A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Today is a momentus day, because I finally got a @toomanycats-style deal.

I was doing my daily browse of kijiji, and I saw a bass for sale at what we will see was a reasonable price. I saw no need to negotiate the price,and agreed to buy. Luckily, I was the first in line.
Yes, I landed this "none more metal" beauty, a BC Rich Platinum series. Not high end, but sericeable. It has seen better days -- apparently it sat in a basement for more than 10 years -- but aside from that looks OK. The points are chipped, which is standard for such a thing.

And why, my friends, am I saying this is a TMC signature model?

I paid $40.

Canadian.

With case.

Even if this thing is a piece of crap, I can likely flip it for a sizable profit. Hell, I can sell the case for most of that.

Of course mods might be tough. Anything I buy will be well over 50 percent of this thing's value.

That bass is definitely not for me.... but it is a good deal. Congrats!

But why should your mod choices be limited? You're already way ahead of the game. The way I see it, if you spent less money on the guitar, then you've got more money for mods, not less. You can always return it back to stock if you're going to sell it, and then sell the parts separately, or use them in another project.

Mossman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:29 pm That bass is definitely not for me.... but it is a good deal. Congrats!

But why should your mod choices be limited? You're already way ahead of the game. The way I see it, if you spent less money on the guitar, then you've got more money for mods, not less. You can always return it back to stock if you're going to sell it, and then sell the parts separately, or use them in another project.

I was joking a bit. It's just that I got it so cheap, anything else is a significant portion of its value.

I already started looking at GFS actives for the bass. Why not?

Rollin Hand wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:25 pm

Mossman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:29 pm That bass is definitely not for me.... but it is a good deal. Congrats!

But why should your mod choices be limited? You're already way ahead of the game. The way I see it, if you spent less money on the guitar, then you've got more money for mods, not less. You can always return it back to stock if you're going to sell it, and then sell the parts separately, or use them in another project.

I was joking a bit. It's just that I got it so cheap, anything else is a significant portion of its value.

I already started looking at GFS actives for the bass. Why not?

Heheh... While I was typing that message I was thinking: "He can't be serious... This is AGF, not the Gear Page".

Actually, if this were the Gear Page, this thread would never happen... No one there would take a second look at that bass.

I have a pair of GFS Musicman-style humbuckers in one of my basses (alnico at the neck, and ceramic at the bridge), and those things are frickin' brutal, even without a pre-amp. I call that bass the "War Hammer". I tried a couple of different brands of MM pickups in that bass (including Seymour Duncan) and the GFS ones sounded the best to me. I'd be willing to try some of their other bass pickups in future projects.

I was just looking at the specs for the RedActive pickups. I'm assuming the pre-amp is built into the pickups, like EMGs? I wonder why they're slightly cheaper than their passive P-Bass pickups?

I think the GFS actives are cheaper because you have to buy pots and a jack too.

That said, I plugged the thing in to my 11 Rack. The tone pot is a little scratchy, but aside from that, it works like a very pointy charm.

Now to buy strings. A quick check of Amazon indicates that fresh strings will cost roughly 60 percent of the bass' cost to me.

Great deal! I definitely would have grabbed that one for $40. You'd be hard pressed to find just a bass hard case for that much.

Now all you've gotta do is find yourself some spiked arm bands, a cod piece with a buzz saw attached, and practice this pose.

toomanycats wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 3:48 pm Great deal! I definitely would have grabbed that one for $40. You'd be hard pressed to find just a bass hard case for that much.

Now all you've gotta do is find yourself some spiked arm bands, a cod piece with a buzz saw attached, and practice this pose.

DWupaT8X0AISA17.jpg

Well, Blackie was in better shape that I am right now, so maybe it's for the best that I don't.

As if to shrug off the looks of the bass, when I plugged it in and tried it, I played the bass line to this:



Bootsy I ain't, but it did work.

Now I just need to find the time to adjust the neck. Sure hope the truss rod is good.

Thought that I would update this post.

The truss rod did in fact work! I got the action down to a more manageable level.

I also cleaned it with some quick detailer and a microfibre. It looks better, but it still has mojo marks.

And the body, from looking at the neck joint, is clearly plywood, but oh well, plays fine, sounds decent.

I also popped for some new strings at 62.5 percent of the value of the bass and its case. It strung up fine, and the new strings sound much better than the oooooooooold and crusty ones. The tuners work well (one has a slight "catch" in its motion, for lack of a better word), and tune thi gs well. Way better than the tuners on my SX.

The pointy end makes it really easy to lean up against a bookcase as well. Win-win!

I love that the bass strings cost almost half what you had into the guitar and case.

golem wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:14 pm I love that the bass strings cost almost half what you had into the guitar and case.

I don't! If the nearby Long and McQuade was open (we are in a lockdown here) I would have driven there and bought the store brand strings for less. It would have kept the percentage down to around 50 after tax!