The Last Bass Outpost

Below are the liner notes from my original music project from 1992. It's crazy to think it's been more than 30 years since we recorded this.

I'll post all of the tracks with lyrics over the next few days.

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joybuzzer
one word, singular

speak for yourself
what i need
kicking down the walls
grandpa
driving me away
donna reed
i forget everything
once was when
the way of things
ann boleyn

produced by mark warren and joybuzzer

engineered by jim saurman and mark warren

all music written, arranged, and performed by joybuzzer except donna reed which was written by carl cleaver and joybuzzer.  special thanks to jim saurman, the cast and crew, our respective extended gene pools, and the members of the academy that made this award possible...

joybuzzer is:

brad lowe vocals, guitar
bill malik bass guitar, vocals
mike mccarthy drums, vocals
mark warren most excellent wall o’ guitars

The 8-string bridges are in the mail and on their way to me...

This thing is a beast...I'll post more information after I've spent some time with it.

https://reverb.com/item/44200295-waterstone-20th-anniversary-tp-12-bass-guitar-2022-onyx

As some of you may know, the Schaller 3D-8 bridge is no longer being produced. Understanding that, I have an idea for a bridge design that will fill that niche, and aspects of the design may qualify for a design patent. How much interest might there be in a bridge that, at a minimum, fills the gap opened by Schaller’s exit and perhaps also offers something a little different?

It looks like I will be able to have 15 bridges CNC milled from brass and chrome-plated here in the US for about $130 each.

Some basic specs:

• 5-hole F-style mounting plate
• 0.15" CTC root/octave string spacing
• 2.3" overall string spacing.Top-load string attachment
• Retrofits vintage-spec P & J-style bass bodies with no modification
• Independent string height and intonation adjustment for every root and octave string

I can't share the basic pencil sketch I used to solicit a price quote, as I'm still considering applying for a design patent. Understanding that, If I could sell 5 or 10 of these at direct cost, I'll probably move forward with the project. This will probably take six months or more to come together, so I'm not looking for any kind of financial commitment, just a sincere expression of interest in seeing this project move forward.

Thanks!

I imagine this might be of interest here:

https://reverb.com/item/32381580-vintage-1969-gibson-eb-3-bass-mike-watt-owned-minutemen-stooges-rare-punk-iggy

This is a replica of the stolen bass, but owned and played by Watt for at least some period of time.


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This is an idea I have been kicking around for a while now, and I'm curious to know if there is any interest.

The concept is simple and easy enough to implement as it will be based on my 32" scale conversion neck design.

The idea would be to offer either complete builds or a ready-to-install neck and bridge "kit" that converts an American Spec 34" scale four string bass to a 32" scale Bass VI (E to E) with a 1.75" nut and 2 1/4" (0.45" or 11.43mm) bridge.

I think it would be unique and different enough to be worth pursuing.

Since most of the tooling is already done, it would be pretty easy to bring to fruition.

Is this something folks might be interested in?

I really like my current inline shape, but I sometimes think it's a little inconspicuous on bodies with more mass to them.

The bottle-opener isn't going anywhere...this may just be another option.

With that in mind, I'm doodling around with the basic top and tip profile and adding a lower fin to replace the hook.

What do you think?

Bass:



Guitar:

I was introduced to Scott Smail of Grove Guitar by member 2saddleslab (fka ASATman) at TalkBass.

Scott was looking for metal Filter'Tron pickup rings, and I had a set courtesy of 2saddleslab.

I forwarded the rings along, and a few days later I received a call from a man who was looking for a Grove-style crate-top Tele.

After confirming Scott had referred him to me and that I had his blessing, I decided to take on Grove Guitars tribute build.

I had been talking with Dan/Rowka in Jax about a couple of projects that would utilize his new CNC machine, and this is the first one out of the gate.

There is going to be a lot more to talk about, but first up is the "proof of concept" body.

It's a SPF blank with a Douglas fir top...I believe it's body number one to ship from Rowka Guitar Works.