6 String

[patman]

Had a new experience this weekend...my son was selling his 6 string...a nondescript Alvarez with what appear to be passive EMG humbuckers on it (branded Alvarez). I bought it and gigged it Saturday (told him he could "buy" it back anytime).

Going from a Dano Longhorn to this...all I can say is wow...I actually got used to the neck pretty quickly, although I got disoriented (like "lost") a few times.

What a powerful muscular sound...don't know whether its the pickups, or the long scale.  And it's passive...no crispy hi-fi pre-amp...just raw power...maybe there's something to this humbucker non-sense.

[Highlander]

Tower calling Patman, we have you on the glidepath... you are clear to land...

I have quite a liking for EMG's...

[Freuds_Cat]

Any pics Patman?  Colour? shape?

[exiledarchangel]

So you aren't talking about a guitar, eh? 

[patman]

Bass

Purple basswood with a garish veneer on top....Fenderish shape w/ giant bolt on neck...Think it was called an AEB6...2 giant soapbar passive humbuckers. 2 truss rods. Actually well made, although I may have to back the bridge up 1/8 inch or so to get the B to play in tune all the way up the neck.

Heavy as a T-40, but sounds great.

Anybody have experience setting one of these (any sixer) up?

[Freuds_Cat]

anything like this?

[patman]

Exactly like it

They're twins

What do you know about it? (I didn't really research anything, or even play it much before I bought it...I was pretty much trying to help my son out)...although it's kinda fun to play.

[Freuds_Cat]

Does the serial number start with 'E' ?


If so then it is made in Korea at a company that get the 'E' designation. I dont know which of the Korean instrument builders that belongs to but I'm pretty sure its not UnSung where some of the best quality Epiphones were made or Samick where the old Schecter basses were made amongst a lot of other brands.

The 'E' plant which builds the Alvarez also brands them for Dean. These are sold as the Dean Edge series basses.
They also sell them in parts through a few of the Asian online parts companies. You can even get that same body shape in Mahogany rather than Basswood which I've been tempted to do.

The Bridges on them are a Gotoh knock off and reasonable quality but if you replace it with a genuine Gotoh 201 bridge you will definitely hear/feel a difference.

The pups on my Dean were branded Dean and were skinnier than the standard EMG Buckers. The Dean pups were also very microphonic. Dean do sell these basses with genuine EMG pups but only on their higher end versions which are still very cheap for the quality you get IMHO. I routed the pup cavity to make a set of Passive EMG's fit and the bass is now one of my favourite instruments.

Mine is a 4 string but the neck looks almost identical to the one in the pic above.

I'm sure they are the same basses. I have seen a few Alvarez basses in hock shops that are definitely the same as my Dean.

[patman]

Serial # has an "E"...

Interesting.  Got it playing well, if I could just get the slap thing happening on it.  Having a little trouble with the tight spacing, but I assume I can overcome this with practice

[Freuds_Cat]

A bit more info for you. Both the Dean Edge and the Alvarez basses that read Made in Korea were made in the Cort and Cor-tek factores in Daejon and Incheon in Korea until 2007.

Also the Cort bass of the same type.

http://www.cortguitars.com/_webapp_2719698/Action_DLX#imgGallery

Dean Edge


Alvarez


Apparently in 2007 Cort shut the factory doors in Korea and moved the business to China. Seems to be a lot of controversy involved with this. The new Cort/Dean/Alvarez basses of this type are Chinese.

[patman]

Well, I read up on this...kind of an ugly story.  I always thought conditions in Korea were better than that.  Guess I was naive.


But it's a nice bass.