Hi all, any opinions/experience with the Tanglewood Canyon 2 4 string you’d care to share with me?
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Is this a bass? I have never heard of it. that doesn’t mean it is not good.
Photo’s?
Price?
Condition?
If you are able to post this info, it would be helpful for others, and myself to analyze. Or, somebody else may know of them.
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I know of a Tanglewood Canyon Vineyard that produces halfway decent wines, but I suspect @Jim_May isn’t asking for sommelier advice.
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I’ve found a few Tanglewood basses but not that particular model.
They look a half decent budget bass around the $350 aud mark and would fall into the SX , cheaper Ibanez market.
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I dont have one and they dont seem to be made anymore. I did some research and found some information.
The good.
Ebony fretboard.
(Very rare on a bass in this price range.)
5 piece maple and mahogany neck through body design.
(Also, very rare on a sub $400 bass.)
Excellent access to the higher frets.
(Not common on basses in general.)
The bad.
There is very little information out there. Even on the talkbass.com form.
(That just means it hard to know what you’re getting in to.)
The active electronics are sealed in some substance.
(I came across two reports where the active electronics died. Since they couldn’t be repaired, one person had to replace them and the other bypassed them.)
The weird.
I couldn’t, conclusively, determine who made this bass first. It is very similar to the Cort Cubow. One person said Taglewood had it built at the Cort factory and when Tanglewood moved their manufacturing somewhere else, Cort made the Cubow as their version. Who knows if this is true.
The neck seems to be on the slim side like a jazz bass or an Ibanez but one person said it was more of a chunky slim. I can only guess this means the width was like an Ibanez but thicker from front to back. He said he found it very comfortable to play, though.
Even though this bass seemed to have some really high end features, their seemed to be inconsistencies with manufacturing and electronics.
I hope that helped.
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This is how the Sterling Ray4 and Ray24 are. They are narrow, 1.5" at the nut, and 2.5" at the body, but the thickness, from the top of the fretboard to the back of the neck is a little thicker. about 2mm, consistent thru the neck.
These are not exact numbers, just an example.
if the Ibanez is 21.5mm thick at the nut, and 29.5mm thick at the 14th fret,
then
The Ray4 would be 23.5mm thick at the nut and 31.5mm thick at the 14th fret
14th fret is an estimate, and I am just giving an example, but these numbers can be looked up on the Sterling and Ibanez websites.
I personally find this MUCH more comfortable. That does NOT mean the ibanez neck it uncomfortable, it is very comfortable, it is just that I, personally, find the extra thickness more comfortable to play, based on my hand and how it feels.
I don’t think anybody that prefers Jazz width necks would find either of those basses uncomfortable (or this Tanglewood, if it is as narrow as the Jazz neck, but a little thicker), and would be happy with either. I don’t see that little extra bit making a big enough difference for anybody to dislike one vs the other. everybody will probably find one a little more comfortable, or alot more, then the other, but IMHO, they would never dislike a bass based the neck not being comfortable to play on, if it had one or the other.
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In fender terms this would probably be a D-shape vs a C.
I like either. I kind of dislike the U-shape (common on P-basses I think?). Haven’t tried the others.
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Fender 50’s p-basses have the baseball bat neck. Most common is the 1962 “C” which is purrrrfect on a p-bass.
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Ooh yeah. I really like that kind of profile.
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I wouldn’t buy that one. That site is asking for what would have probably been the new price.
This may be “new” but, at best, it is old new stock. By my estimation, 10-15 years old.
Since nobody knows anything about these, the resale value is low. When searching around, I found one for 399 pounds and another for $180.
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You could probably find an ESP LTD B-4E for around $450 used, or $699 new. They have 2 pickups, and are similar in look. This one looks like it has very nice access to the upper frets, but it makes for a funky shape.
The Peavey, like Josh plays in the lessons, also could be found for between $400 and $700, also nice wood grain with neck thru construction.
This looks like a very nice bass, but age and the obscurity of its name, kind of make it a risk, as in, hard to sell if you absolutely do not like it. However, if there is a 100% refund for 30 or more days, you could get it and see if it is high quality, and if you like it.
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