kingforaday Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 [quote name='budget bassist' post='174191' date='Apr 10 2008, 10:20 PM']Do you know how long it's taken for me to hear that? The music shop i bought mine from (it's the bubinga toby pro) knew nothing about it, i emailed gibson, they told me it was a toby pro 5 and sent me a copy of the original ad which mentioned nothing about bubinga.... i emailed them again twice more and they just danced around the question like i hadn't asked it. I have to say, gibson customer service is appalling in my experience. So mine is the toby pro5B custom? (also i don't think it's as bad a bass as matty589 is making it out to be) thanks [/quote] glad i can help! i take a very strong (bordering on obsessive) interest in all things tobias - yeah thats a pro5b custom. the 'b' part being bubinga body wings and the 'custom' part relating to the finish and the asym neck... i think the quality control from bass to bass left alot to be desired, i know someone who bought one and he said it was set up really badly and had loads of glue on the fretboard, so i'm not surprised to hear some positive and some negative comments but as i said mine is great so just the luck of the draw i guess! as far as gibson are concerned i guess the toby pro's are way down their list of priorities being that they're so cheap, having said that they still haven't sorted any european distributers for the american made basses so i guess they're way too busy undoing all michael tobias' good work (if opinions on the post gibson tobias' are to be believed) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty589 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Yeah, it's a real shame as I love the Tobias shape. I heard some horror stories about the QC on the Gibson Tobiases, even the $7000 Signature models are apparently quite variable. Of course Michael builds his own MTD basses but they are expensive as hell and the lead time is a year and a half. Lovely, lovely basses though. I tried a fretless walnut 5 once, best fretless I've ever played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 [quote name='kingforaday' post='173954' date='Apr 10 2008, 02:36 PM']not sure what model dood has but for that money with the EMG's in it (and a hard case), it sounds like a great buy to me[/quote] Mine indeed is the pre Bubinga type. It has Maple wings - I have A/B'd mine against the Bubinga models and have to agree. The older versions were waaaay better! I felt that the Bubinga bass neck was clubby and uncomfortable. No where near as slick, put it that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 With the QC things, yeah you are right there, there's a couple of blobs where the finish hasn't been applied properly, there's glue on the fretboard and the wings dont match (check the photos, it's very apparent). But apart from that i do think it's a nice bass for £200. @ above post i actually like the asymmetrical neck, it feels really slick to me and for a fiver it's really thin too, which i like, lets me play with a lot more fluidity. Also MTD basses aren't that expensive, you could pick up one of the cheaper ones for about £600 ish? There's a couple on ebay at the moment actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty589 Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Yeah I loved the asym neck too, plus the bod shape is one of my favourites. When I was talking about MTD I meant the USA ones (that retail $4-5K!). Bass Central in Florida and Austin Bass Traders have usually have some lovely pics but they give me chronic GAS One day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 still, i wouldn't mind one of the lower end MTDs, i've not heard anything bad about them. I'd love to try one of the new bongo 6's too! (thankyou john myung!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-T-P Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 [quote name='chris_b' post='173934' date='Apr 10 2008, 02:11 PM']After being inspired by a £2000+ Ken Smith are you really going to be happy with any £300 bass? I'd get a bank loan to make up the difference and go for one of the, at least half a dozen, top 6 string basses currently for sale on BC right now.[/quote] Well the Smith wasn't the inspiration behind me wanting a 6 string, I'd dabbled prior to playing that, but there's no doubt it was a fine bass to play, as is the FBass 6 I played when on holiday in Florida last year. I don't ever see a scenario where I'd spend £2000 on a bass though to be honest, maybe if money was no object. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkypenguin Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I would recommend you try all of the above and, if you run into them...... Cort Artisan A6 Peavey Cirrus 6 Spector Legend 6 Yamaha RBX 6JM (two pickup John Myung signature, but you'll be unlikely to find one these days) Schecter stilletto 6 (any model, they're all good) Status S2 6 string (bargain if you can find one SH. usually around £800) Indie IB606 (my current main bass, albeit 'souped up') The best advice that i can give you is noodle on (insert bass here) for a few hours and see how your hands respond to the spacing, neck width, shape and thickness and see how your muscles feel (I've no idea how big your hands are etc! ). you might find your surprised with what feels comfortable. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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