The dog and I gave Uwe's new bass two paws up!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030301.jpg)
dog inspects for contraband- nice case! really well made, leather handle- a far cry from the cheap pressboard RD case of yore.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030305.jpg)
wonderful bass that oozes custom craftsmanship. finish is all satin even on the headstock- very cool look
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030307.jpg)
Uwe's going to be in Matte Black Heaven!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030303.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030305.jpg)
the neck has a wonderful matte ebony board and a flat profile. Bass feels really nice
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/P1030306.jpg)
More later after the pasta digests.
Black hardware?! did he lift his leg on it ;D
That looks even nicer than in the listing.
Quote from: TBird1958 on April 16, 2008, 07:08:15 PM
Black hardware?! did he lift his leg on it ;D
Mark, what a nasty spiteful little girl you are! Spanking time is near.
It does look nice in an utterly un-rock way. I was already after this specimen some years ago, a mom and pop store tried to sell it on ebay, but they made listing mistakes and finally gave up. I was in contact with them, they were asking for a king's ransom to take it off ebay - 3.000 bucks I think. After the listing fell away, I never heard from them again. Now the guy who sold it to me in this new listing tells that he got it from a closing down sale of a guitar shop, I guess that might have been the end of the mom and pop store.
Thanks for taking the time, John. Given your penchant for trebly sounds, I would imagine that you might even like the Bart TCT electronics at work in there. You will treat us with a recording, ja?
Uwe
Will see, I should be expecting a bridge soonish s well?
The pasta wood looks like mahogany in blonde, which to me Korina never did, just did not have the tiger eye effect. A very nice bass and interesting flat D shaped neck profile. The shipper loosened the strings, so I tightened them up a bit but did not have the tuner handy.
looks very nice. congrats, Uwe!
Grazie!
It is a great looking bass, not a even a question about that. But my thought is: how much more attractive/elegant it would be with chrome hardware.........
That does look much better than the evilbay pics. Very nice addition to ze kolektion(sp), Uwe. I hope he does not take too much time to ship it across ze pond. I hope it gets there with olive oil finger prints all over that ebony board. ;D
The back has a nice early shape to it, doesnt it?
As much as Im a chrome fan, that would not look right in chrome and the matte finish is awesome !
Ze Pope is speaking to the masses in Washington ,DC as I type this so I have to be careful...
congrats again Uwe.M
Nice bass!!
I totally agree, I like the glossy & matte black hardware with the subtle look of the wood. It's a custom looking bass and Chrome would be overpowering and too vintage for the design, to me.
It's the product of an era when Gibson did a lot of this. It would look good in chrome too but you generally don't pay a premium to buy a prototype and then change it.
Quote from: Dave W on April 17, 2008, 09:57:41 AM
It's the product of an era when Gibson did a lot of this. It would look good in chrome too but you generally don't pay a premium to buy a prototype and then change it.
You don't know Uwe- It matters little to him!
In my heart of hearts I'm a hardware color agnostic. Chrome or black, I really don't give a darn, gold is more touchy, but even that works with some basses.
Nice! I forget- is that one 34" scale? Look forward to hearing it if you have time to record something.
I don't think I will I have a full plate this weekend ands if I do get anytime I am going to work on the blueshawk.
I was volunteered to work on my son's prom night after part!
Well, there is no rush, John. No need to ship this to me next week, hang on to it for another week if you like. And if you are man enough to withstand the corrupting force of black hardware!
Quote from: chromium on April 17, 2008, 04:52:36 PM
Nice! I forget- is that one 34" scale? Look forward to hearing it if you have time to record something.
Yup, long scale. Come the nineties nothing less than long scale left Nashville with the exception of the medium scale one-off Super 400 acoustic bass I have. Not until the intoduction of the SG RI mid of this decade did Gibson "downscale" again. Phil Jones, the maker of the Primavera, thought all short scale basses toys.
When you first linked to the auction I wondered if this was a Phil Jones prototype. Then I noticed that the neck pickup was closer to the neck than on production models of the 90s. That's a dead giveaway. All of his prototypes we've seen were that way.
It's great the backside of the headstock says: 'Prototype'. Rob's April Fool's G4 was closer to the reality than I thought!
Nudge, nudge, John, we haven't heard anything about how it sounds ... have you plugged it yet?
Uwe
Trying now then off to Germany today or tomorrow!
When I tried the bass and was kind of an underwhelming experience- Sorry Uwe
First off the neck needs adjustment and has some upper fret buzz- which should be easy to fix, I dont have the tool.
You know how some basses when unplugged sparkle or ring? Well this one is kind of dead sounding, a bit muffled.
It could be the strings?
They are roundwounds
Plugged in the same issue is present when played. It's sound is not horrible but not great. The Bartolini's seem a bit sterile and the bass does not have a lot of warmth. It seemed best to played with a pic to my progish ears, with the bridge pickup dialed in, you can get a Ric like sound.
To tell you the truth your faded LP sounded a lot better to me. It had a ringing warm tone. This one does not have either.
It is a beautifully crafted bass though, and maybe it will sound a lot better with new strings, a good setup and through a nice tube amp.
Sorry for the uninspired review, just how it sounded to me
Well, new strings can do a lot...
Uwe's a pick player, the bass is beautifully crafted, so that are two positive things already. And a 'terile sound'. I guess German people like that?
It could also be I am used to basses being either maple ( bright) or mahogany (warm), which it does not sound like either.
Could be the sound of the Barts and the active circuit more than the wood.
Quote from: Dave W on April 26, 2008, 07:59:46 AM
Could be the sound of the Barts and the active circuit more than the wood.
That's what I was thinking. Uwe could always replace the guts with something that would work better. It would be easy enough to put the originals back in if he ever wanted to sell it, and in the meantime he'd have a bass he could actually use (assuming he can't find a use usable tone with what's there).
Maybe it is said in the auction thread, but what kinda wood is it?
The wood is primavera. Thus the thread title.
Its supposed to be the "white mahogany", the other meat.
Dead strings do not help either.
Thanks for the candid review, John, I appreciate the facts as they are!
There are basses that sound good (if not as good) even with dead strings and there are (sometimes even high price) basses that die a death if they don't have fresh strings. My Stingray, my Bongo and my Kubicki come to mind (funnily enough all of them active basses).
I'm not gonna tamper with the guts of the Primavera, much as I don't care for the Bart circuit it is what was originally (and period-fitting) on this bass. If there were more basses of this type out there, I might think about it, but this is a prototypes so it will stay unmodded. But I will certainly get it into a playable state and get it to sound as good as it possibly can (and if that means frequent string changes, so be it) AND it will be played.
Then again the fact that its sound is less than eye- and ear-opening might be the exact reason why it never made the production line in the first place. That is what prototypes are made for I guess.
Uwe
Primavera issa here, Signorrre Ferrrtig!!! Grazie mille!
And you know what? I have a hunch this is something they played around with when they designed the Lee Sklar. Its shape (which always reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on it) is a more organic, gently elongated Lee Sklar shape and it features mandolin frets (even thinner than on the Lee Sklar by the way!). Even the case is a Lee Sklar one. Even with the dead strings, I can hear something in that bass that will eventually make it sound good. Not rock'n'roll, but musical ... As is, the sound is less artificial than on similarly equipped maho body and neck, maple top basses.
Uwe
I'm glad it arrived in good shape. I knew you would find something positive in it!
It is a nice looking, well crafted bass.
Interesting...I never even thought about the Sklar in connection with this one. But the mandolin frets can't be a coincidence, since that's so far from what Gibson has normally used in the last 25 years or so.
Put some Super Slinkies on it and then tell us what you think.
Great story, Herr Hornung! Must be true.
Well, the Primavera now has buffed (mandolin) frets, an adjusted bridge and truss rod, a new battery, some lem oil on the ebony board and a new set of Elixir roundwound coated strings which I thought with their mellow sound would fit the Bartolini TCT active electronics well as these tend to a little on the sharp side.
It's - as could be expected from the looks - not a rocker's bass. The tone is assertive in a well-behaved/understated manner, no frequency jumps at you, no frequency seems to be missing, very even across the fretboard, bass, mids and treble equally represented in a very transparent, three-dimensional way. A maho or alder body would blur more both as regards treble and mids, a maple bite more in the treble department, a zebra wood body sound denser and deader. Primavera sounds a bit like (heavy) ash, very contoured, present and focused. A serious-minded wood - ;D But in a jazzy outfit where you want every note to be heard, yet never get in the way of the other instruments, it could work wonders.
The relatively thick neck, the coated strings and the lack of abrasion from the mandolin frets make for a very smooth playing feel, you slip from low to high registers like nothing with a lack of fret noise that makes other basses sound outright sloppy.
Uwe
Sounds nice. I'm curious, though, how it'll sound with good round wounds. Do you have an idea?
But Elixir goretex coated roundwounds are good roundwounds, mein Herr! :sad: Just not as metallic bright at the beginning of their lifespan (they sound like 2 week old reg rounds) and much longerlasting without sound deterioration.
Diese jungen Leute ... :-\
Uwe
Entschuldigung, Herr Hornung. My post looks like a sarcastic attack on Elixir, but I was just misreading your post. I thought you said flatwounds....
I've never tried Elixirs, but I think I'll like 'm. I just use the cheap Fender 7250s (the only bass strings at my local shop..) or normal d'Addarios, which I prefer. As long as it's nickel...
Does it sound substantially different from other Bart Equipped Les Paul Flat Tops that you own?
I agree with your assessment - Neither great, nor terrible, but I doubt is going to end up being your "go to bass".
A bass as un-rock'n'roll looking as this one, would never end up my main bass no matter what the sound as long as I still pretend to be a rocker! The Primavera sounds less sharp in the highs and more focused in the lows than a maho/maple top LP DeLuxe with similar active setup would. More transparent mids too.
Uwe