Lakland Hollowbody

[dmckee]

I have a hankering for a semi-acoustic bass and have been looking at the long scale Lakland Hollowbody. (I had one of the short scale ones a while ago. I liked it, but came to the conclusion I prefer 34” scale basses). I also like the Laklands because they have nice rounded edges on the body rather than the binding that you’ll often see on semi-acoustic basses. 

ANYWAY, my question to anyone who has or has tried one of these: how was/is the balance? Pretty much every 34” semi-acoustic bass I’ve tried has neck dive but hoping this one may be different?  

And/or is there any other semi-acoustics I should be looking at? 

Cheers!

[dmckee]

Just reviving this question in case anyone has any thoughts about the Lakland or any other semi I should look at. 

[ahpook]

When they came out I remember a couple of folks on ebassist got the Laklands and they said they didn't suffer from neck dive.

Looking at the design, the strap anchors from the upper horn and it's pretty close to the 12th fret so I'm inclined (Ho-Ho) to believe the neck dive would be better than, say, a Jack Casady. But I do find it hard to believe any semi-bass wouldn't suffer from some neck dive, just down to simple balance of materials.

Not sure I'd want to be convinced tho....then they'd be two of us after one

 

Edited September 14, 2019 by ahpook

[krispn]

There's one in GuitarGuitar Edinburgh!

 

[ahpook]

6 minutes ago, krispn said:

There's one in GuitarGuitar Edinburgh!

 

Not. Looking.

 

[krispn]

Go on have a peek

 

[dmckee]

I have. 🙂. I like it. Lovely neck to play, interesting tones out of it (although I’d prefer master volume and blend to 2 volumes) BUT yes, it’s a tad neck heavy. Better than any other semi I’ve tried though. It seems to have Hipshot licensed tuners so i don’t know if genuine USA Hipshot would help a bit. Possibly clutching at straws there. 🙂   It’s not cheap either obv. 

Edited September 15, 2019 by dmckee

[dmckee]

I saw this on another forum, but not sure if it’d make much difference. Plus it might look a bit daft! 

[Andyjr1515]

Clearly the best way of finding out is to find one and try one (maybe GuitarGuitar would get their Edinburgh one shipped to your nearest branch?)

But, design-wise, it should balance fine - and there's a couple of reviews I've found that say that it does.

As @ahpook says, there is a sweetspot on bass guitars and electric of where the front strap button sits that is a bit of a 'goldilocks' zone - ie, level with the 12th / 13th fret.  It is unlikely, with anything like orthodox designs, that a bass with the strap button here isn't at least going to balance on the strap.  This is the 34" Lakland that MusicRadar reviewed:

As you can see, the strap button is in that goldilocks zone.

The next thing I generally look for is the size of the headstock.  Because of the leverage effect, small weight changes at the headstock make BIG differences to the balance.  This one is comfortingly small.  

Another thing I would look for is where the lower waist sits and how wide it is.  This affects the balance over the knee.  This also looks pretty good to me.

 

And actually, I'm not sure that the Lakland is particularly light-bodied.  I can't get the numbers, but comments from various forums seem to indicate that it is not a super-lightweight.

This one I designed and built for @Len_derby is less than 6 1/2 lbs and this one - following the same principles above - balances just fine   :

 

By the way, the MusicRadar review that the Lakland photo came from was comparing 4 semi-basses.  They said that the Lakland was in a complete different league to the other 3 ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

9 minutes ago, dmckee said:

I have. 🙂. I like it. Lovely neck to play, interesting tones out of it (although I’d prefer master volume and blend to 2 volumes) BUT yes, it’s a tad neck heavy. Better than any other semi I’ve tried. It seem to have Hipshot licensed tuners so i don’t know if genuine USA Hipshot would help a bit. Possibly clutching at straws there. 🙂   It’s not cheap either obv. 

Sounds like my post was a tad too late! 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Sounds like my post was a tad too late! 

Perhaps, but your explanations of bass construction are always illuminating. Thanks for posting.

[dmckee]

No, all interesting stuff @Andyjr1515, cheers. Maybe that strap button extension thing would make a difference, getting it further into that Goldilocks zone!  I should say too, that one’s in Edinburgh because I asked them to get it up from one of their stores down south.... Now, if someone would just post one second hand..... 

[ezbass]

11 minutes ago, dmckee said:

I saw this on another forum, but not sure if it’d make much difference. Plus it might look a bit daft! 

Fitting Dunlop straplocks would give a bit more extension and weight.