Got my Eastwood Flying V today

PinkFloydDan

PinkFloydDan

Jul 4, 2005
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#1
The bass is very light. It is made in China, which I did not know when I bought it. Thought they made their basses in Canada. Anyway, for the price I paid (about $650 shipped and fees because my credit card charges foreign transaction fees for Canadian charges even thought it shipped from USA) I would have expected a little sharper quality. It came with some flaws: the neck epoxy is chipping and there is a decent gap in the side of the neck, like a chip, that they just epoxied over and made it flat.

The first two frets buzz pretty good. They shipped it with the strings tightened, not good. I'm not good at adjusting necks and bridges so I probably will need to spend another $60 for a good setup.

The pickups sound great. Fat front pickup with plenty of punch. Playing with both pickups on and the tone turned at 8 gives a very decent sound, even a growl. Dropping the tone down and it is a softer deep bass.

If it didn't have the production flaws I'd be happy. It's a cool bass to add to my collection but I doubt it will ever become my chief player considering how much I love my 2003 Reverend and my upright.

Anyone here splurge for the flying V?
 

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#2
PinkFloydDan said:
Anyone here splurge for the flying V?
Click to expand...

I just received mine the other day!
How did they ship yours? I ask because mine arrived in a gig bag with a shipping label on it.

Needless to say, it has a couple of substantial dings. Can't believe a reputable guitar manufacturer would even think of shipping any instrument in this fashion.

...Other than that, it's a cool bass! :) I've emailed them with pictures and an explanation, no response yet...
 
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#3
Yep: inside gigbag inside a box. They even shipped it strung to tune (didnt come in tune but the strings were not loose). I emailed them about the flaws- no response. We should touch base next week and see if they treat us right. I don't want to ship it back or pay for shipping.

Does yours buzz on the two top frets?
 
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#4
PinkFloydDan said:
Yep: inside gigbag inside a box. They even shipped it strung to tune (didnt come in tune but the strings were not loose). I emailed them about the flaws- no response. We should touch base next week and see if they treat us right. I don't want to ship it back or pay for shipping.

Does yours buzz on the two top frets?
Click to expand...

Hey, you got a box! That's nice of them :D Mine was literally just the gig bag with the shipping label stuck on it.

Mine doesn't have any sort of fret buzz that I can notice yet, it seems to play pretty well. The pickups sound pretty cool.
 
#7
Tried an eastwood guitar years ago. It was so cheap the pickups were glued in! One of them came unglued in shipping and I immediately sent it back.

That's not to say this bass isn't decent, but it's likely you overpaid for it. If it suits your needs and sensibilities that's not the biggest deal in the world. They market themselves well, but should probably put more into assuring better quality instruments instead.
 
#8
I've been seriously considering their fretless Scroll bass (EUB-1) for a while now, and have read mild complaints about their rough finishes before. I may skip it and find a nice fretless neck to swap out on my Modern Player, instead.

EDIT: BTW, your flying V looks great.
 
#9
PinkFloydDan said:
They shipped it with the strings tightened, not good.
Click to expand...

Fender ships thousands of basses a year to stores with the strings tightened, so do most other mass manufacturers. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Instruments often have to have the neck adjusted after shipping, it is very common.

If it is only buzzing in the lower few frets you probably just need to loosen the truss rod a little. I would go about 1/8 turn at first and see how that does. I wouldn't spend $60 on a setup until I tried that.
 
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#12
PinkFloydDan said:
The bass is very light. It is made in China, which I did not know when I bought it. Thought they made their basses in Canada. Anyway, for the price I paid (about $650 shipped and fees because my credit card charges foreign transaction fees for Canadian charges even thought it shipped from USA) I would have expected a little sharper quality. It came with some flaws: the neck epoxy is chipping and there is a decent gap in the side of the neck, like a chip, that they just epoxied over and made it flat.

The first two frets buzz pretty good. They shipped it with the strings tightened, not good. I'm not good at adjusting necks and bridges so I probably will need to spend another $60 for a good setup.

The pickups sound great. Fat front pickup with plenty of punch. Playing with both pickups on and the tone turned at 8 gives a very decent sound, even a growl. Dropping the tone down and it is a softer deep bass.

If it didn't have the production flaws I'd be happy. It's a cool bass to add to my collection but I doubt it will ever become my chief player considering how much I love my 2003 Reverend and my upright.

Anyone here splurge for the flying V?
Click to expand...

I always get my basses professionally setup when they come out of a factory. Always.

Seems pretty amazing for $650 shipped in my eyes. Plus North American built for that price?
 
#14
Showdown said:
Fender ships thousands of basses a year to stores with the strings tightened, so do most other mass manufacturers. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Instruments often have to have the neck adjusted after shipping, it is very common.

If it is only buzzing in the lower few frets you probably just need to loosen the truss rod a little. I would go about 1/8 turn at first and see how that does. I wouldn't spend $60 on a setup until I tried that.
Click to expand...

Yes, buzzing on F and Fsharp mostly. Turn 1/8 which way?
 
#16
iamprowla said:
$650 for a Chinese bass poorly finished and improperly packaged for shipping?

I'm thinking somebody's making a profit!

A couple of critiques from the pictures:
  • To me it looks like the neck-end strap button is poorly located.
  • The strings look a bit out of alignment, or is that camera angle?
Have you got a shot of the rear of the headstock?
Click to expand...

Yeah, my strap kept falling off. Not sure where a better placement would be though.

Not sure what you are seeing with the strings. Never heard of strings being out of allingment before. Which photo?
 
#19
PinkFloydDan said:
They even shipped it strung to tune (didnt come in tune but the strings were not loose).
Click to expand...

The neck is designed to have string tension applied to it. The "ship the bass with the strings detuned" concept is some asinine nonsense made up by shipping companies, for what reason I couldn't possibly tell you.
 
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#20
They've got a fretless semi hollow that I dig, but stories like this keep me too worried to pull the trigger. My China built Rondo (Douglas brand) and Dender Starcaster are awesome, so I know there's good quality in China, but I keep reading things about Eastwood.
 
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