Midtown Bass on keymusic.com

gearHed289 · September 20, 2012, 09:12:13 AM

Quote from: Dave W on September 20, 2012, 08:53:27 AM
The smaller body may help sales. The ES-33x series/EB-2 look in a more compact size might be more appealing.

Better than making the Les Paul BIGGER! Some bean counter probably wanted to get more mileage out of the Buckethead program in their CNC.

godofthunder · September 20, 2012, 09:18:23 AM

I really like these! Long scale, simple control layout. I think it's a winner!

fur85 · September 20, 2012, 01:00:11 PM

Not sure if this has been posted before, but Gibson has info on their website. It looks like a winner to me.

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Midtown-Standard-Bass/Specs.aspx

wagdog · September 20, 2012, 01:20:42 PM

That's a beauty (baked maple regardless)! I may have to sell off my SG RI and TB shorty and get this.

clankenstein · September 20, 2012, 02:50:36 PM

well now its interesting that the tb plus under the big cover has cermaic magnets but the rear one has alnico magnets .

the mojo hobo · September 20, 2012, 03:46:37 PM

Same scheme as on the LP Jr. bass. They must do it for a reason.

clankenstein · September 20, 2012, 03:54:18 PM

between those and the g3 pickups they seem to started designing bass pickups again.

Dave W · September 20, 2012, 04:58:30 PM

I doubt it. These seem to be the same pickups that have been on the SG Bass for years now.

Only newer pickups are the G-3 single coils and the MM-style on the new EB Bass (not shown the site yet) which is two of the G-3s in humbucker mode.

clankenstein · September 20, 2012, 05:32:34 PM

do you know anything about the pickups on the bfg bass on their site? they say on one hand that they are les paul bass pickups,but on the other claim that they are low impedance-with a 500k tone pot(?)interesting bridge and tailpiece.

Wilbur88 · September 20, 2012, 07:25:02 PM

Quote from: drbassman on September 20, 2012, 08:54:58 AM
I'd like a smaller body too. The scale length might be a challenge for me, but I'd give it a spin anyway.

It looks a little shorter than the Gretsch in terms of reach don't you think Bill? By the way, I'm still loving that bass - it is just the best!
It came really well set up for me too, not sure how it handled the long trip so well. Thanks again.

Dave W · September 20, 2012, 09:34:57 PM

Quote from: tubehead on September 20, 2012, 05:32:34 PM
do you know anything about the pickups on the bfg bass on their site? they say on one hand that they are les paul bass pickups,but on the other claim that they are low impedance-with a 500k tone pot(?)interesting bridge and tailpiece.

I'm almost sure they're not low impedance.

You might recall that Uwe bought one and put skull knobs on it.

drbassman · September 21, 2012, 05:42:15 AM

Got mine reserved at the HOG!

uwe · September 21, 2012, 07:06:35 AM

Quote from: Dave W on September 20, 2012, 09:34:57 PM
I'm almost sure they're not low impedance.

You might recall that Uwe bought one and put skull knobs on it.

Yeah, tasteful and adult, wasn't it?

The original knobs went on the fretless Mon(k)ey in satin natural finish, you can see them in the background.

The BFG pups sound like TB Plus chromes to me which they probably are, just in black.

The heralded bridge allows close but not perfect intonation, about as good as it would be on a Dean bass, worse than on any Ibanez that is. Too little range although it's positioned slanted. For sheer intonation range it can neither compete with the Holy Immaculate Trinity (HIT bridge) nor the Waffenwick Königstiger bridge.

drbassman · September 21, 2012, 07:10:53 AM

Quote from: Wilbur88 on September 20, 2012, 07:25:02 PM
It looks a little shorter than the Gretsch in terms of reach don't you think Bill? By the way, I'm still loving that bass - it is just the best!
It came really well set up for me too, not sure how it handled the long trip so well. Thanks again.

Yeah, it's a great bass, sure wish my arms were longer!!!!! It's really one of the nicest looking hollow bodies around. It looks like the Midtown bridge is lower down the body compared to the 6072. I'm expecting the new Gibson might be a little shorter with a small body. We'll see!

drbassman · September 22, 2012, 08:32:25 AM

Quote from: drbassman on September 21, 2012, 07:10:53 AM
Yeah, it's a great bass, sure wish my arms were longer!!!!! It's really one of the nicest looking hollow bodies around. It looks like the Midtown bridge is lower down the body compared to the 6072. I'm expecting the new Gibson might be a little shorter with a small body. We'll see!

Just for grins, I counted the frets on the 6072 and the Midtown. The 6072 joins the body around the 19th fret, making for a really long neck. The Midtown joins around the 15-16th frets. You can see how much further into the body the heel is on the Midtown. I suspect this might be one hollow body bass with a 34" scale that I can handle. My problem just isn't reach in terms of my arm length. I have left shoulder problems and reaching out for a couple hours at a gig just plain hurts! So, shorter necks hurt less. Very simple really! I can only take so much Advil.

Either way, the first cherry Midtown that comes into the HOG is mine!