6stringbassist Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 I'm going to be talking to Martin tomorrow about this, and hopefully ordering it, to arrive in 12/14 months time, so that will be a nice Christmas present to myself next year. My basic ideas are as follows - 6 string offset flamboyant, with a 7 piece flame maple/wenge neck and graphite rod inserts. An unlined Ebony board with side dots, I'm thinking of having one dot per fret, with two dots at the 5th, 7th and 9th and three dots at the 12th fret, that's something I need to finalize with Martin. My fretless acoustic bass just has dots at the 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th etc, I don't have a problem with that, but that's a 4 string and a 6 string is a slightly different matter. Walnut body core, my fretted Sei has a walnut core and I get this fantastic deep sound from it. Front and back facings of buckeye burl, I already have this on my fretted, but no two pieces are the same, and I love the stuff. Black hardware, it just looks cool and understated. 18mm string spacing the same as my fretted. The pickups and electronics are something I need to discuss with Martin, I'm think of having a passive bass with just one pickup mounted in the centre of where two pickups would be, with a ramp either side. I have both pickups 'full on' on my fretted 99% of the time, and with the fretless I'm going for a specific sound, I don't need lots of versatility. I'm thinking of a Bartolini pickup, or possibly a Q-tuner. No tone control just a volume. Soundwise I'm thinking Anthony Jackson and Gary Willis, deep but even sounding, I love playing my fretless acoustic, and using my 'playing' to get different sounds, rather than relying on onboard electronics.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Sounds awesome. You've always got such nice taste in basses. I remember trying your Modulus a year ago, fantastically even and strong tone. Do you ever miss it? [quote]An unlined Ebony board with side dots, I'm thinking of having one dot per fret, with two dots at the 5th, 7th and 9th and three dots at the 12th fret, that's something I need to finalize with Martin. My fretless acoustic bass just has dots at the 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th etc, I don't have a problem with that, but that's a 4 string and a 6 string is a slightly different matter.[/quote] Might I suggest different [i]size[/i] dots instead of different numbers? I used tippex on a poorly dotted fretless once to (black out the bad dots and) put small dots (0.5-1mm) on the lines of every (other) fret, bigger dots (1-1.5mm) on the 3, 5, 7 etc frets, and two bigger dots just either side of the line at the 12th fret (and 24th). I found that to be very helpful, without being too confusing. Re: the pickup - pickups sense a very narrow aperture of the string, it's not a true acoustic representation of the sound of the string, it's just allowing the sensing and amplification of whatever frequencies are occurring at the point of detection. Therefore, sticking a pickup between the normal positions will not yield the same tone as a normal layout. If you're wanting simplicity (I know I like the idea of a simple one pickup bass) why not do a one-piece ramp + pickup arrangement, i.e. two standard pickups joined by one large radiused wood cover to give the effect of a ramp and one large pickup (Nordstrand has one like this, Skjold has a large area pickup similar to this). Then you can wire them in series/parallel, perhaps even a push/pull on the single volume to go between? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6stringbassist Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 Yeah, I do miss the Modulus, I read that they were making a 34" scale version now, so I'd like to get another at some time. Regarding the dots, it's something I need to chat to Martin about, and I have plenty of time to come to a decision, I just know I don't want a lined board, I don't really see the point in a lined board, you can't see the lines anyway when you're playing. I might just stick with dots on the 5th, 7th 9th and 12th, it works fine for my acoustic. With the pickup, again I'm hoping Martin can suggest a ''sweet spot', an ideal position that will give the sort of sound of the two combined on my fretted, the fretted has Bart P4's which are quite narrow sensing, so I'd have to go for a wider pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 I find dots for every fret simply too confusing. You could do what I have on my Sei which is to have the standard side dots (including one at the first fret) and then discrete dots (at the same positions) on the front of the fingerboard between the highest two strings to counter parallax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Bass Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 my rick turner has little white lines for which each fret should be on the side i think its very welpful. I can try to get a pic if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 [quote name='6stringbassist' post='296646' date='Oct 1 2008, 02:17 PM']I'm going to be talking to Martin tomorrow about this, and hopefully ordering it, to arrive in 12/14 months time, so that will be a nice Christmas present to myself next year. My basic ideas are as follows - 6 string offset flamboyant, with a 7 piece flame maple/wenge neck and graphite rod inserts. An unlined Ebony board with side dots, I'm thinking of having one dot per fret, with two dots at the 5th, 7th and 9th and three dots at the 12th fret, that's something I need to finalize with Martin. My fretless acoustic bass just has dots at the 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th etc, I don't have a problem with that, but that's a 4 string and a 6 string is a slightly different matter. Walnut body core, my fretted Sei has a walnut core and I get this fantastic deep sound from it. Front and back facings of buckeye burl, I already have this on my fretted, but no two pieces are the same, and I love the stuff. Black hardware, it just looks cool and understated. 18mm string spacing the same as my fretted. The pickups and electronics are something I need to discuss with Martin, I'm think of having a passive bass with just one pickup mounted in the centre of where two pickups would be, with a ramp either side. I have both pickups 'full on' on my fretted 99% of the time, and with the fretless I'm going for a specific sound, I don't need lots of versatility. I'm thinking of a Bartolini pickup, or possibly a Q-tuner. No tone control just a volume. Soundwise I'm thinking Anthony Jackson and Gary Willis, deep but even sounding, I love playing my fretless acoustic, and using my 'playing' to get different sounds, rather than relying on onboard electronics..[/quote] Sounds like a very cool spec dude! Is this instead of your Kingbass? Cheers, Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6stringbassist Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 [quote name='eude' post='296780' date='Oct 1 2008, 03:55 PM']Sounds like a very cool spec dude! Is this instead of your Kingbass? Cheers, Eude[/quote] Yeah, the Kingbasses and Status basses in general have too much of a personal sound, and it isn't what I'm after. My Sei fretted is about perfect for a fretted, I have a really nice acoustic fretless, I just need an electric 6 string fretless and that will be all my needs covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 [quote name='6stringbassist' post='296904' date='Oct 1 2008, 05:49 PM']Yeah, the Kingbasses and Status basses in general have too much of a personal sound, and it isn't what I'm after. My Sei fretted is about perfect for a fretted, I have a really nice acoustic fretless, I just need an electric 6 string fretless and that will be all my needs covered.[/quote] Nice one dude. Love the offset flamboyant shape too, it looks awesome with a single pickup too, like [b]7string's[/b] one. It'll compliment your singlecut nicely. What acoustic bass do you have? Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Excellent stuff - so hard not to order a second Sei isn't it? Martin was finishing off a four string Flamboyant for Neil Murray and is building a Jazz for John Currie - both of whom I think are Sei owners (I know John is for sure). Anyway I love the sound of your fretless - if I didn't already own a cracking fretless myself I would be tempted to ask Martin to make me one - but as it happens I was playing mine this morning and it just rocks my world! I've had the bass for four years now and it's really 'settled' in - the tone and playability are just amazing - and it looks great too. that's made of just African mahogany with an ebony board. I decided on a Sei Jazz next as that's something I've been craving for a while now and I love the Single Cut's exotic look I don't really feel the urge for another eye-popping bass - it's already sounding and playing sweeter due to settling in after a few months in its new home. I know it's going to be a bass that 'keeps on giving' as it gets older and 'matures'. Anyway - that's really exciting news you've taken the plunge again - I look forward to seeing this progress - should be another belter of a bass. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 (edited) Sounds like it's going to be another great Sei !! If you're going to one pickup/passive route can I suggest that you have the full control cavity routed as usual. Then if you have to get a preamp in the future, no major surgery is required. I went the passive, one control route and to be honest I didn't get the sound that I was after even though I had the coil tap switch next to the input. I now have the Schack 3-band pre in it and it's great. Martin put it on 2 stacked pots and the LEDs are on the tiniest of switches, so the bass still only has 2 holes in it. With the position of the pickup, I needed it to be 1/4" or so further forward than the usual Sei placement so I didn't have to have a ramp. Martin moved it without a problem Hope this helps and that the wait isn't too bad. Here's a pic of Jezebel on the only sunny day there's been in Glasgow for the last 3 months. Photo courtesy G.Jones Edited October 1, 2008 by 7string Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eude Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 [quote name='7string' post='297144' date='Oct 1 2008, 11:24 PM'] Photo courtesy G.Jones[/quote] Hubbah Hubbah Eude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Different coloured LEDs could be quite cool for side markers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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