Pearl Export bass

[Freuds_Cat]

Has anyone seen or owned a Pearl Export Bass?

I have a student with one. It looks like it has been made very much in the spirit of a Gibson bass. unusual 3 point bridge, humbuckers, Gibson feel to the neck and made from wood that looks like a blonde version of Mahogany.

It has a pretty good sound and the neck feels lovely but if it were mine I would be throwing the bridge in a drawer and putting a BadAss 1 bridge on it.

[Dave W]

Rob (basvarken) has one. Or had one. See this thread.

[Chris P.]

Yes, Rob has one. It's just a Epiphone Genesis with another name.

[Freuds_Cat]

Thanks guys, knew I'd seen one somewhere.

[Basvarken]

Yep I have one. It's the Deluxe version of an Epiphone Genesis. With white bindings round the fretboard.
I've had it for sale since this summer. I've had some offers, but none of them made sense to me.

But by coincidence last night I cut the knot to use this little beast as a hobby bass.
It just does not get enough playing time the way it is now. It's a fine bass, but it's just not in my top five list.
I have some pickups in my parts drawer that I'd love to use in different configurations...

Unless I find a parted out Epiphone Les Paul -or something similar- soon, I am going to route this Pearl Export and make it a Frankenstein bass

[Basvarken]

check out how it turned out:

here

[Saf]

I've had an morris bass and it was exactly te same. Maybe I can dig out some picture somewhere.

[Basvarken]

There's an Epiphone Genesis on Ebay right now

[Freuds_Cat]

I would love to hear the story about what plant made them and how they ended up being sold under 3 different brand names.

[Freuds_Cat]

I have some pics of the previously mentioned Pearl (Epi) Export (Genesis).
I need to ask a few questions to help this guy out a bit. So I guess I could have just PM'd Rob, but I figured others might be interested in the discussion.

As far as I understand it these basses are Matsomuko instruments.





The main problem with this one is that the A and D strings sit a lot higher than the E and G strings. This is creating a big loss of volume from the A and D by comparison to the E and G. Obviously because they are so much further away from the pickups.

Its a bit hard to show it in the pics.





As there is no vertical adjustment on each saddle I was wondering if others (Rob  ) have had or seen similar problems?

Could it be a case of someone having switched the saddles around?

[Basvarken]

Hmmm... that looks weird.
To me it looks like the saddles aren't placed in the right order. Did someone work on the notches of the saddles?
On my Pearl Export the saddles of the E and A are tall (A is the tallest). And the D and G are shorter (G is shortest).
By tilting the three point bridge slightly, the curve of the fretboard is followed perfectly.

[Freuds_Cat]

Thats kind of what I was trying (poorly) to say that I thought it might be. I have no idea who has done work on this bass but it is not setup very well at all. I'm not particularly experienced in taking my basses apart and changing things or doing mods to them as some of you are here. So I work on the policy of, If I haven't done it and seen it work then there is no harm in asking first before I get my hands dirty. Thanks Rob, I will take them out and rearrange them in that order tonight. 

[Freuds_Cat]

Bugga! the saddles are numbered underneath and are in the correct order. Problem remains.

I'm going to take it in to my Luthier and get some advice as to a solution.

[Blazer]

They remind me of those Custom Basses Gene Simmons used to play.

[Basvarken]

Bugga! the saddles are numbered underneath and are in the correct order. Problem remains.

I'm going to take it in to my Luthier and get some advice as to a solution.

You could try to file the saddles/notches down a bit. From the top down. Don't touch the sole that glides in the bridge.

Is the bridge mounted under an angle? The bass side shoud be slightly lower than the treble side.