So do you gig without a backup?
How's she strung?
I like the cream pickup covers and knobs
Strings used? Any re-fret in 34 years? That's a lotta
Primarily, I do not take any other bass with me at this point to my gigs. I do have a 5-string Rogue LX405 Pro that was made in Korea before they switched to Chinese manufacture. Groups I'm currently playing with don't do any songs I need a 5-string for, so it usually just sits in my man-grotto (no door, so can't be a man-cave) at home and gathers dust.
I got it quite a while back when the group I was playing with had about 3 songs where I had to tune the E string down to D to play. About the third time that I forgot to tune my E-string back to E after one of those songs I decided I really needed to get a 5-string for those songs.
I bought it because of a friend's recommendation who had two of Rogue's basses. I think I paid all of ~$219 for it. I was really surprised at how nice it was when I received it. Build, fit, and finish is superb and the neck is comfortable for me to play. It looks good too and has a good sound to it. However...it just doesn't have the sound that my Jazz does...I love my "white lady".
She's strung the standard EADG. I have not had a re-fret done and the frets still seem to be in good shape. I didn't really get to play her much until 1997 when I finally got another amp. Had 3 kids at home in 85 and no spare $ for an amp. In 1997 my son gave me a bass amp he was no longer using.
The frets on her have worn out strings though. You could feel the wear on last pair of Dean Markley Blue Steel strings that I used on her and the set of DR Black Beauties I had on her have really bright silver marks on the fret side of the strings where the frets have worn through the coating.
Took a bit of sleuthing to figure out she's a 1982 build because the serial number shows late 1977/early 1978. Had to look at part numbers in the control plate to see when they were made. There was no dating on the heel of the neck.
I really do like the look of the entire bass. It's pretty unusual to find an Olympic White bass with white pick ups, white pick guard, white strat-type control knobs, and white binding on a maple neck. I put a wide white leather strap on in in '85 when I got her and after only using round wounds on her for 33-years, I put La Bella Deep Talking Bass Tape Wound Flats on last May.
Of course I chose the white tape wounds instead of the black. They are really a milky-white semi-transparent tape but close enough. I really like those strings. Still have plenty of brightness to them and the sound balance across the strings is the best I've had. The D and G strings sound much fuller than the ones on either the Blue Steel or the DR Black Beauties did. Did I mention I really like these strings?
And the neck's a sinker, old as the hills drool
