This is my 3rd Chinaberger in 2 weeks.
The idea was to have something for holidays abroad that I could carry-on without paying an extra allowance. I'd never played one or knew anything much about them but read a few threads on here and remembered how slightly silly David Rhodes looked playing his on Peter Gabriel's Secret World DVD. Never say never because the idea of owning one didn't enter my head in 25 years of playing.
Overthinking, now 1am and one bought on ebay, "as new and played once"... You can imagine how disappointed I was 3 days later when it arrived well used and had deep fret scratches under all the wound strings and many many tool scratches on the fingerboard edges for no good reason. So that went back but it did play well after I set up & intonated it for it's muppet owner. I did manage to get a feel for it re owning one and was happily surprised by the neck dimensions, a nice medium C!
Spirit Pro:
42.3mm wide at nut
51.6mm wide at 9th
21.18 deep at 1st
23.8 deep at 9th
For reference, this is a fatter neck than the Gretsch 59VS duo jet! (I really dislike the shitty wide thin MIJ profiles)
Jet 59VS:
42.9mm wide at nut
52.35 wide at 9th
21.1mm at first
23mm deep at the 9th
I sent the ebay one back and with luck the price of new models had dropped in that week so I ordered a new cobalt blue from GG for only £50 more, joy. It came...with deep divots and scratches along the fingerboard edges...it went....back. (they do have a very easy returns process.)
The replacement arrived. No issues with the build and the rest of my commentary follows on this one.
Pickups measure
Neck 9.2k
Middle 6k ish
Bridge 9.3k
Rails polepieces under the covers but they sound like alnico magnets rather than ceramic.
Now TBH the neck pickup does sound good but I don't like dark neck pickups.
The bridge sounds good, just right.
The middle single is hopelessly weak and quiet.
Positions 2 & 4 are also too quiet as a result.
I may later replace the middle with a hot rails type to fix this.
GOOD: pots are full size Taiwanese and smooth.
Good finish, has a subtle sparkle. Nice neck, as stated.
Frets are fattish, good height but one came with some pit marks that made for scratchy bending.
The trem is smooth, stiff-ish and the pitch warble is nice, better than on/off strat style trem and bigsby-ish.
The fingerboard is a composite wood type but looks good, very dark and takes some oil.
The truss rod is smooth.
It's really TINY! Heavy, but comfy on a strap. I can even see myself using this for jams at a friend's.
See here (the first ebay one) for size
BAD:
The bag is small but flimsy, has little to no protection from knocks and the strap is too skinny on the shoulder. I can't see this doing serious travel. I'll maybe get a gun bag later.
3 high frets I had to spot level.
Tuners are annoyingly stiff and unpleasant but I have bearings on order.
Again, the middle single coil really sucks!
Trem bar has a tiny bit of slop, even with the nut tight against the bar.
The trem stop does not work well (was fine on the older ebay gtr) and I think it relies on having a lower tension spring than shipped. No bother, it's fine without.
The factory trem depth is set Too High, and with the saddles bottomed out the action is still around 1.5 - 1.8mm all over. Online I've read a few complaints re this so I decided to set aside the whole bloody day today and fix it as I made the decision to keep this guitar and frankly hate the other travel options on the market. Out came a not too sharp chisel.
The posts are floppy when loosened and due to the overall design you have to drop the entire posts & spring-box unit lower, this is about 1.5mm lower. It's not "perfect" but after some test fitting it's level.
From the parts box I took a 7.5k budget humbucker P90 and popped on a plastic cover I bought off ebay and used some epoxy to lightly hold it on. It took some fitting to get the cover on the base and not oddly angled in the slot as it's butted right up against the 24fret board.
Then spot levelling 3 frets, and polished all with 1500, 2000 grit and a polishing rubber. An hour of setup and tweaking.
Done
Aside from the factory trem depth (I reckon medium action and 9s will be fine for many) and single pitted fret I'd say it's a decent deal at £345.
Comments
I’ve got a boring black one that @dazzajl harvested for me from a Wiltshire charity shop. Didn’t look like it has ever been touched.
nut, my fingers prefer more room to move. But, it’s a small compromise for an excellent travel guitar for peanuts.
I strongly recommend you contact Oil-City for some decent pickups. Makes a world of difference
PEDANTRY CORNER
1) David Rhodes plays an original Steinberger L Series guitar rather than a wooden lookalike.
2) There appears to be something sprouting from the front of your S2 Vela.
2. No shit! pedant note: it's an S2 Mira
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
well done
I had a black one years ago, when they were using Select by EMG pickups. I liked the idea of having a tiny "travel" guitar, it had a good chunky neck but it also had issues - there were a couple of lifting frets and I really hated the feel of the trem and the tuners. If I still had it I'd have tried some of those bearings for the tuners.
https://i.imgur.com/j0OLeZr.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5YV4cZn.jpg
Some appear to be going for double the price they were new these days which is pretty bonkers.
NUX headphone amp and good to go
Much modded, trem locked never used…