Bromberg/Lemur

[B String]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

"The bass is called the “Wood” bass and....."

.. Are the other Basses Plastic? I thought all of my Basses were 'Wood' as well. I wonder if I will get sued for infringement owning 'Wood' Basses without the proper Patents to protect me.

His Bass has more pickups on it than I have owned totally in my life. I wonder what it sounds like completly acoustic with no pickups at all. The copies, if at all the least bit sucessful will need a box full of electronics I guess if they are going to duplicate his recorded sound.

Its called the "Wood" bass because the sound on his cd
"Wood" Has won awards for sound. The sound of the bass
on the recording is usually thought of as gorgeous.

As to what his bass sounds like acoustic, most of his
bass recordings in the last years have been about 85%
mic'd bass.

A big reason Lemur is making these basses is because
Brian's bass is a frekkin joy to play, and yes he sounds
the same if he's playing his or your bass. Its in the hands.

[Wilbyman]

I didn't see anyone trashing Mssr. Rabbath when the Chinese versions of his instrument came out...

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

The copies, if at all the least bit sucessful will need a box full of electronics I guess if they are going to duplicate his recorded sound.

Ken, have you listened to Brian's recorded upright sound? I don't hear any pickups or full boxes of electronics at work there.

[B String]

For some reason, Mr Smith is sounding a little sour grapes
on this thread. Is there an issue here that we don't know
about? You just seem a bit venomous. What up?

[drurb]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

...I have played many well made good sounding new Basses that cost as much as 30k new. They still don't sound or ring out with the tone of a 200-300 year old Bass.

Ah, if only we could do and have you do such tests "blind."

[B String]

As far as I have heard, the Top end reproductions will be
made by Rabbath. The $7,000 basses would be made by
someone else. I know they have taken very precise
measurements of his bass. Apparently the top, back and
sides are some of the thinnest wood they have seen.
It seems (in theory) that a bass made with thinner specs
than most new basses, would vibrate more from the get go
than usual, and perhaps break in a bit faster. MAYBE

[Tbeers]

Originally Posted by B String

As far as I have heard, the Top end reproductions will be
made by Rabbath. The $7,000 basses would be made by
someone else. I know they have taken very precise
measurements of his bass. Apparently the top, back and
sides are some of the thinnest wood they have seen.
It seems (in theory) that a bass made with thinner specs
than most new basses, would vibrate more from the get go
than usual, and perhaps break in a bit faster. MAYBE

The Chinese figured that out years ago. A lot of the crappy new Asian basses have thin top plates to make them sound better at the expense of structural stability.

[B String]

Originally Posted by Tbeers

The Chinese figured that out years ago. A lot of the crappy new Asian basses have thin top plates to make them sound better at the expense of structural stability.

AHA!!!!!!

[arnoldschnitzer]

Originally Posted by B String

As far as I have heard, the Top end reproductions will be made by Rabbath.

The maestro is taking up instrument-making in his seventies? What an inspiration!

[Marcus Johnson]

Cool, Arnold....that'll free you up to do that live performance with Frank Proto.

[B String]

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

The maestro is taking up instrument-making in his seventies? What an inspiration!

oops! Thats what happens when your in a hurry and not
too bright to begin with. I meant, the high end basses
would be from Pollmann.

[JimmyM]

Someone needs a hug...or at least some happy emoticons...



So Ken, while I might agree with your assessment of this new Bromberg/Lemur bass, I think you're getting hostile over nothing. Not everyone can afford a $100,000 bass and would like an alternative that's not so costly. Putting the shoe on the other foot, should we electric bass players not buy a Retro J because you can still buy a 1962 Jazz Bass for $10,000? The Retro J is a killer bass for less than 1/10th of the price. Why can't this new Lemur Bromberg model be a killer, too?

BTW, it's the player, not the bass.

[Tumbao]

Hey boys, I prefer to trust your own-real-vast-experience-facts instead; Some people...
BTW, I'd like to own one of them and for sure it will be a good new copy bass, but without the 100% magical sound vibrations of the original old instrument; Not even with the very same virtuoso Mr.BB playing it. Remember, is not about a solid wood electrical bass, we are talking here about Acoustic issues, in a big and fragil hollowed musical instrument. There are many irreplaceable... real aged woods, varnish differences, glue type & drying, humidity history tolerances, Luthier's techniques and subsequent restorations, etcetera. The acoustic basses needs to achieve performance seniority to get their better optimal execution.

[Kam]

Isn't it true that wood thins as it ages? Thus starting out thin would be...bad? Maybe I'm wrong...didn't hear the thinning thing from an authority, any truth to it?

[Brian Bromberg]

It's pretty simple actually. The whole thing about this bass with Lemur Music started because they have been contacted several times in the past few years from bass players wanting to see if that had any basses that had a sound similar to my bass that they heard on my Wood CD. That's why it is called the "Wood" bass. After about 10-12 hours of measuring my bass, the Lemur people found that the dimensions, top, back, and side wood thickness of my bass were different from any bass they had ever seen. With that said we thought that if we replicated my bass, then maybe the new bass with the same dimensions will share some of the same qualities as my 300 year old Italian bass.

There is no question that so much of your sound comes from your hands, but the instrument you play is very important as well. The fact that my bass is unusual, maybe the replica will get some of the same qualities? I can tell you that I have never played a more comfortable bass then mine, and I have played hundred's of basses iover the years. The Lemur replica should feel very similar.

There will be three models down the road ranging from an entry level student model, a hand carved german model that starts at around $7,000-$7,500, and a special high end Pullmann model. There will also be a special edition Pullmann that will be made from wood that is over 150 years old.

To me to be able to do a project like this with Lemur is an honor and I know the instruments will be great, I have no doubt.

None of us are saying that this new bass will sound exactly like my old bass, all we are saying is that we are going to make a very good modern bass using the dimensions from a truly one of a kind special instrument.

Someone wrote saying that this will be my road bass? I truly hope so. My bass has been damaged several times in the past few years and I don't want to travel with it any more. Amazingly enough each time my bass been damaged, Lisa Gass at LA Bass Works ( my bass angel) has repaired it, she made it better and better. One time when she fixed it after the neck was pushed out of the body, she had to bolt the neck to the body. Not only can you not even see the repair, for the first time since I was 16 years old when I got the bass, all the strings are even in volume and the bass growls and sustains even more then it did before. It even sustains on the E string in thumb position!

I seem to be getting a lot of flack in here for having several different pick-ups on my bass. The bridge piezo pick-up system was the first prototype system that Rick Turner delevloped with me a long time ago.

David Gage who used to do my work when I lived in NYC (who is great I might add) gave me his realist pick-up. Larry Fishman gave me his Full Circle pick-up as well. They are all pick-ups that when you put them on your bass you leave them on your bass, so there are a lot of wires. Plus I also have a mic on my bass so there is even more wires on it.

Out of respect for the people who gave me their pick-ups, I keep them on my bass. I also use them all because they sound completely different from each other and it's actually really great to be able to go back and forth in a session or on a gig and change my bass sound for the music just by plugging into a different jack.

If the Lemur basses somehow get anything from my Italian bass, then this will be a great instrument. I am really excited about the project and it has been amazing watching the whole process. I am so thrilled that these very talented luthiers will be building this bass, truly an honor to have people with that many years of expierence hand making these instruments....................Brian Bromberg

[Marcus Johnson]

Brian, I don't think anyone meant to give you any flack about the pickups. Most of us have gone through a lot of the usual pickups, and combined them, trying to get the sound in our head out into the audience. I have a drawer full of 'em ( the same one that hold all my old string experiment leftovers). Never seems to end... NHOP was another guy that seemed to try a bunch of pickups, so it seems you're in good company.

At any rate, it's cool that Lemur is planning on making this bass available at a few different price points, so that more people can get their hands on them.

[mje]

Hey, no one's asked Brian what kind of strings he uses! And you call yourselves TB-ers???

;-)

[gomez hacienda]

Originally Posted by mje

Hey, no one's asked Brian what kind of strings he uses! And you call yourselves TB-ers???

;-)

Look at Lemur's photo of his bass...look like Spiro Weichs to me...red bottoms, purple tops. But after listening to Brian on Broadbent's 'Round Midnight' for the 87th time, I'd have to say that they're really magic strings, and us mere mortals can't have 'em.

gomez

[nicklloyd]

Originally Posted by Kam

Isn't it true that wood thins as it ages? Thus starting out thin would be...bad? Maybe I'm wrong...didn't hear the thinning thing from an authority, any truth to it?

This is not true.

Brian Bromberg, thanks for clearing things up.

[Brian Bromberg]

Thanks for the kind words, oh and my strings are Weichs.....................

[Kcorren]

Originally Posted by Brian Bromberg

One time when she fixed it after the neck was pushed out of the body, she had to bolt the neck to the body. Not only can you not even see the repair, for the first time since I was 16 years old when I got the bass, all the strings are even in volume and the bass growls and sustains even more then it did before. It even sustains on the E string in thumb position!

I was wondering what type of bolt was used for the repair.
I had a similar experiance with a repair and found the metal
bolt added significantly to the sustain and growl of the
instrument.