G. Gould Club!

[nick g.]

Here's mine:



So, who else has one of these?

[finn74]

It's graet to see a club for G Gould basses. Once my G.Gould is out of layaway and in my posession i'll submit a pic and join the club. G Gould rocks like no other!

[Hoover]

I'm impressed that there are 2 of you out there! G.Gould basses are so off-the-radar I was beginning to suspect it was just a tax shelter, or a front for Geoff's illicit operations

I have a Modulus from 1988 when Geoff still ran the company, can I be the bastard stepchild of your club?

[sheepgotoheaven]

There is one at a store near me and needless to say, the bass is pure sex. Graphite goodness with a delicious walnut top. 2,300 is a little too much

[IdealWay]

Is Graphite Guitar Systems a product of Geoff Gould or Jerry Dorsch? I forget...

[dragonbass]

Originally Posted by IdealWay

Is Graphite Guitar Systems a product of Geoff Gould or Jerry Dorsch? I forget...

Jerry Dorsch.

Rob

[nick g.]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I'm impressed that there are 2 of you out there! G.Gould basses are so off-the-radar I was beginning to suspect it was just a tax shelter, or a front for Geoff's illicit operations

I have a Modulus from 1988 when Geoff still ran the company, can I be the bastard stepchild of your club?

You can hang out with us but you can't have any of our punch and pie.

[nick g.]

Bump!

[Hoover]

more pics please!

[StephenR]

Hello...

New member here... never see much attention paid to Geoff's excellent basses so I wanted to join up and contribute to this thread. My G. Gould basses have been my primary stage instruments since 2001. From 1988-2001 I played an 1988 Modulus Quantum neck through 5 string which replaced the Alembic Series 1 five string I played from 1985-1988. I have 2 G. Gould basses both 5 strings. The first one I got was a GGJ5 with a figured walnut top and EMG jazz bass style pickups, both are different but I don't remember the actual EMG pickup model numbers. The front of the headstock is laminated with graphite. The neck is wood reinforced internally with graphite. In 2003 I picked up a GGi5 with cocabola top and headstock laminate. The neck on the GGi5 (also graphite reinforced wood) is a bit wider than the one on the GGJ5 and has a slightly different profile. I like the wider neck better but they both play and feel great. The GGi5 I have has 2 of the EMG-CS-GG pickups that Geoff has custom made for him. They are modified versions of the EMG dual coil CS pickups and have dual coils but a single magnet giving the sound more of a single coil characteristic while retaining the high output, warm sound and low noise of the EMG CS pickups. Both basses have the EMG-BQ30 3-band EQ system. When I got my Goulds Geoff was not making graphite necked basses. Couple of pics below. I am not a photographer and apologize for the quality of the pics. It is especially hard to get a shot of the Walnut top that does justice to all of the color and figure in the wood.




GGi5 Cocabola




GGJ5 figured Walnut

Stephen

[nick g.]

Here's some crappy iPhone pics:

[nick g.]

Originally Posted by StephenR

Hello...

New member here... never see much attention paid to Geoff's excellent basses so I wanted to join up and contribute to this thread. My G. Gould basses have been my primary stage instruments since 2001. From 1988-2001 I played an 1988 Modulus Quantum neck through 5 string which replaced the Alembic Series 1 five string I played from 1985-1988. I have 2 G. Gould basses both 5 strings. The first one I got was a GGJ5 with a figured walnut top and EMG jazz bass style pickups, both are different but I don't remember the actual EMG pickup model numbers. The front of the headstock is laminated with graphite. The neck is wood reinforced internally with graphite. In 2003 I picked up a GGi5 with cocabola top and headstock laminate. The neck on the GGi5 (also graphite reinforced wood) is a bit wider than the one on the GGJ5 and has a slightly different profile. I like the wider neck better but they both play and feel great. The GGi5 I have has 2 of the EMG pickups that Geoff has custom made for him. They are modified versions of the EMG dual coil CS pickups and have a single coil but 2 magnets giving the sound more of a single coil characteristic while retaining the high output, warm sound and low noise of the EMG CS pickups. Both basses have the EMG-BQ30 3-band EQ system. When I got my Goulds Geoff was not making graphite necked basses. Couple of pics below. I am not a photographer and apologize for the quality of the pics. It is especially hard to get a shot of the Walnut top that does justice to all of the color and figure in the wood.




GGi5 Cocabola




GGJ5 figured Walnut

Stephen

Wow! I think yours beat mine.

You're #2 in the club.

[StephenR]

Since everyone seems to like pictures here are a couple of shots of my 1988 Modulus Quantum 5. My interest in the G. Gould basses was a result of years spent playing one of Geoff's Modulus era basses. My Quantum 5 was made specially for a trade show with a red through body neck instead of the standard black. I believe the top and back are alder (over a core of mahogany), the red finish is transparent but doesn't look that way in the photos. It came with 3 different Bartolini pickups which I didn't care much for. Before I bought the Modulus I called Alembic to see whether they could make me pickups in the size I needed to replace the Bartolini's. Luckily they had a mold for the pick up size I needed on hand that Geoff had sent them. He wanted to experiment with using Alembic pickups but never followed through and had any made. I had Alembic make my pickups based on the pickups that they used in their Distillate basses. I opted for a simpler set of Alembic electronics though. The chassis is the same as the one used for the Alembic Activator bass pickups (jazz and precision style pickups). It has a single volume control plus a tone control that changes the resonant peak (Q) of the pickups. It has a subtle but to me very obvious effect on the sound, a slight change in the Q helps the mids cut through in situations where I find it hard to hear due to other dominant frequencies on stage. The low B on this bass sounds awesome with the Alembic pickups. Punchy and way deeper and warmer than with the Bartolini's.







Stephen

[Pete skjold]

Originally Posted by StephenR

Since everyone seems to like pictures here are a couple of shots of my 1988 Modulus Quantum 5. My interest in the G. Gould basses was a result of years spent playing one of Geoff's Modulus era basses. My Quantum 5 was made specially for a trade show with a red through body neck instead of the standard black. I believe the top and back are alder (over a core of mahogany), the red finish is transparent but doesn't look that way in the photos. It came with 3 different Bartolini pickups which I didn't care much for. Before I bought the Modulus I called Alembic to see whether they could make me pickups in the size I needed to replace the Bartolini's. Luckily they had a mold for the pick up size I needed on hand that Geoff had sent them. He wanted to experiment with using Alembic pickups but never followed through and had any made. I had Alembic make my pickups based on the pickups that they used in their Distillate basses. I opted for a simpler set of Alembic electronics though. The chassis is the same as the one used for the Alembic Activator bass pickups (jazz and precision style pickups). It has a single volume control plus a tone control that changes the resonant peak (Q) of the pickups. It has a subtle but to me very obvious effect on the sound, a slight change in the Q helps the mids cut through in situations where I find it hard to hear due to other dominant frequencies on stage. The low B on this bass sounds awesome with the Alembic pickups. Punchy and way deeper and warmer than with the Bartolini's.







Stephen

Man I love this body shape! I loved it so much than when I designed my standard 92 ( in 1992) I barrowed the upper horn look. Of course very soon after they went to the bolt ons and discontinued these. I really like the Gould basses too, He was quite the inovator.

Pete

[StephenR]

Originally Posted by nick g.

Wow! I think yours beat mine.

You're #2 in the club.

Ranks of the club have swelled!

Nice bass Nick, you need to take some photos with a better camera so you can show it off a bit. Which EMG pickups do you have in your bass? Also curious as to why you chose a Gould since hardly anyone seems to know they even exist? My personal preference is for natural wood tops (a preference not shared by all bass players) but what counts is the sound and how well a bass plays. I almost passed on the red Modulus since I really did not want a red bass but it was being sold new at a great price, would have cost way more to order one with a figured wood top. It is an excellent sounding and playing bass so I learned to live with the red but I must admit the color has always bugged me.

Stephen

[StephenR]

Originally Posted by Pete skjold

Man I love this body shape! I loved it so much than when I designed my standard 92 ( in 1992) I barrowed the upper horn look. Of course very soon after they went to the bolt ons and discontinued these. I really like the Gould basses too, He was quite the inovator.

Pete

Hi Pete

What is interesting about this body shape is that it is essentially a precision bass body that has been re-shaped and contoured. If I hold my precision bass body up to the Modulus the bodies are both the same size (upper horn is the same length) just shaped differently. As a luthier I am sure that you are aware that the majority of basses with an elongated upper horn all have an upper bout that lines up with the 12th fret since they balance best that way. Most instruments structurally follow the tried and true designs of the first generation electric basses and guitars even if they look cosmetically different, very few luthiers have done anything truly new. It is pretty amazing how great the early Fender basses (and guitars) are and how the basic design has held up all these years considering they are just flat slabs of wood with bolt on necks, at least the Gibsons had set necks with a traditional neck joint. We do have Geoff to thank for graphite neck technology and pioneering the 35" scale for multi-stringed basses but he would be the first to admit that his instruments are basically redesigned/modernized Fender basses.

I have yet to play one of your basses but have always admired them visually and do hope to one day get some playing time in on one so I can experience what they are all about.

Stephen

[nick g.]

Originally Posted by StephenR

Ranks of the club have swelled!

Nice bass Nick, you need to take some photos with a better camera so you can show it off a bit. Which EMG pickups do you have in your bass? Also curious as to why you chose a Gould since hardly anyone seems to know they even exist? My personal preference is for natural wood tops (a preference not shared by all bass players) but what counts is the sound and how well a bass plays. I almost passed on the red Modulus since I really did not want a red bass but it was being sold new at a great price, would have cost way more to order one with a figured wood top. It is an excellent sounding and playing bass so I learned to live with the red but I must admit the color has always bugged me.

Stephen

I believe the pickups are an 35J in the neck and a 35TW in the bridge.

I didn't really know about G. Gould basses at all until I looked up The Bass Place in Scottsdale, AZ. I saw that they had a couple of these, even my own bass about two years ago. Eventually I sacked up and made the drive last summer, though with the intent to check out the Goulds. I actually was pretty intent on ordering an Music Man Sterling BFR. But I was convinced to try out the black Gould that's mine now.

To be honest, one of the big draws of this bass to me was the fact that it didn't have some kind of figured top. It doesn't advertise that it's a boutique bass, but it sure as hell plays and sounds like one. I'm in a metal band, and I needed a 4 string to look the part. It was also a good deal less expensive that if it had a natural top and all that.

I wouldn't say I necessarily prefer a paintjob to a natural finish - but the circumstances necessitated a plainer look for my bass. I'd kill for a 6 string Gould with a top like either one of yours.

[nick g.]

Oh, BTW:

http://www.thebassplace.com/cgi-bin/...atename=basses

The Bass Place's stock of G. Goulds. The purple-green bass is actually already sold.

[Pete skjold]

Originally Posted by StephenR

Hi Pete

What is interesting about this body shape is that it is essentially a precision bass body that has been re-shaped and contoured. If I hold my precision bass body up to the Modulus the bodies are both the same size (upper horn is the same length) just shaped differently. As a luthier I am sure that you are aware that the majority of basses with an elongated upper horn all have an upper bout that lines up with the 12th fret since they balance best that way. Most instruments structurally follow the tried and true designs of the first generation electric basses and guitars even if they look cosmetically different, very few luthiers have done anything truly new. It is pretty amazing how great the early Fender basses (and guitars) are and how the basic design has held up all these years considering they are just flat slabs of wood with bolt on necks, at least the Gibsons had set necks with a traditional neck joint. We do have Geoff to thank for graphite neck technology and pioneering the 35" scale for multi-stringed basses but he would be the first to admit that his instruments are basically redesigned/modernized Fender basses.

I have yet to play one of your basses but have always admired them visually and do hope to one day get some playing time in on one so I can experience what they are all about.

Stephen

This is a very good point you bring up. I basically drew up the body of my 92 on graph paper, it was later transfered to the full size. So I had no reference of any other bass, .....But, while I was working on my lion's pride ( Leo's pride and joy ) series I put the 92 into the template of the P-style body and lo and behold it matched up at all the important places like the end of the horn and armrest etc. So that was pretty cool, then I put my Offset 92 into the J-style body and once again it matched up in such a way that you would have figured I used the J body as a reference and cut away parts of it . So you are very right, what has come before is really the standard for any new designs no matter how modern.

Pete

[bassmanbob1]

I'm new. Hope this posts correctly.
Got this baby in 2000. Pic not the sharpest I know...
Also have a Modulus Q5 (cocobolo ) from when Geoff was there.