Encore Shortneck

Not known when it was made but it was probably made in Korea. One split-level pickup with one volume and one tone control. Looks like a dinky Fender Precision, with a black glossy body, probably made of some laminate. It is a cheapo entry-level bass, and there is no point in bitching and moaning. I had just joined a new band - real pro outfit - I was doing a lot of vocals and I have small hands. I was really nervous, and suddenly I felt I wanted a short scale. But a durable short scale of professional quality? Fender, at the time, no longer sold the Mustang. My father, who is also a bassist, was with me in the music shop at the time. He pointed out this Encore bass for 75 pounds. It had a tailpiece and bridge setup with only two adjustable saddles. My father said that we had a Seymour Duncan Precision pickup at home, and if we fitted individual saddles, put on new machine heads and sanded the Encore name off the head, we would have quality at a fraction of the price of a Mustang. The machine heads were fine nad didn't need changing, but we did everything else, and I was pleased with the results.

With the Seymour Duncan pickup it has a terrific sound. A lot of people will tell you that short scales sound terrible and you need a long scale. Yes, long scales do sound better, but they don't sound better by very much. And the difference between the two at a gig won't matter. I have no patience with kit junkies. A good musician can get a good sound out of anything. I found the sound was almost identical to my Fender Precision, except that this bass has one or two overtones on some notes that the Precision didn't have. You would need to dampen the strings with a bit of foam to combat the overtones when workingin a studio - either that or use a Fender; otherwise I reckon I got value for money.
It has a Fender-like sound, and plays rock beautifully.

Low action, which I like. Cheapo electrics and tailpiece; but, as I've done, you can replace these. The biggest problem with this bass is the name. I got around this problem by calling it the "Sonic Bong" bass on our website. I can't remember whether this instrument had a plastic strap buttons or not when I bought it. If it had, it's got metal ones now.

I've found it as tough as a Precision. It has never let me down. Now I use a Precision, this is my backup bass.

Never had any dealings with company.

Been gigging since I was 14 and play through a 100w stack. I also own a Fender Precision, an EB2 copy, and a famous Framus Star. The latter two don't get used too much at gigs, because I am frightened of breaking them. If it were lost or stolen I might try souping up another Encore, or maybe even buy a Mustang. I like this bass's practicality. The downside is the image of the manufacturer. I have had one or two bassists making comments like "I thought it was a toy bass." When I explain what I did, I think I get brownie points for making my own Mustang. If you don't have a lot of money, you should try upgrading the electrics and hardware on a cheapo instrument, you could be pleasnatly surprised with the results.

Made approx 1995, the neck is the same length as a standard guitar and there are four strings running from a tele-style head to an adjustable bridge which has only two movable string carriers (instead of one per string). Removal of bolted on neck reveals several layers of messily glued on laminates over a chunk of ash(?).
Sole pickup is a split of unknown origin, and there is a tone and a volume pot with see-through plastic tops. Electronics are passive. No truss rod in the neck. Overall body style a bit like a P-bass but quite small. Quite light.

This was my first ever bass (or guitar of any sort) and I bought it because it was cheap (#100) and the man in the shop said it was good for a learner, apparently. Thought it was cool for about two weeks before I actually started playing with my friends and realised that when I started tuning it to a mroe realistic pitch, the guitar was buzzy as hell. Presumably due to the fat strings having to vibrate more on the shorter neck to produce the same low sound? Within a month I'd started saving up again for a new one.
Sound was pretty basic and un-adjustable, nothing special, quite clean.

Action was terrible and the lakc of a truss rod and that penny-pinching bridge didn't help. Neck was quite nice in the hand, smoothly finished and nice profile to it.
Finish was glossy and OK but messy around the neck joint.
Jack socket got loose very quickly.

Would gig OK if you would be seen dead with it in public. Not really anythignt o go wrong that Encore haven't done for you already.
Kind of bass you would smash up through frustration.

No experience

Sold this as soon as I was able to get together mroe money and repalced it iwth a Peavey Milestone 3, which I should have bought in th efirst place. Only marginally mroe expensive and but better equipped and nicer to play, plus much better/more variable sound.
This is marketed as an ideal beginner's bass but I contest that. Unless you're a midget and can;t reach the end of the neck then just pay a smidgen more for somethign you won;t grow out of.
I suppose I could have replaced the strings with thinner ones at some point to get rid of that buzzing but I was cheesed off with the damn thing by then anyway.
Only good points are that it's cheap, light, easily carried in a normal strat sized gig bag, and probably wouldn't fall apart too quickly.