Stuey3D

So here are how the sisters are customised. Both have: Gotoh GB707 Tuning Machines Gotoh 203B4 Bridges EMG GZR P Precision Pickups Jim Dunlop Straplocks Fender Thumbrests Dannii has: Jim Dunlop Flatwounds 65/85/105/125 tuned BEAD Stock Ibanez Jazz pickup Bluetone Custom solderless wiring Les Paul style speed knobs Kylie has: D’addario ECB81S chromes 40/60/80/100 tuned EADG EMG GZR Jazz Pickup Full EMG solderless wiring Witch hat style knobs (only numbered knobs that fit EMG solid pots) They are named after the Minogue sisters as they are both short pop stars so the names seemed fitting for short scale basses who due to their almost identical upgrades are basically sisters. Dannii will get a lot less usage due to being set for BEAD and as Dannii Minogue was always in her sisters shadow the names seem fitting for the bass. People may question my sanity upgrading such cheap basses as I won’t get my money back on them or some other reason like that. Thing is for me these are my basses there won’t be any others out there the same and I don’t ever intend on selling them either. Plus for me I’ve enjoyed the whole upgrading process and the learning journey I’ve been on to do the upgrades, and I’m the sort of person who loves to tinker and makes things better. I probably enjoyed all the upgrading more than the actual playing, getting excited for the packages to arrive, dismantling the bass and putting the parts in and then hearing and feeling how much better they were after the upgrades. For me that’s a great feeling, and gave me a sense of accomplishment too.

Yup that’s the neck that is currently on Dannii right now, and yeah my wife is an amazing woman I’d be lost without her honestly. The 5 string Mikro is now really hard to come by especially in Europe in the US it’s easy but over here it’s a rarity. I was going to get one for Xmas out of my Xmas money as I loved the 4 string version so much, but in the end that went on Kylie and the now repaired Dannii is tuned for BEAD instead and I think it was fate as the only place that had the 5 strings is now sold out for 17 weeks, plus I think a 5 string might be a bit much for me I much prefer 4 string basses as I have a 5 string long scale stingray clone and I hated playing it, felt too uncomfortable.

And here is another sample of me playing, this time no wall of fuzz to hide my incompetence. I have included a YouTube video of the original as it’s a bit of an obscure song unless you love your Swedish Death Metal, although this is a mild song no growling or heaviness. Recorded with Kylie all knobs full, into NUX which had a compressor and noise gate to tidy up my playing a bit. This was the song that showed me I was much better on a short scale bass rather than a long scale bass. There is a repeating A 3h5 D 3h5 in the verses that I really struggled with for the longest time. I’ve managed to get it sounding ok on the short scales, not great but passable. Again loads of slight timing issues and duff notes but mostly passable I guess. Opeth - To Rid The Disease S3D Bass only.mp3

So here is a sample of my playing. My mate wanted to hear my progress without a backing track to hide my sloppiness. This is the first time I’ve ever recorded myself. This was recorded from Kylie with P pickup full, J pickup off tone full. Recorded into a NUX MP2 Mighty Plug headphone modelling amp which then connects to Audacity via Micro USB. There is a noise gate and copious amounts of fuzz to try and recreate Cliff’s tone as much as I could. Big timing error moving from intro to main song as I have to press a button on the NUX to switch preset. Lots of little timing errors and duff notes, but mostly ok sounding. Probably good enough for a Poundland Metallica cover band. Go easy on me I’ve not been playing long, constructive criticism is welcome but please no trolling I know I’m not the best player. For whom the bell tolls S3D bass.mp3

That’s cool, I’ll check that out. And thanks I love the sisters, I tried to make them my own but keep them looking as clean and tidy as possible although through my noob upgrading errors they both have a few dings on them but that just gives them more character and makes them mine.

Hi all, my name is Stuart and I would like you to meet the sisters Dannii & Kylie. Now the story behind me and the sisters is a bit of a long one, so I do apologise if I waffle on a bit. You’ll understand why as you read the post. So in 2019 my best mate purchased me a copy of Rocksmith for the PC and told me to get a bass to learn properly this time as I had a bass a few years back but never really bothered to learn it. I had some vouchers from work from an award scheme so I used them on Amazon to buy an Ibanez GSR180. So the last couple of months of 2019 and first few of 2020 I really took learning seriously playing Rocksmith lots and even doing face to face lessons and taking my daughter with me as she wanted a Jackson Minion for Xmas 2019. Then COVID hit, the face to face lessons stopped and depression hit. I lost all motivation to do anything other than watch 24 hour news channels and YouTube videos. Fast forward to 2021 I confess to my wife I was having suicidal thoughts and I then got put on antidepressants in march. During the previous year I had occasionally tried to play bass but I hit a wall and lost interest, then I saw the Mikro and got it for my birthday in May. Played that for a bit as it was a new toy then again she was left in the corner to gather dust. Fast forward to September 2021 and my childhood ADHD diagnosis is now confirmed as an adult and I start medication for that too and this was the kick start I needed to get me playing again. The Mikro then got loads of use as through experimenting I discovered I much prefer short scales and I can’t stretch my fingers that well even though I have big hands. However during the medication tuning phase my dosage was tinkered with up and down to get the correct dosage, well at one point I was on a higher dosage than I am on now and that made me obsessive to a point where all I could think about was bass and upgrading. So I get to research and upgrading Dannii (my original Mikro) I get her nearly complete and I stuck Labella 1954 Jamerson originals on her and these are big heavy strings which as I’m a heavy handed player I thought would be good. I get Dannii almost perfectly setup but as Rocksmith kept missing notes as I fretted closer to 12th I checked the neck. There was a bit of a bow not massive but not as low as I had it on the previous strings. I loosen the strings tighten the rod tune up again but the bow was exactly the same, so I repeated the previous step, again bow not moving, tried again and CRACK! truss rod snaps. I wish I could leave well enough alone, but I was obsessing over the tiny details at the time. Luckily I have an amazing wife and Andertons next day delivery hooked me up, so I then end up with Kylie. I transfer all the upgrades to her and resign Dannii to the loft. This time I strung Kylie with D’addario chromes which I had before and they were perfect. Well I’m looking for a new neck for Dannii a task that seemed impossible as it’s only a cheap bass in a non standard scale length I stumble upon a classified in here for a brand new neck never used. The ad was 5 months old at the time so I didn’t have much hope so I joined and shot a message to the forum user and amazingly he still had it. Lightning fast delivery and well packaged from the Netherlands and Dannii is back up and running this time strung with Dunlop 5 string flats tuned BEAD. I now have 2 heavily upgraded Mikro’s that I love and I’m really enjoying playing again. Now I’m only doing this as a hobby and my end goal is to be able to simply play along with some songs at home, I don’t intend on being a pro musician anytime soon. Well that’s my story so far, if you’ve made it this far then thanks for reading. Sorry for the long winded post.

The thing I like the most about the sisters is that from a distance they look like pretty stock Ibanez Mikro’s it’s only when you get up close and personal with them you realise that they aren’t your garden variety Mikro and that they are heavily modded. I’ve always been a fan of the sleeper build such as a really fast car that looks like your run of the mill family hatchback, or a hardcore gaming PC that would look at home in an office or something. For me the sisters are my sleeper builds. Some people prefer the full custom job like the OP others like me prefer the sleeper style custom job. That being said if I was more artistic I may be more inclined to go mad. The nerd in me would really love a black bass with the battle of Sector 001 from Star Trek: First Contact painted on it, specifically the USS Defiant heavily damaged staring down a Borg Cube.

I also have a GSR180 which I guess makes me a 3 Ibanez dude, however apart from strings she is stock so once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. The sisters I’m quite proud of because they are my learning journey, I am really pleased with how the upgrades have turned out even if there were a few mishaps along the way and the sisters have a few scars to show my learning experiences too. The sisters are truly mine and I know there is unlikely to be another out there exactly the same as mine and I like that thought.

So mine are configured as follows: Both have: Gotoh GB707 Tuning Machines Gotoh 203B4 Bridges EMG GZR P Precision Pickups Jim Dunlop Straplocks Fender Thumbrests Dannii has: Jim Dunlop Flatwounds 65/85/105/125 tuned BEAD Stock Ibanez Jazz pickup Bluetone Custom solderless wiring Les Paul style speed knobs Kylie has: D’addario ECB81S chromes 40/60/80/100 tuned EADG EMG GZR Jazz Pickup Full EMG solderless wiring Witch hat style knobs (only numbered knobs that fit EMG solid pots) Dannii was my original Mikro and I was obsessing over her upgrades striving for perfection and got her nearly complete just the final truss rod adjustment needed for the Labella Jamerson flats (suspension bridge cables) and CRACK! Truss rod snaps. Got Kylie next day delivery from Andertons and transferred all the upgrades to her, but rather than risk the Jamersons again I switched back to the Chromes which I had used previously. Luckily stumbled upon a 5 month old classified on here from @HazBeen for a brand new Mikro neck and amazingly he still had it, so I used that to get Dannii up and running again. I love my girls, they are so comfortable to play for a noob like me.

Meet Dannii (Left) & Kylie (Right) both heavily upgraded GSRM20B models.

I can 2nd that. I have a few Harley Bentons and all have been decent. Only minor issue I had was with my PB-Shorty short scale P bass as one of the saddle height adjustment screws was a bit rounded out of the box, you could adjust it when string was loose but any tension on the string and the Allen key would just spin in the head. Messaged Thomann and within a week had a full new saddle with intonation adjustment screw and spring, I was only after the little set screws to replace the rounded one. Can’t fault Thomann customer services as they are amazing. In my opinion Harley Benton is a great way to get cheap instruments backed up by a large company with good customer service. You may be able to save a couple of quid buying a no name off eBay but I reckon if you had any issues you’d be on your own.