1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 16:27:04 GMT
Received this bass today. This is how it arrived. The famous 'yellow tape' packaging! Neatly packed. Here it is! Details: The body looks nice, the pickguard has a bit rough edges (can't be seen in the photo, what you see there is the protective tape), the bridge pickup is not properly centered to the strings (no big one, I can fix this), the neck pickup appears a bit misaligned in the photo but that's due to wide angle lens distortion, it actually sits okay. The bridge is properly aligned to the neck. A couple of smudges on the back, they are underneath the lacquer and don't bother me, the binding looks nice. The tuners are aligned the way I would mount them, following the contour of the headstock. Need I say more. This cover will be replaced with one of my own making. The inlays and binding are done okay, however there are a few spots that need a touch-up. The tuner bushing are either loose or mounted crooked, this also needs some attention. Fretwork appears to be okay as well but I will give my final judgements on them once I've done a setup session. First impression: This bass has been build with a lot more attention to detail and craftsmanship than my previous two AliExpress Jazz V basses, it needs some attention on some points but nothing really shocking wrong with it. Setup straight from the box: The strings are setup way too high, intonation is okay but can be done better - Going to put on new strings before I'm going to fix this.
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Post by mrdes on Jan 22, 2016 17:31:15 GMT
Nice bass and great description. How does it sound, are the pickups good? Is it straight forward to purchase from aliexpress?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2016 17:53:03 GMT
So we can assume that one can buy a good instrument from Aliexpress. Congrats on your new toy
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 17:58:41 GMT
One out of three is not the best of averages, and even the one has some issues that need attention before I'd call it a player.
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 18:07:02 GMT
Nice bass and great description. How does it sound, are the pickups good? Is it straight forward to purchase from aliexpress? Can't say too much about the pickups yet, only did a quick & dirty test until now, they produce sound and that's all I'm willing to tell you right now. I'll get back on this at a later time when I've changed the strings and done the first setup session. To purchase through AliExpress is simplicity itself with a credit-card, there are other ways of payment but I've never used those so can't comment on that. You also have to be patient with orders placed there, I've had orders arriving within a week and orders that took up to six weeks to arrive at my doorstep, most orders take 3 to 4 weeks though.
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Post by kwis on Jan 22, 2016 18:09:06 GMT
Hey bla why did you not make 1!!! Looks nice out the box..
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 18:13:35 GMT
I could make one myself but not for the price I had to pay for this one.
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Post by kwis on Jan 22, 2016 18:31:19 GMT
I dont know how the chinese do it,the pick up systems in the acoustics i have,stand alone price is 50$ and that system is in guitars costing just over double that ! Dont leave much change for building, materials ect
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Post by GKon on Jan 22, 2016 21:05:05 GMT
Looks good enough! I eventually want a Lemmy copy Ric from AliExpress
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 22:52:12 GMT
How does it sound, are the pickups good? Put on new strings and done the first setup session, it can sound amazingly Rick-ish in certain settings, it has that same sort of rolling bite. The pickups do however also have a disadvantage, they are slightly microphonic so any tapping and touching on the metal housing is audible. I was already familiar with these pickups, there used to be one as the bridge pickup on my Rockinbetter, replaced the pickups on that bass with genuine Rickenbacker single coil ones. For the time being I'm happy with what these pickups can do for me on this bass but I might replace them in the future, I know there are very affordable Rick single coil lookalikes out there and I'm just curious what these can deliver. Another thing I need to do is shielding, there is nothing at all now, even though the pickups are humbuckers this bass picks up a lot of hum!
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Post by mrdes on Jan 22, 2016 23:03:25 GMT
Thanks a million for the update, very interesting regarding the playability/functionality of the stock ingrediens. I totally agree regarding the name change away from Rickenbacker to your own moniker! Happy humm hunting I get the feeling you will enjoy putting bass right
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Post by mrdes on Jan 22, 2016 23:06:30 GMT
Forgot to ask, what strings did you go with? Am I right to assume its a semi hollow body?
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 22, 2016 23:40:51 GMT
Putting them right is a big part of the fun for me with all these cheap and cheapish instruments. Making something real good from something potentially good. The strings I use on most of my basses are Warwick Red Label nickel, fantastic value for money. I also use Elixers on a few basses and for my shortscale basses I use Höfner nickel roundwounds. It's a partial hollow body, only the top half where the sound hole is is hollowed out (as far as I can see).
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1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
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Post by blablas on Jan 23, 2016 16:40:10 GMT
First thing I did as part of the setup, filed the string grooves to the right depth, out of the box the space between the first fret and the strings was about 2 millimeters, that's way to much for blablas, now it somewhere between 2 to 3 tenths of a millimeter (by eyeball and feel, I hate doing a setup by measurebating). They used a right handed nut, as you can see by its shape, I'll smooth this out at later time given it's only cosmetically. Shielding: Who needs shielding? It picked up hum like mad, even though these pickups are humbuckers. Also nice to see how they freehand routed the controls cavity. And now it's shielded. Hum is gone - weird! The first scar is also a fact, it had to drop from the table while I was working on the nut. Colored it in again with a red sharpie and after I took this picture sealed and stabilized it with some CA glue. Don't ask what that black spot is, it's underneath the lacquer and there are several more on the sides of the body.
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Post by mrdes on Jan 23, 2016 19:38:07 GMT
Very interesting, were the frets by and large level? That looks like proper copper based shielding tape, could a cheapskate use regular tin foil? My thoman guitars have a heavy black paint in the cavities as does my cort strat I assumed it is special shielding paint as I don't get much him. The scar adds character.
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