Recent content by George Himmel

What really put this in stark relief for me was when bass tracks from famous recordings started becoming more available on YouTube, etc. and you could hear hoe the raw/solo bass tone sounded. That fat and smooth sound almost always had a pretty fair measure of clank/grind/presence before it was...

To be fair, that’d be pretty cool. 😎

Throwing my support on the opinion that it’s an ‘80s-90s Monarch Elite (neck-through) 5, loaded with Bart JJ pickups, probably a HAZ preamp, maple neck, walnut body wings (from the grain figure can see in the stills). FWIW you can still I’m sure order this from Fodera, it’ll just cost you more...

Oh for sure—just a thing to notice, but it might be totally fine. As long as it intimates you’re good, and I’ve seen Xotics set up similarly, so it might be a very common bridge placement/intonation for where the bridge is designed to sit for them.

I personally prefer the Xotic to basically any J5 Fender has made, but it’s a personal preference. I definitely agree that if you can, meet the guy and play it to make sure the feel speaks to you, and to check intonation, since those saddles on the treble side of the bridge do look pretty maxed...

I’m the OP photo the contrast and saturation and white balance are all pretty tweaked, so it looks totally like a Tiffany Blue/aqua metallic color. But Inca Silver? Better check it in other photos (or IRL if you have the opportunity LOL) EDIT: I tweaked OP for about 12 seconds on my phone, and...

I don’t only use it for blues, but if blues is the gig, I’m probably bringing this one: Japanese Sadowsky Metro RV5-PJ with LaBella LTFs ♥️ I like it so much that it makes me forget it’s my #2 bass! 😂

It’s hard to have any criticism at all for Lull or FBass—they’re both S-tier for what I think you’re looking for. I have other builders that I could recommend that play I think in the same league (and most have been mentioned already), but I’m definitely in support of being able to play several...

I figure they just aren’t on the records/in the hands of people’s bass heroes 🤷🏻‍♂️ For me they’re awesome, and the only reason to be bummed that this one isn’t a StingRay is you can’t make its theme song 🎵 Raaaaaspberry Burst ‘Ray 🎶

Very thorough! Removing frets seems like a bit of an extreme weight reduction measure to me though ;):laugh:

This post needs to be tagged with “can I get a witness?”.

Heard. I’ve owned a Japanese Metro RV5 P/J (J5 body—the naming was kinda confusing at the time) for years and I’ve always absolutely loved the sound of the P pickup in it. I’ve never confirmed this, but because of the era and the tilted pole pieces I’ve been under the suspicion that Nordstrand...

:roflmao:A better sleuth than I will figure it out! Best visual I’ve been able to get (which is where I think the OP was sourced) is from live gigs at Rosa’s Lounge: https://www.youtube.com/live/wqP0usYfZKM?si=qzQ_W05CGSuubwsE He plays righties as lefties like Hendrix, so don’t be fooled by a...

I’m out of the loop—does anyone know why they went with 18mm spacing at the bridge? Sounds like they kept the general profile of a Sadowsky neck for 19mm spacing :bookworm:

Fantastically informative @King V If I can add one tiny thing, and it’s probably one of the more easily achievable things in this endeavor, it’s that Manring’s Hyperbass is also (or at least was when I got my hands on it really briefly several years back) set up with super light-gauge strings...