Matt Pulcinella Guitars Owner's Club

MrWalker · #1 10-05-2007, 11:47 PM

I think Matt Pulcinella's great instruments deserve their own thread. I think these great basses are among the greatest value for money instrument out there. They are handbuilt in the US, and they cost half of what most other handbuilt American instrument costs (at least for now...). I've read someone state that "Matt Pulcinella is one of lutherie's best kept secrets."

Well, maybe it's time to change that, then?

I know that Matt has a loyal community of fans here on talkbass, so I'm thinking maybe we could use this thread as a "knowledge base" for these instruments and give him the praise as he deserves.

If you'd like to learn more about Matt's great instrument, you can ask here, or you can visit Matt's web site.

So, file your Matt Pulcinella Guitars here!

MrWalker · #2 10-05-2007, 11:49 PM

So, I'll take the first spot myself (although other's here probably deserves the No. 1 spot...).

I bought the bass directly from Matt as a preowned bass. The previous owner has filed a review in the review section here at talkbass, which can be found here.

And here's a more previous body shot of my beautiful blue, quilted Level 6!

Some technical details on the bass:
It's got a swamp ash body with a quilted maple top. One piece maple neck with a pau ferro fingerboard. Hipshot bridge and tuners, Bartolini pickup and preamp that is wired with a 18V power supply and with coil tap switches, one for each pickup. It's got Yamaha TRB spacing, but a slimmer neck profile and half the weight. It's among the most ergonomic basses I've ever played. Light weight, excellent balance, fast neck profile...

This bass is all I wanted and then some.

cybersnyder · #3 10-06-2007, 07:09 AM

Count me in as #2. I own 3:

Level 5 w/ Barts and wenge neck
Level 5JJ UltraJazz and OBP-1
Level 4 P/MM setup w/sadowsky preamp

I'll get some pics up shortly, but I'm holding the #2 spot.

MrWalker · #4 10-06-2007, 09:36 AM

Looking forward to see photos of your Levels, cyber! You're #2 and welcome to the club!

We won't be a very large club, I think... but hopefully people who have questions about the instruments can find some answers here.

Tony G · #5 10-06-2007, 09:52 AM

I love trans blue on quilted maple. Sexy.

MrWalker · #6 10-06-2007, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xgabriele

I love trans blue on quilited maple. Sexy.

Thanks

I totally agree! I was sold on this bass the moment I saw it on Matt's web site. I was looking for a bass with TRB string spacing and neck, and ended up with this. could've done a lot worse, I think!

Vesperiant · #7 10-23-2007, 12:08 PM

Please count me in as a member of the Matt Pulcinella Bass fan club. I have owned two level 4s. One was actually a prototype. These are terrific basses and Matt definitely deserves all the credit he can get for his vision in creating them.

I will post pictures later.

Vesperiant

MrWalker · #8 10-24-2007, 01:47 AM

Sure, Vesperiant, you're #3!

Do you own two Level 4s now, or did you own them earlier? Of to ask in a different and more direct way, are you a MPG player now or just a big fan

Hullaballoo · #9 10-24-2007, 03:32 AM

I've got an amber ash Level 6 from '02 with P4 Barts, Pau Ferro f/board and maple neck. It's the most playable bass I've ever had, as well as being the prettiest. I've recently rewired it (using info from the Bart site) so that I've got a choice of single coil or humbucking, and the sound has really blossomed - with a bit of tweaking I can get almost any tone I like out of it. And the neck! Although it's 19mm spacing and a six, it just feels perfect and never gets tiring. I just love these basses - balance, tone, ergonomics, and looks - what more could you ask? (I do wish I'd gone for a fancy top like the quilted 6 though!)
Mark

MrWalker · #10 10-24-2007, 03:52 AM

Welcome, Mark! Your member # is 4

I totally agree with you. I've got the same wiring scheme as you've got, with coil switches. It's great! Dial in a usable eq setting, and then a little touch on the balance wheel or a flick on the coil switches creates numerous great sound! Just for adding that little bite to the walking line or roundness to the slap sound.
And BTW... this thread is in need of more photos, guys!!!

Hullaballoo · #11 10-24-2007, 07:41 AM

Here's mine (if I've worked out the picture thing)

fullrangebass · #12 10-24-2007, 07:49 AM

I own a Level 5 and it's really a more-than-meets-the-eye bass. Pic will follow very soon

cybersnyder · #13 10-24-2007, 08:01 AM

I'll try to get some pics up soon.

Hullaballoo · #14 10-24-2007, 08:20 AM

Well that wasn't too sucessful, was it? I'll have to get my wife to work out this pics thing, and put a decent one up (her brain still works)
Mark

MrWalker · #15 10-24-2007, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fullrangebass

I own a Level 5 and it's really a more-than-meets-the-eye bass. Pic will follow very soon

OK

You're #5!
I definitely agree on the "more-than-meets-the-eye" bass... although mine meets the eye very nicely, if I may say so.

Tell us more about your Level!

MrWalker · #16 10-24-2007, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hullaballoo

Well that wasn't too sucessful, was it? I'll have to get my wife to work out this pics thing, and put a decent one up (her brain still works)
Mark

I think it worked well?!

That's a nice bass you've got there! Although a quilted top is nice, there's nothing quite like simplicity in a bass. Less is more!
Is it swamp ash or alder?

Hullaballoo · #17 10-24-2007, 12:20 PM

It's ash, actually. Mine also differs from yours in that I've got just one switch which, when combined with the blend pot, gives me any of the 4 single coils, or either p/up or both humbucking. How does the switching in yours work?. Can it do parallel? That's the sound I'm most curious about, but before I did the rewiring, everyone told me that parallel is almost indistinguishable from single coil. Is this true? (I'm quite tempted to try it, just in case it sounds a bit more Stingray-ish)
I want the top on yours, by the way!

MrWalker · #18 10-24-2007, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hullaballoo

It's ash, actually. Mine also differs from yours in that I've got just one switch which, when combined with the blend pot, gives me any of the 4 single coils, or either p/up or both humbucking. How does the switching in yours work?. Can it do parallel? That's the sound I'm most curious about, but before I did the rewiring, everyone told me that parallel is almost indistinguishable from single coil. Is this true? (I'm quite tempted to try it, just in case it sounds a bit more Stingray-ish)
I want the top on yours, by the way!

I'm pretty proud of that top! It's ultra-deep and beautiful. I'll gladly admit that I was sold on that bass the first time I saw it (blue quilt... my dream-bass, to be honest!).

The (on/on) switches work per pickup, so I can switch each pickup between single and dual coil mode (I think), and then blend them using the balance pot. There's no option for a parallell mode. I presume yours is the three-position switch with inner/outer/dual coils and then blended through the balance pot? Is there a big difference between the inner/outer coils setting? I can see it coming into action on MM pickups are they are slightly wider, I'm not sure how important it is for the slimmer soapbars?

I've had an OLP bass that could be switched between series and parallell mode. The parallell mode was slightly fuller sounding... but there's not really a huge difference. I did a recording to illustrate it, I'll see if I can find it (it may have become lost when I got the new computer).

73jbass · #19 10-24-2007, 05:47 PM

I'll take #6. These are my 2 babies.

MrWalker · #20 10-24-2007, 11:14 PM

Welcome to us, 73jbazz!!
Those are a pair of extremely beautiful twins you've got there!!!
How close to a Stingray does that bass sound?