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Is a Zero Fret supposed to be notched?


Bryan316

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Hence why I followed your quoted sentence with, "It's carefully grooved to adjust the action to the desired height." The bottom of the notch sets the string height. The side of the fret facing the other frets much be vertical in order for the intonation to be correct. There are not a lot of instruments that use this method, since it's fussy and unforgiving. I've only personally seen two, many years ago, and both were custom.

 

Those are metal nuts, not zero frets. ;)

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Can you drop one string and pull it away to check?

 

 

Anyways, I found my solution. I went back to Ol' Reliable!

 

 

First off... the ESP and the MTD:

 

 

bodiesop8.jpg

 

Shut up. I know my futon cover is an UGLY sucka. Sue me.

 

 

 

Then last night, I found THE SOLUTION!!! My brother reinspired me to visit a familiar old friend. I had seen this bass months ago, and it called my name feintly in the distance. When I played it, I was quite happy with the first impressions.

 

So we went back tonight. I brought my amp, but used the store's Ampeg 610HLF, a cab I know well.

 

 

Here's the Three Amigos! Blondie, Smokie, and Brownie! You could almost start a bar joke!

 

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Meet the Ibanez Prestige Soundgear SR 1005 EFM

 

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So here's the rundown. Thru-neck maple/walnut laminates. Flamed maple body wings. Brown sunburst. Bartolinin Mk1 pickups that do quite a modest yet effective job. GREAT tuners. Individual bridge assemblies per string. Rosewood fretboard with offset dots.

 

SUSTAIN THAT LASTS FOR MONTHS!!! I really didn't remember this thing ringing out for such long, natural notes. SCREW COMPRESSION! HAHAHAAAA!!! The EQ has a stacked low/high and a stacked sweepable mid. That sweeping mid is KEY. MY gawd, it's so nice, so nice.

 

There were two of them at the store. My brother said, "Run em both flat, and listen to them as they are. Apples for apples." One had a better flaming in the body wings, and really cut through with the mids. But the one I bought had a very very deep, naturally resonating tone. I can dial in some mids, but I HATE dialing in more lows, cuz it always sounds like ass. This sweepable mid control is gonna be fun!

 

It's so comfy. The neck is straight as a whistle, balances just the way it should, feels like a world of improvement over my black Soundgear. The Bartolini Bite! It's got LOTS of it! If I dig in, it really bites back! I love that twangy stop-sign-to-the-face BLAAAANG when I really pluck em! SUMBITCH.

 

Damn me for ever doubting this bass months ago! Had I known... had I known...

 

Now let's get to the suprise.... THE CASE!

 

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This is a sarcophagus fit for a Pharoah's bass. This fuzzy super-custom-fit bass bed is the finest case I've ever seen. My brother's beyond jealous! It's crazy! His Prestige 7's case is nothing like this! I took a bunch of pics, but you'd need to see it in person to get just how perfectly custom-fit this thing is for this exact bass.

 

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Notice this funky shape in the case surrounding the neck join?

 

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It's for broken hands! A cutaway to easily grab your bass and yank that sucka!

 

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Plenty of room around that headstock. No magical detunings.

 

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LIKE A GLOVE!

 

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Final tallies:

 

ESP LTD Blondie: $450 with case.

 

MTD Kingston ZX: $1400, case $100, keeping the case.

 

Ibanez Prestige: $1059 with case.

 

 

 

The MTD goes back, and the ESP might have a prospective buyer.

 

Band practice will be FUN tomorrow!

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