Played My First Bongo Today

[vcs700s]

I have owned a Sterling 4 since last February. It is my first Musicman Bass.

I have been reading so much about the Bongo that I went to my local Guitar Center to try it out.

All I can say is- WOW! I love that bass!! Plays like butter and great tone.

I also tried out a SR5 which I also liked a lot.

And I just bought a MM SUB 5 which I received yesterday in the mail.

Come to think of it, I haven't played a MM bass I haven't liked.

I guess I will have to get one of each!!

 

[Jodizzle]

I'm liking how you live.
I liked it .. I bought it. I liked that one too .. guess I'll have to buy it.
Hahaha - fantastic

 

[MrMusashi]

that, my friend, is the musicman blessing

you always end up getting more of em..

MrM

ps: my mrs thinks its a curse, but i dont agree.. heheh

 

[bovinehost]

My Canadian pal Morrow played his first Bongo, too. He even shows up over here sometimes....has a Stingray, he does, but he really needs a Bongo, don't you guys think?

 

[MrMusashi]

+1 on the bongo!

MrM

 

[timmy5strings]

I finally played a single H Bongo 5 the other day at Washington Music (Chucks). The thing just blew me away You want aggressive ?? Now I know why it's Poppas favorite, it made the rest I tried sound asleep

 

[Morrow]

heh , I really do have to pop in here more often Jack .


The local store had a few when they first came out and haven't had any since . They just seem to get Rays and the odd Sterling . The used one I was playing today was easily the nicest feeling bass that I have picked up in a store in ages .

I even took it to the amp room and plugged it in . It sounded gorgeous .


I wasn't surprised , the folks in San Luis Obispo make some damn fine instruments .


If I had a new bass in my immediate future it would be that Bongo .

 

[Frankie5Angels]

Welcome to the club my friend. Once the Bongo gets a hold of you it never lets go. And thank god for that.

 

[nashman]

My Canadian pal Morrow played his first Bongo, too. He even shows up over here sometimes....has a Stingray, he does, but he really needs a Bongo, don't you guys think?

Well, now you've got 2 Canadian friends with a Stingray in need of a Bongo ... maybe a 2008 LE (single H)?

Does anyone know if there any videos on the net with an A/B and/or C comparison of a Stingray/Bongo and/or Sterling?

Thanks!

 

[Frankie5Angels]

Well, there's the link of the man himself demoing some of his babies.

I don't know of any videos of A/B/C comparisons. Maybe YouTube?

 

[tkarter]

Anyone playing a bongo is having a good day. There is no way around it since a bongo can rule the bass world easily.

tk

 

[MK Bass Weed]

yeah me too, today to be exact.

I bought mic cables at Guitar Center this afternoon. I had my wife and kids waiting in the car, I mean, I was only going to be a minute...then I saw this gold flash from the bass section...they had replenished the MM stock. Yipes...one 4 string and two 5 string bongos, including one of the stealthy ones.

I've been itching to try one, and AnthonyD's Christmas toy post, you know, the Red Bongo in the Santa Hat, made me really itchy.

The 4 string was set up for Archery, so I adjusted the truss with my swiss army knife screw driver tool...love that wheel.

My big 'fear" with the Bongo is the 24 frets. I've tried to make the 24 fret transition for the entire 90s, which also happended to be a six string bass. You remember the early 90s?, 'everyone' was playing one, and there was even an article, 'is the 4 string doomed" Bass Player. Yeah...I'm back to a 4 string Ray now....whew..but I digress.

On the 24 fret neck, I usually found myself grabbing one fret too high. Which meant I had to constantly check myself on the neck. It was always a relief to come back 'home' to a 22 fret (or less), and find the notes right where they should be.

But today...I went back and forth between a Bongo and MM Sting Ray, and the difference didn't seem that great as compared to what was happening to me before.

Looking at all those frets above the 12 did seem like looking into a piano, alot more notes...but I don't know, did the Bongo makers, movers and shakers figure a way out of this....or am I just looking for a way to squeek one into my gig bag.

I also noticed that the radius on the fret board was flatter, but it did still feel like home to me.

Any of you Bongo lovers find any transition issues with a 24 fret neck?

MJK

 

[bovinehost]

My big 'fear" with the Bongo is the 24 frets.

On the 24 fret neck, I usually found myself grabbing one fret too high. Which meant I had to constantly check myself on the neck. It was always a relief to come back 'home' to a 22 fret (or less), and find the notes right where they should be.

But today...I went back and forth between a Bongo and MM Sting Ray, and the difference didn't seem that great as compared to what was happening to me before.

Looking at all those frets above the 12 did seem like looking into a piano, alot more notes...but I don't know, did the Bongo makers, movers and shakers figure a way out of this....or am I just looking for a way to squeek one into my gig bag.

I've never much cared about what exists above the 12, what my friend Ed Friedland calls the "no money zone", but I do wonder why the extra real estate doesn't throw me off.

My guess is that long upper horn. I had a couple of Rumblefishees and I was constantly having to reevaluate where I was because the top horn was so short. I'd never realized how much I relied on that visual marker!

I also noticed that the radius on the fret board was flatter, but it did still feel like home to me.

I have one Bongo that feels a little flatter than my SR4s and SR5s, but as nearly as I can recall, they're all 11" radius basses.

Weird, isn't it, how our hands perceive things?

Jack

 

[tkarter]

The neck starts over after 12

Soon as I figure out above 9 I will be playing me some more bongo is how I look at it.

tk

 

[RobertB]

The neck starts over after 12

Exactly the mental map (and plain truth) I used to orient to 24 fret basses years ago, tkarter. I love them because to me, chords on bass sound best in the upper registers, so ... the more the better.

I plugged in with a Bongo for the first time last night, myself. Very, very nice. If there hadn't been a 30th SR4 hanging there beside it, the Bongo would probably be with me here at home now. Jury's still out. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

 

[bovinehost]

If there hadn't been a 30th SR4 hanging there beside it

That's a tough call, eh? I feel your pain, Roberto.

Now add a 30th SR5 and it gets even more difficult to decide....not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Jack

 

[RobertB]

....not that I'm complaining, mind you.

No kidding.

 

[AnthonyD]

I will always have a special affection for the Sterling (err, and Sterling)...

The Sterling was my first MusicMan and it feels as it it was made for my hands.

Yep, I bought a Sterling, once, three Bongos ago!

Without waxing poetically re: the Bongo (been done elsewhere), I will say the 22 to 24 fret neck thing is a non-issue. I mean, nut to bridge we're talking about the same distance. That said, the first fret is in the same place - the fretboard just goes on deeper into the body and most of us real men never get above 12 (okay, above 15!) anyway.

While the Sterling neck feels "best" to me, I have come to appreciate the Bongo neck more. The Sterling neck is thinner across the fret and a bit thicker fretboard to back of the neck. In contrast, the Bongo neck is a wee-bit thicker across the fretboard and thinner/flatter fretboard to back of the neck.

This subtle alteration, for me, translates into a better playing technique - my thumb is less likely to wrap around the neck and feels more comfortable positioned behind the neck with the Bongo profile.

And then there's that attitude that only comes from a Bongo...

And the distinctive look...

And the tone... Oh God, the tone...

 

[MK Bass Weed]

My guess is that long upper horn. I had a couple of Rumblefishees and I was constantly having to reevaluate where I was because the top horn was so short. I'd never realized how much I relied on that visual marker!
Weird, isn't it, how our hands perceive things?

Jack

Yes, I think what you're saying here, is a horny bass will help me keep my hands where they are supposed to be...Sorry...I couldn't help myself.

I went back again today, just to try the Bongo some more, and I think you are on the mark with the visual cue idea. The other 24 fretter I owned did have a horn just under the 12th fret, closer to 14. I'm not nitpicking here, I'm loving this Bongo thing, but there has been more than one occassion in the past where I've grabbed that wrong note at the wrong time, geez lou-eez that hurt. Boy are those Bongo bodies comfy.

MK

 

[RobertB]

Boy are those Bongo bodies comfy.

MK

Aren't they?