MV-4MSB Gotoh SB : Very Solid Bass

This is my first HB bass, wanted to try my hand at a short scale & took a chance, absolutely no regrets.

An alder body with a caramelized neck for this price point would've been enough, but Gotoh tuners & good nut were a bonus, this are things I usually swap out with more expensive basses, but no need here, good stuff. The finish on the body was excellent, the neck has a somewhat "marbled" section towards the headstock, nothing that bothers me. It was set up well, the intonation was out, but that's to be expected. The pick ups were surprisingly good, not great, but at this price point it was a pleasant surprise. So as mentioned, there is no selector switch or blend knob, still had a nice sound, but that's the minus one to features. My bridge was not aligned properly, it opened up .050inch/1.27mm going from E to G, making the G string a little shallow to the neck. While it still functions fine I sometimes pull the G off the neck, minus one to quality.

The bridge is ok, but the brass saddles are a nice addition.

First thing I did was replace the bridge with a high mass one, a five screw standard bolts right in, it cleaned it up noticeably. I replaced the neck pick up with a higher end one that ai had laying around & de-soldered the bridge pup, put of preference for the tone I was looking for. Along with setting it up, these two mods turned it into a beast. So for less money than buying it's more expensive counterparts(which I would've modded anyway, tuners & nut as well) I have a bass that I'm completely happy with & is inspiring to play.

I wanted to wait a few weeks before I gave my two cents. I didn't have any sharp frets when recieved, & after the neck has acclimated to my environment it hasn't experienced any fret sprout, just had to ease the tension off the neck about a half turn. I would highly recommend this bass to a beginner, the short scale makes it easy to play & you can easily bend notes as far as they can go. I also recommend this to experienced players, with a few tweaks this bass is a player. It's not perfect out of the box, but I haven't had a new bass that was, but at this price you really can't go wrong, this bass can do more than hold it's own against more expensive basses. Zero buyer's remorse, I'm a happy camper with this model & may even buy another one as a backup. I gave this a five star overall because you get a lot of bass without paying a lot, well done Harley Benton.