NBD - a *good* experience with Bax - Fazley Hot Rod Bass FMH182SG

[neepheid]

Well, this is a NBD thread I honestly didn't expect to make.  Some of you might know that back in September 2024, I set myself a challenge - to achieve a "giggable" bass in a £150 budget - new parts only, ignoring postage costs.  The core component of this challenge was a bass I spied and really liked the look of - the Fazley Hot Rod - a no-nonsense, pickguardless FSO, reverse P, volume only.  Bax are the only vendors of these as far as I could see so even though they were out of stock and on back order, I laid down £84 for the bass.  Yes.  £84.

 

Unfortunately, most people know the story now - Bax went bankrupt in early 2025.  Womp womp.  And you know how it is with companies going bust - the customers are at the back of the queue when it comes to making things right, so honestly I had written it off.  But, Bax coughed back into life after being bought over.  Then I started getting emails suggesting that they would be honouring past orders.  I was sceptical, but I played along, answered any questions I was asked (confirming the order details, and a bit later on asking if I still wanted to wait, or take store credit).  I opted to wait and have the order fulfilled as originally intended.

 

Well, would you believe it?  Look what arrived this morning...

 

 

I tell you something for nothing - there's a lot of bass here for £84 (well back in September last year they were, they're £94 now - oh no!).  It's the neck which surprised me the most - absolutely no raggedy fret ends, and even a very slight attempt to roll the edges of the fretboard.  No swarf in the nut.  Tuners are serviceable - not the smoothest turning but no play in the gears.  Bridge is a BBOT - it works, nothng more.

 

The only places I could see where money had been saved are in the finish - it's a bit uneven in places (but you have to look closely in the light to see the unevenness) and then the pickup.  The stock pickup is comically low in output - I was giving it a test in my Tascam Bass Trainer and with the input level set to 10 (the maximum) the Fazley was barely getting to half way on the input monitor!  Of course, the stock strings are hot garbage, thin, rougher than Rotos and went straight in the bin.

 

In probably the quickest time from receiving a bass to replacing the pickup (about an hour and a half) I had the stock strings in the bin, the fretboard oiled (because it looked as dry as a camel's hoof) and the stock pickup out and a Tonerider Duke in there.  What a difference!  Much better output.  The stock strings weren't giving the truss rod much to do - after I put my beloved D'addario XL nickel rounds on it, the neck was a banana and I had to tighten the truss rod three quarter turns!  Further tweaking may be required, but I gave it a quick and dirty setup  and now it's playing great.

 

So that means so far I've spent £119 (£84 bass and £35 pickup), leaving £31 in the budget.  I was expecting to have to change the bridge and/or the tuners, but in all honesty they have been unobtrusive and perfectly serviceable.  Which leaves more room in the budget for some silliness/extra credit.  I think I will fit one of my preferred Sire/Reverend style 3 string retainers, and I will fit a silly knob - which was the plan originally, but I stole the one I ordered and put it on the Epiphone Em-bassy (which I got when I was sure that this one would never materialise).

EDIT - because people like to know - this particular bass weighs 3.6kg - or a smidge under 8lbs.

Edited 1 hour ago by neepheid
Added the weight

[Cato]

I saw the other day Bax were advertising Fazely guitars again on Instagram.

 

Glad they finally came through for you, that's a lovely colour, in fact a nice looking instrument all round.

[PaulThePlug]

Love the rear route, single vol look of simplicity on these, often wonder, but have way too many.

 

Page 6 if ya fancy teleheading...

bass heads.pdf

Edited 3 hours ago by PaulThePlug

[HeadlessBassist]

That's a nice and happy ending to the story, Neepheid. Imagine the new owners actually honoring the bankrupt company's previous orders?!

 

Looks great too.

 

Now all you need is a stupidly large Joe Dart-style rotary control... They're just so 😎👍

Edited 3 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[neepheid]

8 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Love the rear route, single vol look of simplicity on these, often wonder, but have way too many.

 

Page 6 if ya fancy teleheading...

bass heads.pdf 22.33 kB · 43 downloads

 

Nah, I'm not fussed for the tele headstock where it doesn't belong, but thank you for that document - it will come in very handy for me on one of my projects - got an idea of what to do to the front of the headstock, it's pretty regular F shaped so this'll help me lay out my ideas in Inkscape - cheers!

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

That's a nice and happy ending to the story, Neepheid. Imagine the new owners actually honoring the bankrupt company's previous orders?!

 

Looks great too.

 

Now all you need is a stupidly large Joe Dart-style rotary control... They're just so 😎👍

 

Huh, just you wait until the knob I have ordered arrives - Joe Dart will have nothing on me...

[HeadlessBassist]

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Huh, just you wait until the knob I have ordered arrives - Joe Dart will have nothing on me...

 

Now we're talking!

[Jasper]

Nice bass, and it might become unique.. Rumor has it that a group of creditors has filed for bankruptcy again in court. So be carefull when placing orders with Bax.