Douglas semi hollow

nofi · February 18, 2012, 07:53:26 AM

From Rondo. this is nice. less than 300 bucks

http://www.rondomusic.com/product2942.html

ilan · February 18, 2012, 08:24:04 AM

Triple parallelogram inlays... nice!

Dave W · February 18, 2012, 09:29:24 AM

Certainly has the style and the price. I don't care for 32" scale though.

wagdog · February 18, 2012, 09:35:14 AM

I like medium scales. That humbucker looks a little out of place though. I wonder if a Thunderbucker will fit that hole?

dadagoboi · February 18, 2012, 12:44:18 PM

Quote from: wagdog on February 18, 2012, 09:35:14 AM
I like medium scales. That humbucker looks a little out of place though. I wonder if a Thunderbucker will fit that hole?

I just checked, a ThunderBucker with ring will cover that MM route.

Basvarken · February 18, 2012, 02:18:34 PM

A few years ago the standard remark would've been "throw a Dark Star in".
Is the Thunderbucker the new Dark Star?

wagdog · February 18, 2012, 08:51:20 PM

Is the Thunderbucker the new 'flavor of the month'? Perhaps, but when faced with a cheap nondescript pickup (as I assume this Douglas has) I always lean towards something with character. A Darkstar would fit the bill as would a Thunderbucker, mudbucker or even a G&L MDF. The problem comes when trying to select a complimentary voicing with the body. I like hot pickups in semi-hollows so maybe the Thunderbucker wouldn't be the best choice? Anyway, it's all academics.

Dave W · February 18, 2012, 10:26:20 PM

I was always irritated by the "throw a Darkstar in it" bandwagon, and it had nothing to do with the fact that I don't care for the Darkstar tone. There's no one pickup that will fit every situation. You should always evaluate what you have before deciding. In this case the Douglas looks like it has a MM-style pickup, which is one of my favorites and has plenty of character. May not sound anything like the real thing, may or may not work well with a semihollow, but if I bought it, I'd at least hear it out before replacing.

Pilgrim · February 18, 2012, 11:00:24 PM

I agree. I often get irked by reading that people plan to replace parts on a bass they've never even played.

rahock · February 19, 2012, 05:40:02 AM

When I bought my 70P in 1970 , I was going to change pickups and do a bunch of other stuff and when I bought my 51P RI a few years ago, I was going to do the same thing. Fortunately, there are some benifits to being a procrastinator

. I ended up never changing anything and I couldn't be any happier with my decision. There are plenty of exceptions to he rule,but in general, if you buy a new bass and you start changing pickups and necks etc., you may have just bought the wrong bass to start with

.
Rick

wagdog · February 19, 2012, 06:41:48 AM

I'm an inveterate tinkerer so for me when I see something like this Douglas I start to think "what if". Certainly try it first before changing anything but in my experience MM style pickups in inexpensive imports leave a lot to be desired.

chromium · February 19, 2012, 10:52:20 AM

Gotta admit on the cheaper (cost) basses, my mind usually goes straight to mods. Good examples of why to wait (from my perspective) have been the BacHs and the low end Epi Thunderbirds - both of which sound great to me as equipped. The BaCH even came with a nice setup - didn't expect that. Still haven't played an SX, but I always read favorable things about those.

I think a lot of my knee-jerk tendency to want to modify these low cost basses comes from how abysmally bad instruments in this price range were when I started playing. My first bass - a mid-80s Sears "Cort" precision, for example.... ack! Nowadays you can get a bass from Rondo that sounds and has the potential to play fantastic out of the box for that same price.

Iome · February 19, 2012, 01:51:56 PM

Seems like there also exist as a long scale version. Only a different headstock http://www.ebay.it/itm/Bass-Guitar-4-string-semi-hollow-body-New-/120863090671?pt=Guitar&hash=item1c240067ef

dadagoboi · February 19, 2012, 02:23:40 PM

Quote from: chromium on February 19, 2012, 10:52:20 AM
Gotta admit on the cheaper (cost) basses, my mind usually goes straight to mods. Good examples of why to wait (from my perspective) have been the BacHs and the low end Epi Thunderbirds - both of which sound great to me as equipped. The BaCH even came with a nice setup - didn't expect that. Still haven't played an SX, but I always read favorable things about those.

It depends on what 'better' is worth to you. An axiom that rings true for me in many areas is this, "The last 10% of (performance, quality, sound, whatever) costs 90% more."

Funny you should mention Epi ThunderBirds. I was playing mine last night, it has some old R. Crocco roundwounds on it. They sounded pretty clapped out. Today, I needed a set of strings to rough set up the bolt on NR I'm building, so I borrowed the Croccos. Same amp, same settings. There is a huge difference in the sound between the Epi and ThunderBucker pickups...and a big difference in cost. At my age it's worth it.

Dave W · February 19, 2012, 09:11:46 PM

Quote from: dadagoboi on February 19, 2012, 02:23:40 PM
It depends on what 'better' is worth to you. An axiom that rings true for me in many areas is this, "The last 10% of (performance, quality, sound, whatever) costs 90% more."

That's often true. By the same token, paying 50% more may get you zero percent more. Unless you know you're willing to pay that 90% more on a cheap bass, IMHO it's worth it to listen to what you have first.