NBD (Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass)

[Baloney Balderdash]

Or almost, that is...

 

Just ordered a new Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass in Weathered Black finish from Thomann.

 

Should be here Wednesday or Thursday next week.

 

Just 28.6" scale length, Maple neck, bound Purple Heart (which is almost as hard as and stiffer than Ebony) fretboard, Okoume (which is a cheap alternative to Mahogany, lighter and not as hard, but is supposed to have very similar tonewood qualities, and looks a lot like Mahogany too) body.

 

(following image is from Ibanez's own homepage)

 

 

Plan on fitting at set of P/J EMG Geezer Butler pickups in it as soon as I get it.

 

I'll update this thread with pictures of the actual bass, when I get it.

 

 

Edited June 16 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

Oh, and also NST, new strap day!

 

Had an eye on this for a while, and finally pulled the trigger:

 

Levys Poly Sunset Strap 2"

 

[PaulThePlug]

@Baloney Balderdash So going for another... nice

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

bound Purple Heart fretboard...

The Ibby site page says bound, but none of the GSR or SR Ibbys i've come across have bound fretboards...

Does your old 4 or 5 have a bound board?

Think it's an Ibby Error.

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 14/06/2024 at 15:25, PaulThePlug said:

@Baloney Balderdash So going for another... nice

The Ibby site page says bound, but none of the GSR or SR Ibbys i've come across have bound fretboards...

Does your old 4 or 5 have a bound board?

Think it's an Ibby Error.

The wood has been bound.

 

I think it means it has been treated somehow.

 

As in sealed.

 

At least that is how I understand it.

 

Edited June 15 by Baloney Balderdash

[Len_derby]

Looking good. Is this your second one? Or perhaps a replacement.

[Baloney Balderdash]

22 hours ago, Len_derby said:

Looking good. Is this your second one? Or perhaps a replacement.

Well, been playing my 5 string Mikro as my main for a while, equipped with 2 J pickups, but while it is a growly beast, the notes very rich, and it has amazing sustain, there is just something about my 4 string Mikro with the reverse EMG Geezer Butler P pickup that I prefer.

 

While the 4 string doesn't really growl in the same way the 5 string does it does have more punch and snap, dirtier in a way too, and somewhat dryer, with a less rich but more focused and fat tone, that I just really like, and that makes it take effects really well.

 

And also I do prefer the narrower fretboard of the 4 string.

 

However the last part of the fretboard has been damaged by haphazard mods, a chip has gone off at the last fret, and has been glued back on again, and I drilled through the fretboard too, when drilling guide/pilot screw holes for the neck.

 

Now the frets has luckily not been damaged by this, it does play perfectly, and sounds great, but it also doesn't have the best sustain.

 

So the new 4 string Mikro is for getting an undamaged fretboard, and hopefully a bass that has a bit more sustain, and perhaps a bit cleaner tone as well.

 

The old one will then function as backup, or perhaps I'll raise the nut and convert it to a 4 string slide guitar.

 

Edited June 15 by Baloney Balderdash

[Phil Adams]

It was bound to happen

[Baloney Balderdash]

Got it!

 

I will post a picture later, once I got it all set up and ready to go.

 

From stock though, with stock strings, just having adjusted the string action, which was way too high, neck relief was perfect, with minimal, almost straight neck, relief, just as I like it.

 

The nut slot for the low E string is too high, but aside from that it sound and plays perfectly acoustically, and I have been able to lower the string action to just bellow 2mm, low E string side, at last fret, as I prefer it, without any fret buzz whatsoever. 

 

I haven't plugged it in yet, but aside from the mentioned not deep enough cut low E string nut slot, it seems pretty much spot on perfect.

 

Edited June 19 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Got it!

 

I will post a picture later, once I got it all set up and ready to go.

 

From stock though, with stock strings, just having adjusted the string action, which was way too high, neck relief was perfect, with almost straight minimal relief, just as I like it.

 

The nut slot for the low E string is too high, but aside from that it sound and plays perfectly acoustically, and I have been able to lower the string action to just bellow 2mm, low E string side, at last fret, as I prefer it, without any fret buzz whatsoever. 

 

I haven't plugged it in yet, but aside from the mentioned not deep enough low E string nut slot, it seems pretty much spot on perfect.

 

So I had a play on it plugged in, with no additional adjustments done, than the one mentioned above (that is string action).

 

Well, it is noisy when not touching any of the metal parts, as one would suspect from an instrument at this price, even the P pickup is noisy.

 

Also the P pickup soloed sounds like shit, I remember it as decent from my old 4 string Mikro, but apparently I must remember wrongly, it is muffled and dead sounding, with really poor definition and articulation, just utterly awful.

 

The 2 pickups blended in at any rate sounds pretty shitty too.

 

The bridge J pickup soloed however sounds very surprisingly pretty amazing, even with the not too great stock strings still on it, and with this soloed I can hear that this is a great sounding bass.

 

Definitely better sounding than my old 4 string Mikro, and with much better sustain too, just as I hoped for.

 

It is however heavier, but my old 4 string Mikro is unusually light, so not exactly a surprise, not really surprising either it is lighter than my 5 string Mikro, and honestly weight is not really something I am concerned about, so it's all fine.

 

This is a keeper and will definitely become my new main, once I've installed the EMG Geezer Butler P/J set in it and put some new strings on it. 

 

As promised I will post a picture of it, but right now, without any visual mods done to it, there is really not much to see, looks pretty spot on the stock picture from Ibanez's homepage that I posted in the OP, maybe though with a just slightly darker fretboard.

 

Edited June 19 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

As promised here's a picture of my new 4 string Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass, "Dud Bottomfeeder II":

 

EMG Geezer Butler P/J pickup set installed, wired directly to each their own front mounted jack output socket, and respectively red and black electrical tape applied on to them.

 

One of the stock pots and knob left, though with no functionality but cosmetically.

 

Stock side mounted barrel type jack socket removed.

 

Black electrical tape applied over logos on head stock.

 

Strung with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges: .068 - .052 - .038 - .038, picked for almost perfectly balanced tension, tuned to tenor bass tuning, A# standard tuning, as in a ½ step above the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, threaded through the cut off ball ends of the crappy stock bass strings, to not fall through the bridge string mounting holes.

 

Copper shielding tape applied in the nut slots to fill some of the space from the slots being cut for a gauge .105 - .045 bass string set.

 

Simple basic cheap capo applied over strings on the head, behind the nut, to make the strings sit better in nut slots, to secure proper break angle, and to mute eventual sympathetic vibrations from strings between nut and tuners.

 

 

 

Edited June 26 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 19/06/2024 at 23:54, Baloney Balderdash said:

As promised here's a picture of my new 4 string Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass:

 

 

EMG Geezer Butler P/J pickup set installed, wired directly to each their own front mounted jack output socket, and respectively red and black electrical tape applied on to them.

 

One of the stock pots and knob left, though with no functionality but cosmetically.

 

Stock side mounted barrel type jack socket removed.

 

Black electrical tape applied over logos on head stock.

 

Strung with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges: .068 - .052 - .038 - .038, picked for almost perfectly balanced tension, tuned to tenor bass tuning, A# standard tuning, as in a ½ step above the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, threaded through the cut off ball ends of the crappy stock bass strings, to not fall through the bridge string mounting holes.

 

Copper shielding tape applied in the nut slots to fill some of the space from the slots being cut for a gauge .105 - .045 bass string set.

 

Simple basic cheap capo applied over strings on the head, behind the nut, to make the strings sit better in nut slots, to secure proper break angle, and to mute eventual sympathetic vibrations from strings between nut and tuners.

 

 

 

Pondering on whether I should apply a Jack Skllington skull sticker on the body over the bridge, like on my old Mikro Bass, or not:

 

What do people say, should I or not?

 

I kind of like how the new Mikro looks now, but I also really like that sticker, and actually think it does add something nice.

 

Edited June 26 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

Yeah, so as I played some more on the new Mikro Bass, I found out I wasn't really satisfied.

 

For one the frets for some reason are slightly broader, I suppose Jumbo Medium versus regular Medium frets, and I prefer smaller frets.

 

This might however also had contributed to the fact that the highest thinnest string sounded thin and somewhat lackluster played up above 12th fret, and also lacked sustain.

 

And I wasn't totally happy about the slightly smoother, more polite tone, of the new bass compared to my old one.

 

So I swapped back, using the opportunity to give it a proper cleaning, that I haven't practically ever done, and also swap the chrome tuners on it GSRM20 Mikro neck, taken from the bass that it's body is originally from. 

 

I refrained from installing the EMG Geezer J pickup, as it, unlike the P which is no short of amazing, really isn't all that great a pickup.

 

I properly will install a J pickup, the same way I did on the new Mikro Bass, at some point, which is likely to be a Gemini Pickups Mountain Lighning one.

 

I regret being stupid enough to mod my new Mikro Bass, before i had made 100% absolutely sure I also actually liked it better than my old one, so I could have send it back and gotten a refund.

 

Well, I suppose at least I got plenty of spare parts now.

 

Oh, and by the way, the metal plate that the bridge is bent from on the new Mikro Bass is also actually thinner than the old one.

 

And I discovered that Cort's Indonesian factory aren't making the Mikro's anymore either, production is back to China somewhere.

 

Here my old Ibanez Mikro is, as it looks now:

 

Not that much different visually I suppose, except for a somewhat battered Rosewood fretboard, versus a brand new shining Purple Heart one. and a somewhat thinner finish, which actually shows the grain of it's unusually light, supposed Mahogany, but I strongly suspect Okoume, body, which though also has a couple of minor ding marks (well and then the Jack Skellington skull sticker, and the folded piece of cardboard in place of the J pickup).

 

The neck, despite being rather battered, is phenomenal though, most stable neck I ever had on any guitar or bass, that hardly ever requires any adjustments, and it holds tuning extremely well too.

 

 

Edited June 26 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 22/06/2024 at 11:10, Baloney Balderdash said:

Yeah, so as I played some more on the new Mikro Bass, I found out I wasn't really satisfied.

 

For one the frets for some reason are slightly broader, I suppose Jumbo Medium versus regular Medium frets, and I prefer smaller frets.

 

This might however also had contributed to the fact that the highest thinnest string sounded thin and somewhat lackluster played up above 12th fret, and also lacked sustain.

 

And I wasn't totally happy about the slightly smoother, more polite tone, of the new bass compared to my old one.

 

So I swapped back, using the opportunity to give it a proper cleaning, that I haven't practically ever done, and also swap the chrome tuners on it GSRM20 Mikro neck, taken from the bass that it's body is originally from. 

 

I refrained from installing the EMG Geezer J pickup, as it, unlike the P which is no short of amazing, really isn't all that great a pickup.

 

I properly will install a J pickup, the same way I did on the new Mikro Bass, at some point, which is likely to be a Gemini Pickups Mountain Lighning one.

 

I regret being stupid enough to mod my new Mikro Bass, before i had made 100% absolutely sure I also actually liked it better than my old one, so I could have send it back and gotten a refund.

 

Well, I suppose at least I got plenty of spare parts now.

 

Oh, and by the way, the metal plate that the bridge is bent from on the new Mikro Bass is also actually thinner than the old one.

 

And I discovered that Cort's Indonesian factory aren't making the Mikro's anymore either, production is back to China somewhere.

 

Here my old Ibanez Mikro is, as it looks now:

 

Not that much different visually I suppose, except for a somewhat battered Rosewood fretboard, versus a brand new shining Purple Heart one. and a somewhat thinner finish, which actually shows the grain of it's unusually light, supposed Mahogany, but I strongly suspect Okoume, body, which though also has a couple of minor ding marks (well and then the Jack Skellington skull sticker, and the folded piece of cardboard in place of the J pickup).

 

The neck, despite being rather battered, is phenomenal though, most stable neck I ever had on any guitar or bass, that hardly ever requires any adjustments, and it holds tuning extremely well too.

 

 

Well, this slap stick saga goes on...

 

Found out the thing about the upper fret tone was a headphones issue, so I swapped back to the new Mikro Bass.

 

In fact it actually got a bit fatter tone up high on the thinnest string.

 

It is indeed as I has hoped for, very much the same tone, but: 

On 15/06/2024 at 13:29, Baloney Balderdash said:

So the new 4 string Mikro is for getting an undamaged fretboard, and hopefully a bass that has a bit more sustain, and perhaps a bit cleaner tone as well.

 

A somewhat cleaner tone with a bit more sustain, but also slightly fatter and smooth.

 

Not sure if I prefer that somewhat slightly fatter and more polite tone though to the dirtier/edgier and more organic tone of my old Mirko.

 

It is as said slightly smoother sounding, and to me it sounds like slightly less top end and slightly more low mids.

 

A slightly bigger tone for sure, but I also feel somewhat less organic.

 

I'll stick to the new bass for a while though for now, and then we'll see if I eventual end up deciding for my old one instead.

 

Definitely a great sounding bass though, and a keeper.

 

 

Edited June 26 by Baloney Balderdash