Bassassin

Modded. Balalaikas (Balalaikae?) are supposed to be 3-string, ain't they? At least you wouldn't need to take a stand to the gig.

These look really nice. Can't help wondering if they're actually related to, or just inspired by the Sire V7s. Would not be remotely surprised if the same factory made both... Interesting detail you don't see on too many modern basses - zero fret.

Snodland??? Talk about incongruous. I saw "American Guitar Centre" and thought, well - America.

Hmmm...

Don't think £112 is a BIN, just the start price.

Unfortunately the Columbus SG Chop is the only one of my victims to survive! That experiece sort of taught me to look after my gear...

Academic as I've already bought & paid for it - but part of the reason I did so was that I've been mithering over one of these since the end of last summer - and the version I bought is getting on for £50 dearer now than it was in September! Whatever happens, based on that I can't see there being many bargains coming across the channel in the forseeable future.

Update: Thomann have sent a return/exchange label, so it'll be heading back to Deutschland forthwith. Hope the replacement's up to scratch - really don't want this dragging on beyond March 29th!

With a few caveats, these are great-looking basses. Don't like the natural wood versions, the black block inlays don't work, and the scratchplate shape's ruined by that sharp corner under the bridge. The solid-colours with the offset dots look great though, so I'd forgive them the scratchplate faux-pas. Have to say though (and it might just be because the shape's so reminiscent of Retrovibe) they look like they should cost £250, not £1800 & upwards.

It's no secret, but in the early 80s I accidentally murdered my very first guitar, a Columbus SG copy. Undeterred, I murdered it some more until it looked like this: And it still looks like that now.

Not yet they're not. The new proposals regarding rosewood will be voted on at the end of May, and if they're adopted, implemented 90 days later.

Hope he didn't pay Barry The Luthier too much to squirt blobs of B&Q plastic wood in the old control holes!

Should hope it's better for that money, but not convinced! I prefer the maple board on the Bronc, but that's just personal preference. Interesting that Eastwood claim the board on the WE is rosewood - in these days of CITES regs, it isn't very likely to be!

I'm hoping all the red ones aren't like that! The colour itself is gorgeous - Candy Apple Red on acid! Not heard back yet but doubt I will before Monday.

Bit of a steal. Don't really play 5ers - but at that price it would've been hard not to...

Worse than that - as well as making tatty clones of some vintage Yamaha guitars, they are currently taking advance orders for a Yamaha SG knockoff. Yamaha still produce the SG. Also a real, vintage SG1000 wouldn't cost a great deal more than this Chinese (or maybe Indonesian/Taiwanese)-made, inaccurate knockoff, and it's one of the most common models. To be honest I really dislike Eastwood in general. Can't see these as anything other than cheap, mass-produced unlicensed copies being sold at eye-watering prices, presumably to gullible hipsters with more money than sense. As far as the bass in the OP's concerned, you could make this yourself in half an hour from a Squier Bronco and a cheap guitar blade pickup - and still have enough change from £200 for a spare set of strings.

I did wonder. I suppose if it was inspected in a dimly lit room it might not be apparent - being ripples & ridges in the lacquer they are far more visible under bright light. Also @Cicero has a point, if it's ongoing it might not have been visible at all when the bass was put together. I just hope they're not all like this!

Update on my finish issue - as @Woodinblack suggested, they asked for pics, which I've submitted. Very hopeful they'll offer a swap for an unaffected one rather than a discount, as I think this is a result of applying paint & lacquer to unseasoned or damp timber, and I think it could well get worse over time: Really hope they don't try & fob me off over this.

Now you're talking! OK - it's not a through-neck. But I'm willing to make exceptions. BTW @mangotango and @Donnyboy -

I was about to tell you that you'd just got Bargain Of The Decade there, but just a close second, by the looks! Have to say I'm really pleased it's gone to someone who wants to own/use it rather than a grubby gyppo who'd just flip it for a 50% markup. Like me. Think I paid about £120 for an SQ on Ebay, about 10 years ago - it arrived damaged (scratchplate bashed in) and needed a lot of cleaning, buffing out scratches & gouges and fettling to get it right. I'd still say that was the best P I ever owned, and had a simply gorgeous burst finish over beautiful book-matched timber. I sold that because basically that was a big part of how I was making a living back then, buying & selling old MIJ basses & guitars. Always regretted it a bit. Speaking (loosely) of car boot bargains, around the same time I picked up a mid-80s E-serial Squier Strat at my local boot, for £75. As with the SQ, it needed a lot of TLC to make it nice. I had every intemtion of flipping that one, too, but made the mistake of recording with it - it's the most gloriously Stratty-sounding Strat I've come across. I've tried to sell it a few times since - but can't bring myself to do it! As I type this, it's hanging on the wall next to me, probably feeling smug.

Bugger - already boxed it up! I'd consider accepting a discount, depending how much they'd knock off, it's not terrible, just not new-bass perfect. I do have slight concern it might get worse though, if it's a result of unseasoned wood. Perhaps I've been spoiled by recently buying the world's cheapest brand-new thinline Tele copy and it being utterly flawless. The V7 was three times the price!

Thomann. It's not scratched - I think it's probably a flaw in the finishing process. Could imagine it's the result of the coloured (metallic red) coat being applied over not properly seasoned wood. There are no cracks in the top clearcoat, but very obvious ridges/ripples from the imperfections underneath. Anyway, I want to do an exchange if possible, rather than just return for a refund & buy another. If this is a dodgy batch I don't want to risk another with the same issue so would hope they'll check it first. However - emailed them this afternoon & got a very prompt response saying my mail had been forwarded to Customer Services. Who haven't contacted me yet.