ESP LTD B-5JR ?

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ESP LTD B-5JR ?

Boring preamble: blah blah, medical, blah, short scale bass search. I stumbled upon mention of ESP LTD B-5JR, rumoured to be 28.6" scale (I have such a scale 4 string and really like it). Found a listing for one of these, says made in vietnam, serial number painted over or scratched out. Is this legit? I can find zero mention of short scale basses by ESP / LTD.

6-String

I think you are talking about our listings. We are an authorized ESP dealer located about 20 minutes from ESP in SoCal. The B-5 Jr bass guitars are ligit and made in Vietnam like you said. I scratched out the SN's on the photos not the guitars just because its more of a stock photo. We have a bunch of them and we didnt want to take photos of every one like we do on the higher end guitars. Small Stack B-5JR

 

Paul D.

As a matter of fact it was your listing. I get it - they come in black, makes sense. And no I was not expecting this quick a reply.

Pretty sure I want one, so I am going to email you.

Paul D.

It arrived!

Best 'entry level' bass I've had my hands on. If I had known about these, I would have bought the 4 string version of it instead of an Ibanez Mikro (which I gig with now because I can not use my ESP long scale). Seriously, any kid who gets one of these is probably going to think ESP when they decide to move up. So whoever dropped the ball on spreading the word on these, wake up!

I'll do a better 'review' later. Yes it is 28.6" scale, pretty much playable out of the box.

Paul D.

My inital enthusiasm has waned. Bottom line - it's ok for noodling around, I would not want to play this while standing up.

What's still good - the neck (and truss rod). The fret ends are smooth (no need to polish them to avoid cutting your fingers up). Intonation is good, action as well. It can be set up for A=430 , but any lower with the current strings makes the B string poop. I like the strings.

What's 'functional' - the bridge; my knock against this is the hex screws protruding above the saddles, which is going to irritate the hand if you like to rest on the saddles while palm muting. Machine heads, well, they work.

The pickup seems good.

There's a bit of string splay at the nut, which detracts from the look of the bass.

The WORST feature - the body. It's way too small to ever balance properly, even moving the bottom strap button won't reduce neck dive enough. The top horn is too short. The cutaway is too narrow to comfortably access 24th fret area. And the body is not rounded enough - some sharp feeling edges.

Tomas T.

Hello,

is or will be the ESP LTD B-5JR available in Europe?

Paul D.

Well this is what I'll have to do ...

The horn and cutaway will have to be chopped and a piece of wood put in. First I'll have to find exactly where I want that horn strap button, using some sort of temporary attachment to find the best spot. Might have to reshape the headstock to save a little weight up there - that will be the scariest bit to do.

6-String

 

This is whats its 4 string little brother would look like (:

Robin S.

Do adults actually play this thing, and is it compfortable????

Old Man Larry

About 10 months ago bought a used B4-JR. I had previously bought a Hofner 500/1 but had problems playing it. I thought I was stuck until I found the used B4-JR. I've got some medical problems and there are restrictions on how much I can lift. I also have issues with my left hand after a past surgery on my rotator cuff. The B4-JR bass was exactly what I needed. I was hoping to get a 5 string version as well, but discovered that both the B4-Jr and the B5-Jr are no longer in production. I was wondering, since the model has been discontinued, what is the possibility of getting a B5-Jr made by the custom shop? Any answer to this would be greatly appreciated.

Pushead

Hi Larry. I'm sure ESP would do it, but it would likely hit in the $4-5k range (which is where the pricing for the CS stuff starts.) A better bet would be constant searches of eBay and Reverb.

Old Man Larry

Hi Pushead. Sorry it took so long to get back here. Thanks for the help. I'll do that.

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