hooky_lowdown

The India made ones are well made and don't feel cheap at all. I've owned several mim fenders which feel cheaper than this, and not sound as good. I've not played a later encore, so can't compare, but the neck on this thing feels so good to me, just it's personal preference.

Picked up a 90s Encore E83 for a pony a few days ago with the intention of modding it. I was told it had an intermittent fault with the electrics (which is why it was so cheap), so my first thought was the wires to the jack probably need a resolder, no big deal. When I checked the electrics it turned out there was a little rust on the jack, so carefully cleaned it off, and electrics work fine again. Needed a full set up, the bass even came with a new set of half decent nickel wound strings (all for a pony!), so slapped them on and set it up to how I like. When I set it up I checked the wood grain, which looked like ash to me, and the bass has what I call a reassuring weight to it, I'm guessing around 9lbs. I've played other Encores which were heavier, but this one is a little lighter. The best thing about the bass is the neck, which unlike other Encore E83's I've played is really chunky (baseball bat style) and is incredibly playable. I keep finding myself picking it up to play, I play rock, indie, blues stuff and the deep neck lends itself to those styles of music. The chunky neck also helps the sound, and in combination with the (hot) stock pickups sound pretty decent. So now I've decided I'm going to keep the whole bass stock, and just play the s**t out of it. For a cheap "student" bass when it came out in the 90s, I'm amazed at the quality, with a few tweaks it could be a giggable bass, but for now I think I'll keep it at home. For a bass around 25 years old, it's in decent condition. Even the "Made in India" and serial number stickers are in great shape.

Short scales are easier and to some more comfortable to play. Genre wise I would say rock, blues - that sort of stuff.

The BB basses are very good basses, though they are heavy. The 270's are nice and lightweight.

Baseball bat necks I'd reference as being very deep.

Recently I've found I'm a fan of big "baseball bat" necks, especially on P basses. I know original P basses had them, but what other brands/manufacturers make or made a P bass with baseball bat style necks? I know the Harley Benton PB50's have them.

Agree with others about a boost pedal. You can also increase the height of the pups so they are closer to the strings - this will also increase the volume.

Mojo = Character Beat up = Roadworn

Peavey t-40? Only kidding. What budget do you have and what styles of music do you play? Clearly you are looking for a pj bass for p and jazz sounds. The jaguar has a very good rep, good build and p pickup is good, jazz is weak. Inexpensive alternatives I'd suggest looking at would be Ibanez tmb100, very similar to the squire. Or if you don't mind second hand, Yamaha rbx270 are very well made, decent sound with the jazz pickup slightly better than the squire or Ibanez. Also Revelation basses have a good rep and are similarly priced.

Have you owned/played an older Gibson, would be interested how you'd rate quality between them both?

Would be interesting to read some reviews once available as I've read modern Gibson's (last 5 years or so) are generally poor, and far inferior in sound and build quality than older Gibson's.

Beautiful. So, were the tuners the only nickel part on the bass?

Were the bridge and pickup covers chrome in the 60s?

Brown. Red looks cheap next to it.

+1 for washing up sponge. Used them (rough side) before and worked brilliantly, also cut them up and used under pickups instead of foam, and if you have flatwounds, I've also put them (sponge side up) under the strings next to the bridge to dampen the sound for old school thump!

Thanks people. I'm a flats guy on a p, but wanting something a little brighter than Chromes (my string of choice) for more 'rock' stuff.

I think you answered your own queston, when you mentioned Fender flats. These are half the price of many other flats, are modern flats - bright, clarity and can really thump if you dig in. Dunlop, EB Cobalts, Chromes and Fender flats as you say are the modern sounding flats. The Dunlop flats are the brightest sounding, if you want less highs, then Fender flats would be the way I would go.

I've tried Olympias, and they are not bright sounding flats, more old school and duller sounding than even Labellas. They are not as smooth to the touch as more expensive flats, in fact they are slightly rough. The set I tried had different length silks for each string which was a little bit odd.

My favourite flatwounds. There are two types of flats, old school and hybrid flats. Old school (eg Labella) have that vintage deep thump. Hybrids ( eg Chrome's or Fender) have a brighter tone and more clarity.

Thinking of trying some Daddario half wounds, but would like to know a couple things: A) how long do strings last till they die? B) do they come with silks?

To clarify - we are talking about the Bass Big Muff, not the guitar Big Muff?