bigsmokebass

Price. Great designs, specs and seem to be constructed well but the price tags are hefty in an age of increasing prices and people’s pay grades remaining still. As per mentioned, with the likes of Sire churning out crazy good instruments and such competitive prices, they’re now becoming the status quo of what you can buy for good quality and a decent price. Harley Benton behind that, despite what initial quality control was like, are still producing crazy good instruments next to nothing.

I get you bro. On paper, I couldn't fault it as I'd love nothing more than what it listed and had potential to be: passive basses, exotic woods with hipshot tuners, monorail bridges, humbuckers and may had that fancy Spector/Warwick look for a lot less 😉😂 but alike @gafbass02said about the overall QC and flaws just really took the shine for all they could had been (not that cheap either, especially the Dave Hollingworth!) but QC had always been part of the Chapman brand. I was one of those unfortunate few who purchased the ML-2 which was a huge flop and disappointment. If they weren't returned due to poor craft, they were being sold by thomann (and I believe Andertons) as "decorative items" in the end at a knocked down rate, for potential luthiers to buy, repair and sell for profit or just to null these items being returned and costing the store/supplier/manufacturer more money. Again though, try before you buy. You might be the lucky one who finds one that passed QC or had someone repair the faults 😉👌🏻

I know I'm a fan boy of Yamaha (too!) but this is a good shout. They're great and ideal for beginners, quality enough to last if the passion progresses until the next bass is affordable/deserved and often found cheap enough if second hand is what you're after to start with. 👌🏻 I still have my Westfield B1000 from when I was 14. For a precision bass copy, it's actually well built and sounds really good! I've taken it apart numerous times and put together again when I was younger, a mad phase where I painted it (fretboard too 🙈) it's been to many practice sessions, gigs and recorded with 😂 hell of a bass and still sounds amazing 18 years later! 😅 They can also be found in a range of colours, rosewood and maple necks and dirt cheap when they show up on sites, more often then not, barely touched and great condition. If you think your Farida is good, give this a try 😉🤙🏻 If you're looking to buy new, I'd check out Yamaha, (JHS) Vintage, Aria and few other brands but I'd keep active basses at bay for the moment.

I watched the review from The Bass Channel and I can honestly say, if you like the sound of a MusicMan but want a short scale. Don't buy here. It just lacks that signature tone everyone knows and for the price, I'd be utterly disappointed. Even for a Sterling. I think you'd find other brands and designs that would offer more for less money.

Every Fedora story begins with this 😂😂

Tried one of a friend's a few years back (when they first released), good specs on paper but seemed lacking in my hands for quality and tone and one style, one finish didn't offer much ( I know we like having some options too 😉) . Cool if you can find one for a good price and that's your thing but ideally, as ever, try before you buy. I always had high hopes for (Rob) Chapman to create a range of guitars and basses given his experience and knowledge but the basses are no longer made and the guitars have seem to have lost their sparkle. Chapman guitars only seem good if you're close friends with Rob and fancy a signature 😂