Club F-Bass (Part II)

[thndrstk6]

Here's the BN6 I ordered about a month ago:

*CLICK TO MAKE IT BIGGER*

[blen dem]

Hope all of you are enjoying your F's like me! Picked up this BNF6 a couple of weeks before Christmas from Bass Central (gift to myself, hee hee hee ) It's my first F and I hope it's not my last. They of course gave me the 48 hour trial period but after 5 minutes with it...you know the rest. The pics were from BC when I asked for em'. Haven't gigged with it YET but soon as I do, the action pics will be coming. Mr. Tom7, may I please have a number? Much appreciated!

[thndrstk6]

Wow! Sooo nice!

Good wood grain too.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by thndrstk6

Tom7,
Here's your mockups request. Let me know what you think.

What I think? I think you are great!

This photo is closest to what I had in mind, only with the bass clef bigger, and perhaps darker, and the bass needs an EBONY board.

BTW, I know this is what I originally asked for, but after seeing your last, I can't help but wonder how it would look in that brown burst finish you did...

Thanks again so much for doing this. This is incredibly nice of you!

[blen dem]

Originally Posted by thndrstk6

Wow! Sooo nice!

Good wood grain too.

Thanks! Now only if I can make it sound as good as it looks... BUT it's been a blast trying! The one you ordered looks amazing, have fun!

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by Vic

As promised... you VF GAS'ers might wanna' look away...



Now, just TRY and get some sleep tonight...

That is cruel and unusual punishment, brother. Cruel and unusual.

On another topic, this photo illustrates why I cannot commit to Fbass strings.

The exposed core wire goes too close to the bridge pickup, so if I take a position very close to the bridge with my hand, I scrape up my finger tips.

I don't want my strings to tell me where I can or can't put my hand when I play, you know?

I can see why the strings have such long exposed cores, sometimes they are strung through the bodies, but I wish there was either a way for us to trim that end of the string as well, or separate packages for through body stringing so that we can take better advantage of the versatility of these basses.

[thndrstk6]

Cool thanks for the compliments guys.

Tom7,
I'll fix it up for ya. I forgot all about the ebony fretboard. Sorry. :<

[Vic]

Originally Posted by Dave Hill

Wow, v.nice paint on that burst...that thing is smokin!
Do you think you'll stay with Fbass strings?

Unknown. On the one hand sometimes I feel like windings can have issues on these exposed core strings, causing a lot of strange overtones in the roundwound ring, but so far these seem pretty nice. I'll throw some of my fave DRs on there next and see how they compare.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by puff father

Beautiful burst on that VF5. Boy, for nice bursts it would be a tough call between Allevas and F's. They're my fav's, followed by a few Fenders I've seen.

Soon enough, I'll have both. The LG I have on the way is also burst/rw. Yeah, I'm a sucker for that look.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by bassjam

First off,that bass looks awesome.These look better to me everytime I see them.

Just wondering,did you(or anyone else)get to play the ash/maple for a comparison?I love the ash/maple combo the the clips of the alder/rosewood sound soooo good.Tha ash/maple clips sound almost thin to me,but thats on some crappy computer speakers.

Yes, I A/B'd the ash/maple one at the NAMM booth with this one, and as much as I am into the whole ash/maple thing on basses, that bass totally paled in comparison to this one. IMHO, it had almost a harshness to the midrange, like there was some sort of double accentuation between the elex and the woods or something... pushing a certain frequency range "over the top" for my tastes. The alder/rw one was by far more balanced and sweet sounding to me.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by Tom7

That is cruel and unusual punishment, brother. Cruel and unusual.

You're welcome.

On another topic, this photo illustrates why I cannot commit to Fbass strings.

The exposed core wire goes too close to the bridge pickup, so if I take a position very close to the bridge with my hand, I scrape up my finger tips.

I don't want my strings to tell me where I can or can't put my hand when I play, you know?

I can see why the strings have such long exposed cores, sometimes they are strung through the bodies, but I wish there was either a way for us to trim that end of the string as well, or separate packages for through body stringing so that we can take better advantage of the versatility of these basses.

I can see your point, but I've played these strings off and on for years on different basses and never had that happen. Has it actually happened to you?

I often anchor off the bridge pickup and play right over the top of it and I've never hit the taper.

FWIW, anyway.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by Phillip Jordan

I want one so bad. Good job Tom7.... I was wanting that one. I should of grabbed it.

Hey, I'm just sorry there wasn't one for each of us.

Of course I read Vic's review several times with keen interest. Vic couldn't have been crueler with his review if he'd have drowned a bag of kittens as he did it. I can't wait for my VF5 to come!

[thndrstk6]

Tom7,
Here's the fixed up version of your BN6. Let me know what you think.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by blen dem

... Mr. Tom7, may I please have a number? Much appreciated!

My pleasure!

Everyone, please welcome blen dem to the club as member number 56!

CLUB FBASS ROSTER
(Updated Fri 23 Jan 09 @ 10:00 pm AST)


#00 George_Furlanet

1. Quadzilla - BN4, BN5, ?
2. Tombowlus - BN4, BN5
3. Puff_father - BN5
4. Debassed - BNF5
5. ThumbyAche - BN5, GFC
6. brandonwong - BN6, BN6 custom, AC6, BNF5, BNF5(2), BN5 custom
7. Tom7 - AC6, BN5, BN6
8. Eric_Lamb - BNF5
9. knarleybass - BN5, BN6
10. Reefer - BN5, BN4?
11. VinceLovesF - BN5, AC5
12. T._Brookins - BN5
13. DKB - BN5
14. Speyer - BN6 (b)
15. jmilky - BN5
16. edel - BN5
17. administrator - BN5
18. Dave Hill - BN5, (b)
19. FbassDave - BN5, BNF5
20. Vic - VF5
21. Georges_Abitbol - BN5 (b)
22. xav_paris - BN5
23. Munjibunga - BN5
24. Toolmybass - ?
25. Modny - Studio5, Prototype
26. mikoespanol - AC5
27. Ron_Plichta - BN5
28. Gbarchus - BNF5
29. nuwavedc - BN5
30. JerryJ - BN5, BN6
31. yansdgr - BNF5
32. firebass - AC5, AC6
33. <reserved for the return of choad42>
    
34. donstrenz - Vintage 4 (stolen)
35. Gilsonite - Studio6
36. Tjluke - BN6, AC6
37. cabooke - BNF5
38. Brad Johnson - Studio5
39. MHemmber - BN4
40. Jonno1707 - AC5
41. dreamwood - BN5
42. wolfbass1025 - BN5
43. funkydanbass - AC6
44. Phillp Jordan - BN5
45. Halftooth - BN5
46. thndrstk6 - BN6
47. funkifiedsoul - Vintage4
48. Trapeze Fan - BN5
49. Poppsyche - BN6
50. Groovy Bastard - BN6
51. Kemet09 - Vintage4
52. ModulusAcacia - AC5
53. bassjam - BN5
54. Bassconbeatz - BN6
55. Basses55 -
56. blen dem - BN6
57. <Your name could be here!>

Former Fbass owners:
GRoberts, AJ Brown, JRB, jmondick, ursus, Freddy-G, Adrian Garcia, Yvon, dean82, smperry, FortressOne, Ryan_L, rodneyat, 123eranoid, Gordon of Eden, choad42,

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by thndrstk6

Tom7,
Here's the fixed up version of your BN6. Let me know what you think.

Let you know what I think? I think you could be doing this for a business is what I think, this is super!

Originally I had in mind to have a BN6 and an AC6 that were mirror images of each other, but from your photos I can see that isn't what I want after all. The bass clef would look much better in an ebony that matches the finger board, rather than a burled redwood that matches the AC6, don't you think?

I wouldn't have been able to realize that without the help of your fantastic mockups.

Also, I wonder if we should be afraid to cover the finger board with the clef sign. Below is a photo of my Fodera Yin Yang (gang, forgive me for posting it in an Fbass forum). They put holly and ebony on the maple finger board so that the yin yang symbol could be as huge as possible.

Of course, I've always felt they should have used a holly cover for the bridge pickup because that black line messes up the yin yang symbol.

This is cool.

Is this a lot of trouble? I don't want to take more of your time.

[thndrstk6]

Nah it takes two seconds. I do everything by hands so changing stuff is quick. It's all in layers so I can make quick adjustments. I like the fretboard idea though. One sec.

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by Vic

You're welcome.

I can see your point, but I've played these strings off and on for years on different basses and never had that happen. Has it actually happened to you?

I often anchor off the bridge pickup and play right over the top of it and I've never hit the taper.

FWIW, anyway.

Actually, it happened in the first 15 or 20 minutes of getting my first BN5, then again when I first got my BN6.

The first time it happened, I removed the Fbass strings right away and gave them away. Then when it happened later when my BN6 came, I just loved the tone of the strings on that bass too much to think about swapping them out, so I've stuck with them.

At first, I forgot a lot and scraped up my ring finger, but now I rarely do it. Trouble is, I have a paranoia about playing too close to the bridge now when playing other basses with regular rounds -- or flats for that matter.

When I play my AC6 with Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats, I shy away from the bridge which sometimes is exactly where I want to be.

I'm sure the root of my problem rests in the fact that I usually play with 3 fingers instead of 2, so my ring finger gets way back there into harm's way. But I've got my middle finger as well, and perhaps my pointer, I can't really remember.

But I've never heard anyone else complain about this, so it must just be my 3 finger style instead of 2 that does me in.

[Vic]

Originally Posted by Tom7

I'm sure the root of my problem rests in the fact that I usually play with 3 fingers instead of 2, so my ring finger gets way back there into harm's way.

I guess I can see that. So what are your fave strings on these then?

[Tom7]

Originally Posted by Vic

I guess I can see that. So what are your fave strings on these then?

For tone and tension reasons, Fbass strings are actually my favorites, but to preserve my finger tips I only use 'em on my BN6. On my AC6 I'm using TIJFs. For my BN5 I'm still looking for my favorite strings. I bought a BUNCH of Ken Smith slap masters, and I definitely like 'em, but I've mostly been working on depleting that supply before experimenting again with others.

I'd very much be interested in your (and everyone else's) opinions for strings on a BN5.

[thndrstk6]

Tom7,
I like the bass clef in ebony better. What do you think of these ones?