The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: OldManC on April 27, 2008, 05:49:24 PM
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http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-SG-Long-Scale-Bass-possible-1-of-a-kind_W0QQitemZ330231553511QQihZ014QQcategoryZ2384QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I WANT THIS!
(http://i24.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/ec/8b/558d_1.JPG)
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That's really cool, if you're going for it George I'll stay away.....there's a couple of Grecos out there right now that I'm likin' alot too.
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Strange. The headstock and SG-trussrod cover look a lot like the SG Reissue Bass. But it has 70s T-bird pick ups and it's longscale.... Any idea about what year it's made?
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Strange. The headstock and SG-trussrod cover look a lot like the SG Reissue Bass. But it has 70s T-bird pick ups and it's longscale.... Any idea about what year it's made?
From what I can see as the serial number, the Guitar Dater Project puts it as January 24th 1997.
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Cool! Good luck George
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Hey, these pickups can't be 70's? Looks like 60's to me. What's the story behind that? Who's in the know?
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Well George, this is an old love of yours, so go for it (and let me know once you're out of the game bidwise, because then my predator will no doubt come to life!!!).
To me, this looks like an SG-Z prototype (before they made the endversion of it so ball-less) or a custom shop one off at special request. Those pups are most likely neither sixties nor seventies, but plain Jane TB Plus pups in chrome (which Gibson also produced in small numbers). Not that there is anything wrong with those, they are what's in my gunshot EB-0L and they sound great there.
Good luck!
Uwe
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That's what I think too, although I wonder about the SG truss rod cover since the production model was originally announced as an EB-Z before it became the SG-Z. We do know Gibson occasionally came up with chrome covered TB Plus versions, that's what these could be, or even early SG-Z pickups in chrome covers. But the EB-Z was announced (http://www.gibson.com/whatsnew/pressrelease/1998/Aug19a.html) in '98. Since this is a '97, it fits the time frame of a prototype.
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I personally have trouble not seeing any EB-0/3 without a Mudbucker in its place of worship - against the neck.
To me its kind of wrong looking to me. Maybe a Tbird pup with a mudbucker, might have been a better choice, strictly from a visual perspective. To me, two Tbird pickups comes off the same as two mudbuckers on a Tbird- out of character.
Just my first impression.
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I like it a lot but I'll settle for some high res pics. ;)
good luck George! big props to Uwe for being uber cool (again); you da man!
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Didn't Sheryl Crow play something like this? I remember a pic of her posted at Jules' Fish & Gibs. pub and what she played seemed to fit that same mold. We wondered at the time what it was.
I think the SG trc has little meaning for the EB-Z or SG-Z theories, that is probably just a trc from an SG guitar and might have been added later. The pup positions look - again - much like Phil Jones' handwriting even though he was no fan of the SG shape for bass saying "it would never balance right long scale". In the early nineties he actually fought Gibson's marketing department who wanted an SG long scale bass introduced when he wanted (and eventually was allowed to conceive) the LP basses.
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Didn't Sheryl Crow play something like this?
Is it that Farm Aid bass you are thinking of?
(http://www.gibson.com/player/oct03/images/scfarmbass.jpg)
This must have been just before the SG bass hit the streets. Looks like her version was now short scale, and you can see the contol layout taking form. Can't tell what kind of pickups are in her's - Barts?
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I only saw Ms. Crow with Kay and Guild Bluesbird basses.
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Is it that Farm Aid bass you are thinking of?
(http://www.gibson.com/player/oct03/images/scfarmbass.jpg)
This must have been just before the SG bass hit the streets. Looks like her version was now short scale, and you can see the contol layout taking form. Can't tell what kind of pickups are in her's - Barts?
That's the one, danke. You're right, that is more an SG-RI prototype than an SG-Z - it looks short scale given the bridge position. Pups might be TB Plus guitar size humbucker versions which I've also seen in black though they never offered them officially that way.
Uwe
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This one was up a year or two ago and the consensus (for what that's worth) was that it had a couple of those chrome TB Plus pickups like the two I put in my black LE bird (that Bill has now). I would lean toward Uwe's guess about the EBZ origins. Either way, I LOVE the way it looks and think it will compliment my other 'EB Bird' quite nicely.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/Basses/ebbird-1.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/Basses/96ThunderbirdLEbodyII.jpg)
Uwe, I am going to go for it, but I will definitely let you know if it goes out of my price range. I haven't bid yet, but that's only because bidding early just encourages other bidders to peck at it until they're the high bidder.
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(http://www.gibson.com/player/oct03/images/scfarmbass.jpg)
I never noticed; no fret markers either...
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I actually like the white one better because at least they are keeping the positioning close of the pic ups to the original. It just looks better to me.
With the Tbird pickups close to the TB position, I would assume that it will be like a TB (as they say)- LP which when you think about it, why not, since its pretty much the same idea of a Flat top Paul, but with bling!
The Cheryl Crow one always reminded me more of a Hybrid SB/SG than EB.
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I haven't bid yet, but that's only because bidding early just encourages other bidders to peck at it until they're the high bidder.
You probably already have this covered - but if not, this has been my partner in crime for years: http://www.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm
Good luck!
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Just make sure one of us gets it!!! So if prices haven't gone outside your ballpark by the end of the auction, add a hefty amount to your bid - if the end price is then too high for you (or if you don't like what you see and hear once you have it), I'll take it off you, promise.
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It is a cool bass, regardless its origins. Sometimes simple is better and it has a very clean look that I admire. Good luck George!
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I'm not in the market for it but if I were, I'd add a mudbucker at the neck. Just to balance karmic forces and appease Orville's ghost. ;)
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that is the bass i've been dreaming of for years.it's real.i wish i had some money.boo hoo.i hope one of you gets it.
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The Ghost Of Orville Must Be Appeased!!!!
;D ;)
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Last time it was up (April 19th '07) it had the following in the description
"For sale is a used Gibson EB-3L SG Bass that was custom made for an artist in 1997. It was not made in the Gibson "Custom Shop" but it was special made in the regular production facility."
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Thanks, Jules. I don't see how anything without a true neck pickup can be called an EB-3. But assuming the part about its origin is accurate, it's still a one-off even if it's not a prototype.
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Thats one cool bass ! Good luck George !
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I don't see how anything without a true neck pickup can be called an EB-3.
No, I know what you mean, but the 'farm aid' SG reissue style bass that Sheryl Crow played was officially called an EB3 by Gibson at the time - see here (right near the bottom).
http://www.gibson.com/player/oct03/movesandgrooves.html (http://www.gibson.com/player/oct03/movesandgrooves.html)
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Thanks, Jules. I don't see how anything without a true neck pickup can be called an EB-3.
Task, tsk, tsk, thousands of post 1971 EB-3 with the "middle" mudbucker have just been de-EB threed. A harsh and undeserved demotion I beg to differ.
The "3" in EB-3 never had any meaning other than that the slots for EB-1, EB-0 and EB-2 were already taken.
For me a classic EB-3 is defined by mudbucker, varitone, maho content and short scale, I consider long scale EBs of the late sixties and through the seventies an aberration and later long scale SG basses are just that: long scale SG shape basses.
The specimen George is after is still nice though. And if those are TB Plus and not SG-Z pups (which I believe), then bass should be sufficient. Dave's idea of implanting a mudbucker would be my gunshot EB-0L reversed. And while it is true that the mudbucker adds hovering deep frequencies, that gunshot EB-0L would still have balls with just the two TB Plus pups I had additionally implanted. No comparison to the meek bass output of an SG-Z.
Uwe
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That's not what I meant. It doesn't have a big EB-style neck pickup. It doesn't have the look.
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I like it because it doesn't have the "typical" look we're used to seeing. Variety is the spice of life!
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That's not what I meant. It doesn't have a big EB-style neck pickup. It doesn't have the look.
Oh, ok then, I agree that the large mudbucker is an integral part and it even benefits the SG-RI look.
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Oh, ok then, I agree that the large mudbucker is an integral part and it even benefits the SG-RI look.
Nope, I disagree. Just because the brain craves a certain "look" when we view something doesn't means it's correct! How does that little part of our brain work that is always looking for consistency or the "expected" things when we see something? I've been trying to understand that phenomenon for some time now. How often do we look at something and say to ourselves it looks great, or right? Then, if we have to explain it, we really can't. Happens to me all the time. The contextual framework for looking at things fascinates me! Can't really explain it, but it's interesting.
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That's not what I meant. It doesn't have a big EB-style neck pickup. It doesn't have the look.
I agree with this. I can't explain why, but that's my first thought. Does not look as good to me, different & nice yes, but not EB like. I also loved the funky SZ pickguard.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/sgzbasshc.jpg)
In my opinion it would look a lot better with a pickguard.
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The whole reason I'm attracted to it is exactly the reason some of you aren't. I love the hybrid look of an EB crossed with a Thunderbird. It's at around $750 now. All from one bidder that chipped at it from $150. ::)
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I like the eBay one better than the one with the pickguard. That's just too eighties...
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I like the eBay one better than the one with the pickguard. That's just too eighties...
It was announced in 1998 and wasn't seen in stores until 2000.
So are you saying that Gibson is only 10 to 20 years behind the times instead of 40 years behind the times? ;)
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That's a big thumbs up for Gibson, isn't it? ;)
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Gibson is way ahead on this retro movement then?
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Best of luck George and I prefer your other one because of the pickup against the neck(for Orville).
Now, having slept under a rock for 15 years, the SG-Z looks to be the PERFECT candidate to:
1) Remove the pickguard
2) Replace both pickups with CHROME ones & rings
3) Add a third CHROME one & rings at the neck position
PS: George, he's got the auction ending at a really dumb time IMO. Hit it with a few seconds left....time-conscious bidding.
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PS: George, he's got the auction ending at a really dumb time IMO. Hit it with a few seconds left....time-conscious bidding.
If the auction doesn't pass my price threshold early, that's what I'll do. If it does, I plan on letting Uwe know so he can snag it.
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I'm backing you George. Good luck!
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Herr Carlston,
I'll be travelling on Tuesday (and be with a client acting as a witness in a white collar fraud case) when this auction expires and bidding via a Blackberry doesn't really work, so you allowing, this is how we do it: I'll send you an email with an amount x, you add that to however high your threshold is (George's threshold + Uwe's amount = final bid). That way you will get the bass for sure. Once you've won the auction:
- you may opt for the bass if the price is right, or
- play the bass first and see if you like it and then decide whether to keep it (even if the price exceeds your initial threshold, but you've fallen in love with the thing), or
- immediately decide that the bass is supposed to be "assigned" to me.
You've got mail!
Uwe
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Herr Carlston,
I'll be travelling on Tuesday (and be with a client acting as a witness in a white collar fraud case) when this auction expires and bidding via a Blackberry doesn't really work, so you allowing, this is how we do it: I'll send you an email with an amount x, you add that to however high your threshold is (George's threshold + Uwe's amount = final bid). That way you will get the bass for sure. Once you've won the auction:
- you may opt for the bass if the price is right, or
- play the bass first and see if you like it and then decide whether to keep it (even if the price exceeds your initial threshold, but you've fallen in love with the thing), or
- immediately decide that the bass is supposed to be "assigned" to me.
You've got mail!
Uwe
What a great idea! Uwe, could you adopt me??? ;D
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Will you then build all those basses for me for free? :)
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Will you then build all those basses for me for free? :)
Now there's a reasonable offer! Would I have to move??? My German really sucks! I envy my father, he grew up in a coal mining town in PA and learned to speak German, Polish and English as a kid. What cool thing to experience.
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"What a great idea! Uwe, could you adopt me???"
Wish I'd said this first.....at least my German is respectable. I'd settle for housemaid, I have the uniform ;)
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Do they have maid cafes in Germany?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTftLH_AfXE&feature=related
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You sometimes have me worried, John!
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"What a great idea! Uwe, could you adopt me???"
Wish I'd said this first.....at least my German is respectable. I'd settle for housemaid, I have the uniform ;)
I would expect some rudimentary French as well.
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I do love Japanese girls......and maid's outfits, especially those cute little bloomers. The dry red stuff running out that guy's nose.....not so much. :-X
"I would expect some rudimentary French as well."
I've got your rudimentary French! ;)
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Uwe, I answered your email. That sounds like a good idea, so just let me know what your price is and we'll go from there. Thanks!
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Three days to go. Exciting!
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Sold to George (or possibly Uwe) for $1,262. Congratulations! :toast:
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Just paid for it and will be waiting excitedly for its arrival.
I'd imagine it will stay with me but even if it doesn't, it will go to a loving home. ;D
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YAY!!
Congratulations George, Glad to see you got it..... :thumbsup:
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Congrats!
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Nice!!
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Gotcha! Gratuliere, Herr Carlston. How long did I have to wait for that one pup 86 TBird again? Couple of years, not more ... Like all scavengers I'll be patient again. ;)
(http://www.dailyspeculations.com/HYENAS.jpg)
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You guys are too much!
:mrgreen:
Congrats George
;D
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wow, great price! please post some of those high res pics you specialize in!
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nice score.congrats.
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wow, great price! please post some of those high res pics you specialize in!
Thanks. Will do!
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A good deal IMHO.
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Glad you got it George !
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Very enjoyable thread gentlemen :)
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Just thought I moght rejuvenate this forlorn thread in case it gets forgotten by our favorite truck driver here ...
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My hunch is: George has selfishly hidden this bass somewhere, hoping we will all forget about it. We'll never get a report ... :-\
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Nudge-bump-nudge-bump-implore ... :-\ :sad: :-\
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You must of plugged it in once by now or at least your son must of had a go with it?
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This is torture ...
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Haven't even seen it since I took pictures of it when I bought it. I've been home maybe four/five times since then and never for more than a day or two. Life's very hectic right now... Sorry guys.
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I guess that's good thing to be that busy George. You have to get the work while it's there.
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I still have to send those pick up rings.....
I have to post some other things next week, so consider it done!
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This is where George put it:
(http://www.sullivanclinton.com/gallery/albums/SULLVIAN-CLINTON-MEETS-PENNSYLVANIA/Raiders_Of_The_Lost_Ark_Government_Warehouse2.jpg)
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Thanks.
"wow, great price! please post some of those high res pics you specialize in!"
Will do!
Lest this little errant has meanwhile been forgotten ...
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Uhum. A while back, George and I had a bet running who'd be next President of the US of A. He betted the bass in this thread. I won't say who betted for which candidate, lest this thread gets all too political, but this being no time for either derivatives or mavericks, George, ever the good sport, decided to send the bass to me now rather than after the election. ;)
So now this baby is in my hands here. You've probably forgotten what it looked like and the pics are long gone: It was the 97 cherry long scale one-off SG bass with two chrome TBird style soap bars, a toggle switch and four vol/tone controls a la Les Paul.
I will of course continue George's tried and trusted tradition and NOT report to you how that bass feels, plays and sounds!!! :mrgreen: :) ;)
No, actually I will report in more detail, it just arrived today. First impression: The thing is friggin' heavy, no comparison to any SG shape bass I've ever played. The reason? That maho body is outsize thick, thicker than a seventies EB-0, -3 or -4. One hunk of maho in the LP bass vein. 1 3/4" (for comparison: a seventies EB is 1 1/2", an SG-Z from pretty much around the time this bass was made is 1 1/4" and an early sixties EB SG shape is a bit more than 1").
Sound? Bassier than either an SG-Z, an SG-RI or a TBird, but not muddy.
Thanks George!
Uwe
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Yikes............. Herr Moderator you get what you want! Just hope it's never anything of mine............except my girlish charm ;)
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Uwe, I'll forward your thanks to the screen actors guild. They're the ones who so generously provided the need to off the bass... :rolleyes:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/Basses/97_SGBassII.jpg)
At least I know it went to a happy and well deserving home. Now I'll really need some overtime if I ever want those basses back! :mrgreen:
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this is the PERFECT bass.
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Wow, that really is beautiful.
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tough one, George. I know how long you waited for that bass. but at least it's still in the family, so congrats to you, Uwe. it really is a great looking axe.
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Actually, after all those years of looking at thinner SG bodies, it looks a littly chunky to me! :) Takes aways some of the natural elegance of an SG body. But of course more wood is always good for a more fundamental sound. Geddy Lee is credited with saying that the bass on his doubleneck thing was the best-sounding of all his Rics "no doubt because of the additional wood" that went into the outsize doubleneck body. And I know from guitarists who don't like how the SG six string sounds on an SG doubleneck (Jimmy Page style) because it lacks the attack and response of a smaller-bodied regular SG.
Uwe
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A while ago I promised to send two chrome rings for the pick ups, but I totally forgot :-[ Are you interested Uwe?
Nice bass! I still like the looks of the SG with T-bird pup combination.
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If its a covert transaction and no one in the forum notices - anxiously looking around - by all means yes! Re-use of Dutch scrap metal has a grand tradition in Germany. It needs refreshing.
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do you plan on having them powder coated in black??
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I only ment the rings Uwe. As you know I have two covers and four rings. I keep the covers!
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Sure, just the rings.
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I'll send them soon!
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Ok, I've told ze Fallschirmjägerregiment not to rush things then though we generally offer such pick up services at no additional charge. :vader: :vader: :vader:
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I just typed something about Fallschirmjäger (nice band name!) and now you do too:)
Sending the rings will be a nice pay back for the gorgeous desert at the Italian restaurant I'm still talking about to people!
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"nice pay back for the gorgeous desert at the Italian restaurant"
One of the few things we could always rely on with our Axis Partners! :mrgreen:
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Oh, man, now I see it was one big set up of you and the Italians to get those rings!
To quote the Italian in 'Allo 'Allo: What a mistake-a to make-a!
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Next time be careful when a german lawyer takes you to an italian restaurant for dinner.
Lawyers + mafia = not a good sign! ;D
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Well, to say something positive about Uwe for once:
I think we drunk five bottles of very nice red wine and we were with four of us, including Uwe.... And still he let us touch and play all his basses. Because of ze wine intake I thought Ze Köllëktiön excisted of eight-strings only;)
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Chris is fishing for compliments: The Dutch crowd in my office was utterly well-behaved, suitably awed, played all instruments with great taste, skill and aplomb (there was only a little slapping! :mrgreen: ), quickly developed strong emotional ties to some of my instruments (a fair-haired young man named Maarten made love with my hollowbody EB-6) ... it was all very romantic really! Völkerverständigung, jawohl!
Herr Dekker, why do we have no link to the de Bassist article here?!
Uwe
PS: And of course we can repeat the exercise next year ...
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I wasn't fishing for compliments but thanks! :)
Maarten and I still have this dialogue:
Maarten: 'Man, that EB6 was great!'
Chris: 'Yeah, and the blue nonrev!'
All the time! :D
I'll try to post something better soon, but this is from an earlier thread:
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/IMG_5413.jpg)
A repeat's always nice:) Next time I'll bring an empty case;)
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Played it at the rehearsal last night with fresh DR Black Beauty strings - it has a nice Gibsonesque sound in the modern mahogany school, think of a hybrid between a TBird and a Les Paul Bass. The E-string especially has huge authority even though the headstock is scarcely angled backwards, so there can't be much nut pressure. It's growly, yet has glistening highs and the bass frequencies have ooomph without being overbearing or "all over".
In many ways, this bass is what the SG-Z should and could have been. The very thick body all of the sudden makes sense when you play it - no other long scale SG body shape bass I've played balances and sits as well as this one. And the compared to an SG-Z fatter neck adds authority. Finally the no frills two pup set up of this bass is much more assertive than the SG-Z's misguided Z-pups & mini toggles sound maze with its castrated low frequencies which somehow are devoured by all the electronic trickery the latter has.
Makes you wonder whether this/George's "SG Bass" was a prototype they had lying around or was at least based on early SG-Z prototypes (before they messed around with the design) as the SG-Z was introduced/announced around the time of the make of this bass (1997) too.
Uwe
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Gorgeous bass! Congrats Uwe & sympathy to George!!
Hey Uwe~
How many basses does this make now? wow