Gold Tone M-Bass 23-Inch Scale Acoustic-Electric MicroBass with Gig Bag

This thing is a blast! It really sounds a lot like an upright bass, and it's the size of a 3/4 size travel guitar, so you can take it anywhere. The built quality is good. The finish is a bit rough, it could have used another round of sanding before applying the very light satin varnish. The tuners work fine, the truss rod does its job (loosened all way for me). It's very very light. There's bracing under the top but none on the arched back. The string tensions are very low, so it should be fine. Initial tuning was a real pain, but now it's holding tune very well, and I'm used the to string-lift procedure. The built-in tuner is functional, not great. It takes 2x 2032 batteries to power the tuner and pre-amp. Unfortunately the batteries were almost dead when it arrived, no idea how long new ones will last. I wonder how long the rubber strings will last. They already have fret impressions in them, but that might just be from playing it too soon before they stretched out. Volume is good enough for practice, or playing along with a friend on guitar/uke in the living room. I tried the Rumbler Ubass at my local shop and I'm pretty sure this one has more volume, as expected with the larger body. The cutaway is useful to get the to upper frets. I plugged it into my guitar amp and it sounds good (obviously I can't assess the low-freq response). It has both strap pegs.UPDATE: I've had this about 8 months now. Still a fun instrument! Strings are holding up fine. I finally discovered that the pickup had poor volume on the E and G strings. I called Gold Tone and they sent me a replacement saddle/pickup for free, and now the volume is good across the strings and the tuner works much better. I only play this occasionally but I have not replace the battery since I first got it. I now have a bass amp and it sounds good through the amp--it can get boomy at certain frets, maybe a better EQ would help.

This is a great choice for a guitar player who wants to add a bass to his or her band but doesn't have any background or training in "standard" basses (upright or bass-guitar). The shorter scale length makes finger patterns seem familiar and friendly to a guitar player (none of those long reaches on a larger bass). And the sound! It's more like an upright bass than anything else I've ever heard. An upright bass player I know, after playing mine once, went right out and bought one for himself, just to have that upright bass sound without the hassle of hauling an acoustic double bass around.The secret of the M-Bass is in those magical rubber strings -- big fat babies that feel soft to the touch without any of the slipperiness one associates with other "little" basses (such as the U-Bass). And, unlike the U-Bass, the slightly larger body of the M-Bass allows you to practice unamplified (although you won't get that big rich upright bass sound when you're not plugged in.The built-in tuner is not terribly accurate, but you can just slap a Snark on there and tune it easily enough. And it holds its tuning pretty well. I'd been warned that the M-Bass eats batteries (like, overnight, if you leave the patch cord plugged in, since that turns the pre-amp on), but I've found they last quite a long time if you're careful about unplugging when you're not playing.Gold Tone is a reliable manufacturer (I also have one of their resonator guitars) who stand behind their products, so you can buy this with confidence. At a lower price-point than the U-Bass, it's clearly the better choice. And it's easy and fun to play.

2-20-18 got my bass today and no damage or scratches . this is just the size I wanted. everything worked , good tuners - 2 strap buttons - straight neck - Then I played and tuned it ( good tuner ) but I noticed that the frets were really rough on the outer edges ! I mean REALLY rough . I have never had a guitar with frets that rough ! everything else was O K so I took the strings off and used a small file to smooth the frets up - i spent about 2 hours on it . Gold Tone should be ashamed for selling guitars like that ! ! they have to know about this problem - any guitar company would know . Gold tone stuff is usually very good - i'm positive that i'm not the only who got a guitar like this .. A local music store can dress up the frets for you , but it will cost about $ 60 to 100 dollars . Run your fingers up and down the outer sides of your neck and the frets should be baby powder smooth , if not then let gold tone company know that you are pissed . i am a good guitar tinkerer so i was able to fix it myself , but most all other people would probably make it worse if they try to do it - take it to a guitar tech or return it

After having had this for a few weeks, I'm contemplating returning it. Has a rattle on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd frets of the A string. I have to be extremely careful with finger placement within the fret, and play very lightly to avoid rattling. Probably wouldn't be much of an issue playing live, but I need a clean sound for recording. I played a Kala U Bass belonging to one of my students and it did not have this issue. Too bad because otherwise I like it; has a great tone.UPDATE ONE YEAR LATER: I did return this particular bass but bought another of the same model at a music store b/c I like the tone so much.. Curiously, it had the same problem of rattling on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd frets of the A string. I ended up slipping a piece of plastic under the A string at the saddle to raise the action (strings do not have individually adjustable saddles). This does not look good but does make it playable. After playing it for a year, my verdict is, it has to be played very carefully as far as finger placement or you will get a lot of noise, squeaks and rattles, but I love the deep boomy sound, sort of midway between a solid body bass and an upright. I tried it on a live gig and found it too difficult to play while singing. So I use this for recording on folk and country material and am very pleased with the sound.

The recipient is a professional musician and they said they love this guitar. They also said the guitar is light and causes less strain on the shoulder.

When you try to play loudly, there's a ton of fret buzz on the A & D strings mid-neck of the fretboard. Fun to play, and great sound but I couldn't stand the buzzing.Going to return it and consider getting the fretless.

Wouldn't stay in tune.. Intonation all haywire... Sent it back..

Great,quick shipping!

nice sound for such a small bass