2005 Ibanez SRX505 Bass

This gorgeous made-in-Korea bass came in for a clean and polish, hardware and electronics servicing, string change; and setup. According to Guitar Insite, it was manufactured in 2005. Not bad for a 16-year-old, I should say. Based on various online resources and personal observation, I've managed to determine a couple specs; as detailed in the next paragraph.

Model Name: SRX505-TK

Finish: TK (Transparent Black)

Neck: Bolt-on, three-piece maple

Body: Basswood, flamed maple top

Fretboard: Rosewood, 34" scale, 14" radius, 24 medium frets, pearl dot inlays

Bridge: Accu-Cast B205

Pickups: Passive Full Range (PFR). PFR-N5 (neck), PFR-B5 (bridge)

Preamp: EQB-IIDX two-band EQ

Controls: Master Volume, Pickup Blend, Bass Cut/Boost, Treble Cut/Boost

Shielding: Conductive shielding paint (pickup and control cavities)

2015 Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI

Preamble
Once upon a time, good ole' Kombatt decided to expand his repertoire to include electric bass. Trouble was, he wasn't really comfortable playing standard basses with their long scales and way huge strings. Then, one day at Bentley Music, he spotted an olympic white Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI. Sporting a 30" scale, way skinnier .025 - .084 strings, and tuned an octave below a standard 6 string guitar; this was the answer to his prayers. Needless to say, he bought it on the spot. But being Kombatt, he needed it set up for DGCFAD tuning. That's when I came into the picture, happily accepting the task. After all, it was the first time I'd ever laid eyes or hands upon such a unique instrument. This was going to be a really rewarding experience for yours truly.

Features
Crafted in Indonesia
Olympic White finish
Basswood body
Faux tortoiseshell pickguard
Maple neck, "modern C" profile
Synthetic bone nut
Bound rosewood fingerboard, 9.5" radius
30" scale length
21 medium-jumbo frets
White pearloid block inlays, black dot side markers
3 custom Jaguar single-coil pickups with notched "claw" shielding rings (middle pickup reverse-wound/reverse-polarity)
3 on/off slide switches (one for each pickup)
Bass-cut "Strangle" circuit
Master volume and tone controls
Fender Standard Jaguar control plate
6-saddle vintage-style bridge with non-locking floating vibrato
6 vintage-style tuning machines

YouTube Videos
Guitar Center
Fender
Dawsons Music

References
Fender
Andertons Music
Sweetwater
Music Radar
Musician's Friend

Pics Section

Ibanez RG370DXZ-BK

This Indonesian axe made its debut in 2011, and can be seen on page 26 of the Ibanez 2011 Full Line Catalog. Available colors were BK (Black), CA (Candy Apple), ROM (Roadster Orange Metallic), SLB (Starlight Blue), and WH (White). Sadly, Ibanez ceased production of the RG370DXZ "after 2014."

The guitar featured today is black, and so it's an RG370DXZ-BK.The basswood body is complemented by a 25.5" scale bolt-on 3 piece Wizard III maple neck. The bound rosewood fingerboard sports 24 jumbo frets, a 16" radius; and sharktooth pearloid inlays.

Pickups are an INF3 neck humbucker, INFS3 middle single coil, and INF4 bridge humbucker. I must say that I'm impressed by these pickups. Sweet and full when played clean, these pickups retain their clarity and bite when overdriven. What really takes the cake is that all three pickups' polepieces are height adjustable with a hex key. This means that you can fine tune each pickup's tonal balance and output to suit your needs.

The bridge is a rather rusty double-locking Edge-Zero II tremolo with a ZPS3Fe Zero Point System (see pic below). The ZPS is supposed to, when "correctly" adjusted, help keep the tremolo parallel to the body. This would save a lot of blood, sweat and tears when changing/tuning strings.

Well, as I found out while restringing this guitar with a set of 009s, all the ZPS does is prevent string tension from tilting the tremolo block forwards via a stop bar. This stop bar, however, cannot prevent tremolo spring tension from tilting the tremolo backwards, thereby causing your carefully-tuned strings to go sharp. And I mean really sharp.

In other words, you still have to block the tremolo the old-fashioned way when changing/tuning strings. So much for the ZPS3Fe. I do, however, appreciate the large knurled spring adjustment knob. This knob makes adjusting spring tension really easy. No need to waste time screwing (pun intended) with the spring claw.

The control cavity is adequately shielded with carbon paint and features a simple layout of master volume and tone controls fed by a  5-way blade switch. It's refreshing to see full-sized pots on this guitar. Kudos to Ibanez for ditching those dreadful minis that crap out when you least expect it.

Work done on this guitar included fret leveling/dressing, rust removal and lube job on the tremolo and other mechanical components, electronics check/service; and fretboard degunking/lemon oil treatment. That's about it, enjoy the pics.
 

OLP Tony Levin Signature 5 String Bass

Specifications

Manufacturer: Officially Licensed Product (OLP)

Country of Origin: China

Serial Number: F05111148

Colour: Natural

Finish: Gloss Lacquer

Construction: Bolt On

Scale Length: 34" (864mm)

Nut Width: 1.81" (46mm)

Fingerboard: Maple / Black Dot Fret Markers

Fingerboard Radius: 16"

Hardware: Chrome

Frets: 22

Body: Basswood / Quilted Maple Top

Neck: Maple

Bridge: Generic

Pickups: Single Exposed Polepiece Humbucker

Tuners: Generic Chrome, Open Back (4+1)

Controls: Master Volume, Bass Boost/Cut, Mid Boost/Cut, Treble Boost/Cut

Onboard Preamp: G&B Co. 3 Band EQ

References

Guitar Buyer (March 2006, pp. 56 – 60)

Bass Guitar Magazine (March/April 2006, pp. 50 – 51)

Pics Section