lowregisterhead

Second rehearsal the other night of a Soul/Funk outfit I got roped into as 2023 came to a close. The rest of the band all know each other, having worked together in various line-ups over the years. I'm the new boy. Despite how it may sound, this has some advantages - they know all the songs in the proposed set pretty well already, having played most of them in other configurations. I did my homework, so by the end of the first rehearsal before Christmas we'd rattled through 10 or 15 numbers effortlessly, and it sounded far better than I would have expected at this early stage. The guitarist, drummer, male and female vocalists are excellent, whereas the keyboard player has great chops, but is overplaying dreadfully, and needs to reign himself in. He's over 50, but hopefully it was just 'youthful exuberance', and he'll settle down with time, otherwise I'll feel compelled to have 'The Talk' with him. But come the second rehearsal this week, a slight hiccup. The female singer had a stinking cold, so very sensibly cancelled. No point in infecting the rest of us. Then the male singer turns up with a young lady in tow, ostensibly to help out in the absence of the lady with the cold. She's very young, and can carry a tune and has decent pitch, but her voice lacks character and substance, unlike the lady she's standing in for, who could knock her into a cocked hat without breaking a sweat. My feeling is she needs to spend a few years gigging in dodgy bars and clubs, sleeping fitfully half-cut the the back of smelly Transit vans on motorways at 4 in the morning. That's what I was doing at her age, but suffice to say I have no intention of doing that now. Hopefully the male singer isn't trying to stage a vocal coup in the absence of the lady with the cold, which could cause cracks to appear in what is an otherwise very solid setup. Thankfully I got the distinct impression the rest of the band felt the same way as I did. The intrigue, twists and turns of being in a band are never ending. I don't mind really. It gives me the perfect excuse to buy new gear.

Traded my Ibanez headless for Phil's DJ5. Another one of those surreptitious meets in a McDonalds car park! Excellent communication, a lovely fellah, and a pleasure to do business with. Buy/sell/trade with confidence.

John East now does a preamp for the Combustion/NG without a blend control (so the existing pickup selector can be incorporated) and a passive tone control. LowEndLobster on YouTube did a conversion using it and a 6-way switch (link below). Worth looking into.

Very difficult to find another, they're like hen's teeth, and a custom build is over two years wait now I believe. There are a couple of LS and Z3s for sale from dealers in Belgium and the Netherlands, but in rather gaudy gold and colour shift finishes, not my cup of tea! And then there's the import duties of course, adding even more cost to an already expensive instrument. I've spoken to a luthier who's done some great work for me before, and he's willing to give it a go, so I may have to take the plunge with the third pickup. Watch this space...

Where do I start? Well, to begin with, the overall standard of build and finish is noticeably better than the Combustion/NG/D-Roc, although they're still very well put together. The Canadian made basses could be considered the Rolls Royce of the Dingwall range for want of a better comparison, and as a result start at more than double the price of the 'offshore' made basses, but they are so beautifully made. The Lee Sklar model has a dual density body, where the upper part of the body is Northern Ash, the lower part Alder, but side by side, not one on top of the other. The idea is that the different woods help balance the lower and high frequencies. From what I've found so far in the ten days I've owned it, I'd say that does seem to be the case. It has great resonance and consistency right across the neck. The LS body is slimmer than my Combustion (39mm vs 43mm) but both basses are almost exactly the same weight, just under 4.5kg. I owned an Afterburner 1 for a short while, and it was also beautifully made, but very light, too light for my liking. The Lee Sklar is also fitted with mandolin frets, which are slimmer than standard, but give the neck a very fast, slick feel. The main difference for me is the pickup configuration and preamp. The tonal character is bright and edgy, due to only having two pickups instead of three, and being fitted with a Glockenklang preamp. It delivers a huge range of tones, with the most hi-fi, glassy and crisp top end you can imagine, but is still whisper quiet even when you push the high frequencies. The EMG preamp in the Combustion sounds pretty flat in comparison. The difference between the preamps alone makes me want to tinker with my Combustion even more - I've already upgraded the pickups to Super Fatty IIs, fitted USA Hipshot tuners and replaced the bridge saddles with Babicz Solos, so a Glockenklang might well be the next addition. If I have one reservation regarding the Lee Sklar, it's that despite the tonal fireworks, it lacks a little versatility - the Combustion does a passable P-bass/J-bass/Stingray impersonation, whereas the Lee Sklar does a Stingray on steroids and a single coil bridge tone very well, but seems to lack the roundness I can get out of the Combustion from the third neck pickup. I'm considering adding a third pickup to the Lee Sklar, but it'll require some very careful routing by someone with all the proper jigs and serious skills, especially as there's no scratch plate to hide any rough edges... All the other specs are here: https://dingwallguitars.com/bass/lee-sklar-signature/

It came from a dealer in Japan. There were others closer to home (Bass Freaks in Belgium had a couple) but the finishes were a bit garish for my taste.

After two years of playing nothing but my Combustion 5/3, I just laid my hands on this Lee Sklar signature. A different animal, but a really lovely instrument, so beautifully made. Just a quick snap, which doesn't do it justice - I'll try and take some better pictures soon.

Yes, even if she ever did sell them, they couldn't sound the same in anyone else's. I still can't get my head around the fact he's been gone 12 years already.

A nice enough looking bass, used on the Rain Tree Crow album in 1991, not his Wal though. Whatever happened to it? Anyone know? Private bids, starting at 7K. https://burningshed.com/store/mickkarn/mick-karn_5-string-fretless-bass_other