Stagg BG400 - utterly fugly

[chriswareham]

Went to buy some strings from my local music shop (Soundgarden in High Barnet), and had a quick browse around first. They had quite possibly the most ugly "faker" I've ever seen. It's the Stagg BG400, which is clearly supposed to be a Gibson EB0 copy, but with the single pickup up near the bridge rather than the neck. Pictures don't do it justice, as it's a slab with none of the "pointy" edges that make the Gibson look quite elegant - the picture below gives a false impression that it's tapered off quite a lot at the sides of the body. The body and headstock are also much wider than they appears in pictures, which make it look like a something someone knocked up in school woodwork class!

[Machines]

It'll sound worse than it looks too.

[Twincam]

I don't think its that bad, does look a bit wrong tho.
Why put the pu there, its too far back and I bet that type of pu design wont work well there anyhow.

[Subbeh]

Uuugghhrr! bit too much junk in the trunk for my taste.

[Doctor J]

Odd that they've copied the headstock almost verbatim but put an odd curve in the arse of it. Overall it looks like a skewed and stretched jpeg of a real bass. Wide and short.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Doctor J

[Mykesbass]

Good to see that someone still makes really bad first instruments that today's generation can moan like mad about in 30 years time.

[AlexJGriffith]

Looks about as good as my woodwork project I made at secondary school. Stagg never fail to amuse me.

[Japhet]

I've just remembered where I left my kayak.

[Shockwave]

I actually quite like it, make it long scale, put a pre-amp in it, could get a decent tone out of it.

[Naetharu]

For reference here is a better pic:

[Roland Rock]

If you squint and take some drugs it almost looks like an Alembic

Edited November 26, 2015 by Roland Rock

[3below]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1448560806' post='2916500']
If you squint and take some drugs it almost links like an Alembic
[/quote]

Finished in 'brown' natural wood shade and with the pickup further towards the neck we could be getting there.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1448463254' post='2915635']
Pictures don't do it justice,

[/quote]

Having just seen the one Naetharu has posted you are right - the publicity shot has proved that you can actually polish a turd!

I really struggle to comprehend, now that there are brands like Harley Benton, Revelation and SX all making great budget guitars and basses, how Stagg continue to create next week's kindling.

[ahpook]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1448560806' post='2916500']
If you squint and take some drugs it almost looks like an Alembic
[/quote]

True of so many things....

[Dandelion]

Why would they make a bass like that? it needs big black spots to make it more ladybird like.

[BigRedX]

I have to admit I quite like the looks of that. I'll defer comments on the positioning of the pickup with regards to the sound until I've actually tried one.

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1448569059' post='2916583']
Not sure that bridge pickup is going to be up to much. If it is like a real sidewinder/mudbucker then the inductance of the pickup will cream off a lot of highs. By being so close to the bridge it will have no real low-end either, so it will sound like muffled nothing. They could have stuck a MM pickup in there or something.
[/quote]

The pole spacing is much narrower than the string spacing too, so there's a strong chance the E and G strings will be lacking output compared with the A and D.
An old bandmate had one of the low end Stagg electric guitars, sort of a bolt-on neck Les Paul shaped thing. It wasn't up to much, to be quite honest. Even with a decent setup and new bone nut it had the worst tuning stability I've come across, not much sustain and muddy sounding pickups.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Beer of the Bass

[Annoying Twit]

I'm sure I've seen that big bottom with a puckered anus shape before. I think it's one of the standard shapes made by some Chinese factory.

[discreet]

Don't like basses that look like they've got buttocks.

[drTStingray]

I've been watching this thread with interest - and marvelling at the armchair diagnosis of a bass which no one seems to have played .........

Apparently it has a solid mahogany body and maple neck so should be resonant and solid. I quite like the look of it with its nod towards Alembic and Gibson.

I don't share the sentiment of looking down the nose at bargain basement entry level stuff and presuming it will be no good. I've played Stagg basses and they've been fine for what they are - get a reasonable sound and are playable (and from what I've seen are robust enough to last years as a jam session instrument played by all and sundry). As the purchaser of an Encore Precision copy for my son about 15 yrs ago, it's still going strong, stays in tune and sounds....... Like a Precision!! In fact in spite of having acquired several high end instruments over the years he still occasionally uses the Encore and has not felt the need to replace it with s Fender, such is its ability to make the right generic sound!!!

I suspect Messrs Stagg, Encore and Vintage and all the other regular entry level people are actually doing just fine!!

Edited November 27, 2015 by drTStingray

[discreet]

To be fair, I don't like Alembics either - they look like they've got buttocks. It's an arse issue, nothing more.

But let's not go there.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1448579296' post='2916676]
Stagg seem totally obsolete when you can buy beginner basses from Yamaha and Ibanez now with no discernible defects whatsoever.
[/quote]

I would disagree with that. The Stagg bass I referred to in the previous post had replaced a Soundgear the G string of which was inaudible and various pots broke - it did not stand the rigours!!

[drTStingray]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1448582451' post='2916705']
To be fair, I don't like Alembics either - they look like they've got buttocks. It's an arse issue, nothing more.

But let's not go there.
[/quote]

Lol!!

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1448582169' post='2916699']


I don't share the sentiment of looking down the nose at bargain basement entry level stuff and presuming it will be no good.
[/quote]

Some of the posts on here (mine included) are completely at odds with this statement, comparing Stagg to other budget brands who are making great instruments at a low price point (obviously not Ibanez though)

Also, I have had plenty of first hand experience with Stagg product, the last being a great looking, but completely unplayable SG guitar that had an up bow in the neck and only a single action truss rod.

I have realised however that I have mixed some ill advised metaphors, and wouldn't recommend using a polished turd as kindling

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1448582169' post='2916699']

I suspect Messrs Stagg, Encore and Vintage and all the other regular entry level people are actually doing just fine!!
[/quote]

I gigged with a £99 Axl guitar for a couple of years and it was fine - I only changed because I fancied something different, not due to any need to upgrade. A lot of cheap instruments are surprisingly good now, so I wouldn't look down my nose at something on the basis of price alone. Vintage in particular look like they've actually had a musician somewhere near the design process, which may be what cheap instruments often lacked in the past. I think it's the lack of joined-up thinking in the design of this one that people are despairing about.