The Last Bass Outpost

Quote from: uwe on June 26, 2024, 11:21:48 AM
I'm neither a black/ebony fin nor a gold hardware fan, but the combo of the two strangely has something. Possibly the contrast between a very dead and a very warm color.

I really like what you did, it goes a long way in correcting that - fashionwise, well ... difficult - wool cap impression in your avatar pic.   And especially how you left the Epiphone logo intact.

The inspiration for the black and gold thing is partially from the Squier 40th Anniversary Precision they issued in black with gold hardware and a gold anodised pickguard.  Mmm.  If I didn't have my G&L Tribute LB-100 taking care of my P bass needs, I would have been all over that.  But the other inspiration is something from much longer ago...



As for the hat, I didn't buy it in the end, I was trying it on at a music festival and it made my wife laugh, so it was recorded for posterity.

And I would never, ever remove the Epiphone logo.  I can't stand all this masquerading nonsense that goes on.  I'm proud to rock my Epiphones as Epiphones!

Quote from: Basvarken on June 23, 2024, 02:19:18 PM
A quick google search:

https://franklinguitarworks.com/products/bass-bridge-gold


But the Babicz is better 😎

That was not available when I was looking at the start of last year, damnit!  I can google!

I prefer the Hipshot when it comes to three point replacement TBH, I find the Babicz overly fussy, overengineered and a bit "steampunk" for want of a better word.  But I got a deal on the Babicz at the time, and who doesn't like a bargain?

Quote from: uwe on June 23, 2024, 02:08:07 PM
And how does it sound? I have an Epi LP prototype and that sounds closer to a Ric than a Gibson Les Paul bass - all that maple ...

I liked the penultimate version of yours best, those gold rail DiMarzios looked dangerous!

How does it sound?  Brutal.  The DiMarzio X2N-B pickups are super overwound and are loud AF.  Without taming as the sound travels through my pedalboard, the preamp of my Markbass begins to clip when it's turned up to about 2 out of 10.  If I didn't have my pedals, I might have been tempted to fit a trim pot inside the control cavity.  For all their power, there's quite a bit of clarity and character to them. I'm very impressed - bought them completely on a whim!

Well, the gold covers aren't permanent, they're just installed over the top of the X2N-Bs.  I wanted more bling.  Flirted with the idea of gold pickup rings instead but thought that would look silly (or maybe sillier).

Here is the story of the Gibson (family) bass I've had the longest by some margin - the 2004 Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass.

In 2009 I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass.



Nice, right?  Except I couldn't leave it alone.  My first mod was to replace the pickups with EMG-HB actives.  In the beginning it was simple passive tone controls and I put some abalone topped knobs on it because I was feeling fancy (got no clear photos of that though).  Then I shoehorned in an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ and changed the knobs to be black John East ones.



Then, I addressed the thing which was bugging me all along - the lack of selector switch in the usual Les Paul place.  I found out that all the channelling and routing is there, they just don't bother drilling and fitting the switch on the basses.  So I sorted that.



Then I sold it.  Then I regretted it.  Then I tracked it down and bought it back.  On its travels, it acquired Schaller straplocks, can't take the credit for that mod.

Eventually, I got a bit bored of the EMG sound.  Then Squier came out with their devastatingly lovely black and gold 40th anniversary models and I got to thinking how good this bass would look if given the black and gold treatment.  So it got gutted, and the following fitted instead:

Wilkinson WJB750 gold tuners
DiMarzio X2N-B (DP125) pickups in black bobbins with gold rails
Babicz three point replacement bridge in gold (ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FIND A GOLD THREE POINTER FOR LOVE NOR MONEY - I TRIED)
New pots (including two push/push knobs for series/parallel on the tone knobs)
Gold bell knobs
Gold knob pointers
Gold jack socket, gold three way switch with black tip, black pickup rings




And for the final finishing touch, I had a custom "poker chip" made which reads DO / DO NOT, which mirrors general Star Wars related geekery and an inherent dislike of bridge pickups.

Except it wasn't quite black and gold enough, so I then added gold pickup covers, a brass nut, a black jack plate with gold screws and a silly sticker...





The rear control cavity covers are still cream, but they're at the back so I'm not in a hurry to replace them.  Short of redoing the body binding in gold, refretting in gold frets and fitting gold strings, I think I'm done.

End of shaggy dog story.

Well, let's look at the positives first

1. It's bolt on, as per the originals, so they didn't miss the point (like Gibson did in their "reissues" making it set neck)
2. Although I can't see what bridge is on there, they haven't used a three pointer, again would have missed the point (insert point banging on about the Grabber II)
3. The headstock shape is right, even Gibson couldn't manage that in their "reissues"
4. The truss rod cover is a dead ringer for the original
5. Most of the originals had full size tuners, although the shafts of these ones stick out a bit further, this is technically correct (see picture below)
6. Clear coating the headstock instead of trad black is (mostly) correct - most Grabbers had a plain headstock, but Gibson being Gibson at the time, I'm sure some Grabbers snuck out with black headstocks.
7. Bridge cover!  Useless for palm muting, but a nice touch and again, technically correct.

Negatives

1. Fixed pickup - WTF thought that would be a vote winner?  Omitting the USP of the bass you are reissuing/paying homage to seems ridiculous to me.  I see there's a mini toggle there, either a coil split or perhaps series/parallel.  Yes, that probably does more tonally than the sliding pickup ever did, but that's by the by.  Other theory - it's a coil select switch, which means the equivalent of moving the pickup about a centimetre.  BOO, COP OUT.
2. Pickguard shape/positioning - yeah, it's a bit off at the bottom, should follow the curve of the body's edge more closely.
3. Pickup choice - from the mounting screw layout, looks like some kind of MM humbucker with covered poles to me.  If so, point missed here, as the Grabber pickup (even though it looked chonky enough to be a humbucker) was actually a single coil.
4. No thru body stringing.

I am a weird mix of excited and disappointed.

Thanks folks, good to be back.  First piece of business, update gear in sig - much has changed in the last few years!

Hi folks

I don't know why or how it happened, but I haven't been here in over 4 years.  It wasn't a conscious decision!

How are you all?  What have I missed?

Oops, should have been a Rivoli.

Quote from: 4stringer77 on November 27, 2018, 07:52:02 AM
What black pickups are hiding under those rings neepheid?

2x EMG-HB.  Active P bass split rails in a guitar humbucker sized package - http://www.emgpickups.com/hb.html

Oh well, if we're sharing (it was Halloween, hence the Ghostbusters outfit):



Photo by Matt Jolly Photography.

The bass in question:

Quote from: planetgaffnet on November 26, 2018, 03:37:52 AM
I know that a lot of basses share an element of design heritage with guitars (Firebird/Thunderbird etc.), but I've never felt the Les Paul Bass shape lends itself that well to a bass.

Isn't it good that we don't all like the same things?  I love the LP bass, especially if they keep the body guitar sized - I am not a fan of the "oversized" LP bass.  I just really like that small body with the long neck coming out of it, perhaps it's the "wrongness" of it that makes it right for me

I fitted a DiMarzio Model One to a Midtown Standard.  I also fitted a coil tap (or maybe series/parallel, can't remember now, sold it on a couple of years ago) onto a push/push pot on the volume control, for more variety

The compressor really bloody works.  The expansion I'm a bit more meh about.  The bright mode does give it a different voice, accentuates some high mids - it's not all about treble.  I think it does something interesting to the sound that while I'm quite sure it can be achieved by other means nowadays, it has to be remembered as a product of its time.

I like it and I think an RD which has had a Moogectomy is the poorer for it.  But I would say that, because I have one, I guess.

Twenty quid and an odd sock?

Can't blame a guy for trying - I miss my G-3 sometimes

I'm pleasantly surprised.  I'm not entirely sure it is 100% "Artist" (speaking as an owner of a '79 RD Artist), but it's no "Standard" either.  I guess it's more "Artist" than "Standard" and that's more than I expected.  Colour me intrigued (but because I have one of the originals, it won't be high on my shopping list)