NBD, Monoprice

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Kick Henry Jackassowski
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A few weeks ago I bought a used Squier Affinity P-Bass. It was a mess, so I cleaned it up and put new strings on. When I tuned it up the fucker had over a centimeter of neck relief. That neck is still clamped to a cabinet and is probably going to become firewood. So I went to my local music store to buy a new one and…a Squier Affinity P-Bass isn’t worth $179. Maybe $100, but not $179.

Enter Monoprice. The Monoprice instruments can’t be too bad—after all, they’re set up by Master Luthier Roger Gresco. Worst case scenario the Monoprice bass sucks and I send it back on their dime. So I pulled the trigger on a 6th St Pub Bass. I’m pretty sure it’s named after a bar Monotype staff go to in Toronto, which is a damned shame, because Canadian beer fucking sucks like a Tijuana hooker at a petting zoo. But I swallowed my American dank IPA pride and ordered it with the 15% off code they were running last weekend.

Today the bass turned up. UPS did their usual great job of stomping holes in the box so big that I had to photograph them before opening because I was expecting a neck break. But Monoprice did a good job packing the instrument and it survived the trip. They even packed the instrument inside a mylar bag inside the gig bag, I assume to prevent rapid temperature shocks. As for the gig bag, this is the cheapest gig bag I’ve ever seen. If these gig bags are recycled into condoms there will be an epidemic of STDs and ugly, fatherless children doomed to grow into useless cunts.

Sadly, the mylar bag didn’t keep this thing set up between Master Luthier Roger Gresco signing the Certificate of Inspection (really) and the bass getting to me. The neck was starting to back bow and open notes were rattling on the first fret. But it’s January, and this thing came from Ontario to Colorado in four days, so I’m lucky none of the frets popped. I let it warm up in the gig bag for the rest of the day and pulled it back out after I got the kids to bed. A few truss rod tweaks and it plays fine.

So here’s the lowdown on the Monoprice P-Bass copy:
  • The strings are passable round wounds, and a little on the heavy side. The tension isn’t a big deal because Master Luthier Roger Gresco made sure to set the action low. I’m going to swap them for light half rounds tomorrow.
  • The body is almost an exact clone of the Squier P-Bass. The only notable difference is that the bottom is a little more rounded.
  • The neck is almost an exact clone of the Squier P-Bass. It feels a little thinner. I think that’s because the satin finish is incredibly thin. It feels unfinished, and I had to rotate it in the light to be sure it wasn’t. Fretwork is typical for an Asian bass in the $250–$500 range. Fret ends are much better than the Squier Affinity series. The truss rod is a step up from most cheap instruments, so it’s easy to crank it too far.
  • The fretboard is an attractive slab of rosewood covered in dust from fret finishing. I guess that’s one way to cut costs without sacrificing quality somewhere it matters.
  • Monoprice basses come with contemporary high-mass bridges. Visible divots from the cheap mold make it clear this isn’t on par with $100+ bridges from Hipshot or Badass. But I don’t see anything comparable out there for less than $50. That’s a huge upgrade over any other bass under $200.
  • The tuning machines are nice. Instead of the heavy vintage-style tuners common on cheap basses Monoprice uses light Gotoh-style tuners. These are even adjustable—Master Luthier Roger Gresco locked them down too tight and I need to loosen them up a little. These tuners are a small upgrade, but anyone who’s had a vintage tuner key that rattles will appreciate them.
  • The pickups sound fine but are on the quiet side. That’s generally fine, but too quiet to be heard with the default settings in Rocksmith.
Verdict: I was expecting this to be one of those “for $150 it’s a nice mod platform” instruments. So I’m pleasantly surprised by the quality of this bass. To get a comparable instrument I’d have to spend at least $200 and then replace the bridge. That’s a hell of a lot of bass for the $138.14 I paid after my 15% discount and shipping. And since Master Luthier Roger Gresco did a great job setting up the bridge the only setup I’ve had to do is tweaking the truss rod. I’ll probably end up swapping the pickups for something louder, but I don’t give a damn because the money I saved will pay for that.
 
The honeymoon is over. Today I started poking around inside. I was surprised that the body is solid and not plywood.

I replaced the strings with D’Addario round wounds. That cured the low volume. The pickups sound like most vintage-voiced bass pickups, but LOUD. So then I tried adjusting them to cut the volume. The pickups aren’t really adjustable because’s there’s no spacer between the screw and the body. To adjust pickup height I have to hold the pickup while turning the screw. And the screws aren’t long enough, so they pop out. One of the pickups is barely holding on to the screw because the hole is mostly stripped. I’ll probably just replace the screws and add aquarium tubing spacers because returning the guitar over this would be more trouble than fixing it. But if you don’t want to do a DIY fix just don’t buy a Monoprice bass.

The pots are generic mini pots. Soldering is passable factory work, and the pickguard is shielded over the wiring cavity.

A little more about the bridge. This bridge has two-piece hinged saddles. The bottom of the saddles is fairly thick, so there’s a hard limit on how low the action can get—around 2.8mm on the bass side. Going lower would require taking the saddle out and filing away the bottom. This isn’t bad or odd but it does mean this instrument is a bad choice if you like low action.
 
I went by Monoprice at Namm last week because I was curious what everyone was talking about but was driven out by the guy playing horrible out of tune guitar through a horrible sounding amp and pedal combination before I could pick up an instrument. Sounds like they are a better deal in real life then what they were showing us at Namm.
 
Update: when I asked Monoprice about the missing pickup spacers and short screws they offered me a refund. Since I like the instrument otherwise I’m just going to replace those parts.
 
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