Epi Silverburst Special Run T-birds

[Barklessdog]

... and as I have two spare Gibson TB Plus Chrome guitar size humbuckers waiting for a home, I'll maybe upgrade this baby once it hits these shores.

You know they make black Pitbulls for those who dispise chrome that would fit?

[chromium]

I have a Pitbull in black - great pickup!  Did wonders for this beast




Consider this proof that my moniker does not reflect prejudice, merely bias 

[Barklessdog]

Sweet bass looks great with the Pitbull

I thought of you, Joe, when I saw this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjpVPFwBijM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecscoutjapan%2Ecom%2Fen%2Findex%2Ephp%2Fpage%2F2%2F&feature=player_embedded

[chromium]

I thought of you, Joe, when I saw this

Haha that's awesome!!  My design lacks the whimsical squishy head 

[chromium]

Well, Andy dropped that silverburst Tbird with me before he left on vacation.  I spent some time with it today, and thought I'd post a few thoughts, pics, and sounds.




I've never played one of the bolt-on Epis before.  Its a nice bass!  That chunky neck is actually starting to grow on me.

It arrived with very little done in the setup department, but I guess that's expected at this price (the nice setup job on those Bachs really surprised me).  The strings were probably 3/4" off the fingerboard at the top fret, there was way too much relief in the neck, and it hadn't been intonated.  One twist of the bridge studs (with the strings loose) caused them to raise right up out of the body.  I've never had this happen before, but I know some of you have.  I slid them out, built up the holes with a bit of CA glue, and pressed 'em back in when it dried - they seem to be holding steady now.

I had to set the bridge all the way down to get the action to a more playable height.  I'd say it has medium action now, and the neck would probably need to be shimmed to get it any lower:




About a quarter turn on the truss rod got the relief in better shape.  There are two frets (10th and 18th) that seem to be too low and cause the G string (only) to bottom out.  It looks like the adjacent frets are seated well, so they might just need to be filed down & polished in those spots to fix this.  I had a similar problem on that Elitist that I had, and that seemed to do the trick.  I'll leave that be-  don't want to get too crazy with Uwe's new bass    I roughed the intonation in using my crappy little tuner, but that could benefit from a bit more attention too.

Anyway- despite having to wrestle with the setup a bit, its a great player.  I don't think the pickups are TB+ (which I think is what everyone suspects anyway).  They don't sound like it to me, and when I was fixing the bridge studs I pulled the bridge pickup for a quick peek:



The USA TB+ pickups in the Elitist looked different underneath (wish I had a pic), and they were sealed in epoxy.


I'm not very good at describing the sound either, other than to say it sounds more "Fenderish" and less "Tbirdish" to me (my point of reference being the 76, Elitist, and Andy's late-model TB IV).  That's not a bad thing, just different.

I made a quick recording to demonstrate a couple of the sounds.  I did some "bass karaoke"!  I took a excerpts from two songs, and did some stuff in Cubase to wipe out the original bass part from the recording - so what you'll hear is me playing the Epi over the top of it.

In honor of the bass' soon-to-be homeland, I chose a chart-topping track from everyone's favorite krautrock band Kraan to demo the basic sound of the bass.     The neck pickup is on full, bridge pickup is rolled off just a bit, and the tone is wide open.  The second part of the clip features fingerstyle playing over a Meters song.  Andy mentioned that the sound of the bass with the tone rolled off gets really diffuse and wooly-sounding.  Well I found that just using the bridge pickup with the tone rolled off all the way gives a nice, focused R&B/funk kind of tone - so that's what I did here.




Enjoy!

[Barklessdog]

Sounds great, very Fenderish, nice playing as well- got to love Kraan.

[jmcgliss]

Thanks for the helpful review. The tone/pup settings you mentioned worked well at rehearsal last week. I also like turning the bridge pickup off and using attack with a nail or a pick into the strings...with the tone either open or choked.

Mine does need more work just to get down to a medium action, and string experimentation. I wonder if driving the studs all the way in bottomed out on the body, pushing the ferrules up?  I wonder if some extra drilling is called for?

The neck p'up on mine is not level within the surround so that will take some shimming I guess.  Raising the pups did wake up the bass, so the search begins for the right balance of action and p'up height.

I may be using rope to figure out how long a strap is needed for comfor and that "cover your nuts" stance. Playing this bass for three hours did a number on my left shoulder, so as much fun as it is to play, the limit may be 2-3 songs (or vicodin) per set. 

Reaction this far from two bands: all positive for striking looks and sound.

[chromium]

Thanks guys.

I wonder if driving the studs all the way in bottomed out on the body, pushing the ferrules up?  I wonder if some extra drilling is called for?

Actually, they lifted out immediately on the first turn of the studs - so it didn't appear that the holes were too shallow or anything.  I think the holes were just a bit too wide to hold the ferrules securely.  

Forgot to mention it, but the ground on the treble side stud was really iffy too.   The ground wire comes in the side of the hole, and is supposed to make contact with the ferrule - but only the insulation was coming into contact with the metal.  Fixed that too.

I may be using rope to figure out how long a strap is needed for comfor and that "cover your nuts" stance. Playing this bass for three hours did a number on my left shoulder, so as much fun as it is to play, the limit may be 2-3 songs (or vicodin) per set.  

I use one of those Levi padded 3.5" straps, and that's been pretty comfortable.  I'm playing 4-5 hour gigs with the 76 (weighs about the same as this Epi), and that strap really helps the ol' shoulder!  I have the strap lock button on the neck heel too, and that helps with the distribution of weight.  Might try this with your Epi if its hurting your shoulder.  If this one were mine, I'd relocate the strap button in a flash.

[uwe]

Hey, I'm gonna get that Epi Greybird good as new! Custom shop set-up. ; - )

[TBird1958]

As Joe's pic shows  the Epi's bridge mounting studs have a lip on them that's at least 1/8" tall, replacing them with Gibson ones which actually countersink into the body will allow you to drop the action alot...........  

[chromium]

Hey, I'm gonna get that Epi Greybird good as new! Custom shop set-up. ; - )

Well I got it dialed-in from about a:



...to a:



A couple more tweaks from a pro... and watch out, Fabio!

[jmcgliss]

Joe, I moved the strap button on the first day, but my 3.5" strap could use an extension for experimentation and rock pose purposes. Lowered the bridge more today to within 1/8" of flush; that's it for now.  Haven't had to touch the truss rod, but may dress the nut, or replace it if it's soft plastic (where are my bi-focals?).  The good news it's fun to play, but average enough I won't be overcome with GAS to acquire vintage tube amps or something. 

[uwe]

That a real nice sound on those recordings, nothing mindblowing or jaw-dropping, just a very good, allround useable sound. Which is what I guess a good budget instrument like the Epi should do.

[exiledarchangel]

Indeed, nice sound. The stickers on the bridge pickup looks like those Artec uses, maybe they are blade-type guitar humbuckers with chrome covers?

[Nocturnal]

Can't wait to try it out once more when I get home! Unfortunately I still have several days of beach time ahead of me!  I'm sure it plays much better since you've tweaked it. That action was a little high for me!