New ramp for my Roscoe!!!

Addison · #1 02-22-2010, 05:21 PM

I got a new ramp for my SKB3006, and WOW!!!

I am really really pleased with how it turned out... here is the pic!!!

David King from King Bass (click for link) is the guy who was able to turn my design into what you see... he does FABULOUS work.

I was originally going to do ebony, but David told me that he had a piece of Myrtle in his shop that he was willing to cut into for my ramp.

Well, to both of our surprise, he found a piece with very similar grain to my bass, and was able to bookmatch it to match the top... it's INSANE how close he was able to come. It looks almost as if it was fabricated from the same piece of wood!!!

He was also able to do a 16" radius on the ramp to match the fingerboard and added several coats of EPOXY to it as well.

Anyway... if you want a ramp for your Roscoe, David is HIGHLY recommended. Very nice guy... easy to work with... and when all was said and done, the cost was very reasonable.

I'd also like to thank Rod from Regenerate Guitar Works (click for link) for contacting all of his builder buddies to find someone willing to take some time out of their busy schedule to bring my ramp to life... guys like Rod are what makes the bass community such a fantastic thing to be a part of!!!

Man, I love new stuff!!!

CliffD · #2 02-22-2010, 05:38 PM

Addison your ramp looks KILLER! David does awesome work! I've had him make two sets of knobs for me before and they're always amazing.

JOME77 · #3 02-22-2010, 07:46 PM

Awesome! He did a great job of choosing a perfect piece of wood to blend in with your top.

VroomVroom · #4 02-23-2010, 09:50 AM

Wow. Ordinarily I really dislike these things. However, yours is - by far - the nicest I've ever seen. Sweet!

bobunit · #5 02-23-2010, 11:34 AM

King does excellent work. Nice Roscoe! (I'm gonna get me one... someday

)

emjazz · #6 02-28-2010, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Addison

I got a new ramp for my SKB3006, and WOW!!!

I am really really pleased with how it turned out... here is the pic!!!

David King from King Bass (click for link) is the guy who was able to turn my design into what you see... he does FABULOUS work.

I was originally going to do ebony, but David told me that he had a piece of Myrtle in his shop that he was willing to cut into for my ramp.

Well, to both of our surprise, he found a piece with very similar grain to my bass, and was able to bookmatch it to match the top... it's INSANE how close he was able to come. It looks almost as if it was fabricated from the same piece of wood!!!

He was also able to do a 16" radius on the ramp to match the fingerboard and added several coats of EPOXY to it as well.

Anyway... if you want a ramp for your Roscoe, David is HIGHLY recommended. Very nice guy... easy to work with... and when all was said and done, the cost was very reasonable.

I'd also like to thank Rod from Regenerate Guitar Works (click for link) for contacting all of his builder buddies to find someone willing to take some time out of their busy schedule to bring my ramp to life... guys like Rod are what makes the bass community such a fantastic thing to be a part of!!!

Man, I love new stuff!!!

Yeah man...looks great. You should get David to make you some knobs to match your fingerboard as well. That would look great. He made some knobs for my bass and they're fabulous.

JOME77 · #7 03-01-2010, 05:25 AM

I just went to King's web site and see that he's in Portland OR.
I'm going to accompany my wife on a business trip there in April and I'll be able to site see during the day (while she's at work). Maybe I can look him up and visit his shop.

Quik Stix · #8 03-01-2010, 07:33 AM

Wow....sweet! Does David do pickup covers?

Addison · #9 03-01-2010, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quik Stix

Wow....sweet! Does David do pickup covers?

I'm willing to bet that he would... he's a SUPER nice guy, so it definitely wouldn't hurt to ask him.

PlanetEarth · #10 03-01-2010, 01:14 PM

OK, I guess I'm gonna be the dummy here and ask: What's that for?

JmJ · #11 03-01-2010, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

Wow. Ordinarily I really dislike these things. However, yours is - by far - the nicest I've ever seen. Sweet!

+1

ramps can be pretty durn ugly, I agree, this is the best one I've seen. Enjoy!

Addison · #12 03-01-2010, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlanetEarth

OK, I guess I'm gonna be the dummy here and ask: What's that for?

I answered this exact question in a thread over at leftybassist.com, so I'll copy and paste what I said over there...

Different people have made use of a ramp for slightly different reasons, but the 3 biggest ones (and the ones why I have decided to try one out) are:

1.) It's all about "economy of motion"...

If you're a fingerstyle player, the ramp narrows the "gap" between the string and the body of the bass allowing less distance for your finger to go after the string is plucked.

To understand what I mean... try playing fingerstyle over top of a pickup, and then compare it to playing over the body... when there's a larger gap between the string and where your finger falls, then there's obviously more distance for your finger to travel to return back to "striking position."

Now imagine if that pickup was radiused so the distance between the string and the pickup was identical from string to string. That's how a ramp is designed. The ramp almost acts as a bumper, so, once you strike the string, your finger immediately hits the ramp and can then return back again faster.

2.) It acts as a "guide" for your thumb and fingers to "rest" in between notes... the best example of this is to watch Gary Willis (AKA The Bass Ramp Guy) play. CLICK HERE and be sure to watch til the end because it's easier to see what I'm talking about when he's playing actual speed.

I play quite a bit more aggressively than Mr. Willis... and with a pretty different style to boot... so my ramp has MORE distance beween the strings and the ramp than his. But it works in a similar way.

3.) It's also a pretty decent thumb rest. Some purists say that a ramp is not intended to be used as a thumb-rest... I dunno why, since it works as one. But, what makes a ramp different than a thumb rest is that it's radiused, so it's much thinner towards each end than it is in the middle.

For some people, that isn't practical or comfortable to be used as a thumb-rest, but for me... it works ok, even though I primarily use it for the "economy of motion" idea and not nearly as much as a thumb-rest.

Hope that answered your question... it's sort of hard to explain, so if anyone else has anything to add or subtract from my post, please feel free!

PlanetEarth · #13 03-02-2010, 08:30 AM

Gotcha, thanks for the thorough response....

-P.E.

Darkstrike · #14 03-02-2010, 08:41 AM

Wow, that thing matches the top so well its near invisible...

kesslari · #15 03-02-2010, 09:01 AM

David does excellent work. He outdid himself on that ramp!

VroomVroom · #16 03-02-2010, 10:48 AM

Addison, thanks for the detailed explanation. I now have a greater appreciation of the function. I confess to assuming it was just a thumbrest for those who liked to position the thumb between the pickups. I pretty much anchor over the bridge pickup, so the whole concept is a bit foreign to me.

Tangent - on my Rob Allen bass I did install a thumbrest. Rob had a leftover piece of walnut from the wood he used for the top, and the look is perfect (even my hack install skills couldn't mess it up). That's really the only instrument I've got where I vary the position of my plucking hand.

Anyway, good to learn more about this, and it was certainly fun scrolling through the pics again. You have got an absolutely stunning instrument!

PlanetEarth · #17 03-02-2010, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

I pretty much anchor over the bridge pickup, so the whole concept is a bit foreign to me.

Sorta ditto here.

I just kinda float around on top of the strings, mostly back toward the bridge, and don't really anchor, I guess I'd explain it as more of a guide than anything else... The studio engineers seem to appreciate it the most - keeps everything not being played quite and tight....

But hey, thank God no one ever told Wooten what he should or shouldn't do with his right hand...

-PE

Addison · #18 03-02-2010, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

Addison, thanks for the detailed explanation. I now have a greater appreciation of the function. I confess to assuming it was just a thumbrest for those who liked to position the thumb between the pickups. I pretty much anchor over the bridge pickup, so the whole concept is a bit foreign to me.

No problem!

Here is the design I came up with and gave to David. I'm a graphic designer by day, so I came up with this with hopes it would help David get a better idea of what I was looking for.

The end result is pretty much identical to what I gave him... and, lucky for me, he had a PERFECT cut of wood to really put the icing on the cake.

I was originally going to make it myself, but by the time I bought a radius guide and the wood and everything else... I could pay to have David do it RIGHT and actually save money.

Something very close to this would probably work on any SKB3006... you would just have to figure out what kind of height you would need compared to your string and pickup heights, etc.

Anyway... just thought I'd share...

CliffD · #19 03-02-2010, 03:54 PM

Addison, did you have to send David your bass?

Addison · #20 03-02-2010, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CliffD

Addison, did you have to send David your bass?

Nope!

I gave him that design and measurements taken with my digital calipers, and about 25 emails later, it was shipped off to me and fit PERFECTLY.

When he sent it, it had double stick tape already on it... so I just put some slack in the strings, cleaned really well between the p'ups, and BLAM! There it was... fit like a glove.