- cheap stand, upgrade
- change the strings but beware that not all strings seem to fit the tuners
- maybe change the tuners too
- raise the bridge height (some go maximum height and still think it's too low)
- don't take off the back plate too often (no idea what that means but it was repeated often)

Am I the only one who thinks this is strange?
I can see setting it up to fit your taste but, basic things that need to be replaced right out of the box?
How much do these things cost? And they come with crappy strings, tuners and stand?

OK, Mootly, calm down a minute. Let me try and explain something.

1) - this is an electric upright bass, not an upright.
2) - this is meant to be an decent quality, entry level, AFFORDABLE EUB. To get cost down, they went cheap on a couple of things.
3) - I don't know about the guys at Talkbass, but if you take a guy who has played Alembics and Lulls for the last 20 years and hand him a Squier, they aren't going to be impressed, even though the Squier may be a perfectly acceptable, servicable and playable instrument.

Stand - it's plastic and metal. Just like the mounting frame for my Yami DTX electronic drum kit. Therefore light. Therefore inexpensive. It does an fine job of holding the bass up and allowing enough articulation to adjust the bass to the preferred playing position. It's just not the big, heavy, substantial, chrome-plated stand you get with the $1850US CR series.

Strings - they are bass guitar strings, heavy gage. The overall length of this thing is a little under 45". Acoustic strings about about 5 1/2' in length (or seem that way when you are restringing the URB) Its a trade-off for buying a bass that fits in a bag that's 4 1/2' high. There are keyslots in the back of the coverplate that you can neck-through a set of acoustic strings if you wish (and most people do). The WAV shipped with the same set of strings that would be installed on the CR or the EU.

Tuners These look like they just came off an Ibanez. Again, trade off for having somthing that jams in a 4 1/2' bag. Full size machine heads would make the head stock impossibly large. They will accomodate all but the thickest of acoustic strings. And I'm even willing to yank them off and try drilling out the shafts a tad.

Bridge Purely a matter of preference and also another trade-off. My URB case is 19-20" deep to accomodate the bass and the adjustable maple bridge, which is about 5-6" from strings to body. The gig bag for the WAV is 6" total. Yes, I've read that some people have takent the bridge all the way out and it's still not far enough. They are probably going to be right and I will probably agree with them.

Back Plate I know people that given a Playschool plastic nut and bolt (4" in diameter with a thread length of about a yard) will manage to cross thread that SOB. If you keep running a wood screw in and out of a hole, it will warb out. If you pull a wood screw out of a hole and don't go in exactly straight, it will warb out. That plate needs removing only to adjust the bridge ... that's it. Three, four time tops. Replace your bridge or pickguard on your Gibson 55 time and you'll have the same problem.

Keep in mind this is what it is ... an affordable, entry level ERB that plays and feels pretty much like a URB that's NOT a damned Dean Pace or a fretless neck through with a pool cue shoved up it's ... oriface (i.e. Dean Pace). I don't have to load the 3/4 up and take the van to practices and rehersals. It has the same scale length as my URB. The neck has close to the same feel. If you want something that is engineered and built to look, feel and sound like an URB with the convience of and EUB, buy an Emminence (the Emminence won't fit in my roadster) or Azoya. I can neither afford or can do justice to an Alembic, so I play Fenders. But I don't obsess over the difference in quality. I likes my Fenders and they plays alright to me.

P.S. They have a guitaron at the local Ted Brown's. Now if I can only get my friend Lupe to give me an audition. I would be drop dead georgeous in a Mariachi outfit!

... - use the arco setting for a more upright sound (even when playing pizzicato)
- use the pizzicato setting for a more fretless bass sound...

Still get way too much "twang" and not enough "thud" from these strings.

WAV 4 UPDATE (Ya payin' attention, Eddie?)

The guitaron here has the same power over me. And I think I'm the only one that plays it.

I need to find a store by me that actually carries one. I've been to mexico on vacation and when I see a mariachi band I am totally fascinated by it.

Eat your hearts out bitches -

WAV 4 UPDATE () //snip// lo and behold, the post inside the tuning head has snapped clean off. I had indicated earlier in the thread that I thought the machine heads might be sub-standard for the tention involved with full sized strings.

Not a problem, Eddie.