Birdsong Club Pt 2

[RoadRanger]

Have you tried LaBella flats in that tuning? The 760FMs come in short scale and I'm guessing that they'd work better than the Chromes do when tuned a full step down. I use 760FSs on my fretless Shortbass, in standard tuning, and I really like them.

The Shortbass's stock flatwounds are the heavier Chromes .050-.105 that aren't available in shortscale. They seem fine tuned DGCF. But yes, my choice would have been 760FM-S , dunno why Scott does't like shortscale strings? I'll give the Chromes a couple months to mellow before I give up on them .

 

[acleex38]

Sell me your old ones .

Sorry - last round, I moved old chromes from my current fretless (F-146) to Richard the Test Bass (C-43), and from Richard to my old main bass (C-77x - replacing half-rounds. A decade of wear-and-tear on the fretboard was causing some buzz, so I'm taking it back to old flats for now). No extra old chromes at present.

Good luck! Chromes are known for holding their brightness longer than most flats, but there is a WORLD of difference when you break them in a couple of months.

 

[Jigmay]

Birdsong Fans: Has anyone had a Birdsong made with Alembic Series I pickups? I have these in a P-Bass and I keep thinking of putting them in a Sadhana and restoring the P to stock pups. Would Scott be open to a build like this? Any ideas?

 

[JayDA]

Birdsong Fans: Has anyone had a Birdsong made with Alembic Series I pickups? I have these in a P-Bass and I keep thinking of putting them in a Sadhana and restoring the P to stock pups. Would Scott be open to a build like this? Any ideas?

Scott will most likely not install them for you, not a fan of active ANYTHING. But if they fit in the routes from a set up pickups he offers, no reason you couldn't swap them out.
I have a 5 string build happening now that is going to end up active/passive with a preamp...I just have to install it.

 

[Jigmay]

Thanks JayDA, that's good to know. I think it could be a great combo, kind of a "Poor Man's Alembic". I doubt the stock cavity is big enough, so I'll pass on this idea. Not like I need to spend the money, either.

 

[JayDA]

IMHO...I've played Alembics, Carl Thompsons, tons of high end basses. There is nothing "poor man" about a Birdsong in the slightest...unless that shiny glossy finish is that big a deal to you.

 

[banditcosmo]

Hey has anyone put D'Addario tapewounds on your Birdsong? What size? I can tell you the short scale set is too short. I'm not sure if I should go for the medium or long scale set? I'd like to try these on my Fusion fretless.

 

[daveinop]

not a club ember but I own 2 Birdsongs...a Corto 2 (#327) which I've gigged regularly since Sept 2015 and Fusion (#042) which I just picked up off of Reverb.

Quick Q, I'm going to try the Fusion for awhile as it stands, but does anyone know if there are there any drop-in replacements for the stock pickup? I'm hesitant to start unscrewing things and exploring...just yet. And I'm chicken to call Scott...he loves his Fusions.

And in response to a Q on one of the prior pages, I play through an Aggie TH 500 and SL 410x and use a Keeley Bassist Compressor pedal.

 

[macmanlou]

Hey has anyone put D'Addario tapewounds on your Birdsong? What size? I can tell you the short scale set is too short. I'm not sure if I should go for the medium or long scale set? I'd like to try these on my Fusion fretless.

I haven't tried D'Addarios, but I can say that LaBella short scale flats fit my Shortbass perfectly.

 

[daveinop]

Hey has anyone put D'Addario tapewounds on your Birdsong? What size? I can tell you the short scale set is too short. I'm not sure if I should go for the medium or long scale set? I'd like to try these on my Fusion fretless.

Haven't used tapewounds. Scott's string thru basses are made to accomodate 34" scale strings. The E string tuner will usually take a little bit of the full string diameter...like half of a wrap.

 

[beatlebass64]

not a club ember but I own 2 Birdsongs...a Corto 2 (#327) which I've gigged regularly since Sept 2015 and Fusion (#042) which I just picked up off of Reverb.

Quick Q, I'm going to try the Fusion for awhile as it stands, but does anyone know if there are there any drop-in replacements for the stock pickup? I'm hesitant to start unscrewing things and exploring...just yet. And I'm chicken to call Scott...he loves his Fusions.

And in response to a Q on one of the prior pages, I play through an Aggie TH 500 and SL 410x and use a Keeley Bassist Compressor pedal.

I can't answer your question about the fusion pickup, but I wouldn't feel bad about asking Scott. He told me once that he knew he had to start designing his own instruments when he bought a brand new guitar and immediately took it apart to swap out parts. I don't think he would mind answering any questions you have.

 

[macmanlou]

Haven't used tapewounds. Scott's string thru basses are made to accomodate 34" scale strings. The E string tuner will usually take a little bit of the full string diameter...like half of a wrap.

Aha. Scott's Shortbass is a top-loader, and the 34" scale Chromes he put on my fretless left several wraps of winding on the tuning posts. Chromes are flexible enough to do that without issue, but LaBella flats can't. IME TI flats would probably be flexible enough as well, but I'd recommend their "short scale" (really medium 32" scale) flats because they have a .106" E string (instead of the long scale's .100"), which works better on short scale basses.

 

[daveinop]

I can't answer your question about the fusion pickup, but I wouldn't feel bad about asking Scott. He told me once that he knew he had to start designing his own instruments when he bought a brand new guitar and immediately took it apart to swap out parts. I don't think he would mind answering any questions you have.

I was kidding...sort of : ) I've met Scott and talked with him several times and he wouldn't be mad at all. He's a really really good dude. I was just wondering if anyone had done that to see what the options might be. I don't want to unscrew anything I don't have to. I'm actually having very good luck running the Fusion through my Sansamp Bass Driver Deluxe and expanding on the versatility. That will also help send a consistent signal to the sound board when I switch basses during a performance. I'm going to tune one bass to E standard and the other to Eb standard.

And when I want that original Fusion sound, I'll still have it.

 

[jmceachern36]

Hey has anyone put D'Addario tapewounds on your Birdsong? What size? I can tell you the short scale set is too short. I'm not sure if I should go for the medium or long scale set? I'd like to try these on my Fusion fretless.

My Birdsong Embrace came with d'addario tape wounds. They were long scale. I changed them almost immediately to the Labella tape wounds. The Labella strings sound bigger, thicker, more punch? To me anyway. I may have a used set kicking around somewhere if you wanted to check them out. Come to think of it I may have the daddarios as well. I've always used long scale strings on all of my birdsong basses.

 

[banditcosmo]

Which size Labella's did you use ? I had a left over set from a Rob Allen Mouse that wouldn't fit my Birdsong as the gauge was too big and I'd have to widen the nut. I did put them on my Landing fretless and that's now my favorite bass. Looks like Labella has 105's I'll give those a shot. I think the ones that came with the Mouse were 115's.

 

[jmceachern36]

Which size Labella's did you use ? I had a left over set from a Rob Allen Mouse that wouldn't fit my Birdsong as the gauge was too big and I'd have to widen the nut. I did put them on my Landing fretless and that's now my favorite bass. Looks like Labella has 105's I'll give those a shot. I think the ones that came with the Mouse were 115's.

I had/have the 115s. Didn't have a problem installing them. The fusion has the 0 fret. The nut slots don't have to be so exact. I'd check the fusion. The 115's May fit without any adjustments. I think the mouse is a 30 inch scale though. So those strings may be short.

 

[offhand35]

not a club ember but I own 2 Birdsongs...a Corto 2 (#327) which I've gigged regularly since Sept 2015 and Fusion (#042) which I just picked up off of Reverb.

Quick Q, I'm going to try the Fusion for awhile as it stands, but does anyone know if there are there any drop-in replacements for the stock pickup? I'm hesitant to start unscrewing things and exploring...just yet. And I'm chicken to call Scott...he loves his Fusions.

And in response to a Q on one of the prior pages, I play through an Aggie TH 500 and SL 410x and use a Keeley Bassist Compressor pedal.

I had gotten Fusion #53 about a year and a half ago, and though I love the body size & shape, I thought the pick up was quite weak, especially on the low E string. I had struggled with changing p/u height and bridge adjustments, but finally gave up and put a TV Jones Thunder Blade in it. It is a smaller sized pickup, but the gap all around it just appears as shadow, and does not detract from the appearance in my opinion.

 

[lug]

I had gotten Fusion #53View attachment 2851569 about a year and a half ago, and though I love the body size & shape, I thought the pick up was quite weak, especially on the low E string. I had struggled with changing p/u height and bridge adjustments, but finally gave up and put a TV Jones Thunder Blade in it. It is a smaller sized pickup, but the gap all around it just appears as shadow, and does not detract from the appearance in my opinion.

Color me Jealous!

 

[ICM]

I just had the opportunity to play one of these today, a fretless. What a solid bass, amazing neck profile, perfect build and setup, seriously a spot on instrument. It was a blast to play, especially since the neck is shortscale and pencil-necky. It felt very similar to my Hofner which feels like home to me. Easily one of the best basses I've ever played and THE best fretless I've ever played by a long shot.
Also I got to meet a fellow TB member, we were talking bass and go figure, he's on talkbass. So cheers to you @acleex38 ! Thanks for letting me play your bass and it was great talking with you!

 

[jmceachern36]

not a club ember but I own 2 Birdsongs...a Corto 2 (#327) which I've gigged regularly since Sept 2015 and Fusion (#042) which I just picked up off of Reverb.

Quick Q, I'm going to try the Fusion for awhile as it stands, but does anyone know if there are there any drop-in replacements for the stock pickup? I'm hesitant to start unscrewing things and exploring...just yet. And I'm chicken to call Scott...he loves his Fusions.

And in response to a Q on one of the prior pages, I play through an Aggie TH 500 and SL 410x and use a Keeley Bassist Compressor pedal.

That's a regular sized guitar humbucker under there so there should be many replacements. The one issue you may have is he attaches it directly to the body so you may have to make some adjustments attaching a new one if you want to be able to adjust the pickup height and reuse the pickup cover.