hooky_lowdown Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) Picked up a 90s Encore E83 for a pony a few days ago with the intention of modding it. I was told it had an intermittent fault with the electrics (which is why it was so cheap), so my first thought was the wires to the jack probably need a resolder, no big deal. When I checked the electrics it turned out there was a little rust on the jack, so carefully cleaned it off, and electrics work fine again. Needed a full set up, the bass even came with a new set of half decent nickel wound strings (all for a pony!), so slapped them on and set it up to how I like. When I set it up I checked the wood grain, which looked like ash to me, and the bass has what I call a reassuring weight to it, I'm guessing around 9lbs. I've played other Encores which were heavier, but this one is a little lighter. The best thing about the bass is the neck, which unlike other Encore E83's I've played is really chunky (baseball bat style) and is incredibly playable. I keep finding myself picking it up to play, I play rock, indie, blues stuff and the deep neck lends itself to those styles of music. The chunky neck also helps the sound, and in combination with the (hot) stock pickups sound pretty decent. So now I've decided I'm going to keep the whole bass stock, and just play the s**t out of it. For a cheap "student" bass when it came out in the 90s, I'm amazed at the quality, with a few tweaks it could be a giggable bass, but for now I think I'll keep it at home. For a bass around 25 years old, it's in decent condition. Even the "Made in India" and serial number stickers are in great shape. Edited April 25, 2019 by hooky_lowdown 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazzbass Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 great score! Happy tunes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 The Indian Encores are great, I had a nice trans black Strat a few years ago and it was insanely good for the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Nice catch, never really played many Encore guitars and enjoyed them. Something about them just felt cheap and never sound great... But then I only started playing early 00's and perhaps Encore was a different thing by then. This looks awesome though and I'm sure a great little player, enjoy dude 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Bargain, congrats John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooky_lowdown Posted January 29, 2019 Author Share Posted January 29, 2019 8 hours ago, bigsmokebass said: Nice catch, never really played many Encore guitars and enjoyed them. Something about them just felt cheap and never sound great... But then I only started playing early 00's and perhaps Encore was a different thing by then. This looks awesome though and I'm sure a great little player, enjoy dude 😁 The India made ones are well made and don't feel cheap at all. I've owned several mim fenders which feel cheaper than this, and not sound as good. I've not played a later encore, so can't compare, but the neck on this thing feels so good to me, just it's personal preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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