Jode Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 I had it shipped to work, and naturally it came yesterday on my day off. It's pretty smooth. Yes, the neck dives to the floor and the body wants to face away from you when it's on a strap, just like it's "supposed" to. Once I remembered how to hold it, I took off on it. I plugged it into my SWR yesterday and got carried away on the B string, and stuff started falling off the walls. It's got a couple of pickup options I haven't figured out yet (a five-way switch for two pickups), so I'll get back to you on the sounds. It sounds clean, though, especially for passive pickups. The neck on my old EB was a fat axe handle of a rock bass neck. The new one is thinner and faster, almost as if they took the four's neck and mashed it out to make it wide enough for five strings. I've got fairly small hands, and I can reach everything just fine on this guitar. It's a 34" scale instead of 35", and I'm glad that extra inch is gone. It has a couple of shipping and mis-handling buzzes that a setup will fix, but it feels really good. Strangely, it's lighter than my old EB, and even lighter than my Jazz. It's the maple neck, I think. The old EB had a mahogany neck. It's got LP-type trapezoid inlays, which is a bonus for me; my Jazz has square mother-of-pearl fret markers, so I don't have to mentally change from squares to dots in addition to adding another string when I change instruments. The finish is beautiful Gibson-spec cherry - the only finish for mahogany, really - and the wiring and hardware look pretty sano. I noticed a weird blemish at the 12th fret under the G string, but it's no big deal. I looked on the back of the headstock to find "Made In Korea" and grimaced briefly, but then I thought a)I got a good closeout deal on it and probably paid about what it's really worth anyway; and b)with this kind of fit, finish, and playability, Korean instruments have come a long way. The jack is on top of the guitar, fairly close to the tone knob, and it gets a little cramped up top with a straight plug in there. The Epiphone folks, maybe more as a suggestion than anything, included a cheap little guitar cable with one right-angle plug. I used it and had no trouble. I've always thought a 90-degree plug looked cleaner, anyway, and I always used to use one with my old one to keep the cable out of the way of the controls. It's no Tobias or Warwick, but it's a lot of five-string for three hundred bucks, y'all. It's probably all the five-string an old stick in the mud like me will ever need. "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Sweet Willie_ Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 Congrats. Enjoy it. spreadluv Fanboy? Why, yes! Nordstrand Pickups and Guitars. Messiaen knew how to parlay the funk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxofunk Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 Awesome! Glad you like it, Happy Bassin! - Matt W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_dont_fret Posted February 4, 2003 Share Posted February 4, 2003 Word up! I got my Washburn 5 on sale at Mars before they closed. For the same $300 you spent, I got my baby. It's sleek, easily played, and yes, made in Korea. A tight little piece of work if I may say so myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Capasso Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 On my vintage EB3, I use the Planet Waves strap with the "ratchet locks". When it dives or pulls away, I don't care - it isn't going anywhere. Maple neck? Is it red or natural? Love that red - I had Mike Kinal mix a color for my bass so I could stay in that color family.... Sounds like a good buy. Congrats, and enjoy !! Tom www.stoneflyrocks.com Acoustic Color Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars and keep your feet on the ground. - Theodore Roosevelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanYmaL X Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 I use the Planet Waves ratcheting strap too... I was going to convert to Dunlap straploks but this caught my eye first... best 14.95 I ever spent on a strap. And its blue. DX Aerodyne Jazz Deluxe Pod X3 Live Roland Bolt-60 (modified) Genz Benz GBE250-C 2x10 Acoustic 2x12 cab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted February 5, 2003 Author Share Posted February 5, 2003 "Maple neck? Is it red or natural?" All red, baby, and no pickguard, which is a bonus. The headstock is piano black, with small Schaller-style tuners. "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewstermaniac Posted February 6, 2003 Share Posted February 6, 2003 nice to hear you enjoy your new bass. How's the low B on that baby? Check out my work in progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jode Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 Originally posted by chewstermaniac: nice to hear you enjoy your new bass. How's the low B on that baby?I don't know - I never had one before. I play a D on the B string a lot, to avoid drop-D tuning on my four string, and that sounds nice and fat. Which is good, because it's a fingered note in place of a ringing open string, but it still does the job. Nice. One thing I can tell you about the thing now that I've had it a few days: it RAWKS, and that's all you're going to get it to do. You can forget getting any sort of sound out of it that would ever be described as 'crisp'. It's a fat honkin' RAWK bass that's more meat cleaver than razor. It's a thick sound with lots of bottom and a little bit of a nasal midrange. It's almost like a cross between a P-bass and a Ric. Just for kicks I played "Heart Of The Sunrise" on it with a pick and the bridge pickup, and if you closed your eyes, I was Chris Squire. It's not made for playing pretty little things, although it makes a great 'ballad' bass. Thanks to that mahogany body, long notes sustain really well. It basically has the sustain characteristics of a Les Paul, being nearly the same construction and materials. An SG is just a Paul with an extra cutaway, and an EB-3 is just a swole-up SG. (Some folks would say "swelled up," in other parts of the country. )Oh, and it makes a great deep upright-like tone for walkin'. "I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it." Les Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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