Epiphone Viola Electric Bass

I have been playing bass guitar for 10 years and the Viola was my second bass. It's a very attractive instrument, with a really nice finish and is based on the Hofner Violin Bass as used by Paul in the Beatles. Unfortunately, the Hofner was a cheap instrument for its time and it's not a good idea to copy something that's bad to start with. If you want a Beatles sound, better go for a solid body instrument as you won't be able to get the sound you're ...
.../> The main flaw of the instrument is the weak neck - you won't even be able to put medium gauge strings on without it warping. Also, it has a very short scale length with makes it very twangy. The bridge is held in place by string tension, and often comes loose when tuning, and it's very difficult to get a decent action.

Fortunately its very narrow neck makes it quite fast to play, and the short scale length is an advantage for those ... more

I have been playing bass guitar for 10 years and the Viola was my second bass. It's a very attractive instrument, with a really nice finish and is based on the Hofner Violin Bass as used by Paul in the Beatles. Unfortunately, the Hofner was a cheap instrument for its time and it's not a good idea to copy something that's bad to start with. If you want a Beatles sound, better go for a solid body instrument as you won't be able to get the sound you're looking for without a heap of studio effects.

The main flaw of the instrument is the weak neck - you won't even be able to put medium gauge strings on without it warping. Also, it has a very short scale length with makes it very twangy. The bridge is held in place by string tension, and often comes loose when tuning, and it's very difficult to get a decent action.

Fortunately its very narrow neck makes it quite fast to play, and the short scale length is an advantage for those with small hands. Again, it's a very attractive instrument, although there are some flaws to the finish as it is a relatively cheap instrument. The Viola should cost about £350 new,compared to about £1000 for the real thing. One last thing though, forget getting a hard case for it as it is of such an idiosyncratic shape you won't get one to fit - not good for a hollow body instrument!  

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