glassmoon Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Happy new year, one and all Question... I am looking at changing the matt chrome hardware on my 2002 Ibanez BTB, and I found some monorail bridge options at Ali Express (see this link). 1. has anyone here ever received utter tosh from Ali Express ... as in, it would have been easier to blow you nose on the Crow's currency? 2. anyone with a LOT of Ibanez BTB experience have any opinion on these? I man, they look sound to the naked eye... So, fire away! And my thanks in advance. Julian aka Glassmoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Material: Zinc alloy, durable and easy to install. Read that as "made of cheap, poor material which will fail when you least need it to." 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 (edited) Bought a few bridges on AliExpress over the years and always been impressed with how solid they are, had a couple of high mass Korean made Fender style units (GuitarFamily), a Schaller clone and also used a Zinc Alloy 5 string bridge on my Cort C5. The Zinc Alloy one is solid and has been on the bass for 4 years now so I wouldn't worry. A lot of parts you see on there turn up on production basses, in fact when I was looking for a replacement bridge for my Sire there was a load of Ibanez stamped units on there! Although those saddles look almost identical to the stock BTB ones I would check the slots are wide enough for bass strings, looks like they are intended for guitar strings on the pictures and may need filing out. Edited January 2, 2023 by lemmywinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassmoon Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 13 hours ago, lemmywinks said: Although those saddles look almost identical to the stock BTB ones I would check the slots are wide enough for bass strings, looks like they are intended for guitar strings on the pictures and may need filing out. That's something a little more serious to consider - let me check into that if I can - thanks for the heads up - that is a top tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 I just tried to buy from Ali Express for the very first time. It will be the last. The website barely works on my tablet. I tried, twice, to get it to take my money and it just dribbled slightly out of the corner of its mouth and carried on licking the window it was staring blankly out of. I was attempting to buy some, apparently genuine, Wilkinson tuners, because everywhere else is out of stock (in the colour I need). Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassmoon Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 That's odd - a mate of mine in South Africa - which let's face it, is the derrière end of the world, has bought multiple times from AE without issue. He now lives in Estonia, and has continued to buy without issue.... he has, however, said that the mobile site options are less than stellar, and that he only uses his laptop when transacting. But food for thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, glassmoon said: That's odd - a mate of mine in South Africa - which let's face it, is the derrière end of the world, has bought multiple times from AE without issue. He now lives in Estonia, and has continued to buy without issue.... he has, however, said that the mobile site options are less than stellar, and that he only uses his laptop when transacting. But food for thought... My wife has bought from there, too… I just got my hair off with it. Everytime I clicked something, the page would suddenly get huge and most of it inaccessible, requiring that I reload the page to get it back to normal. This just kept happening, over and over. Once I eventually got to the checkout and everything filled in, it sent me off to PayPal, as it was supposed to, but when I got back there was no option to continue, the only button I could press was the one I had just pressed. I get very nervous when it comes to anything with money and online stuff, so once I had been to PayPal twice, with the same result, I got angry and gave up. I’m mostly annoyed that I can’t get what I need from any of the places I would normally go. And it just happens that it’s basically only the colour that I specifically want that is out of stock. I was already not having a very good day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassmoon Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 See, I want to replace the matt chrome hardware on my BTB, which you'd think would be easy - but the stacked pot means either a £10-20 option or this from AE. Same thing with the tuners - the AE price - like your choice, Wilkinson - is just too good to pass up. I'm basically looking at around £60 posted for the tuners, bridge saddles and knobs... Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut.... is AE a viable source? Yes, I worry about the saddles being "suspect".... but for that price, surely a "good enough" option? Baring in mind that I've not yet pulled the trigger hahahaha I've emailed all the Ibanez distributers here in the UK about just the knobs (for now) - so awaiting their reply. Ibanez's Iron Label range in the BTBs, are all black - so that should be a viable option, if they're not stupidly expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 3 hours ago, KingBollock said: I just tried to buy from Ali Express for the very first time. It will be the last. The website barely works on my tablet. I tried, twice, to get it to take my money and it just dribbled slightly out of the corner of its mouth and carried on licking the window it was staring blankly out of. I was attempting to buy some, apparently genuine, Wilkinson tuners, because everywhere else is out of stock (in the colour I need). Oh well. The app is pretty good, either that or the website works fine for me. Wilkinsons on AE (or any reseller site) are likely to be fake. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll be junk or even just usable, I have what I suspect to be non-genuine Wilkinsons on my fretless which are actually very nice tuners and I have no intention of changing them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 10 minutes ago, lemmywinks said: The app is pretty good, either that or the website works fine for me. Wilkinsons on AE (or any reseller site) are likely to be fake. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll be junk or even just usable, I have what I suspect to be non-genuine Wilkinsons on my fretless which are actually very nice tuners and I have no intention of changing them. Oh, I thought I’d be safe with Wilkinsons, that they’d be genuine. Considering that they would take just over a month to get here and with postage and tax, I’m not actually saving any money, I think I will wait and hope that someone in the UK gets them in stock. Northwest Guitars should send me an email if/when they get them in. I don’t really know where else to look except Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Just now, KingBollock said: Oh, I thought I’d be safe with Wilkinsons, that they’d be genuine. Considering that they would take just over a month to get here and with postage and tax, I’m not actually saving any money, I think I will wait and hope that someone in the UK gets them in stock. Northwest Guitars should send me an email if/when they get them in. I don’t really know where else to look except Amazon. There's an interview from a few years ago with the head honcho from Harley Benton (I've linked to it somewhere on here before if you want to search for it) where he says they had trouble sourcing genuine Wilkinson parts so had to stop using them for a while, if that guy is struggling then we have no hope! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 4 minutes ago, lemmywinks said: There's an interview from a few years ago with the head honcho from Harley Benton (I've linked to it somewhere on here before if you want to search for it) where he says they had trouble sourcing genuine Wilkinson parts so had to stop using them for a while, if that guy is struggling then we have no hope! Bloomin’ Nora! Why’s it have to be some bloomin’ complicated!? All I want is a set of these: https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/wjb750-tuners-for-right-handed-bass-guitar-4-in-line/ In black. I have bought them from that store before and like them. I’m not really that bothered about the make. I just need them to fit, be black, cheap and open backed (if I am buying cheap, I like the idea that I can maintain them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 I ordered a cream coloured metal thumbrest from AliExpress on 19 November. This is what arrived today: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassmoon Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 So, very old cream? Man, that sucks - I am being put waaaaaaaaaay off AE here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 On 03/01/2023 at 16:07, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I ordered a cream coloured metal thumbrest from AliExpress on 19 November. This is what arrived today: Close... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 AliExpress is huuuuge. You can't judge all of it just like you can't say all eBay sellers are the same. I've bought a lot of little things over the years from AliExpress. No more issues than I've had on eBay. I've been unhappy a couple of times and I got my money back easily. In fact, I'd say that as a buyer, AliExpress is easier than eBay. Just be sensible, like anywhere else. I once got a pair of brown shorts that were labelled as being red, on eBay. It happens. That's what returns/refunds are for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassmoon Posted January 8, 2023 Author Share Posted January 8, 2023 2 hours ago, mcnach said: AliExpress is huuuuge. You can't judge all of it just like you can't say all eBay sellers are the same. I've bought a lot of little things over the years from AliExpress. No more issues than I've had on eBay. I've been unhappy a couple of times and I got my money back easily. In fact, I'd say that as a buyer, AliExpress is easier than eBay. Just be sensible, like anywhere else. I once got a pair of brown shorts that were labelled as being red, on eBay. It happens. That's what returns/refunds are for. Many thanks for the vote of confidence @mcnach. I've spent a couple of days now reading through all sorts of sites with reviews on AE, and I'm beginning to think about using them more seriously, especially as I've received less than stellar (helpful) responses from the UK Ibanez dealers and distributors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 A bit late on this but my take on AE, I've just a few weeks back started an account with them/it.. my solitary experience so far is very good, I ordered some headless bass bridge bits, which appear decent quality for price & arrived in pretty good time considering Xmas /NY plus postal strikes etc. It seems you have to confirm receipt of goods and the fact you're happy with them before AE release your payment funds to the seller, this is also quite encouraging and dispels the notion they'll do a bunk with your cash! I also paid with PayPal so there's another layer of protection in the mix. I'd happily buy other stuff from there, the goods arrived without any extra taxes or import duties on top of what I paid at checkout BTW 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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