It hasn’t been daily player for a couple of reasons but I think I will change that.
I had originally bought it as a bit of an investment with the idea that I would keep it nice and sell it in the future if it became collectable.
Because of that reasoning I have been sparing in playing it.
How do I like it?
It is beautifully put together, no quality issues, the binding is nice, the frets are smooth and seem to be level, the paint is well done.
I have had to put a bit of effort into getting the string height and intonation just right, but I can get a bit anal there.
It feels nice to hold and hangs well on a strap, the neck dives a little bit but my usual player is an Epiphone Viola so that is a non-issue for me.
What really grabs me is the sound, I put GHS flats on and it has a powerful clear chimey tone; I did not know what people meant by piano-like until I played this one- it has Seymour Duncan P-pickups apparently slightly neckward to the regular PBass position. One of the things we are working on is Fear of the Dark and the intro chords and shimmery 1/5 part sound wonderful on this bass with these strings.
What has taken a bit to get used to is the feel of the neck. It feels big and the strings feel far apart. I measured them just now and the nut is 43mm, at the 3rd fret 13mm, 12th fret strings are 15mm and 18mm at the pickups, so nothing outrageous there. This is one thing I was unsure of when I first played it.
I just spent and hour or so playing it, I had a look at the new slap module on B2B and made some positive noises (I can’t slap to save my life yet) and played around a bit and now the neck seems pretty good, I think I am used to playing the Viola bass and the Bass VI with thinner necks.
I have come to the conclusion that this is a really good bass, possibly “too much” bass (in a good way) for me but certainly something I will master with time.
I think I will spend more time with it, maybe even re-do B2B and it will definitely bring up my skills.
not a purchase I regret at all, despite initial doubts.
Gorgeous! Good thing it’s long scale only, or I’d be getting out my bank card. 599 € at Thomann (includes 20% VAT). In stock.
I haven’t played a long scale in 10 years since injuring my left shoulder in a fall on ice. I’ve got about 15 shorties now. Should I add a tall boy to that collection?
If nothing else, I have to give them credit for making a bass that doesn’t look like some slight variation of a Fender Precision or Jazz.
Not that I don’t like those, mind you, just that it’s nice having some variation now and then. I’m a bit jealous of guitar players for the sheer number of different shapes they have available to them (although, admittedly, 90% of them come down to Strat, Tele or Les Paul shapes as well but still)
I’m still pinballing around. Oui! Non. Oui! Non. I keep telling myself that I’ll hate the painted, thick neck. And I’m wary of guitars made in China. But 599 € delivered? Not a lot of risk there. I know that I’m eventually going to pull the trigger, so why wait?
EDIT: OK. Bit the bullet. Ordered an in stock Glenn Hughes purple O Bass and a set of long scale D’Addario Chrome flats .045-.100. If I don’t get on with a long scale neck, it won’t be that difficult to sell.
Here’s Glenn playing the purple O-Bass for an entire show. I wonder if he’s playing the stock 599 € bass, or if his was built especially for him. Anyone?
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but my Purple monster has been sitting in the rack since it arrived. I can’t even tune it. This has to be the worst setup bass out of the box of any bass I’ve purchased. Some have been spot on. Some have needed slight adjustments to get the action low enough without string buzz, but on my Glenn Hughes, the strings are flush to the frets down to the 5th fret! I bought some D’Addario Chrome ECB81 light gauge .045-.100 flats to install on it, so I need to find/make the time to install them and do a full setup. I’ll post another update after I finish those two tasks and play it a bit.
