MB-5 SBK Deluxe Series : Not a bad 5 string

We have been pretty lucky with HB guitars to date so was about due one which took a little work to get set up, which is the luck of the draw with any mass produced instrument.

Mainly the frets needed levelling and dressing on top of the usual expected adjustments.

That done, the bass plays well and has a good tone and weighing in at just under 10lbs, feels like a proper bass.

Pros: looks good, sounds good, feels like a decent heavy beast

Cons: needed work to set up properly, was pretty much unplayable out of the box. The string spacing at the bridge didn't match the neck edges until I slipped 1mm shims in between the saddles. The factory strings, as others have said, have some strange tonal properties!

Conclusion: with a little setting up this is a perfectly workable 5 string with clever yet simple controls. Not bad at all.