the Bird has landed. Got home pretty late so pics and more details later once i get to crank it up....
Initial feelings
Nice light bass. As all tbirds - a neck diver but manageable. IMHO this bass was made for finger playing, at least were i wear it. I tend to keep my basses high and this one forms a great forearm rest just like JAE which will make you play near the neck....
Neck is a very nice fender copy. straightest neck i have ever owned other than my foderas/smiths. I actually put a 1/4 turn relief in as it was too straight and action too low for me. I am not a big fan of fret noise except when i want it and like to use my fingers/feel to get some dynamics and funky click. 1/4 turn did the trick for me and action is still amazingly low.
Finish - really great job Carlo. Black is not easy in any form. This finish is not that of a 500 instrument....
neck finish- flawless...
Bridge. I actually have used this bridge on another bass and i thought it was a fluke. Tallest saddle at lowest setting is the d string. Playing fenders my whole life it usually is the a string. East fix with my file set. Actually bridge radius may be more than the neck so i wound up filing A and D string a little bit.
After spending only 15 minutes fiddling with it the action and neck is in my top 10 ( maybe top 5) basses and i have over 100 so that is pretty amazing to me after 1 hour.
Tomorrow hopefully i will crank it up.
First feeling is i may have made a mistake using the barts. they appear very weak. actually under 4 close to 3 output when both on (3.8 and 5.7 respectively neck, bridge) . easy enough to replace if i decide so. Maybe Carlo's guy will come thru on the 64 pups....
overall this is a very nice bass. REALLY COMFORTABLE TO PLAY. My first fender bird but I now understand what JAE was thinking. Neck is so much better than my 76 and bachbird. Long bass but manageable but clearly different from a fender....
Carlo you really should charge more except for LBO folk
First lets talk about a white one (with gold hardware if possible) before you raise your prices
Carlo things to consider - option for cutout of lower horn. i need to put whole hand around to front of neck to get past the 14 fret. seems worst then the tbirds because the body is more like a fender in depth and bolt on.
Another thought - IMHO a 32" neck might make the fenderbird a perfect instrument. you could probably get 21 or 22 frets and still have the nut sit in about an inch closer. 90% of my basses are 34 (handfull are 35, 1 36") so i am not a medium scale guy but with this body style maybe the way to go....
obviouoly these are my very first and late at night impressions/thoughts so take it easy on me boys...
Jim
