Lemur's Sunrise Basses

[jtlownds]

Long before I discovered this forum, I bought one of Lemur's Sunrise basses. I recently did a search on "sunrise", and discovered many negative posts. This immediately caused a pucker factor in my shorts. All of these posts pertained to Surise's low-end basses, mostly laminates. Mine, however, is their top-of-the line model, the Del Mar. Here is my story.

Back in Dec, 2002, I went to Lemur to have a bridge fitted to an old King. While I was there, I was completely blown away by the outrageous flame on one of their Del Mar models. I have been playing DB since 1956, and have owned a long line of basses. All laminates (Kay, American Standard, King and Meisel). I have allways wanted a decent carved base. My wife suggested that I buy it (every guy should have a wife like mine) it would be my Christmas present. I A/B'ed it against a couple of Pohlman Busetto models they had in the shop (not that I could afford the Pohlman) and liked it better for both sound and playability. So for $3500 they set it up with an adjustable bridge per my specs, strung it with my string of choice (Obligatos), and threw in a used Mooradian bag/case. The current price for this model is now $4600. In the summer of 2003, I retired and moved from the California desert to the Florida swamps. This extreme change of climate has not had any apparent effect on the bass, and it has opened up nicely since I bought it. My wife has named the bass "Fat Alice". Needless to say, I am happy as a pig in s**t with this bass. My question is, does anyone out there have any experience with Sunrise's top end basses, specifically the Del Mar model? Is there anything I should be looking for that I am not seeing? I'll post some pictures.

[jtlownds]

More pictures of Fat Alice

[jtlownds]

And the scroll

[Mike Goodbar]

I imagine there are a lot of crappy basses coming out of Korea, but this evidently not one of them. I put my own prejudices against Chinese basses (and Chinese-made products in general) when I bought my Christopher.

Incidently, I preferred my Christpher to a Pollmann they had in the shop at the time.

[Dave Irwin]

The typical wrap against cheaper carved instruments is that they have very thick tables so while they may resist cracking, they are not very resonant. If your bass gets a big sound and is apperently stable per your post, I'd say you got a great buy.
Sorry I dont have direct experience these basses to relate......

[Paul Warburton]

Up above this thread under the Basses Forum Heading is a thread started by BelfastBass, trying to I.D a bass he's thinking of buying. This looks like the bass with the exception of the other one being violin pattern. Check out the carving under the fingerboard.
There ya go Belfast!

[jtlownds]

[quote=Dave Irwin]The typical wrap against cheaper carved instruments is that they have very thick tables so while they may resist cracking, they are not very resonant. QUOTE]

The table on this one is certainly thicker than it is on my laminated Meisel. I realize that thickness may vary with the density of the wood being used. What is an acceptable thickness range for a carved top, measured at the inside center of the ff-holes

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Up above this thread under the Basses Forum Heading is a thread started by BelfastBass, trying to I.D a bass he's thinking of buying. This looks like the bass with the exception of the other one being violin pattern. Check out the carving under the fingerboard.
There ya go Belfast!

Hi Paul,

I saw the BelfastBass posts, and it sure looks like both of these basses came from the same shop. The Sunrise Del Mar models are available in both a gamba and violin pattern. I had a choice of both when I bought mine. I'm partial to the gamba form. I've seen too many of those pointy corners get chipped and knocked off. BTW I was secretly hoping that "Fat Alice" might qualify for your bathroom art collection.

[Tbeers]

There are also many instances when a new cheap bass will be made with a top table that is too thin. This gives it more resonance (thus a more immediately impressive sound) but makes it prone to cracking etc. That was the case with my first bad Korean bass. I took it to Mr. Schnitzer and he quickly pointed out that both the top table and the bass bar were very thin. Luckily for me I was about to upgrade anyway.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by jtlownds

Hi Paul,

I saw the BelfastBass posts, and it sure looks like both of these basses came from the same shop. The Sunrise Del Mar models are available in both a gamba and violin pattern. I had a choice of both when I bought mine. I'm partial to the gamba form. I've seen too many of those pointy corners get chipped and knocked off. BTW I was secretly hoping that "Fat Alice" might qualify for your bathroom art collection.

I think Fat Alice is cool, but what I really like is, after checking your profile Jim, is that you're five years older than me!! YES!
A kindred spirit!!!
It's you n' me man........

[Mark Carlsen]

Originally Posted by Tbeers

There are also many instances when a new cheap bass will be made with a top table that is too thin. This gives it more resonance (thus a more immediately impressive sound) but makes it prone to cracking etc. That was the case with my first bad Korean bass. I took it to Mr. Schnitzer and he quickly pointed out that both the top table and the bass bar were very thin. Luckily for me I was about to upgrade anyway.

This is what I see alot from these basses from Korean.Again they are all from the same factory ,go under diferent names here in the States [Sunrise,Munich,203 ,etc.]
this particular bass because it is their top of line will have the best flame,but look out for the C# neck... .

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Mark Carlsen

This is what I see alot from these basses from Korean.Again they are all from the same factory ,go under diferent names here in the States [Sunrise,Munich,203 ,etc.]
this particular bass because it is their top of line will have the best flame,but look out for the C# neck... .

Are you serious Mark? Why?

[Dave Irwin]

Guess I should have mentioned that most of my experience with "cheap" carved basses has been with eastern european shops.
And those that I've seen have favored tables too thick.

This is probably a good question for a luthier but don't asian shops work alot from copies of master instruments? Do they make the table thin fully aware that there will be stability problems later on?

Originally Posted by Tbeers

There are also many instances when a new cheap bass will be made with a top table that is too thin. This gives it more resonance (thus a more immediately impressive sound) but makes it prone to cracking etc. That was the case with my first bad Korean bass. I took it to Mr. Schnitzer and he quickly pointed out that both the top table and the bass bar were very thin. Luckily for me I was about to upgrade anyway.

[Mark Carlsen]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Are you serious Mark? Why?

Some how the factory in Korea [Linear] has not figured out or bothered to make their necks with consitant mensure, in other words the distance between the heel of the neck and the back of the scroll is off.Sometimes one will measure as a D neck,which is the normal standard .But most of what I have seen are cut to short making them a C# neck.Intonation hell for anyone owning one and then moving to another bass that is more the standard.But people keep buying these things...

[jmpiwonka]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I think Fat Alice is cool, but what I really like is, after checking your profile Jim, is that you're five years older than me!! YES!
A kindred spirit!!!
It's you n' me man........

LMAO

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I think Fat Alice is cool, but what I really like is, after checking your profile Jim, is that you're five years older than me!! YES!
A kindred spirit!!!
It's you n' me man........

My wife tells me that I am older than dirt. There has to be some "geezers" out there that are older than us. I know several active bass players that are well into their 70s, but I don't see any of them on this forum. Hell, I've got callouses that are older than some of the guys on this forum

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by Mark Carlsen

Some how the factory in Korea [Linear] has not figured out or bothered to make their necks with consitant mensure, in other words the distance between the heel of the neck and the back of the scroll is off.Sometimes one will measure as a D neck,which is the normal standard .But most of what I have seen are cut to short making them a C# neck.Intonation hell for anyone owning one and then moving to another bass that is more the standard.But people keep buying these things...

I've never heard of a C# neck, but I haven't seen a whole lot of these basses. Fat Alice actually has an Eb neck. I would have preferred a D neck, but it's really not a problem. I haven't seen a post from any of the luthiers out there to my question of what is an acceptable range of thickness for the top table, measured at the ff-hole. Mine appears to be about 1/4".

[Mark Carlsen]

There you go, a bass from the same factory that is a little to long,thus an Eb neck.As far as the top table thickness it can be different from maker to maker.A 1/4' at the FF holes is about standard [6mm] but there is alot of thickness's to a top.The thickest part inbetween the FF holes and then it graduates to different degrees out to the edges.It is what ever the maker wants.We have some very talented luthiers here who post who could tell you more about it because they accually make basses.So the point being if you measured the top in different places you will get different thickness's.

[Silversorcerer]

I wonder if BelfastBass's bass is Eb or D. I always thought there were 2 standards, Eb or D. I've never seen a C#.

There are some basses with that carving pattern at one shop in Atlanta. I was told they were Chinese. It's possible that the same carving under the fingerboard could be done by more than one maker.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by jmpiwonka

LMAO

Sorry, I haven't a clue what the hell that means.