I ordered this bass back in March after having had my eyes on it for quite some time and initially I was quite excited. It looks great, is fun to play.. until you try to do a basic setup on it.
There are several issues with this instrument:
First of all - the awful bridge. WHY on earth would anyone design something with pieces of it readily falling off is beyond me. The strings rest on these tiny metal pieces that are held in place by the strings themselves and nothing else. Also, the individual string height CANNOT be adjusted, only the height of the bridge itself. This can obviously be upgraded, but it is NOT an excuse for an instrument targeting the beginner market.
Second - the bridge pickup mount from hell. Who in their right mind would ever think this was acceptable?? It's the most ridiculous mounting "solution" I have ever seen by far:
The metal piece over the pickup is held together by screws that are NOT properly held in place! They go through the top pickup cover, then the plate around the pickup (which is the only thing screwed into the body and keeping the pickup from completely falling out), then a wide plastic platform under the cover on which the pickup itself sits and then.. NOTHING! Not a single nut or anything to be found! The only other thing found under the cover are a these couple of ridiculous springs around each screw, which are supposedly meant to keep the pickup in place? Needless to say - it does NOT work, the pickup sags down and cannot be raised up properly and the metal pickup cover that goes over the strings is slightly loose and rattly.
I suspect THIS is the main reason why so many people complain about the pickup being too quiet - it's IMPOSSIBLE to adjust the height! When it sits at a proper height the volume is perfectly fine.
WORKAROUND:
Take off the covers, take out the pickup, get rid of the pointless screws and add a few nuts of appropriate size to space the pickup a bit lower from the metal cover (otherwise it touches the strings) and then another pair of nuts to secure it in place. This should not have to be necessary, but it is and easy enough to do. You still cannot adjust the pickup, but at least it is properly secured in place now.
Those are the 2 major issues I have with this bass, which, when solved, leave you with a pretty decent bass that's actually quite fun to play and sounds pretty good.
The only other thing worth noting is not so much an issue with the instrument itself, but with the Thomann listing, which is a pretty big oversight on their part:
The scale listed on the product page is "Long Scale", when it should be "Super Long Scale".
"Why is this an issue?" one might ask - because when you buy a replacement string set, maybe even with your initial order of the bass, you may end up in my position and waste your money on a set that is just too short. I picked up a Harley Benton HQS Bass-5 45-130 (yes a 5-string set, it seemed very cost-effective, being just 13eu) which also states "Long scale", but does not give any actual measurements of the strings themselves, which is also the case with a lot of other string sets. You need to look for "Super Long Scale" strings for this bass, which narrows down your options A LOT. So keep that in mind.
What's frustrating is that it could have easily been GREAT value with a bit more quality control. I cannot recommend this for a beginner, but as a mod platform - it's still worth a consideration, especially for those looking for a Ricky style bass on the cheap.
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