Killer Kadoogan

An alternative idea is to do what I did and make your own strap. I looked around for a decent wide strap and came across a couple of 5" options but not in this country, so by the time shipping was added they became fairly expensive. They also were likely going to be a bit shorter than I would have liked for my bass where one of the strap buttons is where the neck meets the body, rather than on the upper horn, meaning you need a slightly longer strap. So instead I ordered a strip of dark brown oil tanned leather from a dealer on eBay. Just had to taper the ends down and add a couple of holes. The leather itself is incredibly supple. I ordered a strip wide enough that it covers pretty much my whole shoulder, thinking I'd cut it down a bit once I figured out what width worked best for me. It's so flexible and comfortable though that I haven't done that. Despite the crazy width (over 6"!) it isn't at all unwieldy or uncomfortable because of it. The weight of the bass is therefore spread over a greater area which in my opinion matters more than padding. I guess if you are fashion conscious and play in a band you might feel such a width looks silly. I can understand that, but I just play for my own amusement so don't care about anything other than being comfortable while practicing.

First thing I did with my Casady is remove the pick guard. Looks so much better without it.

I have a silverburst Casady. Can't say I am a fan of this white one, but to be honest I don't think I have ever looked at a white bass and thought 'I want that'. Just not my colour. Of all the currently available colours I'd still pick the silverburst, but if I could chose from the colours that have ever been available I'd go with the sunburst without a doubt. I'm not always a fan of sunburst, but for some reason it just works so well on this kind of style semi-hollowbody.

I have a Jack Casady bass and that neck dives too. As mentioned above a wide (the wider the better) strap with a grippy back makes the bass much better to handle.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1387979410' post='2317695'] These are really nice basses. Once you've got a few things sorted it will be even better. I can't believe a music shop would send a bass out strung like that but on saying that all of the semi-acoustic bases i have need medium scale strings as the short scale ones are far too short. [/quote] Thanks. Always nice to hear nice things about the instrument you just bought! Looking forward to when I can get it sorted out. Amazing how a music shop could do that. They are sending a medium scale set of strings in the new year. According to the D'Addario fitting guide, mediums fit 32-34" basses (measured nut to ball), and the EA-260 is about 33.5" so should be just right.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1387928762' post='2317403'] That`s a really nice looking bass, hope you get it set up to your playing specs, I`d reckon you`re going to enjoy this one. [/quote] Thanks! I'm really still a novice at the bass, and just really getting into seriously learning to play. This purchase wasn't really planned. I just love that vintage style, and came across this one when my willpower was low! I'm sure it will be great once the issues I mentioned are sorted. A Jack Casady is my main bass, and I'm not sure whether I should swap between the two very much, at least initially as I learn, as the Casady is 34" scale and the EA-260 is 30.5". Not sure if it's good to use both or whether swapping between the different scale lengths will act as a barrier and slow down the learning process. That said, I am only learning for my own amusement and that barrier would be tiny compared to that of my inbuilt lack of musical talent! An unplanned bonus of choosing a Casady is that the hard case I bought with it fits the EA-260 pretty well too, so if I have to take one or the other out with me, it's well protected.

Thanks for the replies guys. HowieBass: Yeah, it's a nice looking bass. As well as the issues mentioned before, it's missing the mute that would originally have attached to the bridge (a common thing with these), has one mismatched tuner, and the pickguard is missing too. No great problem really. One of the first things I'd have done is take off the pickguard anyway as I think this style of bass/guitar looks better without. I'd give the switch cleaner thing a try, but considering I need to get someone to do the nut, restring and setup anyway I might just get them to check out the electronics as well so I know for sure it's all good. I'll keep the idea in mind though, so thanks. Billy Apple: Thanks for that contact info. I have looked up his web site. I know a guitarist who I think has dealt with a couple of more local people, so I have already messages him to see what he has to say about them. Won't be doing anything until the new year anyway, as like most people at this time I'm busy, and I also want to wait for the seller to send through the new medium scale strings so I can get it restrung with those. Thanks for the info though. Always good to get a personal recommendation, and I'll certainly be getting in touch unless I get a recommendation for someone closer.

I had a desire to own a vintage Gibson EB2 style bass (but without the price tag!) and managed to acquire this Epiphone EA-260: Now don't get me wrong, it's no EB2. It's from the early '70's when production of Epiphone branded instruments were moved to Japan (essentially the same bass was sold with different brand names such as Vox, Commodore etc). It was fairly low budget at the time, and there were build quality issues with many, with the neck being set too low to get a good action at the higher end of the fretboard. You have to add a shim in the pocket, a relatively simple fix that many owners of these have done. The seller has done this fix and the action at that end of the neck is not bad now. Little high perhaps, but acceptable. Whilst I just totally slagged off the model, I have seen many comments saying they can be pretty good once set up decently. Nice deep and woody tones, and loud! The body on the one I have is, other than one or two minor dings on the bottom of it (which the seller mentioned), really very nice for a 40 year-old hollowbody. The rear is absolutely spotless! There are however some issues. The most obvious of which is down to the shop that sold it to me. I asked for a new set of flats to be installed (replacing an ageing set of rounds). It arrived like this: Can you spot the mistake? They seem to have assumed that being a short scale bass it needed short scale strings, but as the strings extend for a bit past the bridge it puts it into the medium scale range according to the D'Addario string length guide. As you can see the silk wrapping extends to the wrong side of the nut, and the strings taper around the point the wrap starts too. Can't believe they would send it out like that. They are now sending a set of medium scale strings to replace them. Other issues I will need to get sorted: - Nut is cracked. The shop maintains they would have replaced it if they had seen it. Being charitable, it could have happened during shipping. It's a 40 year-old piece of plastic after all. - The electronics need sorting. The wiring was replaced relatively recently according to the seller. The 3-way selector should switch on both pickups in the mid position, but only the neck pickup works (same as the 'up' position). The bridge pickup works in the 'down' position. Will also need to adjust the pickup heights as well as the bridge one positively roars compared to the neck one. I think that while this model is never going to be a classic, it'll be enough to satisfy that desire for a vintage bass, and be a fun instrument to play on. Just need to get these issues sorted and have it properly set up first. This leads me to a question. Does anyone know a good place to get this work done, around the High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire) area? I don't have a car so I am limited to the places I can get to. Any help on that would be appreciated.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1385989410' post='2294321'] A photo might help, but you may not manage to pin it down to a specific model... not many people would have paid enough attention to them to be able to remember details like that. They were a budget range sold in Argos... not the sort of thing that people get that enthusiastic about. That's not to say it's a bad instrument. In any case you're not going to get much for it. £20 to £40 is a reasonable price, depending on condition. You might get more if there's a case or an amp included. It might be worth advertising it for £50 on the for sale boards at your local supermaket. [/quote] Sorry, didn't have photos when I first posted, but have a couple now. As I mentioned before I can't find any reference to a P/J Encore bass anywhere. I agree it is probably worth very little, given the budget brand. It was purchased from a proper music shop rather than somewhere like Argos. Can't recall exactly what I paid, but around £130-150 I believe. Given some new strings and a clean-up it's probably not the worst instrument around, but it's not something I'm ever going to play these days. Might just end up dropping it into Cash Converters just to get rid of it. No amp to bundle with it, and only a very basic soft case.

I have an Encore bass from the early '90's. It is P/J style (i.e. has Precision style split-coil and Jazz pick-ups) in sunburst. I have no idea what model name or number it is, as there is nothing to indicate it. Never got much use as I had the intention to learn to play, and it just never happened. I am now starting again, but am rocking a Jack Casady, which I much prefer. I do need to get rid of it but I have no idea how much to ask for it. Had a look on the net to get an idea, but have never managed to find anything about such a bass from Encore.

Not sure which bass you refer to, but the Dillion, Midtown and Casady are all 34"

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but I am seriously considering the Dillion DB335 bass. I have a Gibson Midtown, that I love, but it's a chambered body rather than a true semi-hollowbody. I still have that really bad itch for an EB2 style semi-hollow. Sadly the Gibson ES335 is way out of my price range. There are rumours of a return of the EB2 next year but that would be a short-scale bass, and I'm not sure I'd get on with that. With shipping and customs duty etc I suspect the total cost of getting the Dillion would be around £500. My other option is an Epiphone Hack Casady. It's not quite the EB2 shape, but still pretty. Wish it was available in Cherry, but I do like the Silverburst. Having the one pickup only put me off initially, but then after hearing a couple of online demos using the varitone switch I really like the tone options it gives you. So several months down the line, how do you feel about the Dillion bass? Don't suppose you have ever played a Casady to compare the two? Whilst I prefer the shape of the Dillion I'm thinking right now that the Casady might be a safer bet, but any info you can give me might help with a final decision (or confuse me further!).