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BGRA: Kramer 650B
| Manufacturer |
Kramer |
Model |
650B |
| Reviewer |
Keith Wayne |
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| Experience |
20 |
Item owned |
1-6 months |
| Review Date |
2004-08-05 |
Price paid |
400 |
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Bass type | 4 string fretted |
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Neck join | Bolt-On |
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Neck construction | Aluminum with Walnut inserts |
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Fingerboard | Ebonal (plastic/composite) |
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Body | birdseye maple center-block and walnut/maple wings |
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Finish | poly urethane |
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Pickups | Kramer |
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Hardware | Schaller keys/unknown bridge |
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Electronics | Passive, 2 Volume and 2 tone, 3 way pickup selector |
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Picked up recently from someone that was moving. Neck is perfect with the right amount of relief. The ebony fingerboard is silky smooth. Since the bass was in the case most of its life, the frets had no wear. Action is low, about 3/32" at the 20th fret. The hardware is very functional. The tuners hold tuning very well. The bridge is similar to a classic fender, but the strings are held in slots in the bottom of the bridge instead of holes in the rear, this makes string changes very quick. The body has a center block of birds-eye maple. The body wings are 5 layers of walnut/maple/walnut/maple/walnut. The top has a German rim route which looks very classy. The pickups are chrome covered and are similar in size to humbuckers. Height and tilt are adjustable from the rear of the instrument, with a small allen wrench. Overall playability is very nice. The tone is very unique, not better or worse than wood, just different. The only negative that I had with the instrument, only required a simple fix. The initial action was higher than I like and the bridge saddles were as low as possible. Since I completely disassembled the bass, to clean every nook and cranny, I prepared a very thin slim from maple veneer (1/16 thick x 2-1/4 long x 1/2 wide) and placed it under the neck at the 20th fret. This gave the neck a slight angle coming into the body. Now the saddles are able to lower and raise string hight as needed. The veneer is completely unseen and has no effect on sound.
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| construction |
 | (90%) |
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| playability |
| (95%) |
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| appearance |
| (100%) |
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| sound |
| (95%) |
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| value |
| (95%) |
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| overall |
| (95%) |
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