Explorer bass on ePay

[gearHed289]

I think there are dual humbucker Blitz basses, but not as common. The guy in Leppard had a nicer one, more like a Standard with binding and maple top.

I'm gonna have to look up that Dean. I only remember the ML and Cadillac.

[chromium]

The explorer-shaped Dean was called the "Z".  There was just recently one on Ebay - looks like it sold.  Little bit of a clownburst, but still pretty dang cool!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1983-Dean-Z-bass-made-in-the-USA-/292013571362?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=O3FBNOkbJ%252BD0UjZ47QjOi%252Fx6U9c%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc




Think I've only seen one other old Z bass with the "BFH" (big-effin-headstock) like the ML.  The handful of others I've seen had the tiny shrimp fork head, which doesn't look as nice to me.

The MLs are great, but unbelievably huge!  I got an '82 off of CL last year, thanks to Andy here (who was kind enough to let me have at it - price was a steal).  Build quality is very good, but not quite at the same perfectionist level of the custom order Hamers.




As for other explorers, the Hamer Blitzes are really good basses... Their predecessor, the Standard, was custom order, and there aren't many of those floating around (maybe 50 or so). I've seen a variety of scale lengths and pickup configs on 'em - P/J, J/J, dual hums, triple hums, and Gibson Tbird and mini hums on the earliest ones.



Adopted both of these from members here.  The one on the left is an '81, and black one is a '90.  Nice chunky D-carve maho neck on the former, and the latter has a maple neck w/profile much like a Tbird.

Flame for days on that '81!

[FrankieTbird]

Nice axes.  Did they ever make a single-pickup Hamer Blitz?  And what is the neck width on those at the nut?

[slinkp]

Oh right, now I remember yours! Beautiful. If I had funds to collect basses, I'd be after one of those Blitz models for sure. Are those X2N pickups or something similar?

[Highlander]

Dean Z series sub $200 and no bids...

Wrong side of the pond for me...

[Granny Gremlin]

PJ pups tho.  Probably why (LOL).

[chromium]

Nice axes.  Did they ever make a single-pickup Hamer Blitz?  And what is the neck width on those at the nut?

I think the Blitz necks are around 1 5/8 at the nut (but I'm guesstimating from memory). Similar to the Cruise basses.  More of a shallow D profile as I recall.

Necks on my Standards are different than the Blitz.  Early one is 1 11/16 at the nut w/ a thick D profile, and the black one is 1 1/2 with more of a late model Thunderbird profile. 

So far, I've only seen one single pickup config on an early Standard bass (a P pickup).

Oh right, now I remember yours! Beautiful. If I had funds to collect basses, I'd be after one of those Blitz models for sure. Are those X2N pickups or something similar?

Yes - those are X2N guitar pickups... and the Dean ML has Model Gs (similar spec as X2Ns, but with 4 pole pieces instead of blades).  That black '90 had EMG-HBs originally, but I swapped those out for the X2N and Model G combo.

[slinkp]

Chromium - what are the switches on that flame '81? Do I see an LED too?

[chromium]

Chromium - what are the switches on that flame '81? Do I see an LED too?

That's for an optional preamp they used in the early basses. One switch is a 2-pos power toggle that also engages the flashing LED when on (powered by its own 3V battery clip ), and the other is a 3-pos tone switch.

I've read that the preamp was made by Rex Bogue, but I also have a loose one in NOS DiMarzio packaging w/installation instructions (DiMarzio part number AE-1100). Maybe they bought up his stock and marketed them? Not sure, as I could never find any info... Great sounding preamp, though. Wish I could see what's under the hood, but they are unfortunately epoxy potted.

Here's a pic of one in my B12S:

[dadagoboi]

How about this Epi?



I bought it in 2013 for 'research' when I was developing the ExplorerBird. 

Neck is 1-5/8" with a round profile, trussrod works well. I leveled the frets and gave it a setup.  Body is korina under the paint...cat skull not included!

[Chris P.]

How much for the cat skull?

=^.,.^=

[uwe]

The only drawbacks of the Epi are the mediocre pups (all mids, little else) and the cheesy looking bridge (which does what it needs to do though, no need to change it of you can live with the look). Everything else is fine. On mine I doubt whether the wood is classic korina (way too dent-prone and soft for that), but it sounds great, all blurry and lively. My luthier once said it was some kind of limba, cheap, but with surprising acoustic qualities. The neck is beefy, but not uncomfortable - and it adds to the full sound. I get complinents for my Epi Explorer (equipped with Gibson TB Plus guitar humbucker size pups) whenever I play it. And that is even though most people are in two minds about the Explorer shape look (they're all wrong!). I've heard "this looks like a heavy metal axe alright, but it sounds great" countless times.





It even sounds a little better (more lively and expressive, probably due to the non-maple neck) than the Gibson Explorer of a couple of years ago (Mike Lull pups at the recommendation of Fräulein Rommel, it took me a while to get used to them, but I like them now), sorry for the glare:

[chromium]

What's the neck width on the cat skull? 

[dadagoboi]

The only drawbacks of the Epi are the mediocre pups

Yeah, same as on bolt on Epi Thunderbird.  A pair of Chinabuckers  would hep.

How much for the cat skull?

=^.,.^=

Not for sale, I'm waiting until I have two for a knob set.

What's the neck width on the cat skull? 

Inches or mm?

[amptech]

On mine I doubt whether the wood is classic korina (way too dent-prone and soft for that), but it sounds great, all blurry and lively. My luthier once said it was some kind of limba, cheap, but with surprising acoustic qualities.

I know it has been up countless times; but I have always thought that korina is just a trade name to describe the finish, while limba is the name of the wood.

There seems to be lots of discussions on the net regarding 'fake vs. real' korina - especially on epi guitars/basses. Everything from them being chipboard with fake mahogany veneer to real limba as used by Gibson. The comment from those who appeared somewhat serious (experienced luthiers) went in the direction of saying it is the same limba as used by Gibson - but less attractive/smaller pieces glued together.

I read through lots of silly korina threads, doing some research before building my '58 Explorer bass tribute (an ongoing project) .
I bought a late 90's/early 2000's korina Explorer guitar cheap. Apparently limba veneer over other wood, the neck and body seemingly being made from the same kind of wood. After removing the neck, I found  solid limba (apparently). I had to remove laquer from one of the pickup cavities - somehow the laquer on epis seems to hide the grain . To my eye, now, I can see that this is a 4 piece solid korina/limba body.

Now, the neck seemed to be made from the same stuff - but it had some kind of veneer on the headstock. Seemed strange - first I took the black plastic off the head, then there was a thin veneer underneath that looked like the body wood. They might have done that for structural purposes. Removing laquer from the neck, it's clearly another kind of wood. Dent prone as Uwe says, and Maple-ish looking.