Stagg Bass guitars

Got this from Duck Son And Pinker in Gloucester with an amplifier and a bag, and a strap, and a lead and a useless pitch pipe all for £179. It is a good weight. Plays quite well, stays in tune. Don't bother trying to tune it with the pitch pipe though. Body shape is nice but nothing special. The amplifier is surprisingly good. It has a 24 fret neck, but who gets that high on bass? The headstock is a silly shape, but i've seen worse. The middle control knob came loose, but it's still intact. A washer rattles around underneath one of the string posts, and the pickups aren't put in very well (You can push them in) and the wiring is sub-standard. But none of your friends will be amazed at a Stagg, it's like showing them an Encore or a Conrad. The sound is not bad, very standard, nothing special. Its quite precise but if you want pure bass tones look elsewhere. Construction isn't actually that bad. The body isn't too heavy, and the headstock is quite well balanced. I have had the same strigns on it nearly a year and they always stay in tune. I've banged it against the wall a couple times and it's fine. This guitar is an inadvertant mistake. Not bad for a beginner, but there are others in the same price range which can last you forever; such as the Ibanez GSR whatever. Or even a Squier P-Bass is more worthwhile. But, I suppose your getting a gig bag and amp, so it's half-worth it. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com