A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

In case you were wondering why this bass https://www.rondomusic.com/product10796.html is sold out, it's because I bought the last one.



Most of my basses are SX, and I already have a Douglas P style fretless:
(and I don't even play my P basses out) but that color! I couldn't help myself!

I honestly don't know how many of these Rondo had made, all's I know is when I saw it on the site, there was only one left. I can hardly wait to see it in person!

It'e H E E E R E!
Please excuse the phone picture. I have no idea why it shows sideways. But if you click on it, it will right itself, weird!

First observations

1. This is the one that was pictured on the site. I can tel because of the knot in the back/
2. Basswood is really light!
2. I guess they broke a string somewhere along the line and replaced the A string with the one it has now with the red silk (nylon) on it. Maybe it's to match the red "Douglas" on the headstock?
3. The bag of stuff, in addition to having the allen wrenches and cord included 3 picks one each: red, blue and yellow.
4. They set it up with the saddles angled to mirror the neck radius. I never understood why people did this, so I flattened them. Action was pretty good, but I did drop the E, A and D one full turn on the height screws (which is a change of about 1/64").
5. Has a black backing plate on the neck plate. I don't think I've ever gotten a Rondo bass with one of those before.

I don't believe Rondo sold that, even with the pic!
It has less than 7 strings!


Happy NGD!

mickey wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 5:01 pm I don't believe Rondo sold that, even with the pic!
It has less than 7 strings!


Happy NGD!

Clearly someone was asleep in QC!

Good grab! I really like that color.

Has Rondo offered other Douglas branded guitars with that "very close to Fender" style headstock?

toomanycats wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 5:18 pm Good grab! I really like that color.

Has Rondo offered other Douglas branded guitars with that "very close to Fender" style headstock?

I don't know. And come to think of it, this is there first one I've seen.

HNBD!
The subtle burst on it is great!

dabbler wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 4:57 pm 4. They set it up with the saddles angled to mirror the neck radius. I never understood why people did this, so I flattened them. Action was pretty good,

Wouldn't that just give you higher action on the top and bottom strings?

That looks tasty. Carmel apple tasty.

mighty_duck wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 6:17 pm HNBD!
The subtle burst on it is great!

dabbler wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 4:57 pm 4. They set it up with the saddles angled to mirror the neck radius. I never understood why people did this, so I flattened them. Action was pretty good,

Wouldn't that just give you higher action on the top and bottom strings?

When I say I flattened them, all I mean is that I made each saddle parallel to the top of the body of the bass. The distance from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of each string is the same for all 4 strings.

When I said they had angled the saddles to mirror the neck radius, I mean if you looked at all four saddles looking down from the neck, the E and G saddles are each angled (height-wise) with the outer side lower than the inner side.

dabbler wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 8:44 pm When I say I flattened them, all I mean is that I made each saddle parallel to the top of the body of the bass. The distance from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of each string is the same for all 4 strings.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but those two sentences seem to contradict each other...
If you have a flat "saddle radius", but have a round fretboard, you'll have bigger than necessary gaps on the outside strings. It won't be a huge difference on a 4 stringer, and maybe you find it more comfortable that way.

mighty_duck wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 10:40 pm

dabbler wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 8:44 pm When I say I flattened them, all I mean is that I made each saddle parallel to the top of the body of the bass. The distance from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of each string is the same for all 4 strings.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but those two sentences seem to contradict each other...
If you have a flat "saddle radius", but have a round fretboard, you'll have bigger than necessary gaps on the outside strings.
image.png

It won't be a huge difference on a 4 stringer, and maybe you find it more comfortable that way.

I guess I should have stated explicitly that the E and G saddles are both closer to the top of the body than the A and D saddles but all of the saddles are parallel to the body.

To get from what it is now back to something like it was I would have to lower the outer edge of the E and G saddles a turn or two so that looking at them from the neck the G saddle looks like this: /. and the E sale looks like this \. But less exaggerated.

How in the hell was there still a douglas in stock????

dabbler wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 5:15 am
I guess I should have stated explicitly that the E and G saddles are both closer to the top of the body than the A and D saddles but all of the saddles are parallel to the body.

To get from what it is now back to something like it was I would have to lower the outer edge of the E and G saddles a turn or two so that looking at them from the neck the G saddle looks like this: /. and the E sale looks like this \. But less exaggerated.

Gotcha.

So the individual saddles did not have both their screws at the same height. Yeah, I've seen some setups like that, and it always bugs me too.