• Love This Axe...but there are some drawbacks

  
  As reviewed by Hoss Peterson on 4/26/2012

  I had been looking for an acoustic bass for some time, and they all just kind of looked (and sounded) the same. Then I stumbled upon the Fender Kingman, and fell in love. The Fender headstock and Jazz Bass neck were absolutely killer, and it jumped out at me hanging on the wall. I picked it up and played it and absolutely adored the neck. Since my regular axe is a Jazz Bass anyway, it was like an old friend in my hands straight off the wall. I liked the acoustic sound, and then plugged it in and ADORED the amplified sound. I purchased it (actually ordered it online the next day from the store, since the new model with the upgraded nut and bridge had just come out) and waited for my new baby to arrive. Three days later, it did, and I took it home. Now for the "real" review... The first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box and put a strap on it was how INCREDIBLY NECK HEAVY this thing is! Holy buckets is this neck heavy! It absolutely nose dives to the floor if you aren't hanging on to it. I am currently having my tech re-position the upper strap button to the bottom of the neck to help counteract the weight issue. The next thing that caught my ear was the fact that, when plugged in, the E string was ten times louder than any other string. I fiddled with every setting on the on-board EQ and my amp, and couldn't fix this. After reading several on-line reviews and suggestions, I decided to remove the original bronze acoustic string on the E and replace it with a nickel-wound electric E string. That has helped IMMENSELY. I will probably change out the A as well, but will leave the bronze acoustic strings on the D and G, because I like the brightness of the higher strings in my playing. Oh...and the acoustic volume is fairly low when playing finger-style. Use a pick and it's a little better...but I almost always play it through my amp, so that's not much of a deal-breaker for me anyway. OVERALL: I still love this bass. Love the look, love the neck, love the sound. It does have it's drawbacks (as noted), but nothing that would make me want to sell it or give it away. If someone stole this axe I would replace it with another Kingman...I guess that is the true test. If you can handle the heavy neck, the somewhat subdued acoustic volume and the insanely loud amplified E string, then this is your axe. For the money I paid ($450) I seriously doubt I could find a better deal. A couple of minor tweaks, and this baby will have a home in my arsenal for years to come!

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• Kingman is King of acoustic basses!

  
  As reviewed by Ryne Jones on 3/26/2012

  This bass has a really great attack to it! Really smooth, in fact..it's the smoothest i've ever felt on a bass so far. Really easy for those hard technical bass riffs, really simple for those groovy funk riffs. This bass is definitely worth the money and is one of the highlights in my collection!

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• Great acoustic bass

  
  As reviewed by Cal Anton on 4/24/2012

  After my 4 string bass was stolen I wanted another one in acoustic. I tried every acoustic bass in the store and this model was the nicest playing of them all. Every day that I play it I love it even more. You can go all John Entwistle on this instrument or jazz it all over. The action and the sound are incredible.

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