I fixed up an AliExpress Bass from Zero to Hero
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- Опубліковано 16 лют 2024
- I ordered a 6 String Fretless Bass from AliExpress with lots of issues. I thought about returning it, but decided to fix it up instead and got an amazing result. Check out the sound samples in the second half of the video, you would not believe they come from the same instrument, and from a fretless bass.
the death by glamour intro caught me WAYYY off-guard
My son's idea :) ua-cam.com/users/shortsYWqgAAiXXSw
Great taste by your son
Glad you kept the pass and made it better. I have considered buying a Ali Express bass as a project instrument.
Two turned out to be great basses, one was a complete write off.
I like it, and I'm a 71 year old retired bass player with an old P-bass .
This is great, the old Fenders are a force to be reckoned with. I have a 70s Vintera Jazz Bass, good copy. I keep getting back to it.
This was so satisfying to watch, please make more!
I shall! Plenty of ideas!
Fantastic job! Great playing.
Hey Kenneth, thank you very much. The instrument is a joy to play.
@@BassCave7 When you play it, it is a joy to hear as well.
I love the growl of the low B string
Me too :)) Above all it fits in really well with the rest, not to soft, not too loud, not too boomy.
Bless my soul - Bass Cave is on a roll!
Best comment. Ever.
Great work! Would love to try the same idea some day
Go for it, there is not much money involved. I already got my eyes on the next one(s).
Where can I buy coper shield?
interesting sounds and a nice looking bass. sounds like you learned a bit as well.
I learned lots! God I hate soldering. Lots of it is trial and error, I have one AliExpress counterfeit standing in the corner, that was pure waste of money. Cheers!
I like a lot your videos!
Thank you so much, mean a lot! share the love.
This is great thank for sharing
Thank you! Share the love
Good job!😀
Thanks! 😄This keeps me going!
I have it like you. Modification done.
ua-cam.com/video/hIz2_ra-49w/v-deo.htmlsi=UpRYpyqkbg-77w1U
ua-cam.com/video/OqCGXS_dSYI/v-deo.htmlsi=nKhBvbjifP6rodEW
This is amazing! I checked out the vids!
Nice work, man!
One day, I get out of my head and start modifying my Cort GB 35A!
Stay safe!
Macedo Pinto, Portugal
Greeting back to Portugal! What have you got planned I wonder. Cort basses are usually well rounded and good quality. You can't say that of AliExpress stuff :)))
Bravo Bravo Bravo
From a piece of shit to a piece of gold.
As we could all see, it was
a lot of work, but the result
of your work is brilliant.
Great video. I'm thinking about doing the same.
Go for it. You can create the instrument just as you like it, if you are willing to go through the trouble. Not much money involved.
When I think about making my own instrument, I have no confidence in making my own neck.. So I price out the neck.. And say HOLY LORD!!! I can buy a whole instrument for that! I love videos that show moddable instruments: good,bad, and ugly. I have a gas list like we all do. . you are a great player too, dude!
Hey Cory, if I could only build it all from scratch, that would be the dream. I would come up with the craziest designs. In another life, and thank you for the compliment btw!
Well done Great Work and playing Thank for playing to cover a wide range of different styles and how well your Bass handled them all sound great , what is the string spacing and what did you use to coat the neck with please ,the wood looks really nice as well, On the Ali Express experience, I bought a Pre Amp module the components on a circuit board type the that you couple up to the Power Amp Stage of an Amplifier (not a foot pedal type) and it won't work.
For the fretboard I used standard epoxy from the hardware store, not even an expensive one. I believe I did not get a single working electronic piece from AliExpress. They even get the jack sockets wrong. I would buy proper quality when it comes to electronics.
Hot take: beyond a certain threshold, all the wood fires is hold the components in place. If you have quality electronics, strings and hardware, by the time you've run it through an amp and any editing software, you can get whatever sound you want. The wood is really good aesthetics and comfort (both hugely important, but neither are concerns when it comes to sound).
There are wood fanatics out there who would call this blasphemy! I think it was Anthony Jackson who got permission from a tribal elders to cut down a tree for his body top. That's going the extra mile for wood. Really cheap or low quality basses have this typical "bad" sound, no matter how you upgrade it hardware wise. But I fail to hear the difference on high end wood basses.
Amazing¡!
Thank you very much!
That point about the "fret markers"... I have an oldish Vintage (brand, not description!) V940 fretless bass which i bought new quite a few years ago. Not expensive and has side dots in the correct places, i.e. where teh fret line would be, if there were frets.
I more recently bought a Sire 5 string fretless bass, BUT the side dots are as on your bass, where they would be if there were frets. Considering this is much more recent, I would have thought that Sire would have gotten this right.But no.
Not that i have to rely on the position markers too much, but moving about the neck it's good to have visual confirmation that you are in teh right place!
Absolute pain, that i am having to consider re-marking where the fret lines should be! I don't know whether Sire has fixed this on more recent models, but really they should have got this right in the first place.
Sire did that for real? Quite a bit of a shame, Mr Marcus Miller. This is funny. (And inconvenient for you :( )
@@BassCave7 yep. They did indeed! Pretty certain they have fixed this now but I haven’t seen a more recent one to compare. But yes, a real clanger dropped there! The bass itself is fine an plays well, but a real oversight on their part!
I can remember I tried a Sire 5 String. That thing was so heavy on the head, it was ridiculous. Marcus Miller must have never even looked at it :) Since then this brand is a no go.
Good Job. I would have used White Luminlay (or other colour) on the Fingerboard as they double as regular side dots but also glow in the dark on stage. You can use a cordless drill if you don't have a drill press to install them. Thanks for the video 🍺
Hey Christopher, thank you for the tip. I have seen this before. In the moment I keep it flexible, I am still moving those dots. Interestingly the fret roster sounds out of tune.
@@BassCave7 No Problem. There is also a Glow In The Dark paint that comes in a little bottle that is used to put on gun sights. several brands make it, it's not expensive and comes in a bunch of colours. Have you checked out the Harley Benton BZ-6000 NT II or B-650 models? may not have the string spacing you're looking for but are cheap. Take care.
I watch the "Bass the world" channel a lot where they showcase Harley Benton's sometimes. They recently introduced a 7 string which was veeery tempting. Just had a look, comes with ebony fretboard. For this price, crazy. I think the big difference for me is I can tell the AliExpress factories what I want (what they mostly follow :))
Very good🎉🎉🎉
Can you tell me, what is your string spacing at the bridge, string center to center? Cheers!
I'll go back and measure the parts for you later. @@BassCave7
Nice job. What baffles me is....a pickip from Finland? No EMG's closer to Australia?? 😳
No, nothing close to Australia. Before that I had to order them from Germany. Funny. Amazon in the US does not ship overseas, Ebay only with crazy prices. But they are killing it. Great Pickups
Good job! Does it has dead notes?
There is nothing to fault on the neck, notes are even, no dead spots, no boom spots. Have not played it on a large rig yet though.
@@BassCave7 thats a big luck
It is funny I am not alone. It become my hobby to make Chinese guitars payable. Setup and simple upgrades can make those not so bad instruments.
Well I somehow believe we are just cutting out the middle man. The big brands would produce in similar or the same factories, just with their quality controls I imagine. The great thing is you can give them requests and they do it for you (mostly) :)
If I could work with the same position as you with my eyesight being impaired as it is, I would build my own guitars and bases from scratch. This definitely isn’t shabby. (Supposedly the epoxy coating enables the player to slap without the possibility of damaging the fingerboard.)
I was confused at first. You filmed the playing demos and the reconstruction process by pointing and shooting, but you filled your monologue segments in selfie mode which made you look left-handed.
Check out *The Police Live.* That double album features plenty of fretless with a pick. That was (probably) Sting keeping one foot in punk rock where the Police began and the other foot in Jazz where *he* began.
Yeah, sorry for the confusion, I am not a lefty, I did not see this coming. I am a total Sting fan, totally very aware he played fretless with a pick. (that's why I said "new-ish") There is also a Spanish dude called Charles Benavent who played the fretless with a pick in lightning speed.
As long as the neck pocket is cut on the right angles many these Chinese Basses are a steal. Wood is Wood just count on upgrading hardware, electronics and having to dress the frets then you should have an excellent bass for thousands less than wholesale.
That's right! At the end of the day, an electric bass is a pretty basic instrument. Two planks of wood screwed together and a few cables. When you compare it to an acoustic classic instrument. It has hardly evolved after the first Fender.
what the name of the song at the start of the video
Funny you ask! It is "Death by Glamour" from the Undertale video game. My son's idea. ua-cam.com/users/shortsYWqgAAiXXSw
I’m doing the same thing. Bought a Wal clone for 500$ (CAD)
Thing was riddled with issues. The holes for the tuning machines are all out of whack. The nut is atrocious, the hardware cheap, the pickups/electronics are hot garbage. the electronics cavity looked like it was carved out by a child (probably was).
I’ve added all new hardware, pickups, preamp, and it sounds and plays very nice. Went from a 500$ bass to a 2000$ bass though lol
I remember Wal basses, only knew them out of catalogues. It can add up quickly. You can buy the parts from AliExpress though :) lol. I think the trick is to know what NOT to buy from AliExpress.
Cool video but please chill out with the bells.
Apologies. I use something else next time. A cat or something. Thank you for watching!
Congratulation ! 👏👏What a beautiful Instrument, I wish I could do this too . And thanx to the chinese workers for working for small Money. 🧑🔧🙏
Yes westerners exploiting those cheap Chinese workers is a bit of a topic. 1. No to Temu forced labour 2. This kind of production is the core of the Chinese wealth and economic growth 3. Most companies produce in China or similar anyway for cheap money as well. Difficult. I think it's good to stay mindful of it.
Can you sell me that bass you fixed? Sounds great
That's a tough one. On the one hand I am really happy with it, on the other I want to shed it and fix up the next one. Where are you based?
DeAliexpresseira.
Soooo funny! I had to think a bit, then I got it. Copying the DeOliviera is so unnecessary, hardly anyone knows the brand, and those two, three features (head, lamination carve-out.. ) are not worth it I think.
Coooomoooo le sacaaaaa armonicos?????????
Los armónicos son realmente geniales. ¡El retrato de Tracy realmente suena genial!
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING
I counted 6 Dings, UA-cam only let's you add 5 cards, and not the same video twice. :) Thank you for playing. Hope you got something out of this video
so by "zero" you mean high action on last frets and bad electronics? oh gosh.
Sorry to disappoint. By zero I mean a non working instrument I can't take to jams or gigs where I would only play wrong notes (position dots) if it made a beep. The gist of this video I intended: With little effort and no luthier skill you can turn a bass into something quite amazing. From memory I did not mention the action at all.
you could easily make sound like a stingray if you re do and fix the wiring of the pickups and pots. its a great modification platform if you want better tone
You are probably right. There are 4 pins on the pickup which could mean you can address the coils separately if you want. But I went back to the instructions, EMG does not mention this at all, probably does not want people to do it, you would have to cut open the wires and so on. The way they have it pre-soldered is called "humbucking series". I am not sure if you would get a single coil buzz when I separate them out, and to this sound I am allergic :) But great idea. I believe Pino Palladino played a Stringray fretless, would be interesting to find out how this sounds.
The distorted sound and weird framerate in this video is uncanny valley material. Is this AI-generated? lol
Well, English is not my first language. I go to great length and pull every trick to make my crazy accent more palatable (especially to me). And I use the Adobe Podcast, which works with AI I was told. Work in progress, bear with me.
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Muito obrigado, isso é muito apreciado. Ouvi dizer que esse modelo de baixo é muito apreciado no Brasil! Tudo de bom!