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Basses with f-holes

#61
The Epiphone Jack Casady is beautiful... don't know how it sounds though.
jack.jpg
 
#72
X Wolf said:
With all due respect the Eastwood AEB is not a knockoff of the original Ampeg AEB1 Scrollhead but the body, sans Scroll is a knockoff of the much more rare Ampeg AMB-1 Scrollhead from '68-'70 which were much improved over the earlier and more common 'Mystery Pickup" AEB-1's which had a hidden pickup and a bridge that extended past the end of the body. The AMB-1's on the other hand had a very cool pickup in the sweet spot location designed by Dan Armstrong that had four separate pickups in one bar type housing, were amazing sounding and played very well, I know because I used one from '68 to '76 and I wish it hadn't gotten away from me.

If you want to know the history of these basses you might want to visit Bruce Johnson's site www.xstrange.com to find out who played these unique basses live and in the studio from the late '60's to the present. As far as the Eastwood knockoff, I saw one at last years NAMM and it was a far cry from the original and IMHO not necessarily in a good way. FWIW, Bass Player magazine reviewed the Eastwood last month and commented along the lines that it was pretty mediocre sounding and of good but average build.

Just my 2 cents,

George
Click to expand...

My knockoff comment on the Eastwood was more of a general statement on the fact that Eastwood's trying to replicate the Ampeg scroll series of basses, at least aesthetically (though none of these knockoff brands seem to go the extra mile to include the scroll headstock, which would be a nice addition). I currently own the Eastwood and used to own an AEB, so my comments derived from experience (and a bias hatred of the AEB, LOL). Having never played an AMB, I can't comment, so I'll take your word for it that it was a better sounding instrument than the AEB, which, quite frankly, isn't that hard to accomplish. The AEB was one of the worst sounding basses ever made, IMO, thanks to that "mystery pickup" that did a wonderful job of amplifying the sound of plastic going "boink!".

I am also familair with Bruce Johnson and contacted him a few times to inquire about getting a lefty made. His basses are beautiful, but he's notoriously slow in making them (another lefty bassist friend of mine already ordered a bass from Bruce over a year ago and still doesn' t have it).

As for the Eastwood, well I like it. It was cheap, it looks cool, and it's tone is similar to a P bass (albeit with a slightly warmer tone), which makes it at least practical in more musical settings than an AEB ever could.
 

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