David Etheridge

I have this one in black, plus 7 more Shine 6ers, four of them fretless. If you set them up right, they blow the competition out of the water for the price. I love mine, plus the fact that they haven't cost the earth. It brings up the bigger question: how much is a trendy name on the body/headstock actualy worth? As a slight digression, I used to teach bass in a college and coach rock bands. Some were a joy to teach, others less so. One day a student came in with a Fender Strat in terrible condition. He's paid £500 for it, and it was a piece of junk, but he was over the moon, because it was a FENDER. I pointed out the faults with it (noisy electrics, terrible finish, rotten sound and set up) but he was adamant that it was the real deal. I rather unkindly pointed him to a Chinese knock off under the Excel brand name (no I've never heard of them before or since). I had one for review for a magazine. It was terrific - great setup, well made, lovely sound, played like a dream - and the RRP including case, strap and lead was £78!. This illustrates my point. All instruments are tools and while I'd love something like a Ken Smith (or two) I'll never have the money for one. So I work within my budget to get something that does what I want it to and suits me. For me, the Shine range (like the Harley Benton range. come to that) does the job. As an aside, The Shine SB26 is just about identical to a Harley Benton HBB600, and they were also available in the U.S., under the Douglas brand name. Here are my (mostly) Shine 6ers. (The natural wood one is an Indie, which is rather lovely). The three black SB526 are my go to fretless models, and the one in the middle cost me all of £45 on Ebay (it was world cup final day so no-one was bidding!). The two sunburst ones are SB846s, and I had one defretted. Under the Douglas range, they did a fretless 846, but not under the Shine moniker, so mine may be unique on this side of the pond. It has its own sound, completely different from both its fretted version and the 526s. The others speak for themselves, with the natural wood neck through SBT706 being my latest acquisition, and a snip at £150. I love them all and will keep using them for everything - gigs, teaching, recording, the lot. My local friendly guitar tech likes them too and speaks glowingly of the build quality. Hope this is of interest for anyone on a budget - and these days, who isn't?