Bachbird

[Carmine]

Carmine did anything ever happen with this?

I was hoping to hold off until I could report a happy conclusion to this mess, but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet. Went thru all the process of taking the bass to the post office, filling out claim forms, providing documentation, etc. and still waiting for Bach to keep commitment to sending a new bass. I will hopefully have more to report shortly...

[Agent00Soul]

Good luck - let's hope for a happy ending!

[Carmine]

Okay, situation has progressed to where I can tell a fairly complete story. As you know I contacted Roman at Bach following the receipt of the damaged bass and went through the process of taking the bass to the post office, filling out claim forms, providing documentation, etc. After requesting email copies of the claim documents, Bach kept their commitment to sending out a new bass. I could tell that Roman was pretty bummed about the cost of shipping a new bass to the states, which is understandable- it ain't cheap and I'm sure they will still be waiting awhile for their reimbursement from the postal service- but he seems to be a really good guy, was overall great to deal with and was consistently concerned and in contact with me throughout.

I finally received the new bass two days ago. This time it arrived bubble-wrapped inside a hard case, which appears to be "used" as it has some significant damage to it already (felt lining has all come loose inside, the wood bracing for the inner storage compartment is broken/ cracked, there is wood powder inside the case, some old foam pieces inside the compartment, missing trim, etc.) I'm not complaining- I didn't order or pay for a case, this one is still fully functional, and it did what the cardboard wedge box could not do- get the bass here without damage- thank you Roman! So overall I say well done on their part for doing the right thing, and I can feel very good about recommending Bach to my fellow players. I do however believe that for the protection of all concerned they need to invest in a better box/ packing process, at least for international shipments on a bass like this-- or insist that international customers order a case. That wedge box is just not worth the risk. (continued in next post)...

[Carmine]

.... I'm fortunate to be able to compare this one to both the previous one I received, as well as do an in-hand comparison to an actual original vintage Gibson NR T-bird bass (right handed) that I have here at the house. My quick observations of the bass itself a few days in:

At 9.8 lbs, this new one is heavy- the first one I received weighed about 9.2 lbs, and the Gibson about 8.8 lbs. You can definitely feel that extra pound. Balance issues aside, the body is thicker than a Gibson and along with not having the tummy cut that the original Gibson has, that thick slab makes for pretty uncomfortable ergonomics. I don't know why they omitted the tummy cut, as that would have improved the comfort level significantly.

Overall fit and finish I would rate as comparable with some Eastwood stuff that I 've gotten- not bad, but somewhat inconsistent from instrument to instrument. For example, the first body in the 2 body shots at the bottom below is the first bass I received; you can see all the seams in the wood pieces, and a few knots as well (I've increased the contrast in these two pics to accentuate the grain). The second body is much better in terms of matching the wood grain. So this time around I got better grain pattern, but heavier weight.

On the first one there was enough travel to be able to lower the bridge to get the action as low as I like it. Not on this second one. I know some folks like high action, but this was too much. I had to remove the bridge post anchors and deepen the holes in the body to allow the anchors to be sunk flush with the body surface, deep enough to allow the bridge to be lowered to an acceptable (for me) playing height. The good news is that the neck is true enough to handle the low action once the string height was brought down, so although I did have to spend some time tapping down a few high frets, I was able to get the playability dialed in where I like it. But if I wasn't comfortable doing this kind of thing myself I would have had to take it to somebody, I wouldn't have been happy at all trying to play it as it was out of the box. Based on my experience with these two, I'd say it's down to the luck of the draw; if I had gotten everything that was right on both basses in one bass, it would have been very nice. Otherwise be prepared to do some tweaking.

The electronics are just cheap stuff, but the bass actually sounds pretty good to me. Lacks the personality, sweetness or growly qualities of a real Tbird, and no brightness to speak of, but nice solid bass thump. I'm sure I will probably swap out the electronics soon to get closer to the real deal, but it's not an emergency.

So overall, although it has been more of an adventure than I would have liked, I'm finally very glad to have bought one of these, especially at the closeout price! As many have already stated, it is a very good platform to start from (sounds good, plays good), and depending on how much time, $ interest and energy you want to commit, you can probably get this to within a hair of the real thing, which for lefties is currently the closest option available. I'm looking forward to further experimentation with it.

[Agent00Soul]

Whew! Let me be the first to congratulate you that everything turned out for the best!

[fivebass52]

Although you're not out of the woods yet on this one, I'm glad to hear that at least it's in the ballpark as far as tweaking- electronics go in improving its sound and playability.

On the other hand, that's a nice case, and worth rebuilding! Taking your Bachbird to a gig in that (refurbished) case would certainly raise the attention/curiosity level of what you've brought to the dance.....

[Carmine]

Just finished up a couple of mods to the BachBird today: replaced pots and replaced pickup with 1990's Gibson Thunderbird pickup (removed the original black plastic cover from the Gibson pickup, and replaced it with an aftermarket nickel cover; the pickup change required modification to both the body cavity and pickguard), replaced nut with bone nut, and added replacement Thunderbird logo to the pickguard. I compared the tone to the original 60's non reverse 'bird I have here, and I really can't hear much of any noticeable difference. It plays and sounds great, so other than changing out the tuners this is likely the extent of the mods I'll be doing for now. The one thing it really needs is that tummy cut- I can't understand why Bach left that out from the original design, this bass would see a LOT more action if it was a bit more comfortable and weighed a little less. Maybe I'll get really motivated and have that and and a refinish done on it sometime in the future... I'll probably go to work on fixing the case next...

[fivebass52]

Can't help but think that by the time you're done modifying this bass (along with the potential tummy cut/refin), you could have bought an original lefty T-bird!

[Carmine]

Can't help but think that by the time you're done modifying this bass (along with the potential tummy cut/refin), you could have bought an original lefty T-bird!

Got a great deal on the bass itself at closeout price- ($450) plus the free case (important considering there aren't that many cases out there that this will fit in), already had the electronics, pickup, bone nut and logo laying around in the parts bin ($200), ordered the pickup cover on eBay ($20), so all total I'm around $670 plus time invested. Still only about half the price of a current Gibson lefty T-bird, and it's a non-reverse (which AFAIK Gibson isn't offering in Lefty). And aside from pain and suffering on the shipping incident, this has been easy and fun to work on, so thus far the investment/value ratio has been pretty good.

[fivebass52]

Can't help but think that by the time you're done modifying this bass (along with the potential tummy cut/refin), you could have bought an original lefty T-bird!

Got a great deal on the bass itself at closeout price- ($450) plus the free case (important considering there aren't that many cases out there that this will fit in), already had the electronics, pickup, bone nut and logo laying around in the parts bin ($200), ordered the pickup cover on eBay ($20), so all total I'm around $670 plus time invested. Still only about half the price of a current Gibson lefty T-bird, and it's a non-reverse (which AFAIK Gibson isn't offering in Lefty). And aside from pain and suffering on the shipping incident, this has been easy and fun to work on, so thus far the investment/value ratio has been pretty good.

Well in that case, Enjoy! Having the spare parts, and know-how, has put this entire saga in the win column....