Grahambythesea

Is part of the problem the improvement in manufacturing techniques? With computerised machines that will exactly reproduce the same thing every time and lasers et al it has made the “cheap” guitars so much better and increased the amount that can be produced so the market becomes over saturated. To a large extent Fender and Gibson have brought this on themselves by promoting the Squiers and a Epiphone versions of their classics, many of which play as well as their US counterparts. I think car manufacturers realised a few years ago that just because you can produce product 24/7 it isn’t necessarily a good idea when they end up languishing in a field somewhere because not enough people want a new car, this spawned the 3/4 year personal lease system to encourage people to get a new car and change it regularly.

Maybe guitar manufacturers need to look at new ways of “selling” guaranteed buy backs for upgrades and the like, although that might make musicians look after instruments better and kill off the road worn market!

Given that it’s 9 screws which appear to be in the same positions, it must be worth your while just getting a screwdriver out and trying them for size, it doesn’t really look like a job to take to a techie. Be bold, go for it!

Listen to this:

There are several tuition videos on YouTube.

Spector Spectorcore fretless is good. Has the addition of a piezo in the bridge too.

I pity his shoulder and back. One gig with that monster and he’ll be booking in to a chiropractor!

Why not just buy one off the shelf?

Readily available on eBay, search single string bridge pieces

Nice rug. Do you use Dinky or Corgi cars?

I agree they are everywhere, but not at £2grand a pop! Bass players only have themselves to blame. When do you ever see a pro band’s bassist on TVor at a gig playing anything else that a P or J? It used to be guitarists who were so conservative as to only play a Strat or a Les Paul, now bassists have reverted to the same narrow outlook.

I think most electro acoustic basses don’t really sound like double basses. There are exceptions but probably they are the expensive ones. A lot of the “flat top” type are short scale which may suit your size better if that’s a concern. 

Your photo is rather blurred making it quite difficult, or was that the challenge? I am sure that someone here will recognise the headstock shape which seems to be a miss cut G & L. 🤪

I could only find guitars on their site no basses!

8 hours ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

They've never made a bass I've enjoyed playing, their current build quality is rubbish and Tokai have been building better versions of their flagship Les Pauls at all price points for years. Probably best to just sell T Shirts from now on. 

With respect to the quality, I think you’re wrong. My recent EB5 purchase is a cracker, I can find nothing to fault it on in terms of quality and all recent reviews of the2013 & 2017 EBs  are of the same opinion. The body designs may not be to everyone’s taste, that is after all entirely subjective but when it comes to finish and fittings they are very good.  However their lack of consistency in producing a line is questionable. It must cost a fair bit to set up production of a guitar and then only to give it a 2 year run doesn’t make economic sense. The recent introduction of multitudinous colours of SGs also seems a bit pointless. If you buy an SG you probably want a cherry one or a walnut one.

The root of the problem seems to be their bonkers  acquisition strategies. They buy up a brand and fail to keep producing that which the brand is good at i.e.Tobias, they let Michael go and the brand all but disappears. I believe they did the same with Trace Elliot & Cakewalk to name a couple more.

Add to this the unnecessary additives such as auto tuners which have to be a complete waste of time, who wants them, guitarists can usually tune a guitar, it’s fundamental!

A change of ownership may be the making of them, if this can be achieved by the present company going under.! Hopefully a guitarist/ luthier could run the company and concentrate on what they are good at.

The blue one looks like a map of some exotic island set in a deep sea! Or is that my imagination running overboard. Nice though. 

The EUB looks remarkably similar to the basic Aria one.

On 26 December 2017 at 07:18, gareth said:

Fender HMT 

I love the look of the body on these, but the headstock is so out of keeping. This bass inspired me to buy a Spector Spectorcore fretless with a similar pickup/piezo combination.

On 25 December 2017 at 16:59, MOSCOWBASS said:

La bella low tension flats would be choice excellent low B, nothing else comes close its the only low B that sounds like the rest of the strings for me😁

+1 for La Bella Low Tension Flats. The other advantage is that the gauges are similar to most round wounds so no filing out the nut if the guitar was designed for rounds.

Have you been drilling holes in them, or are they made of balsa wood?

Black is black! Glad you had some chrome on it .

When looking for a fretless 5 a little while ago, I read various reviews and then decided to take a chance on something that was from a reputable maker and had good reviews. I the. Found on line a bass at a very good price which I thought, if I have made a mistake , I can sell this on at at reasonable .price. I got a fretless Spector Spectorcore 5 string. Very well made in his own factory in Korea, comes with magnetic pickup and piezo, a bonus which I now really like. I find the string spaci g a little narrow but not a huge problem.  Plus it's quite light, has an ebony board and has an wry nice looking maple cap to boot. May be a risk is worth taking?

The ESP seems a really sensible choice. I hadn't seen that model before. Really only usable amplified and probably no feed back problems.  I use a Spectorcore with a Fishman bridge like that and it's fine. Acoustic sound without the drawbacks.

I suppose it had to be short scale, it's kind of weird to look like a 40's guitar when basses hadn't been invented (except the upright of course)! However it does look cool but I can't think when one would play it or for what style. 

String spacing on the 5 is 19mm. Neck is really comfortable  has slightly flat feel.

My advice would be don't waste your money. Acoustic bass guitars and pretty poor and only useable plugged in. The fifth string in particular is often inaudible. I had a Washburn with an enormous jumbo body and it was still useless. Sounded quite nice plugged in but then so do solid body guitars fitted with a piezo bridge like the Fishman and there is no chance of feedback with them.