Fender + bird = Fenderbride!

[Dave W]

In action yesterday, front and center.

[westen44]

Thanks, Rob! And, yep, David: I'll try her out tonight. Though I'll also bring my T-bird pupped Ripper, as this here new mother is a heavy one. Around 4 kilos. Sometimes I think about Danelctro's single cut bass. Really good looking, nice sound. And light, it seems...

It's because of neck problems that I often find myself playing a Danelectro Hodad that I bought a few years ago before they were discontinued.  Light and ergonomic, especially when playing standing up.  If you adjust it just right, you can come up with a surprising growling sound.  Warmer than a Longhorn, although I don't have one of those.  It isn't something for a main bass, but if you want something light with an unconventional sound, it does the job.  I think these didn't do better with the public because most people who buy a Danelectro want it to look like one and not a Mosrite. 

[slinkp]

Unconventional? The Hodad I got circa 2001 had a single totally vanilla P pickup (and a weird not very useful built-in chorus effect for some reason).  Did they / do they make more than one variety of them? I guess that was a long time ago!
It did indeed play really well though.  Great cheap backup bass.

I eventually sold mine and got a DC with two lipstick pups that I still have. I like it a lot better cosmetically, and it plays great too, but honestly I've come to admit that the lipstick pup sound doesn't work as well for me. But it's a really fun player so it stays around.

[westen44]

Unconventional? The Hodad I got circa 2001 had a single totally vanilla P pickup (and a weird not very useful built-in chorus effect for some reason).  Did they / do they make more than one variety of them? I guess that was a long time ago!
It did indeed play really well though.  Great cheap backup bass.

I eventually sold mine and got a DC with two lipstick pups that I still have. I like it a lot better cosmetically, and it plays great too, but honestly I've come to admit that the lipstick pup sound doesn't work as well for me. But it's a really fun player so it stays around.

They've made several versions of them.  I'm not familiar with any other than the one I got. I think that kind was made from 2012-2017.  I definitely got one of the last ones at MF. 

https://www.ibassmag.com/danelectro-hodad/

[Stjofön Big]

Gotta admit the Bird was quite neck heavy. Will try, and relocate the strap button to the neck plate. The sound was the T-bird I wanted, and got. Nice bass! Glad I finally got one!

[ilan]

Gotta admit the Bird was quite neck heavy. Will try, and relocate the strap button to the neck plate. The sound was the T-bird I wanted, and got. Nice bass! Glad I finally got one!

I'd replace the tuners with Hipshot Ultralights, they are half the weight. Before you actually do that, remove two of the tuners to see if the bass balances on a strap, it's a good simulation of how it will balance with Ultralights.

Another thing you can do is add weight (about 400 gr) to the rear side of the bass, attach it to the strap near the rear strap button. A metal-case tape measure is good for this, the belt clip is convenient.

[patman]

try a suede strap

[westen44]

In reading over an earlier post I realize when I mentioned neck problems it may have sounded like I was talking about a bass's neck.  Of course I was talking about neck injuries I received years ago.  Up to that point, like most other people, I found ways to deal with it if a bass had neck dive, seemed too heavy, etc.  If you really like a bass, you're usually going to make allowances. 

[Basvarken]

I'd replace the tuners with Hipshot Ultralights, they are half the weight. Before you actually do that, remove two of the tuners to see if the bass balances on a strap, it's a good simulation of how it will balance with Ultralights.

Another thing you can do is add weight (about 400 gr) to the rear side of the bass, attach it to the strap near the rear strap button. A metal-case tape measure is good for this, the belt clip is convenient.

400 grams? 
That seems like overdoing it a bit.

I've sold a few of these BaCH FT bass guitars. The neck dive was not that severe.
Moving the strapbutton to the neck plate was enough to solve it.

If you're still not happy with the balance, you could try Gotoh GB640 Res-o-lite tuners, they look like original tuners that JAE's bass had.

But I would never add 400 grams to an already rather heavy bass guitar.

[ilan]

400 grams? 

Yes. The bass will actually feel lighter. A neck-heavy bass pulls on the strap in a certain way that makes it feel heavier than it really is. A balanced bass will feel lighter, distributing the weight evenly on your whole back. Even with the extra weight of almost one pound it will feel lighter and easier to play. You can of course experiment with different weights, but 300-400 gr is in my experience a good place to start.

[Basvarken]

Like I said, it is not necessary. Placing (or moving) the strapbutton to the neckplate should be enough with the BaCH FT-01
And if you use lightweight tuners as well, you're all good. No need for extra weight.

[dadagoboi]

My version of the FenderBird is closer to the original Peter Cook/JAE design.  It has a compact body, is 46" long, and fits in a Precision size case. It's not just a Fender neck on a copy of a Gibson body. You can get an idea how much shorter it is than the Bach version by how close to the end of the body the bridge and tailpiece are.



ExplorerBird for comparison.

I had pictures of the actual Entwistle basses but Photobucket ate them.  Here's my build thread from 2010.

http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=4598.0

Weight is under 8 lbs (~3.5 Kg) with Honduras Mahogany body.  Neck dive is minimal, even with original Kluson style tuners and strap button on upper horn.

[Chris P.]

Very cool bass!

[Basvarken]

The drawings that I gave BaCH to build the FT01 were also based on pictures of John Entwistle's Fenderbirds, and some faithful copies that were out there (like former outposter Traynor's bass). If my memory serves me right the upper horn is also shaped a bit different.



here's a couple of videos that I did back when

[dadagoboi]

The drawings that I gave BaCH to build the FT01 were also based on pictures of John Entwistle's Fenderbirds, and some faithful copies that were out there (like former outposter Traynor's bass). If my memory serves me right the upper horn is also shaped a bit different.

The Cook/Entwistle FenderBird was modeled on a '64, it has the same upper horn, not the Bicentennial (and later Gibson) shape. It's almost like a Telecaster.




The original FenderBird preceded the Bicentennial reissue by around 5 years. This is from Whotabs with original case.