mcgraham

My solution is just not to use pedals I kid. I just use them incredibly rarely, and I never tweak them in a gig.

Excellent! Pleased to hear you've got some food for thought. Let me know what you decide on. Would be cool to see the fruits of any such labour.

Shep, although you don't want a keyboard, what about putting some of the ones you want to tweak live on a pedalboard that can go on a table? That way you could have a proper two-tier thing - one you operate with your feet with TB loops or controller to control those on the table top board, and then the table top one allows you to fiddle with settings as you go.

[quote name='leschirons' post='1280244' date='Jun 23 2011, 10:02 PM']Never regret not buying them, just selling them.[/quote] Fortunately neither... thus far *fingers crossed*

Oh, if anything, I also tend to strip ideas out of custom builds... I think straightforward=awesome, hence why I've got a straight maple neck, no extra laminates, standard alder body, no back facing, no complex preamp, single bass pickup, etc.

Fortunately I've mulled over and sat on the specs for this idea since around 2004/2005? There are/were very few things I wasn't already convinced on before emailing Alan. I tend to think things over quite intensively and for a long time before committing

Absolutely. I trust him to do a good job, we've collaborated on the important specs and I'm not fussed about the other stuff because he's a good luthier and it'll come good regardless. I'm happy to let him get on with it and receive it whenever it's ready. I am quite excited about the prospect of this though, because if it turns out even half as good as I'm hoping then I think my days of switching between guitar and bass every day could be over! *a man can dream*

Deposit is down. The wait begins.

When I initially sent Alan the specs, what do you think his first response was? "Interesting project" For a man who had been asked if he could build a multi-scale bass guitar and electric guitar hybrid with separate pickup systems and asymmetric hardware requirements... Alan was/is remarkably calm and seemingly unphaseable. Alan also sent me loads of images of stunning tops for the instrument. My 2nd choice for the top was a beautiful flamed koa top, vibrant red and orange, but I felt that the macassar ebony would fit so well with this project I couldn't say no. I think we've cleared up all the major and minor planning details during the various emails. I imagine there'll be things down the development road that we'll need to consider, but that's the case with most builds.

Precisions rock. Total workhorses. At points I've lusted after one of the 5 string P basses they brought out, specifically one in olympic white, rosewood board, tort guard... droooool.

[quote name='Scoop' post='1278300' date='Jun 22 2011, 11:04 AM']Coo, can't wait to see this one come together. Interesting project... Alan will be in his element. I forsee some of the [i]most[/i] inventive swearing ever, lots of coffee, the occasional bit of scrap wood being hurled at the wall, more coffee, much head scratching and forehead rubbing... did I mention coffee and swearing?... all part of the ACG magic! And at the end of it all you'll have an instrument that is simply phenomenal. Just wait til I ask him to build me a 4 and 8 twin neck for my next one...[/quote] Sorry, I forgot to mention it's actually a 3 piece maple neck but with pinstripe laminates of frustration.

Cheers man! Me too. It'll be a while before I get my grubby mitts on it, but all the more time to get my chops in shape for this monster. I've been a bassist and then a guitarist almost from day one of learning an instrument, so have always had divided loyalties - wanting to control the groove with a bass, but also wanting to control the harmony and melody with guitar, and never being able to do both to the extent I wanted whether or guitar or bass. I've always wanted an instrument that successfully combines the ranges of guitar and bass, a guitar equivalent of a 'grand piano' if you will, and this will be a new instrument in its own right.

Details discussed. Deposit going down shortly. Specs here. 8 strings Set neck Tefano body style (similar to Skelf singlecut) Alder body 3 piece maple neck Ebony fingerboard Macassar ebony top (matching headstock - pic below) [attachment=83248:IMG_5247.jpg] Fanned fret (28.5" to 25.5" - closer to guitar in its config) Tuned: EAD/ADGBE (basically two courses of strings: EAD is the lowest 3 of a 4 string bass, ADGBE is top 5 of a standard 6 string guitar) Two separate pickup systems (P-style HB for bass side; 2 x P90 in soapbar casings for guitar side) Separate controls and outputs (volume, tone and P-retro for bass side; volume, tone, pickup selector for guitar; switch to move from separated stereo outs to single mono out) I decided to go with ACG because I like his style, he is based in Britain, and is one of the few luthiers who has experience with basses AND guitars AND extended range basses... though this is arguably more of an ERG. This is basically my first true ERB/ERG and is based on Charlie Hunter's Novax guitars and current Traugott guitar. Expected wait time is about a year, but I'm in no rush.

Now [i]that [/i]is a good idea! Congratulations! It's a great pedal. I should know

Found a pic:

Shep, or anyone else with a massive board, have you ever thought about something like Bryan R. Tyler's pedalboard arrangement? [url="http://www.bryanrtylermusic.com/effectpedaldemos2.html"]Vids here that show the setup.[/url] It seems to be a 'two-tier' type affair, but differs from other two-tier pedal boards in that the upper tier is angled such that the plane of the upper tier is in line with your vision (great for rack effects). From the side on it would look like a '>' sign Some upclose pics I've seen of it also show that he has pedals velcro'd or ziptied to the underside of that tier - obviously not possible to stomp on those ones but I believe he uses the Musicom EFX labs switcher to control those. It's a very dense solution and would possibly add more weight to some boards rather than reduce the weight, but it would certainly reduce pedalboard footprint and could potentially make for a more 'wieldy' pedalboard when packed up, i.e. cuboidal rather than massively long, wide and flat. Incidentally, I'm contemplating the possibility of something similar but so as to provide a dock for my laptop plus some kind of controller to allow me to operate certain functions (e.g. samples, etc) that way I've got everything setup for easy use. Still a random idea at present and may not materialise as such.

So what you're saying is that 'Tab'.... is a product of the Coca Cola Company.... which therefore means.... that tab causes cancer?? That's a pretty darn good reason to learn to read music instead of tab if ever I heard one.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1275730' date='Jun 20 2011, 11:36 AM']In the meantime, learn to read music [/quote] Sorry Bilbo, I didn't quite catch that... could you say again for the avoidance of doubt?

Cool. I'll see if I can find some of that stuff. I think he sounds best on the 'Right Now Live' DVD, from which the video above is taken. The bass is how I would want a bass to sound; the melodies, rhythm and tone on the guitar side are astounding too. A lot of people take issue with the hammond organ sound he was going for (and he himself now hates it) but I really like it.

Gotcha! [url="http://www.charliehunter.com/media/audio.php"]Loads of Charlie Hunter MP3s for free here![/url]

Sure. He used to be a big advocate of putting music out for free, and there was loads of stuff he'd bootlegged from gigs himself. I got about 15-20 pieces a few years back from his website. Some are really grooving, others are not quite so happening, but that's the nature of improvised music I guess!

Does anyone else like Charlie Hunter? I'm diving back into this counterpoint bass/melody thing again with renewed vigour. I used to do it absolutely loads, and I loved the freedom it gave me in a small group setting to control the flow of the music. Had reason to do it again recently and it sparked off that desire in me to kick it up a notch.