Misdee

Considering how hip and trendy the Les Paul Signature basses are nowadays, I am a bit surprised Gibson haven't capitalised on the demand and made a full-tilt reissue of the original bass. If they did I would probably buy one, so would plenty of other bass players . These Epiphone basses are great, but it's always nice to have the real thing. Gibson have got a back-catalogue of mouth-watering instruments that guitar and bass enthusiasts would pay a lot of money for, if Gibson could make a decent quality product that was true to the original . Then they wouldn't need to go bankrupt.

Lakland are very easy and straightforward to deal with if you want to order a bass directly from them. Any of the main guys there , Brian, Steve, Leo or indeed John Pirrucello himself, will be only too glad to help via email . More importantly, they are happy to work with you to get your bass just how you want it. For example, I wanted a lightweight P Bass with a very thinly- lacquered early '70's Jazz Bass neck profile that would have raunchy sound for rock . They recommended a swamp ash body, EMG Geezer pickup and maple board. When the bass arrived six months later , just as scheduled , it sounded outrageous, weighed 8 pounds and had a beautifully figured birds-eye maple board on top of an accurately profiled neck .

By the way, White Cloud, I hope you still have that beautiful Vigier. Now there is a bass worth getting excited about!

Learnt from bitter experience...🙁

My philosophy on prospective (expensive) bass purchases such as this one is, if you have to think about that hard it you don't really want it. If you are going to part with such a large sum of money then let it be for something you have unbridled enthusiasm for. Keep your funds intact for something that you don't have nagging doubts about.

I have really enjoyed all of these GP YT vids. Long may they continue! I remember seeing GP on tv for years back in the 1980's playing bass for various acts before I ever knew his name. Guy's anecdotes and insights are fascinating to me. Love his playing style, too.

Diamond Bass Compressor. By far the best compressor I have ever used, and the most useful( although I have yet to try the Cali76 which is also meant to be superb) . Not only does this pedal give me very pleasing compression/limiting, it is also a very handy tone shaping tool. Makes my basses sound like the ones on the recordings that inspired me and which I am still trying to emulate in one way or another all these years later. BDDI is great too, but more of a recording tool for me. I always think , in terms of using the BDDI in a live situation, why not just buy an amp you like the sound of in the first place?

I noticed the the new Musicman Cliff Williams Stingray ($7000) is made of Poplar, just like a lot of sub-£200 "starter" basses. Presumably CW's original '79 Stingray is Poplar, too. I am sure those bass will sound...like a really good Stingray.😯

Yes, louder with much more prominent mids.

Totally agree with that. Wiring, too i.e series vs parallel. A Stingray, for example, sounds the way it does because of the pickup placement , yes, but equally the fact that it is wired in parallel.

All this begs the question, if wood doesn't influence the tone of a bass, what does? On Basschat we periodically debate whether body wood , fingerboard wood, bridges, pickups ect make any difference to the sonic character of any given instrument. There are always those who are dismissive. Something must make a bass sound the way it does!

I bet it sounds pretty damn good after that though!😀

Gold cables do influence the sound(as do silver ones), depending on what audio equipment you partner them with. Some audio equipment does have a break-in time, some doesn't. And most decent hi-fi sounds better when it's warmed up than played from cold. I know this to be so because I have heard the difference myself at first-hand. Wood is one of many factors that define the sound of a bass. Bear in mind we are talking about nuances, but, in an aesthetic pursuit such as music ,nuances are really important.

I've got a P Bass made out of genuine lightweight swamp ash and it has the hallmark characteristics attributed to that wood i.e slightly scooped mids with plenty of highs and and a nicely rounded bottom. It's a subtle difference overall , but definitely a contrast to my alder-bodied P that has much more focused mids and low end. Northern ash is much brighter sounding and often sounds a bit compressed at the low frequency end of the spectrum.

Thanks for the insight. Those are exactly the problems that I was referring to. I will have to investigate further...

These 1980's Japanese Tokai P Basses / J Basses are superb , by the way. Looks like it will be a lovely bass.

The type of wood used makes a difference to the sound of the instrument. Alder can sound quite different to ash. I think it is perfectly valid to want to know what your bass is made of.

In that case it is actually most likely to be Sen, rather than ash or alder. Back in the day, Japanese guitars made of Sen were described as being made of ash, despite the fact that Sen is not related to ash in any way and is actually part of the Ivy family. Sen looks and sounds so much like ash that it was considered an equivalent substitute. Tokai used it extensively.

Let's face it, neither approach is ideal. I asked the initial question because I have enough problems in my life already without paying over two grand to give myself another annoyance, if you see what I mean . I suspect rather like yourself ,Ped , if a bass isn't set up pretty much just how I want it, I don't really enjoy playing it, no matter how good it sounds. I've been at this game long enough to know that, by now ,my own peculiarities are likely to be with me forever😄. If these new lightweight Stingray bridges are particularly problematic I could easily live without one, but it sounds like I might be able to wrangle the action low enough. As I said previously, the complicating factor is the EBMM basses are usually shimmed already at the factory. A shim is O.K, but needing multiple shims is a bit of a bodge job on a bass in that price range, in my opinion anyway .

It would be handy to know what the bass was and where it comes from . Particularly if the bass was made in the Far East, it might be neither alder or ash but a local equivalent .

That's a good idea Ped, but would be reticent to start filing down the bridge. I would be more likely to shim the neck.

Thanks, that is is good to know.

I am hankering for a Stingray Special, but I seem to remember some talk of it being difficult to set the new design bridges for a low action. If I were to purchase one of these basses I would need to get the action pretty low ( about 11/2 mm on the E to 1mm on the G, give or take a tiny bit) for my taste. Would a typical Stingray Special accommodate these specs? If any existing owners out there have any input I would be very grateful. Normally I wouldn't be particularly concerned as I know how to shim a neck, but EBMM basses are usually shimmed at the factory with a piece of plastic as a matter of routine, if I understand correctly. Replacing the existing shim with a thicker one, or adding a second additional shim wouldn't really be ideal on a £2000+ bass.

Larry Klein is a phenomenal player, and in my estimation Wild Things Run Fast is right up there with Joni's best work. Echoing what others have said, I would take all rankings with a pinch of salt, but Shadows And Light was my first real introduction to Jaco, and I was stunned and smitten. Hejira is wonderful, as is Blue, both very different but I love them primarily for the songs rather than any of the playing .