hooky_lowdown Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) Has anyone heard of a brand called "Arrow"? I've never heard of them, but after a few modest upgrades it's now my main bass and believe my gas for my ideal bass is finally over (after 15 years)! I've owned lots of basses over the years... Fenders, Squires, Yammies, Ibanez, Burns, Dano's, Gibsons, Epiphones and many other cheap brands. My favourite bass has always been my Jap Fender Precision '62 Reissue from 2002, great neck and sounds awesome - but now my favourite bass is this cheap P bass knock off by "Arrow", which I got secondhand on fleabay. I think the bass was made in China around 2008, it has been well used and nicely broken-in. The bass is very light, made from some cheap softwood, and it dents very easily (which is not a problem for me). The white pickguard has naturally aged to cream. When I got the bass, I polished and crowned the frets, lowered the action (which is now very low), slapped on some used flatwound strings, and replace the cheap wiring and pickups with Toneriders, CTS pots and a switchcraft jack. Now the bass sounds monster. And the neck is the best I've ever played. I added a new chrome bridge cover because with the lightweight body it had some neck dive. The bridge cover looked too new - so remembering something I read somewhere about removing the shine of cheap chrome parts by using a scouring pad and some WD40. This worked great to remove the bright chrome and take it back to normal metal colour, I then put it in a box full of screws, nuts and bolts, gave it a good shake around - this gave the bridge cover a natural looking and subtle used look. Did the same with the chrome knobs. Very happy with this cheapo P knock off - but only with the upgrades. For around 120 notes for bass and all upgrades it more than rivals my '62 Reisssue. For Rock and Indie/Alternative music which I play, it sounds and plays so good. Edited November 17, 2017 by hooky_lowdown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 I know the thread is about the one particular bass...my old Aria Primary was like this, fundamentally solid, but requiring TLC. The tiniest of tweaks can make so much difference. I'm not really a Precision fan as such and I know the Aria is a copy of one, but I love it dearly...granted, it's turning into this test-bed of different hardware, but it's a beautiful thing and plays dreamily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted November 17, 2017 Author Share Posted November 17, 2017 41 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: I know the thread is about the one particular bass...my old Aria Primary was like this, fundamentally solid, but requiring TLC. The tiniest of tweaks can make so much difference. I'm not really a Precision fan as such and I know the Aria is a copy of one, but I love it dearly...granted, it's turning into this test-bed of different hardware, but it's a beautiful thing and plays dreamily. Some of the old Jap stuff is solid gear. Glad you like your Aria - is it stock or did you add upgrades. Got any pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) There a few pics peppered about. Try this thread:https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/311768-hipshot-kickass-bridge/?tab=comments#comment-3370200 When I got it, it needed everything looking at, it did have a set of Schaller machines on it, but everything else was shot . I have, to date done: New bridges, BBoT now a KickAss Fret Levelling Full set up Delano pickups, new pot and knobs New black scratchplate Dunlop straploks ...must remove that sticker. Edited November 17, 2017 by NancyJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MoJo Posted November 17, 2017 Share Posted November 17, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said: .... and believe my gas for my ideal bass is finally over (after 15 years)! No such thing as an end to GAS Edited November 17, 2017 by MoJo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 20 hours ago, NancyJohnson said: Delano pickups What model Delano pickups are you using? I've heard good things about their pickups. Love the large poles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 18 hours ago, MoJo said: No such thing as an end to GAS Maybe... but the Toneriders work so well with this bass, and neck is the nicest I've ever played. Plus, I can chuck it about and not worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 44 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said: What model Delano pickups are you using? I've heard good things about their pickups. Love the large poles. Delano make two pickups that look like this...one is wound/intended for use in a P/J set, another as a standalone Precision pickup. This one is the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 CTS pots and a switchcraft jack make a huge difference I find.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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