The 1975 Don Baldwin / Baldini Bass by Carl Thompson

[MaddAnthony_59]

I am the 4th owner of the 1975 CT bass. I think it's one of the first 20 or so Basses Carl made, from the Original Walnut Tree! I traded Darrin Huff's personal 32" Z-4 :



I wasn't playing it, mostly because it was Too Nice, and when the previous owner called my Bluff on a trade there was no turning back!

Here's the Bass in it's Original Glory!






Serial Number is the date it was finished...


But before the trade took place the Pickups were replaced with Bill Lawrence Humbuckers.



























I have the original pickups, and will have them put back in once my Local Guru Luthier/Guitar Tech gets caught up. The White Pickups Do sound Great, but I have this thing about Original Vintage Instruments.

Here's a link to the Original Owner. He has had an Exceptional career!

http://music.keene.edu/faculty_ft.html

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Which of the two do you like better?

[MaddAnthony_59]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

Which of the two do you like better?

CT vs D-Huff?

Looks go to Darrin's Z4. It looked so good I didn't feel comfortable playing it. The CT looks kinda ordinary, and understated. But so does a Maserati...

Tone gets a Split Decision for the CT. Even though it's a Passive vs Active electronics contest, the CT has a lot more variations on tone. Of course there's a lot more switches too! The Z4 has the Hard to Beat combination of Nordstrand pickups and an Aguilar preamp. If you're going to go Active, that is The Way to go! But it's pretty straight forward, were the CT has Serial & Parallel options on each pickup, and a Mute.

Playability also gets a Split Decision, but to the Z4 this time. It's a RARE (For CT) 34" bass, which I'm used to. Bonus there! The neck is AMAZING, and Vibe that is generated raises your confidence to pull of those impossible runs! However, the Z4 has a Wide, Flat neck that lets you ROUTINELY pull off near impossible fret board acrobatics! Maybe it's the 32" scale, but I can Really Shred on this Huff! A minus for the CT is that there is no comfortable place to rest my thumb, other than the end of the finger board, ala early Geezer Butler. Close call really...The Thumb Thing kinda sealed it.

Mojo goes to the CT. This bass has more stories than Guns -n- Roses and The Brothers Grimm combined! Have you seen who Don Baldini has played with, or played on? The Huff has been around the block as well, and there are some Interesting Names on the inside of the Control Cover. But the CT is 20+ years older, been played continuously since being built, and is still in XLNT condition.

Over all, it's a Night & Day Tie...

But here I am with the CT

[AltGrendel]

Love the bass porn.

[MaddAnthony_59]

I have the original Schallers back in. The Black toggles are toasted, so until I find some Vintage Replacements, Radio Shack DPDT switches are in place! Updated the Hardware a bit. I've been looking for Gold Schaller Tuners for a while, and fianlly found a set!





















I think she's Gorgeous in Gold! Your thoughts?

[Immigrant]

Congratulations! I think it's better looking with the black pups back in.

It's seems like it would be owning a piece of history. Niiiiice.


There's that ghost grill again