29
The Squier scpb’s in butterscotch and white blonde (see my avatar) have bodies made from pine. The LP blue one had a basswood body. I can’t remember any other colour options.
Communication with the aliexpress sellers (they are middle men,not manufacturers) seems to be a big problem from what I gather. On the plus side they seem to do best with simple bolt on designs and less well with les Paul’s etc. Their default woods seem to be basswood and paulownia. Communicating that you want alder, and actually getting it, seem to be two different things. You’re probably best off waiting for a used Squier scpb to show up.
 
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#30
JACink said:
@isher1992 , let me first say that I have bought a bunch of things from AliExpress over the years, so I am looking at this from a rational point of view (in other words, I am not just trashing AE).

Some of the things I bought have been great for the money, others have been total crap that ends up in the trash. The buyer protection at least covers you if you don't receive the item nowadays (it didn't used to) but if you receive anything that resembles the shape of a bass, you can basically forget about returning it (there are a few sellers that are an exception, but very few).

Is there a way to guarantee that you won't get a dud? No.

In the same way that there is no guarantee that you won't get a dud from Sam Ash, Guitar Center, Musicians Friend, Thomann etc. The difference is that all of these stores will take back the dud and replace it with no issues, AE will not.

Also, if you are planning on buying from AE and at the same time you are getting picky about wood choices, then you are most definitely looking in the wrong place. The only guarantee is that it will be wood (99% of the time) the species of wood could be absolutely anything.

As has been said already, if you a wanting a platform to tinker with and modify, then AE is a possible choice (although I would still look elsewhere first, such as Ammoon basses on Amazon etc).

The way I buy from AliExpress is I choose a budget that I am willing to lose and only then make the order. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
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Thanks for that.

I'm quite capable of changing pickups/electronics, bridges, etc. I've been doing that for a long time. I can take care of sharp fret edges. But anything beyond that, I could probably deal with it, I just haven't invested in the tools to do so. Have little time to.
 
#31
MattZilla said:
stop hitting your neck with a hammer. Among other instruments I've owned, I've got this Squier Affinity series (their lowest end model) that someone gave me as a joke back in 2004 with its original nut intact. I've had one (1) broken nut- the drummer tipped my 90s SG-I it out of its stand.
Click to expand...

I use .100-.045 gauge strings tuned a half step down and use a 1mm delrin pick and a low action.

It does not take much at all to split a plastic nut in half with just one string bend. I'm hardly hitting it with a hammer. They're usually hollow in the middle and flex easily.
 
#33
Heres my experience with AliExpress......

.....the faults are in the details and they ( the Chinese manufacturers) miss a LOT of them.......everything from miscut bridge saddles to holes not drilled deep enough to accommodate a bridge and pretty sloppy craftsmanship all the way around that wasnt cnc......the sad part is that if these manufacturers concentrated on the details rather than what looks great in pictures (as well as not putting fake logos on the headstock of one.....I wouldve preferred it not to have one as its not fooling anybody ), they can probably charge a little more and completely dominate the musical instrument business....as it stands, I wont ever order another no matter how great the picture looks....YMMV and all that stuff

Edit: yes i could switch parts, dress frets, swap pickups and redrill holes...but if i have to do all that as well as time spent, wheres the savings?
 
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#35
buldog5151bass said:
I just don't understand why people would want to risk real money where they know the odds are they are getting a piece of poo. I buy good instruments and I keep them.
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Some of the posts in here have changed my mind about it, it's just sometimes you read threads about cheaper instruments and it's like people knock the cheaper instruments just because they're cheaper so they must be garbage, you know? See many a thread bashing the smaller names without really presenting valid stuff and seem to base opinion completely off country of origin.

Rondo had the Douglas Pisces (which has a jazz neck profile) and Turser had a nice one that's now also out of production. Harley Benton from Thomann Music may be the ticket.
 
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#36
Maxdusty said:
I was at a local music store not too long ago and there was a mid range brand new Ibanez bass the salesperson was demo-ing, suddenly you hear this crack and a piece of the nut came off. So it can happen on pretty much any bass- thank goodness I wasn't playing it or I would have been charged for breaking it. They put some cheap nuts on mid range basses too.
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In general you won't be charged for breaking something. The store should be insured.
 
#37
Anytime you buy an instrument sight unseen, it's a roll of the dice. Reputable e-tailers have reasonable return policies. Returning an AliExpress might cost almost as much as the instrument. The only way I'd buy one is as a platform for drastic modification and experimentation
 
#38
isher1992 said:
Some of the posts in here have changed my mind about it, it's just sometimes you read threads about cheaper instruments and it's like people knock the cheaper instruments just because they're cheaper so they must be garbage, you know? See many a thread bashing the smaller names without really presenting valid stuff and seem to base opinion completely off country of origin.

Rondo had the Douglas Pisces (which has a jazz neck profile) and Turser had a nice one that's now also out of production. Harley Benton from Thomann Music may be the ticket.
Click to expand...

I bought my main bass (Fender Jazz with P neck) used about 34 years ago. I'd rather do that than own a bunch of cheaper basses.
 
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#39
I’ve only actually handled one Chinese clone, a fake Rickenbacker being offered for sale in a pawnshop for $400. It looked great on the wall, but actually playing it......not so good. It didn’t sound anything like a Ric. The frets were some kind of cheap alloy heavy on the brass and were tarnished. They had not been dressed at all, no level, no polish, sharp fret ends, so it buzzed all over the board. The paint job was pretty good. They focus on the cosmetics, so the clones all look the part, but don’t necessarily play well. Lots of great reviews out there, lots of terrible ones. How much $$ are you willing to gamble?
 
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