Visit to GC Raleigh yesterday...

[Funky Chicken]

A pretty good selection of basses. The SR4 Classic in White with Matching Headstock has been mentioned here before-it's a REALLY nice bass. Playing it confirmed two things for me-
1) The "Classic" is a home run concept
2) I prefer the Sterling's Neck Profile.
A Classic Sterling is something I really want to get my hands on.
The other bass that caught my eye was a Big Al 4 SSS in Cabernet Pearl with RW Neck and Black PG-hadn't seen that combo anywhere before. Unfortunately that bass suffered from an improper setup IMO, and I didn't make time to bring it to anyone's attention.

 

[MrChedda]

A pretty good selection of basses. The SR4 Classic in White with Matching Headstock has been mentioned here before-it's a REALLY nice bass. Playing it confirmed two things for me-
1) The "Classic" is a home run concept
2) I prefer the Sterling's Neck Profile.
A Classic Sterling is something I really want to get my hands on.
The other bass that caught my eye was a Big Al 4 SSS in Cabernet Pearl with RW Neck and Black PG-hadn't seen that combo anywhere before. Unfortunately that bass suffered from an improper setup IMO, and I didn't make time to bring it to anyone's attention.

Good call on the Cabernet Big Al! It's the first one I've actually seen at a GC in Raleigh/Durham/Greensboro. Love the color, pictures don't do it justice.

That Classic White really is fantastic; plugged into the MarkBass 102p and I was rattling all kinds of product in there.

 

[tommixx]

Really? WOW...That is crazy! The fact that the Cabernet Big Al was out of whack that is...I had that bass brought into the store for me just a few weeks ago but it was too heavy for me and I wound up rescuing another Stingray! See the weird thing is I was in the Raleigh store just about a week or so ago and ALL the Ernie Ball Music Man inventory IN THE STORE was REALLY screwed up! I even talked to Eli the Manager about it. The first 3 EBMM basses I picked up were terribly out of shape. The truss rod had been tightened to the point on ALL of them that the strings were actually physically resting on the fretboard...Eli (the manager) heard me talking to a customer and came in (he offered me a job about 4 times before I left! LOL!) and I showed him what was going on. We check ALL the other brands of basses and none of them had the same problem...ONLY the EBMM stock and ALL of the EBMM basses had apparently been tampered with!!!!! He got the tech to come out and take them off the wall and reset them up WHILE I was there so I KNOW that these basses have been set up VERY WELL in the last 2 weeks or so INCLUDING the Classics and the Big Al in particular so there is NO reason they should have been bad UNLESS someone INTENTIONALLY did this....I am not a conspiracy theorist but I have to admit that I have tried to play EBMM products in about half a dozen or more GC stores in the Southeast and it seem the EBMM basses are ALWAYS suffering from a bad setup...

This makes me wonder if there is a reason that it seems like the EBMM basses are the ONLY victims of this degree of "BAD SETUPS"...Is someone out there INTENTIONALLY messing up EBMM basses in the GC chain? Rogue Fend$% rep? Another manufacturer Rep? I jokingly told the store manager in Raleigh to install a camera and watch it for 30 days and see who is doing it because it is a REPEATING phenomenon...I personally spent over 5 hours in the Raleigh store setting up EVERY Music Man in the store MYSELF several months ago!! JUST truss rod adjustments (in nearly every case there was usually tension added as opposed to relief which makes it ODD that this time there was too much tension and the basses needed some relief) So I also KNOW that a lot of the basses there were FABULOUS in the last 3 to 4 months! Ask anyone who has bought a bass from me about the setups I do....

I STRONGLY suggest that you ask for the store Manager (Eli) and make him aware of this and tell him that you know T-3 told him about the same problem just a couple of weeks ago! He had his guitar tech go through and set up all these basses recently so hopefully they will figure this out!

Peace,

T