7-strings (F#): Conklin or Roscoe?

Diezel420 · Oct 2, 2001

Just curious, but who makes the better all-around 7 string (w/ the low F#)? Are there major differences in quality, playability, or (most importantly) sound?

Oh, and JT, I know that you are going to answer "Conklin". But hey, if you've played Roscoes too, tell me about it.

Thanks!

Also, I was at conklinguitars.com and saw some info on strings of theirs, and I've never heard anyhting about Conklin strings. Any ideas?

WarwickUser · Oct 2, 2001

Get the Roscoe!!! much better bass IMHO...ive played both and the conklin was very nice dont get me wrong but the roscoe blew me away...im lucky i live around 15 minutes from the roscoe factory

WarwickUser · Oct 2, 2001

btw the ones i played had a high f...cant say i see much use for a low f but thats just me

Angus · Oct 2, 2001

I've never played either bass strung with an F#, but I must say I MUCH prefered the SKB-3007 to the PRODUCTION Conklins, but it's really NOT a fair comparison. Which Conklins are you referring to? It makes a huge difference.

Peter Parker · Oct 2, 2001

Originally posted by WarwickUser
Get the Roscoe!!! much better bass IMHO...ive played both and the conklin was very nice dont get me wrong but the roscoe blew me away...im lucky i live around 15 minutes from the roscoe factory
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Hey warwickuser, who are you? I live in Greensboro also. Do you play in any local bands? By the way, I've played both brands and it was a toss up. The Conklin I'm referring to is the top of the line American version. They are very nice. I've owned a few Roscoe's and they are nice as well.

adrian garcia · Oct 2, 2001

Both great basses - i cant comment on the lo F# however- i had the Bill Dickens for a minute, but frankly, 7 is over the top for me- very well made, the eq takes some time to get used to-
I have owned a Roscoe, a 5- they are amazing sounding basses- you gotta try them is all i can say- thats gonna be tough though.. i will add this- Bill Conklin is as smooth a person as youre ever gonna find in this bizz- he is a true gentleman.

Oysterman · Oct 3, 2001

Originally posted by Diezel420
Also, I was at conklinguitars.com and saw some info on strings of theirs, and I've never heard anyhting about Conklin strings. Any ideas?
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From the Conklin guru himself: "the conklin snakeskins are repackaged dean markley sr2000 strings, with different color windings (bill conklin doesn't make his own strings yet)."

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=8349

c-ba55 · Oct 3, 2001

Can you actually see the f# string's vibrations individually? If it's down around 25 Hz or something, some people's eyes should be able to pick that out. I think movie film is 30 Hz (fps). Some famous baseball hitters can't go to the movies because they see the individual frames even at 30 fps, and it bothers them.

boogiebass · Oct 3, 2001

I've never checked out Conklin's custom jobs, just the Korean Dickens and lower level GT's, but I can tell you that the SKB3007 is a great bass. Easily the best B string I've ever heard and that 18v Bart setup is really quite amazing sounding.

chrisavery · Oct 3, 2001

Originally posted by c-ba55
Can you actually see the f# string's vibrations individually? If it's down around 25 Hz or something, some people's eyes should be able to pick that out. I think movie film is 30 Hz (fps). Some famous baseball hitters can't go to the movies because they see the individual frames even at 30 fps, and it bothers them.
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Movie film runs at 24fps, video runs at 30fps..

john turner · Oct 3, 2001

well, i've played a few roscoes (3 to be exact) that were tuned with a low F#. i also have 3 (presently) of my custom conklins tuned to low F#.

obviously, the conklins were better, in my opinion, since that's what i chose to purchase. that's not to say that the roscoes were bad - they were all great instruments. furthermore, the low F# on my conklins are better than any others that i have played - which include elrick, fodera, curbow and warrior, as well as roscoe and conklin - all fine basses, of course, but as far as low F# goes, my conklins were the best. i have yet to play a low B or a low F# that was better than the low B on my conklins, therefore i purchased conklin basses and have not purchased others.

ultimately, though, these kinds of questions are pretty ridiculous. nobody can say with impunity how well you are going to like a bass or its performance. you are going to get a bunch of opinions, and some of them will not be based upon factual experience. this will not be readily apparent in a thread like this.

and no, you can't see the string's vibrations individually, although you can tell that the string is vibrating slower than the others.

boogiebass · Oct 3, 2001

Originally posted by john turner

ultimately, though, these kinds of questions are pretty ridiculous. nobody can say with impunity how well you are going to like a bass or its performance. you are going to get a bunch of opinions, and some of them will not be based upon factual experience. this will not be readily apparent in a thread like this.

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Perhaps. But soliciting opinions is what this forum is all about. By sorting through responses, one can get a general impression on various instruments. I consider that rather practical, not ridiculous at all. In my case, I carefully evaluated a number of 7's before deciding to purchase the Roscoe. This was necessarily limited to the instruments I could put my hands on but opinions like those expressed here can definitely help focus in on the "short list."

john turner · Oct 4, 2001

Originally posted by boogiebass

Perhaps. But soliciting opinions is what this forum is all about. By sorting through responses, one can get a general impression on various instruments. I consider that rather practical, not ridiculous at all.

by ridiculous i meant that it's impossible to tell someone's experience with an instrument just by their word, as well as what they are looking for from an instrument. the specific things that i like in an instrument could be the very same things that you dislike.

furthermore, this particular question is also ridiculous because i seriously doubt many of the respondents on this thread have played any basses, conklin, roscoe or others, that even have the low F# strung on them. i know that it's pretty rare, and on all the commercially available basses that i've played with the low F# string, the string itself was dead. really, pretty much the only properly set-up low-F# equipped basses that i've played were at namm shows, and not all namm show basses that i've played with them had live F# strings - a few of the manufacturers that make those strings don't do a particularly good job of it, ime.

In my case, I carefully evaluated a number of 7's before deciding to purchase the Roscoe. This was necessarily limited to the instruments I could put my hands on but opinions like those expressed here can definitely help focus in on the "short list."
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that's very true. my only point was that relying too heavily on suggestions from others usually only limits one's potential experience to the sum of experiences of others, and with a forum like the internet, the extent and nature of others' experience is

there's just a lot of variables, and they come out into play in situations like this heavily.

boogiebass · Oct 4, 2001

Originally posted by john turner

that's very true. my only point was that relying too heavily on suggestions from others usually only limits one's potential experience to the sum of experiences of others, and with a forum like the internet, the extent and nature of others' experience is there's just a lot of variables, and they come out into play in situations like this heavily.
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Several good points, John. I especially agree with your comments re: the F# issue. I've only played a few set up that way and I also found them pretty variable.

In general, I think the key to putting opinions to practical use is the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, admittedly not always an easy task!

lo-end · Oct 4, 2001

You don't play the seven string bass, it plays YOU.

beermonkey · Oct 4, 2001

First, how long have you been playing bass? In my opinion, you should start with a 4 string and learn to play. After you've spent a great deal of time working with a 4 string (2-3 years depending on how much you practice), move to a 5.. and so on.

I personally see no use in having more than 5 strings. The whole "it's for jazz, it's for soloing" argument doesn't sit with me, Jaco did it all with 4 strings.

Whatever, to each his own.. just don't make a mistake and buy something with more strings than you can handle. It's a lot more difficult to keep a 6-7 string bass under control than it is with a 6-7 string guitar.

lo-end · Oct 4, 2001

nothing wrong with starting on a five, IMO. Its just those damned high strings that you have to work your way up to...

I wouldnt start with anything with more than 5 strings though.

Basso Gruvitas · Oct 4, 2001

Absolutely...Roscoe!! It doesn't compare to a GT-7. There's a big jump in workmanship when you go to a Roscoe.

embellisher · Oct 4, 2001

Originally posted by Zon4John
Absolutely...Roscoe!! It doesn't compare to a GT-7. There's a big jump in workmanship when you go to a Roscoe.
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But the USA Conklins and the Roscoes are in the same class. At that price point, workmanship is a given. It comes down to personal preference.

embellisher · Oct 4, 2001

Originally posted by beermonkey
First, how long have you been playing bass? In my opinion, you should start with a 4 string and learn to play. After you've spent a great deal of time working with a 4 string (2-3 years depending on how much you practice), move to a 5.. and so on.

I personally see no use in having more than 5 strings. The whole "it's for jazz, it's for soloing" argument doesn't sit with me, Jaco did it all with 4 strings.

Whatever, to each his own.. just don't make a mistake and buy something with more strings than you can handle. It's a lot more difficult to keep a 6-7 string bass under control than it is with a 6-7 string guitar.
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I don't see the point in starting out with a 4 stringer, if you want to ultimately play a 5.

I play 4, 5, and 6, and wish that I had started on fretless 5. If I had played fretless 5 for 20+ years, I can't imagine how good I could be.

Of course, if I had started upright at 8, I could have been phenomenal.

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