Mod collection restock update

[ilan]

No basses this week.

[ilan]

This is interesting: they have converted a 335 to a 25" scale bass and refinished it in a not totally unattractive "Deep Grape Metallic". $4K

I don't quite get the string gauge they went with (.036 .045 .065 .085). With such a short scale, a much heavier gauge will be needed for standard bass tuning. I'm not sure the bridge saddles have enough travel for good intonation with heavier strings. Maybe they didn't want to deal with moving the bridge studs backwards, so they went with a gauge that works. Probably better tune it ADGC Stanley Clarke style.

https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Electric-Bass/MOD-RAM021268/Deep-Grape-Metallic

[TBird1958]

 Same pickups as the 2015 Thunderbird, they sound really good - despite the black plastic! 

[Dave W]

25" scale bass in standard tuning? No thanks.

[uwe]

I do like the color.



25" scale in standard bass tuning is almost impossible to intonate correctly.

It would probably work as a four string baritone guitar, tuned in B/E/A/D, i.e. five half-steps lower than regular guitar tuning (or seven half-steps higher than bass tuning), but even most baritone guitars have a 28" scale for good reason. Most baritone guitars aren't used for chording anyway, but for playing lead lines.

Or just hang it against the wall and marvel at it.

[Grog]

Same pickups as the 2015 Thunderbird, they sound really good - despite the black plastic! 

They were also used in the EB-5 & EB-4 basses made around 2014 & after. The 2019 Les Paul Jr DC bass had one flipped backwards with the pole pieces facing the guitar. We called them Jim DeCola pickups at the time……..

[uwe]

Excellent pups - albeit with the birth defect of a very narrow magnetic field, not for people that like to go up high on the neck and push/pull a note a half-step or more up.

[ilan]

Excellent pups - albeit with the birth defect of a very narrow magnetic field, not for people that like to go up high on the neck and push/pull a note a half-step or more up.

Oh, so like Ric button-top neck pickups. No bending up the neck unless you also want a tremolo effect.

The 335 is gone, btw.

[gearHed289]

I have a 24.75'' scale Samick mini bass that I keep tuned to standard EADG with 45-105 strings. Strings are floppy, and you have to play light to not bend them out of tune. I used to use it as a gag on one song (Hot For Teacher) with a former cover band. The (extra) short scale allowed me to play the tapped intro in unison with the guitarist.

[Alanko]

I think it would work as a fun piccolo bass? At regular bass tuning I imagine it will be quite twangy but still dark sounding, with a rumbling undefined fundamental to the notes.

[uwe]

Bass tuning with a 25" scale? As twangy as the morning dick of a 90-year-old, rubbery more like.

[Ken]

At least there's a pill the 90-year-old can take to help with that.  Not much you can do with the bass.

[Dave W]

Bass tuning with a 25" scale? As twangy as the morning dick of a 90-year-old, rubbery more like.

I wonder what Anna Nicole Smith would say about that.

[ilan]

I think it would work as a fun piccolo bass?

No! in fact, the opposite. Piccolo bass is a full scale bass tuned up an octave. It sounds different from a guitar because of the long scale. A 25" guitar tuned an octave above bass is simply a guitar.

[uwe]

What a ”I know everything about Stanley Clarke and you don’t”-showoff Ilan is …