BigRedX

No car, a nice range of basses instead.

I could do with a car maybe 1 or 2 times a month maximum (although I've managed to do without for the last 31 years). I play my basses every day.

Have you not read his sig? ;-)

Thanks for the comments guys!

I'm dead pleased with how it came out. The red looks stunning and was definitely better result than having it refinish in the original colour.
In the end the cost of the bass and the refinish worked out at slightly more than half the price of having a new one built to that spec.

Here's two more photos - taken by Simon with a decent camera and a light tent...





and finally a group shot of my three Gus Basses

Scale length doesn't affect the number of frets. They'd just be a long way apart - unless yo were into mirco-micro-tonal music?

Lets face it, it's not a Shergold so unfortunately it doesn't really have the Mike Rutherford vibe.

On Thursday I received the refinished bass:







The colour is Simon's version of the Fender Candy Apple Red (Gold base coats and then a mix of 50% Candy Apple and 50% Tangerine Candy - both House of Kolor tints). The gold gives a very fine metallic sparkle to the colour (which of course doesn't really show on the photos) and the mixing in of the Tangerine Candy makes the red a bit more vibrant than the standard Fender colour which can look a little dark sometimes.







As you can see the result is stunning!

The Candy Apple Red and the bright chrome go so well together and it looks like a brand new bass. The fret levelling has made an improvement to the playability, and now I've got proper straplocks back on there I don't have to worry about the bass falling off the strap mid-song anymore.

[b]7string[/b] Because of the construction of the Gus basses the differences in tone are mainly down to the pickup and electronics configurations. Construction-wise the basses are identical except my original black Gus has an unmarked ebony board and Hipshot Ultralight tuners, and this bass has a cocobolo board with resin inlays and rather massive Gotoh tuners. The black Gus with it's humbuckers and passive controls feels more 'organic' and definitely does the dark and deep sounds better, but occasionally struggles if I need a really bright sound without help from the amp. The single coils and active electronics of the red Gus give it a much more 'present' sound plenty of top when I need it, but never quite as fat, even when both pickups are on together in humbucking mode. For me this is an ideal situation as each has an individual sound but, with a bit of tweaking they can cover for each other which is exactly what you want with a main a backup bass. As to which is which that would depend on the kind of music I'm playing. In my previous band the black Gus would be the one (that's what it was built for), but in my current one, the presence of the red Gus is a bit more suitable.

After the clear-coat applications it's polishing time:



Simon realised that the two tube horns needed re-profiling after stripping off the old flaking chrome so that was done before they went off to be re-chromed. At the same time we decided to replace the original satin finish control knobs with bright chrome ones.



Time also for a fret-dress and polish:





Almost finished...

I was hoping someone would guess when I said they were the first colour coats.

Here's what it looked liked after spraying the second colour:









More to come...

To be honest I wasn't that big a fan of the original finish. The purple was OK, but to my eyes most of the time it looked green which I was less fond of. In the end I decided that since this could well become my main fretted bass, I'd prefer it in a colour I liked.

So, on goes the first colour coats:









Can you tell what it is yet?

Patience...

Once Simon got the bass back it was obvious that the original finish couldn't be saved. So the first thing was to strip the bass back to the primer coat.







Now was the time to decide whether to refinish in the original green/purple flip paint or go for a brand new look...

It turned out that not only was this bass the second Gus 5-string made, but it is the one featured on the [url="http://www.gusguitars.com/product.php?model_id=9"]G3 Five Active page on the Gus web site[/url] where you can see what it looked like when it was new.









Also until the previous owner bought it, the bass was one of the demonstration models, so it would have been the one I used to base the specification of my black G3 on.

Simon already knew about the current condition of the bass, as the original owner had been in touch regarding having the chipped paint areas retouched. However he thought that the damage to the finish may be too extensive for this to be feasible and that most likely a complete refinish would be required. With this in mind there was the possibility of having it refinished in a different colour. If that was the case I decided that although it would be nice to keep the bass in it's original colour, if it proved unfeasible to retouch, then I could go for a brand new colour finish.

Mid July I packed up the bass and sent it back to Gus Guitars...

Earlier this year I bought a Gus G3 5-string on eBay for a very good price. The seller mentioned that the finish was suffering and provided plenty of photographic evidence which is probably why it only attracted 2 bids. However I still wasn't quite prepared for the state it was in when it arrived...











The finish had chipped off down to the primer all over the bass, and even the chrome was flaking off the tubes and other parts. The straplock buttons that would have been originally fitted had been replaced by normal strap buttons, the one on the horn being too small to securely hold a typical strap in place and the cover for the back of the bridge was missing. The action was terrifyingly high and the strings deader than dead.

Once I'd got over my initial shock, it turned out that the damage although horrifying looking was cosmetic only (except where the missing finish on the back of the neck presented sharp edges to my fretting hand) and with a new set of strings and a quick set-up to lower the action and tweak the truss rod the bass turned out to be a really good player, and also quite a different sound to my other fretted Gus and in many ways more suitable in sound for my current band.

After a couple of rehearsals I decided that this bass deserved being restored to it's former glory, and therefore got in touch with Simon Farmer at Gus to see what could be done...

[quote name='Toasted' post='307937' date='Oct 16 2008, 03:22 PM']Lefties are custom order only [/quote]

As are fretless, otherwise I might well have come back from NYC with a new bass...

$425 was for the very last one. The list price on the [url="http://thesquarewaveparade.com/"]Squarewave Parade site[/url] was $149 which was the starting price for the eBay one. I'd happily pay that for one.

I prefer the hard-wired plug because it's more reliable than an adaptor it's one less connection to worry about, plus because your 4-way has UK sockets on it no-one else at the gig is likely to want to use it and disturb your gear set up.

Might be better to buy a UK 4-way socket strip and put a Euro plug on the lead.

Great!

More details [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=29648"]here[/url]

Sadowsky, if you can find them, are well worth the visit. Really nice people and relaxed. Let me play for ages with no pressure and ready to help. Also by far the best 'traditional' looking basses I've played although my tonal preference on these was for passive mode.

Having played most of the Basses on that page on my visit to the Sadowsky workshop last week, I really liked 5081 although 5077 had a slight edge tone-wise.

It seems stupid that he's not making them anymore but won't sell the schematics either?

Just back from a week in New York and I thought it might be useful to share my experiences checking out the various shops selling basses.

First off I have to say that I have zero interest in Fender basses so those of you wanting info on buying one in the US will have to look elsewhere, however, all the shops I visited did seem to have a large range of both new and vintage/second hand, so unless you're looking for something particularly unusual at least one of the stores will should have what you want. Of course whether the price is any good I couldn't say...

First off - 48th Street. This is the NYC equivalent of Denmark street but with better customer service. Most of the shops seem to be owned by [url="http://www.samashmusic.com/default.asp"]Sam Ash[/url] now. There's a dedicated shop for Guitar and bass with a large selection of basses including quite a few unusual second hand instruments. Unfortunately most of the interesting stuff for me was so badly set up that trying them out was not a pleasant experience. There was a great looking Ibanez Rolf Spuler fretless for around $700 but the strings were so old that it felt lifeless. Same with the Alembic - can't remember what model it was but the price tag was close to $3000 and it might have been the worst feeling expensive bass I've ever tried. There was also a 70's Ampeg Plexiglass bass with a neck like a banana.

On to [url="http://www.mannysmusic.com/"]Manny's[/url]. Nothing that really grabbed my attention, but the set-up of the basses meant that at least I could get a decent idea of what they were like. Some nice-looking high-end Spectors and Sadowskys among the more conventional fare.

Finally [url="http://www.rudysmusic.com/"]Rudy's Music[/url]. For me this was more like it! Lots of basses I'm unlikely to encounter in UK stores including a 10th Anniversary Ritter, a good selection of Modulus basses, a pair of Sukops and a really nice Pedulla Pentabuzz. If you're looking for something a bit different this should be your first port of call. Also the basses are in a room of their own on the 3rd floor so you're not disturbed by the massed shredding guitarists that seem to be a US music store fixture...

On to the 14th Street [url="http://www.guitarcenter.com/"]Guitar Center[/url]. Lots of Fenders and Music Man basses plus a few other brands but nothing to catch my eye. They had a great selection of interesting second hand guitars, but the bass selection seemed to be just a few 70s Fenders. Disappointing.

However there's more interesting stuff on the Lower East side in [url="http://www.ludlowguitars.com/"]Ludlow Guitars[/url]. A Veillette Minotaur that I might have considered if upper neck access had been better, and a CT inspired Pelosi. A few blocks away for second hand/vintage stuff there's [url="http://www.rivingtonguitars.com/"]Rivington Guitars[/url]. Nothing caught my fancy bass-wise, but if I was in the market for an interesting guitar there were several that looked worth trying.

Finally across Brooklyn Bridge and down into DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) for [url="http://www.sadowsky.com/"]Sadowsky Guitars[/url]. It's a good thing that I'd written down the address before going as there's nothing on the street to announce their presence. The showroom/workshop is on the 5th floor of a very anonymous looking building and only by checking on the touch-screen in the lobby could I confirm I was in the right place. I open the door to their 'suite' and I'm greeted by the sight of two people folding and packing t-shirts. "Hi, I'm Roger" says one of them "do you play guitar or bass?" Led into a room with one wall full of instruments and a whole range of different amps and speakers to try them through. Spent a very pleasant 90 minutes just trying all the different models through and SA200 amp. Fantastic! Super-comfortable to play, and nicely balanced with none of the issues that make Fender basses awkward for me to play. If they'd had a fretless in the showroom I might well have had to buy it. One thing that did surprise me though was that after all the great things I'd read about the Sadowsky pre-amp, I preferred the passive sound with just a bit of treble roll-off - great tone!

And that was all I had time for. I would have liked to also visit the Fodera workshop, but I looked just a bit too dificult to reach simply using public transport, plus a week in New York is never enough time no matter how well you plan your visit. However it will give me some things to put on my 'to do' list for my next visit!

Got to have a coily lead for that authentic sound!

Thanks for Trussart photos. That's a nice looking bass!

If the prices keep on moving downward you might be able to find a second-hand Overwater Original within your budget. I bought a 5-string fretless last month for £550!

The advantage with the plain saddles is that you can put the grooves in EXACTLY the right place for your bass. Especially important if you're using it as a direct replacement on a Fender as there's a good chance that you'll end up with a better compromise between string spacing, pole-piece lining up and the edge of fingerboard.

If there was a shipping option I'd have probably bought this by now...