| Reviewer
| David Donlon
|
| Experience
| 21
|
| Review date
| April 05 2002
|
| Manufacturer
| Tobias (Gibson)
|
| Model
| Toby Pro 4B Custom
|
| Price
| $650ish
|
| Item owned for
| 1-6 months
|
| |
|
| Bass type
| 4 string fretted
|
| Neck join
| Neck Through
|
| Neck construction
| 5 peice Wenge, Maple, Wenge, Maple, Wenge
|
| Fingerboard
| Ebony, 24 frets, 34"
|
| Body
| Bubinga
|
| Finish
| Oil
|
| Pickups
| Tobias (may be made by Mighty Mite)
|
| Hardware
| Hardware manufacturer unknown
|
| Electronics
| Active, 4 knobs: volume, pickup select, treble, bass
|
| |
|
I was beguiled by the price of this bass from MusicYo.com. It is only
available by ordering through the internet, or ocassionally on EBay. As I
had heard so many bad things about guitars manufactured in Korea, as this
one is, I had expected some problems. To my surprise, there aren't any
issues related to the construction of this bass! The frets could use a
little sanding, but I have never bought a new bass where this is not the
case. The wood is simply beautiful and well sanded. The custom ASYM neck
is flawless. The hardware seems to be something I'll look into replacing,
bit by bit, but all of it works.
The one downside, at least to me, is that the pickups aren't great. A
bass like this is crying for a set of Bartolinis (so I ordered some and
they will arrive next week!) Tobias used to come stock with Bartolinis,
but these pickups don't seem to be of that quality. Also, the electronics
cavity is not shielded. I suppose these are some of the concessions
MusicYo has made to keep the price down. It looks and feels like a Tobias,
and it plays like a dream. If you like fiddling with the pickups on your
basses anyway, this isn't a bad way to go.
| Construction
| 95% | 
|
| (Very well put together, no matter what they tell you about Korean made guitar |
| s)
|
| Appearance
| 95% |
|
| (Mike Tobias has a keen eye for design )
|
| Playability
| 98% |
|
| (It plays awesome!)
|
| Sound
| 85% |
|
| (Pickups probably need to be replaced; copper shielding absent)
|
| Customer Service
| 100% |
|
| (MusicYo bends over backwards to help!!)
|
| Value
| 95% |
|
| (I did not overpay for this bass, wood and craftsmanship considered)
|
| Overall
| 95% |
|
| (I am very happy with this bass)
|
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