Only being an amatuer bassist I wanted a cheap short scale instrument to add to my arsenal.
I am not disapointed, great finish, great sound and great value.
I have already upgraded the strings to the GHS Stainless flatwounds, polished the frets, cleaned and oiled the fretboard, set the intonation to a higher standard than when it came out of the box, made a custom Ash wood pickguard and created a bone nut. I have just orderd some more parts for further upgrades as follows: Gotoh GB10 4L N Bass Tuners - Göldo HW50C 3-D Bass Bridge, both items have been ordered from Thomann. Now you know that I have further improvement plans for this instrument let me tell you why I spent the extra on these parts. When I first recieved this instrument the frets needed zero attention, I polished them because I changed the strings and I could. The pickguard was made purely for aesethetics and to add my own customization. The bone nut in my opinion was a "needed" upgrade because the nut that came fitted was some cheap soft plastic and probably reduced the sustain.
The strings HAD to be replaced because a: I prefer flatwound for the sound and my amateur fingers take less abuse, b: The original strings were terrible! The intonation wasn't actually that bad, I suspect that storage time and temperature change had an effect on the original setup. Which leads me to why I oiled the fretboard, storage time had dried it up somewhat and so a little fretboard oil was needed. Now I have spent some time playing and enjoying a great value for money instrument I feel it's time to add some further upgrades to enjoy it even more. Two of the machine heads (tuners) can be turned by nearly half a revoloution before they actually tighten or loosen the strings, on closer inspection I can see that the shaft of the keys are loose in the mechanism, now I could perhaps bend the whole tuner (machine head) plate to tighten on the shaft and stop the loose action of the tuning key but I'd rather replace them with some top quality tuners and enjoy reliable tuning action. The bridge replacement is mainly because I want a higher mass bridge to hopefully achieve more sustain and to be honest I want a more contemporary look, it isn't in my opinion a necessary upgrade but one I want to achieve a more unique Harley Benton Shorty custom.
I ain't no expert, I can setup a guitar and a bass and I can be honest, if you want my opinion this instrument is a NO BRAINER if you are looking for a short scale bass and for what ever your reasons don't want to spend an arm and a leg you, cannot go wrog with this instrument. Out of the box it will serve anyone and if you want it to serve you better or more it is easily upgradeable and easily worth spending a few quid at the local luthier to get it to perform at a satisfying level.
Next upgrade for me will be either a Tone Rider Pick up or a Wilkinson pick up, both Alnico V but to be honest the ceramic pick up that comes fitted is actually surprisingly good, nice warm sound with the GHS flatwounds I have fitted that punch if you dig in, again it's me being a tart and wanting to customise rather than a necessary upgrade. I hope that if you go for one of these you enjoy the same or similar experience as me!
A good one!
