Favorite bass?

[fealach]

I'm another one for "whatever I'm playing now."  I have too many basses, but while I am playing most of them I'm thinking "this is the best bass ever made."  I think that's how it should be, whether you have one bass or 20.  The top and the bottom here are Ristolas, I have 1 5 and 1 fretless but several fretted 4 strings so I tend to rotate those. 

[Barklessdog]

love the fretless, nice

[dadagoboi]

I'm another one for "whatever I'm playing now."  I have too many basses, but while I am playing most of them I'm thinking "this is the best bass ever made."  I think that's how it should be, whether you have one bass or 20.  The top and the bottom here are Ristolas, I have 1 5 and 1 fretless but several fretted 4 strings so I tend to rotate those. 

What's the center Explorer?

This is my favorite fretless, the only 5 string I own.  Ibanez GWB-1, ebony board, custom Bart, EQ bypass.  Bought in Hong Kong.

[Highlander]

Alembic logo on the head...

Never seen a black Alembic - what's the story, Fealach...?

That's a really nice looking piece of wood on the five-stringer, Dada...

... and as for the blue Rickie...

[fealach]

love the fretless, nice

It's a little more "boutiquey" than I usually go for,  but it sounds exactly like I've always thought a fretless should and feels like a dream to play.  It and the 5 string are early works from Brian Ristola in New Hampshire, US.  He's doing much more elaborate work these days, and I was lucky to stumble on them while he was getting established - prices are out of my league today, but competitive I suppose for what he's building.  http://www.ristolainstruments.com/

That is indeed an Alembic in the middle, Exploiter body style as they call their spin on it, officially a "Spoiler" model.  Bought it used, I think it was from Club Bass in Canada.  Serial dates it at 1985.  I was actually looking for one that looked more like Entwistle's, always loved the way his looked and his Alembic sound.  This one turned up a good bit cheaper than any other I'd seen.  It's not really much like John's, being the budget model (HA!) but the 32" scale suits me better and the dumbed down electronics are versatile enough.  Neck is thicker than I like, and the design pushes the nect forward if you will, so that it's easy to play high fret positions but the lowest are a reach for a Hobbit like myself.  Once I plug it in, though, the sound is worth it.  Just got it and my Mouradian CS-74 back from Mouradian Guitar, and the Alembic finally has action low enough to make me happy.  The CS is my favorite when I'm playing it, too, but I don't want to spam pictures of all my junk so I settled for 1 pic with 3 basses.

[hieronymous]

That is indeed an Alembic in the middle, Exploiter body style as they call their spin on it, officially a "Spoiler" model.  Bought it used, I think it was from Club Bass in Canada.  Serial dates it at 1985.  I was actually looking for one that looked more like Entwistle's, always loved the way his looked and his Alembic sound.  This one turned up a good bit cheaper than any other I'd seen.  It's not really much like John's, being the budget model (HA!) but the 32" scale suits me better and the dumbed down electronics are versatile enough.  Neck is thicker than I like, and the design pushes the nect forward if you will, so that it's easy to play high fret positions but the lowest are a reach for a Hobbit like myself.  Once I plug it in, though, the sound is worth it.  Just got it and my Mouradian CS-74 back from Mouradian Guitar, and the Alembic finally has action low enough to make me happy.  The CS is my favorite when I'm playing it, too, but I don't want to spam pictures of all my junk so I settled for 1 pic with 3 basses.

You can definitely (should definitely!) post pics of the Mouradian! I used to get my basses adjusted by him in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Including an '85 Spoiler/Exploiter, but not as unusual as yours!

I'm going into the studio this week - first time here in California! - and my car isn't that big, so I have to choose carefully what I am going to bring. It basically boils down to my favorites, my '76 Rickenbacker 4001, '03 Alembic Stanley Clarke Signature Standard 5-string, and I'm going to use my '68 Melody Maker Bass for the first time in a while too. It's just me and my drummer, we'll be doing our usual improv thing, but I think I'm going to record some covers for the first time in eight years - Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee" and "Come Together" by the Beatles. I don't see much point in recording covers - not sure about all the legalities - but these have emerged as possibilities. The Beatles tune will probably just be for my own use (karaoke anyone?) but we'll see what I can do with "King Bee"...

This shot was taken while performing "Come Together" at a recent Rickenbacker gathering - I can tell because the neck tone knob is turned all the way down:



This Ric was one of the first basses I bought when I got back into music in 2002 (after an eight year absence) - the first was actually the Exploiter I mentioned:



I've since sold the Exploiter - just wasn't playing it enough, plus I kept banging the lower extension into doorjambs!

[luve2fli]

My MIJ '62 Reissue Precision gets the most stage time .... next to the WWII era German upright, of course.

[uwe]

What's the center Explorer?

This is my favorite fretless, the only 5 string I own.  Ibanez GWB-1, ebony board, custom Bart, EQ bypass.  Bought in Hong Kong.

Does that elevated wood thingy in the middle make any sense with the Gary Willis Ibanez? I always wondered. I know that he is supposed to have a very light touch.

[dadagoboi]

Does that elevated wood thingy in the middle make any sense with the Gary Willis Ibanez? I always wondered. I know that he is supposed to have a very light touch.

The "ramp' is to keep you from digging in which theoretically allows you to get a cleaner "mowr".  I keep mine at fretboard height, I very much like the tone.  The Pickup is radiused to match the board and has a push/pull to disable the preamp and provide an unEQ'd passive signal.  I bought it when I was living in South China.  There's a huge music store in Hong Kong, Tom Lee Music.  They carry just about every brand of mid level bass and almost all the models of each.  I used to take day trips down with my Korg Pandora, headphones and money burning a hole in my pocket.  NOBODY bothers you, they're Cantonese and customer service is limited to "You break it, you buy it.  Everything is out in the open except for around 25 Fender and Gibby custom shop instruments.  They have over a hundred Fender basses and at least 5 of just about any non boutique bass you can name.  I spent 3 hours one day playing basses and finally bought this one, the tone amazed me, I'd never owned a fretless before, now have 4.  This one gets closest to an upright sound.  If you ever get to Kowloon, Hong Kong do not miss Tom Lee.  I also bought my '51 RI and some Yamahas there.  The store gig bags when I went there were Warwick Rock Bags and they cost around $30.

I declared this bass when I got back to the US, the customs guy let me slide.

[uwe]

I like its puristic look.

[dadagoboi]

I like its puristic look.

Careful, you're talking to a member of a mongrel race.

[uwe]

I didn't say it was Aryan, my dear melting-pot inhabitant!!!  

Actually it looks like what it is - Asian design. And I mean that as a compliment. Reminds me of the Kawasaki Hien:





Some Japanese guitar shapes are classics - I myself am a devotee to the Iceman shape which to my mind beats the Explorer.

[dadagoboi]

I didn't say it was Aryan, my dear melting-pot inhabitant!!!  

Actually it looks like what it is - Asian design. And I mean that as a compliment. Reminds me of the Kawasaki Hien:

Some Japanese guitar shapes are classics - I myself am a devotee to the Iceman shape which to my mind beats the Explorer.

That Hein looks a lot like a Bf 109.  I'm getting used to the Destroyer X shape myself in regards to Explorer bodies.

This is my favorite Canadian bass.  Who needs those bothersome pups to clutter up the design?  It's actually a great Blues bass.

[uwe]

Yeah, when the US Navy pilots first encountered the Hien (which was better than the Zero in every respect except tight curves) they were convinced they had a Japanese Me 109 before them. So convinced that it took a captured Hien to convince them otherwise.

The Japanese tested a few Me 109 Es on loan from the Reich but crashed them and/or were unimpressed with its nasty flying and landing characteristics.



The Me 109 was an acquired taste, Allied pilots didn't like to fly it either preferring the more benign handling characteristics of the FW 190.

[fealach]

You can definitely (should definitely!) post pics of the Mouradian! I used to get my basses adjusted by him in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Including an '85 Spoiler/Exploiter, but not as unusual as yours!

This is the most recent pic I hae of my Mouradian:


Replaced the stock bridge and knobs with gold, Jon Mouradian finished the job with gold Schaller tuners while he was setting it up with a fresh set of Optima Gold roundwounds.  They told me it had already been modified - it was apparently passive from the factory, had an EMG preamp when I got it.  I don't feel so bad about modding it since it had been already.  I added an active/passive switch, the passive tone is different (or superior, depending on my mood).  I may replace the preamp or return it to passive.  This was #21, one of the ones with much of the work done in Japan;  they declared one of the better examples of that series, having only one cosmetic flaw - the logo was inlaid crooked.  I got the impression there were QC issues with the outsourced work.

The Alembic in your pic is what I was looking for when I found my black one, but Exploiters are hard to find and expensive even then so I jumped at it.  Nice Ric!  One thing I always miss when looking at a 4003 is that contrasting wood stripe down the neck.  I always liked that look.