OldePhart
Well-known member
So, today I went to Guitar Center during lunch to look over the short scale basses. (Yeah, I despise Guitar Center, too, but it's the only nearby music shop with any selection at all.)
So, here I am expecting a nice little bonus in my next paycheck and deciding that since I am switching pretty much permanently to short scale basses for the sake of my hands I should spend some of it on a little better bass than the Ibanez Mikro I got for $180.
So, I checked out about ten or twelve short-scale basses (everything they had on the wall) from Hofner, Squier, Epiphone, and even Gibson. Not one of them had better action than I was able to get out of the Ibanez Mikro without doing a fret-leveling job on the Mikro (and, trust me, it needs one to be really sweet).
So, okay, I wasn't expecting the world from the $400 Epiphones and Hofners, let alone the $200 Squiers. But, common, the $1400 Gibson SG bass reissue had a higher action than my Mikro???!!! I know GC just hangs whatever comes in the box on the rack - but those Gibson reissues (not the $900 faded) are supposedly set up in the custom shop, and I could drive a small truck under the strings???!!!
And the sad thing is the Gibson was right on the edge of rattling with that high action - I could tug the strings a tad harder than on my Mikro but only a tad - so there isn't any room to lower the action without doing a fret-level and recrown. On a $1400 bass? I don't think so!
Heck, if I'm going to have to go to that much work I'll buy another $180 Mikro so I can tear one down and work on it while I use the other! (Actually, at this point I think if I'm going to spend 1400 on a bass I'll throw in another 400 and get a Birdsong.)
Pretty sad day when a musician can't find anything worth spending his money on in a store the size of a GC!
John
So, here I am expecting a nice little bonus in my next paycheck and deciding that since I am switching pretty much permanently to short scale basses for the sake of my hands I should spend some of it on a little better bass than the Ibanez Mikro I got for $180.
So, I checked out about ten or twelve short-scale basses (everything they had on the wall) from Hofner, Squier, Epiphone, and even Gibson. Not one of them had better action than I was able to get out of the Ibanez Mikro without doing a fret-leveling job on the Mikro (and, trust me, it needs one to be really sweet).
So, okay, I wasn't expecting the world from the $400 Epiphones and Hofners, let alone the $200 Squiers. But, common, the $1400 Gibson SG bass reissue had a higher action than my Mikro???!!! I know GC just hangs whatever comes in the box on the rack - but those Gibson reissues (not the $900 faded) are supposedly set up in the custom shop, and I could drive a small truck under the strings???!!!
And the sad thing is the Gibson was right on the edge of rattling with that high action - I could tug the strings a tad harder than on my Mikro but only a tad - so there isn't any room to lower the action without doing a fret-level and recrown. On a $1400 bass? I don't think so!
Heck, if I'm going to have to go to that much work I'll buy another $180 Mikro so I can tear one down and work on it while I use the other! (Actually, at this point I think if I'm going to spend 1400 on a bass I'll throw in another 400 and get a Birdsong.)
Pretty sad day when a musician can't find anything worth spending his money on in a store the size of a GC!
John
Last edited:
