The Last Bass Outpost

In general I like instruments to be worn naturally, but Mal's hog differs a lot from most guitars. As a kid fan of them, it took me (before internet) to find out what guitar he played - it was always 'that mystery' guitar that only he played.

And I cannot see any bad taste in honoring/saluting him with a Limited run replica.

I didn't realize it's down to just Angus. That is kind of lame, like if Alex Lifeson was the only one on board with another Rush tour and he recruited Kip Winger and Phil Collins. 

... only to Discover he'd have to play the drums because phil collins wanted to be the frontman:-)

Agree With all of you here. I grew up With them and never thought I'd dislike them but now I do.

This is a result of Angus saying for years that he'd never do a solo project or play in other bands.

On mine I doubt whether the wood is classic korina (way too dent-prone and soft for that), but it sounds great, all blurry and lively. My luthier once said it was some kind of limba, cheap, but with surprising acoustic qualities.

I know it has been up countless times; but I have always thought that korina is just a trade name to describe the finish, while limba is the name of the wood.

There seems to be lots of discussions on the net regarding 'fake vs. real' korina - especially on epi guitars/basses. Everything from them being chipboard with fake mahogany veneer to real limba as used by Gibson. The comment from those who appeared somewhat serious (experienced luthiers) went in the direction of saying it is the same limba as used by Gibson - but less attractive/smaller pieces glued together.

I read through lots of silly korina threads, doing some research before building my '58 Explorer bass tribute (an ongoing project) .
I bought a late 90's/early 2000's korina Explorer guitar cheap. Apparently limba veneer over other wood, the neck and body seemingly being made from the same kind of wood. After removing the neck, I found  solid limba (apparently). I had to remove laquer from one of the pickup cavities - somehow the laquer on epis seems to hide the grain . To my eye, now, I can see that this is a 4 piece solid korina/limba body.

Now, the neck seemed to be made from the same stuff - but it had some kind of veneer on the headstock. Seemed strange - first I took the black plastic off the head, then there was a thin veneer underneath that looked like the body wood. They might have done that for structural purposes. Removing laquer from the neck, it's clearly another kind of wood. Dent prone as Uwe says, and Maple-ish looking.

My '63 Gretsch 6070 has telescopic endpin. Still, if I took it off it really won't fit in a case unless it's for a double bass. Huge!

How common could it be to play a big hollowbody as an upright? I've seen a couple of pics around, though.

RIP wetton, great player indeed.

I never understood the hype about Tomastik flats that was going on about ten years ago.

There was a TI hype? Never noticed..

Anyway, I got my first TI set in 1995 and have used them since. They sound great and most important they feel great. I do like what a round core bass string does compared to a hex core. I usually keep calm when gear is discussed online, but I will stand up for TI again and again.

I think it's both stupid and unfair to say that they make bad strings or that they sound bad. I know more than one bass player who 'got a set for free from someone who didn't like them, but they were extremely thin and floppy'. Well, they make them thicker and they make tem roundwound. Well, I don't like too thick gauge strings - but then again I would not put them on a bass and give them a bad review, like 'TI make junk strings' (I actually see that online from time to time)

It feels (to me) the same as when people buy processed meat all year - supermarket quality - and when they taste something from the local butcher it just tastes weird!

I admit to have a 'normal' stainless steel set on my Grabber though, I like how it sounds all punky and fresh just like when i was a kid.
And on my Rick 4001 I use either EXL RED's (D'addario) or nickel rounds of some other generic brand.
Otherwise, it's TI's alll over!

(ducking)

I tried out an EMG select bass humbucker in the neck position on a P bass,  but there was no sound on the E string. Turns out the pole piece was misalligned. The 3 other stings sounded good, though. Now, of course - there is a mudbucker in that position.