{GEAR}"Finished" my Gecko
Posted by: david.alitz <david.alitz@...>
"in church" qualifier isn't really necessary. I decided that I really
wanted a low D for a couple of songs -- so I did a quick job at setting
the bridge height and intonation yesterday morning. Despite the sloppy
setup, it was a big improvement over my 18 year old defretted Electra.
I forgot I had the extra string a couple times, but recovered pretty
quickly.
I wish I could give an objective review, but about all I can say is that
it's better than the Electra. It balances nicely. It's a short reach
with the left hand despite being a 35" scale. It's so different from
what I've been playing that I can't say much else. Just for reference,
the Electra is a P/J bass that was a step up from the MIJ Fenders back
in '85.
I need to do a little more work on it. I want to cut the nut slots a
little lower, adjust the bridge height a little, and spend a little more
time getting the intonation set good.
I can say I'm not thrilled with setting the intonation on the Kahler
bridge. I'm used to bridges where intonation is set by turning a screw
that moves the bridge forward or backward. With the Kahler, you loosen
up two set screws and the bridge is free to move forward, backward, or
side to side. If you have the slightest tension on the string, the
bridge moves as soon as you loosen the set screws and you're left
guessing where you started from. It's also a little annoying to have to
keep checking the side to side position every time. I've learned to
mark the current position on an index card slid up against the bridge
mounting plate; but it's still bothersome. Hopefully I find the
"perfect" set of strings for this bass quickly and won't need to reset
the intonation very much.
Well, back to playin' with my new toy. TTFN
Dave Alitz