Show Us Your Basses (Part 1)

Uh shorty Bongo would get it even closer to pooper seat, hah!

But honest Ive spent few days thinking why the MMs are so expensive. Whats is MM offering that is so much better than Ray34 which is not an affordable bass with price around 1k euros.

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Oh there’s plenty of shorty Bongos out there. There’s just no inexpensive ones :slight_smile:

Edit: oops wait, am I wrong? I swear I thought there were short scale Bongos. Now I don’t see any. Hmm.

In the mean time: damn…

Too bad it’s a 5. Needs black hardware too. But the color and fretboard work great together.

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Oh thats a sweet finish!

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I basically love the Bongo aesthetic :slight_smile:

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nope. there isn’t. yet…

:sunglasses:

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I don’t, but LOBSTER does
It’s funny that he says the Ray24 pick up is an ok pick up, because he smashed it in a different review.

And this is the same bass and pick up, but with the Aguilar Pre-amp added.

I don’t hear enough difference to make the pre-amp worth it, but if you want the midrange (which is better then the treble most of the time) then you may want this pre-amp, but I am fine with the stock one.

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That pickup looks interesting. Might be a future mod for the Schecter? :thinking:

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Ha Ha, yeah, its a TearDrop, INSIDE an EGG. LOL

But, I am right in the middle, I love to hate them. LOL. NO, I honestly don’t hate anything about it, I don’t love anything about it, except maybe the pickguard. It might be fun as hell to play, and sound amazing, and to my surprise, I might fall in love after trying one out???

I am not the type of person that can allow HATE to engulf me over something inanimate like a bass, or strings, or. I can’t really DISLIKE an inanimate object like a bass either. I can NOT LIKE a bass, but to DISLIKE, thats just too much of myself involved with something I don’t really care about. To hate or dislike would mean I care more about these silly things than I do.
Of course, I am human, and err with words, and let the “I hate this…” slip out every once in a while, but when it comes down to it, I really don’t have much hate in my heart.
I can Dislike a BRAND, like FENDER, or GIBSON, Wait, no, thats wrong too. I don’t dislike the brand, I dislike some of the past, and current owners.
Like I don’t like how Fender bought and would not sustain SWR amplifiers, but I have no issues with Squire. I don’t know all the other brands they have their fingers in (Fender or CBS, or whoever the current owners are), and I am sure they have done harm to some brands, as well as helped others to flourish?
Gibson, now there is one that I have never really cared for period. I like the look of some of the guitars and basses, but I always found their instruments to be, hands down, the hardest to play of anything. Almost like they needed a perma-set-up. Then I hear of companies that Gibson bought, and changed, for the worse, again, I don’t know specifics, but I remember hearing things on YT, I thiink Lobster, reviewing a bass, I thought is was the new Chinese Sadowski, and said it was not worth the money, the pre-amp was good like it should be, being that brand, but the pick ups were not great, and they up charded an already pricey bass for the better pick ups.
I could be wrong, could have been a different bass, but I remember Lobster’s comment, “Thanks Gibson”. So I know they have their hands in some other brands and / or are producing budget versions of other brands of instruments, and apparently not doing such a great job of it.

Anyway, I don’t hate Bongo’s. I don’t love Bongo’s, I like Music Man and Sterling, and maybe some day SBMM will make an affordable Bongo.

I don’t get why they are so pricey, aren’t they made of basswood? What else makes them so costly? I would figure if EBMM can make a $300 Version of their signature $2100 to $2400 bass, and do a damn fine job of it, Why can’t they make a $400 or $500 version of their $2600 (IIRC) bass, and do a pretty damn fine job of it also?
You would have to think they would sell.

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Yep. I don’t get it either. Maybe BMW won’t let them.

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Ha Ha, that would be strange. I mean BMW has budget models. I have one.
Well, maybe not a budget model, but I paid budget price for it, a 535I Sport

But its not like they have their name on it, and I bet that less then .0001% of BMW drivers know who Ernie Ball, or Music Man is, or even what a Stingray Bass is, let alone the fact that BMW helped to design the Bongo.
AND not even .00000001% of the world population (not just BMW owners) even know what a bongo is.
Anybody that ever saw a band or live performance where the bass player was playing a Bongo, and asked, What kind of instrument is that? They might be surrounded by people that can tell them it is a Bass Guitar, but doubtful that any will know it is called a Bongo. Maybe 5 people in the crowd might know what it is, depends on the music, band, performers and what kind of following they have and who their typical fans are. Like if they are followed by alot of musicians, then maybe, but just music listeners, not a chance.

So, if anything, BMW should insist they create a SBMM budget model, and put their name on the back of all the headstocks, and get the word out.
UNLESS…
After they saw it, they wanted to call it a Goof. directed by (what is the name that directors use when they don’t want credit for the movie? There was a movie about that, where the lead director was actually named that name, and got all the bad credit for a bunch of crap he didn’t make? I will have to look it up, but like Alan Smith or something like that.).
Ha Ha, maybe BMW is ashamed.
Bummer, I can get behind a SBMM Bongo and maybe become a Bongo lover.

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i think that the bongo was originally designed to be THE high end MM bass. it had the bmw pedigree, upgraded hardware, and was certainly eye catching. it was priced as such. the problem is when they redid the stingray it became very similar to the bongo. i think at this point, the bongo is somewhat overpriced. i also don’t think they want to release a budget version of it because they want it to retain it’s exclusivity. just my guess tho.

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I am in love with that bass! Well done!!!

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It’s a dream to play with the shorter scale and thinner neck, especially coming from guitar and having smaller hands.

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@Kapri64, is it a Hagstrom H8-II model?

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So many welcoming people here … Josh, what a great community you have created!!!

Oh, and see the empty guitar hanger in my bass pic? I recently found something to fill it … more to follow :slight_smile:

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It’s here. Now to wait for the end of the work day to try her out. Think I will start B2B over which will also help me acclimate and rub off the rust

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Damn that bridge looks hefty.

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I really like the build quality on this, the frets feel super nice, the neck is smooth, like how sleek neck through is, bridge is solid, through body strings, need to see how the tuners check out but about to check out my EMG split pickup. Let’s KnIfe! (as they say in Shonen Knife Land)

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I love their fret inlays so much.

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Boy, that’s pretty.

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