"This Gibson bass is a true hollow body. It has a light pine fluted block that's about a five eighths of an inch in depth attached to the back of the body but there's an actual space between that and the top of about three quarters of an inch so that the fluted block there dampens it enough to keep it from feeding back but it still has an acoustic quality and that's why I think that bass sounds so good along with the pickup."Yup, that is why both the Gibson and the Epi stand out from the crowd. And why it makes sesnse to take the pick guard off which audibly muffles one F hole (as JC does on most pics of him and the bass).
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I said the pickup by today's standards is a little translucent ...".That is exactly what I like about the original pup, its singlecoilish, more musical nature!!! The Epi provides a thicker, but also less transparent and deader sound.
"We duplicated the pickups as they were on the old '72 model but then I took the pickup and added more alnico power to it, another three quarters of an alnico magnet on the other side. Also I took a page out of a lot of lap steels, I took the windings that were used for those pickups and used a higher gauge wire. I used a 28 gauge wire, very thick. I wanted to thicken the sound up, and they said that I could do anything I want."Oh how I wish he hadn't!
But that does not detract from two things:
- The JC Sig has become a modern classic of the Epi line and there is no other still-in-production hollowbody bass with equal popularity that I can think of. I also applaud that Herr Casady practices what he preaches and plays them off the rack and not some fancy pants Custom Shop creation which Gibson or Epi would no doubt build for him.
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This is a brilliant interview, Jules, with a wealth of info, vielen Dank!!!
