Raven RMB-5300

Raven RMB-5300 Five string, 24 frets, 9 volt active electronics, 34" scale, neck through hard maple with walnut strips, hippie sandwich body - walnut/ alder/ walnut, rosewood fretboard. Gover style tuners, chrome silver satin tuners, bridge, knobs. Pickups- Jazz and precision Alnico. Knobs are Bass, Mid, Treble, volume, with a secound volume for pickups (which is not a true blend between the neck and the bridge pickup).

This is not a studio bass, its active electronics are noisey because of a grounding problem that I need to get fixed. The treble has to be turned all the way down, to eliminate the ground "hiss". If I touch the strings, bridge, or tuners, I can quite the hiss by about 40 decibels. But, this is no problem for me because I plug an Electro Harmonix Mini Synthesizer into the amp. This unit has a built-in noise gate that eliminates the hissing. If I ever get the bass rewired, I will probably upgrade the EQ unit. Besides this problem, the pickups are very loud and rich.

I have read many reveiws and have found that most bass guitars are not set-up to the likes of the purchaser, this was no exception. The first thing that you what to do, is have a set of strings ready before the bass arrives. The strings that came with it were the lowest grade of strings that I have ever seen on a guitar. The only worth they have, are to keep the neck straight in shipment. I took off the neck plate four times to adjust the neck, after putting on a set of GHS Bass Boomers. The neck is thin, so this is a necessary procedure. I evened the pickups height with a machinists ruler. You won't have to tweek the pickups, because they are very "hot" anyway.
I set the action as low as I could get it, and have experienced no uneven frets. The frets are very smooth and even, the fret board is smooth. The main reason I bought this bass was for the excellent craftsmenship of the body. (I can always upgrade hardware later). The standard material used in this bass have been formed into an exceptionally crafted boutique style custom bass. The neck is very fast and smooth, and the balance is perfect.

The first thing that will wear is the finish. But you can just apply some paste wax to keep it clean. Hardware should last for awhile, but I will have the EQ replaced later. The strap buttons are the biggest that I have ever seen. I could hardly get my new strap over them. There's no worry that the bass will fall off the strap. You should always have a backup, if you are gigging for money. I don't have to worry about that, since I'm just in the hobby stage at this point.

I would not try to get customer service from a company that can't speak English anyway. I would just take it to a good local guitar repair shop.