Elwray Infinga 4 Bass - Reviews

[Bridgehouse]

And here’s the evidence of it enjoying the journey to a new set of adventures!!

Edited November 20, 2018 by Bridgehouse

[Guest Marcoelwray]

Maybe it's too late but I'd like to make a Google maps itinerary of the Infinga... Just for fun.

Thanks @Bridgehouse for this picture! Really representative of a real venture!

[Bridgehouse]

Well, this leg of the trip is Kings Cross (London) to Peterborough. From there it will go by car to just north of Spalding..deep in the heart of the Fens. Our part of the world is called “South Holland”.. which is ironically not the one close to you @Marcoelwray

[Bridgehouse]

@Marcoelwray Just for you.. seeing as I had the bass ready for tomorrow, I thought I’d take a pic just like the famous Uberhorn Fretless one for your album 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

1 hour ago, Bridgehouse said:

@Marcoelwray Just for you.. seeing as I had the bass ready for tomorrow, I thought I’d take a pic just like the famous Uberhorn Fretless one for your album 

 

Thanks this is such a nice intention!

I really doubt that she will have the same success... (0.000001% of hope inside me)

I want your reactions now! I'll hope it will suits your needs and will be enjoyable to play!

[Bridgehouse]

4 minutes ago, Marcoelwray said:

Thanks this is such a nice intention!

I really doubt that she will have the same success... (0.000001% of hope inside me)

I want your reactions now! I'll hope it will suits your needs and will be enjoyable to play!

It's going to get a proper workout tomorrow at the jam session, so hopefully I will be able to post more than just my opinions!

[TrevorR]

On 23/11/2018 at 15:03, Bridgehouse said:

It's going to get a proper workout tomorrow at the jam session, so hopefully I will be able to post more than just my opinions!

Hope it was a fab day. Looking forward to your report!

[Bridgehouse]

1 hour ago, TrevorR said:

Hope it was a fab day. Looking forward to your report!

Just back home now! I’ll post thoughts tomorrow. I have videos of ropey playing on ropey jammed songs.. not sure that’s a good thing or not 😂

[TrevorR]

1 hour ago, Bridgehouse said:

Just back home now! I’ll post thoughts tomorrow. I have videos of ropey playing on ropey jammed songs.. not sure that’s a good thing or not 😂

Can’t be worse than the vids of me...

[Bridgehouse]

1 minute ago, TrevorR said:

Can’t be worse than the vids of me...

Oh you’d be surprised.... the first one was of me playing teenage kicks. I wasn’t supposed to be doing it and had the sum total of 10 seconds to work out the key, how it goes and what the bass did from memory 

[Bridgehouse]

I warn you - crappy quality on a GoPro, and some odd angles (!) and some very ropey playing....

 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

It is fun tough... Liked the teen spirit

[Bridgehouse]

Just now, Marcoelwray said:

It is fun tough... Liked the teen spirit

It was better live in the room 😜

Your bass held up very well though!

[Bridgehouse]

I’ve been chatting to a mate of mine who came to our Jam day yesterday - he builds guitars, and brought along two of his own builds - a fan fretted job and a fully relic’d Les Paul style - he’s a very talented builder and really knows his onions. His speciality is complex historic copies and very authentic relic jobs. 

His initial comment was:

”From a construction point of view l liked the body contours on that bass, but the neck seemed a bit thick and square in comparison to the slinky body.   Those who have played some of mine will laugh at that“ 

He likes a chunky neck and a lot of his builds follow the same formula! His general view was the body contouring was well done - different, comfortable, light weight and nicely proportioned. 

Interestingly, as primarily a guitarist, he actually preferred the chunky neck to the usual guitarist preference of a slimmer neck that feels more like a guitar. 

A couple of other guys played it in a second room in a more informal jam session - and most of their comments centred around the weight (liked it a lot) the chunkiness of the neck, and mostly around the pickups. Although the switching caused some confusion, they really liked the combination of a maple board and the bridge pickup that gives a raspy biting tone that they felt was quite different from many basses they had tried. 

It really suited the more punky rocky numbers that we did during the day - and really came into its own on the tracks which were definitely rhythm driven. 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

@Bridgehouse

That was quite interesting! Chunky necks are the answer. At least, mine. Cool that he liked the chunky neck.

This quad coil from Delano is really tasty and versatile....

I think it's more the pickup combination which is very versatile. Maple and walnut gives a neutral tone base for any kind of bass.

Thanks for this very constructive feedback! 

[Guest Marcoelwray]

And now what?

Is there still anyone interested in testing it? I have to admit that it could be cool to have it back for the end of the year... But I'm open to other trips, just if nobody is no more interested, maybe it's time to Infinga to go back home?

Unless I missed something with @Grangur trips

Cheers

 

[Bridgehouse]

Anyone else want to try this before it goes back home and completes its final leg of the journey? 

Say now or forever hold your peace!!!

[TrevorR]

So  what to say about Marco’s bass? Well, for the two or three weeks I had it staying with me I loved having it around. It’s lovely, beautifully built for effectively a home-make and sounds great. Stunning looks too. When I pulled it out of the case at worship band rehearsal everyone stopped and gathered round to have a look, wondering if I’d bought myself a new one. The girl singers said I should just keep it as they loved the look and the woods so much.

And the Delano pickups sounded great too - very flexible and some great sounds. Though I still think a three way pickup switch and a three way humbucker coil switch would give you all the functionality in a much more intuitive package.

The immediate question from the others was “How much did it cost?” I explained its story but said that I reckoned that to go out to a builder and get something similar spec and design would easily cost a couple of grand or more. Thru neck, hand built, quality woods, lots of unique design features... which got me thinking about how to review it.

I think that Marco has the ability to become a proper luthier is he puts his mind and effort to it. So I asked myself, what would need to change to justify paying £2k for a bass like this? So that’s my benchmark. What would he need to do to lift his output to the Shuker , ACG stakes...? Mostly I think it’s just attention to detail. So that’s what I’m going to focus on... where does the QA need tightening up etc.

I like the design even though I’ve never really been a fan of Warwick Dolphins or Alembic style random cut outs. That said, I think that the curves of the cut out behind the bridge still need some fine honing to get the flow just right - just some more or less flare on the main part of the body  to properly frame the cut out. we’re just talking half a mm but it could flow a touch better. Similarly the ends of the upper and lower horn. Their shapes don’t quite match. Pure nuance but important aesthetics nonetheless. I compared them to my Aria SB where the horns hook similarly and, though different do match in width and profile.

Headstock. 

I like the elongated shape, branded logo and little cut out. I think it’s neat and looks cool. The adjustable nut is cool too and very easy to tweak. And it’s wenge or stripy ebony or very dark rosewood (or similar)! Cool! Wonder what the durability will be?

However the cool little maple wooden trussrod cover needs a wider base... its thin enough that when the locating screw loosens it can rotate and leave the truss rod cavity uncovered. 

And the tuners... I think they’re put on back to front! The shaft should be nearer the neck than the tuning head. As they are pushing with your thumb on the E and A string tuners loosens rather than tightens the string. That just feels wrong. Plus their position on the headstock could be adjusted by a mm or so to even the shafts of the tuner a tiny bit. See. I said it was all about tiny detail.

Neck

It has its own feeling! Very deep and square D shaped, esp near the headstock. A bassist chum and I decided it was kinda Warwick Squared. I got used to it as I played it but I’d love to play Marco’s take on more traditional neck shapes. The carve is so nice and the Matt finish is lovely to play. And don’t forget, the customer is always right, even if they want a dull, standard J or P bass profile! Lol!

I like the matt maple fingerboard too. Can’t stand heavy gloss fingerboards. 

I’m not sure that the chevron carve at the end of the fingerboard completely works for me but it’s a lovely touch as the board seems to flow into the body. Maybe a different shape might work a tiny bit better? Or not. There’s also a tiny measuring error as a touch of the walnut body/stringer peeks through. But the carve through on the back is lovely!

Body

Love the shape and it is sooooo light compare to my Wals and Aria!!!!! Very comfy to wear. I’ve commented on a couple of things already to do with the finer points of the aesthetics. But overall it’s a lovely, characterful design. It would definitely be a candidate for a standard model body shape if Marco released a range of basses. The small headstock, extended horn and offset bottom strap button means it hangs really well and it was a pleasure to play.

Finishing

This is where I think this is where Marco has the main scope to hone his craft. When you look at brands like Shuker, Overwater, Goodfellow, Wal etc the finish is completely perfect and, at the type of level Marco should be aiming for is expected. This is also where a lot of the hidden cost of a custom bass is. Time and care. The funny thing is you sort of can’t really tell when it’s done perfectly over and above the minimum necessary  and you can’t always see the time that has gone in to achieve this sort of perfection. But every time you don’t achieve this standard it’s a glaring error. Especially if you’re shelling out £2-3 grand for a bass.

On Marco’s bass there are a couple of spots where it looks like a plane blade has caught or chisel slipped and some filler has been needed. On the back of the neck there seem to be some circular sanding marks still present. A little longer with some finer grit sandpaper and wire wool would have sorted that.

It looks like the pickup screws haven’t had guide holes properly drilled and the screws are a bit higgledy piggledy in the pickups. One has completely reamed out - no slight pickup height happening any time soon.

There is dark filler around the abalone side dots which kinda spoils their circular shape. In fact, with small dots I wonder if a more uniform pearloid, plain white or black might work slightly better, giving a more defined circle.

But none of this detail stops the bass being lovely to play, stunning looking or nicely designed. It’s a fab bass and I loved having it around. However, these are the finishing details that set it above the average . From home built/self built into the lofty heights of custom built/luthier built. From what I’ve seen I reckon that Marco could have the capability of making that jump.

So in summary, I’d say that Marco should keep honing his skills and he will soon be producing even more droolsome basses than this one. However, the magic, silver bullet is all in that attention to the finest detail.

Thank you so much, Marco for letting your lovely bass out for its grand tour of the UK. I so enjoyed pretending it was mine for a little while!

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by TrevorR

[Guest Marcoelwray]

@TrevorR

That is a so deep review! Thank you so much!

You said almost everything. I will answer with some points that might need some light;

- I kinda like the reversed machine heads. I do not say it is justified.

- the Wengé nut (yes it is Wenge) is a prototype, I don't know about durability but I think wenge can last.

- finally I had to say that the switch thing is not my best idea. 

- the awful filler is, indeed, due to my unskilled hand working with a chisel. One hammer hit and it was too late.

- the pickup screws, the sanding and the side dots are really bad because I wanted to go quick. I'm an impatient kind of guy. Before sending it to UK, the only thing I had was such big abalones dot inlays.... In the first place I did 3mm holes and I tried to fill them with nail varnish not a successful move. Hence the marks.

And yes, I think that I might be able to enhance the finish level. Maybe @Vins could say a word about his Infinga 5? Very less flaws into this one. When it's not for me I'm more into it. I am still looking for the final shape/technique/whatever.

My main default is that I have literally no time, I work 40hrs a week and I'm on call 1 week on 2, so the 40hrs flies away to 50, 60... So I have to build at night, very late, very soon.... The only thing I'm really proud of, finally, is not the basses themselves but the energy I've putted in it to build them.

So as I don't see many people motivated for trying it, I think I'll see with @Bridgehouse to call it back home.

I'll make a video to thank everyone of course.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Marcoelwray

[BreadBin]

Great review @TrevorR 👍