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Brubaker Brute Club, Part 2

#561
Mine had nothing on it. Not even a written in SN. I made my own number up. The date I received it and I let Kevin know about it. Mine was the last he sold from his shop, I believe.
 
#563
As far as making tweaks, yes, no matter what brand, a thin profile neck will always require by and large more regular adjustment then reinforced ones. Lightwave Systems/Willcox Guitars makes maybe the thinnest neck front to back I've ever owned, and it did require me to touch it more then say my Kubicki Ex-Factor. They key is that it is adjustable and you can dial it in to where you want it with no issues.

As a former label signed bassist who has toured the world, why do you think we all have our own tour techs? Because sometimes, even during a show, you need to make adjustments because of where and how you are playing. There was a thread over on the Fodera Club that talked about a particular Fodera that had a neck that needed more adjustments then the player was used to with his Fender. Well, that does happen. The key is that it is adjustable and you can keep it playable.

I also want to point out, as most of you are saying here, you guys are looking for super low action with minimal regular adjustments, which in my personal experience is not the case. Now I am a person who learned to play in the 1960's, and what I call low action for all of you would be super high action (20-30 thousandths at the 8th fret) so I need to adjust the neck much less frequently. If you read the bass maintenance article done by Roger Sadowsky about ten years ago he talks about how Will Lee has actually moved to slightly higher action over the years, and I am sure in part it is due to being able to not have to constantly adjust the neck before playing it.

Either way, pretty darn amazing that you can have a bass at the price point of a Brubaker Brute that you can dial in super low action in most cases.
 
#564
Tom,

Words of wisdom indeed. When I sold a bass recently, I described the action as being low (for me). I had to adjust the neck maybe once a year or so. When the guy got the bass, he thought the action was medium to high.

TRichardsbass said:
As far as making tweaks, yes, no matter what brand, a thin profile neck will always require by and large more regular adjustment then reinforced ones. Lightwave Systems/Willcox Guitars makes maybe the thinnest neck front to back I've ever owned, and it did require me to touch it more then say my Kubicki Ex-Factor. They key is that it is adjustable and you can dial it in to where you want it with no issues.

As a former label signed bassist who has toured the world, why do you think we all have our own tour techs? Because sometimes, even during a show, you need to make adjustments because of where and how you are playing. There was a thread over on the Fodera Club that talked about a particular Fodera that had a neck that needed more adjustments then the player was used to with his Fender. Well, that does happen. The key is that it is adjustable and you can keep it playable.

I also want to point out, as most of you are saying here, you guys are looking for super low action with minimal regular adjustments, which in my personal experience is not the case. Now I am a person who learned to play in the 1960's, and what I call low action for all of you would be super high action (20-30 thousandths at the 8th fret) so I need to adjust the neck much less frequently. If you read the bass maintenance article done by Roger Sadowsky about ten years ago he talks about how Will Lee has actually moved to slightly higher action over the years, and I am sure in part it is due to being able to not have to constantly adjust the neck before playing it.

Either way, pretty darn amazing that you can have a bass at the price point of a Brubaker Brute that you can dial in super low action in most cases.
Click to expand...
 
#565
+ 1 to Tom's point that as the action gets lower, the neck relief becomes more critical.

Makes sense, because the purpose of neck relief is to allow for the arc of the vibrating string to clear frets above where the note is stopped. Hence, high action provides some of this clearance just by itself, while low action relies on the neck's relief.
 
#566
Another thing came to mind, regarding how often a player adjusts the relief. IIRC, Doug Johns said in an interview (prolly in Bass Gear Mag, again IIRC) that he left the truss rod cover off his Pedulla bass because he adjusted the relief all the time. Guess that's an extreme case, but it's to Tom's point that--depending on conditions and player preferences--good quality basses might need frequent truss rod adjustments.
 
#567
TRichardsbass said:
As far as making tweaks, yes, no matter what brand, a thin profile neck will always require by and large more regular adjustment then reinforced ones. Lightwave Systems/Willcox Guitars makes maybe the thinnest neck front to back I've ever owned, and it did require me to touch it more then say my Kubicki Ex-Factor. They key is that it is adjustable and you can dial it in to where you want it with no issues.

As a former label signed bassist who has toured the world, why do you think we all have our own tour techs? Because sometimes, even during a show, you need to make adjustments because of where and how you are playing. There was a thread over on the Fodera Club that talked about a particular Fodera that had a neck that needed more adjustments then the player was used to with his Fender. Well, that does happen. The key is that it is adjustable and you can keep it playable.

I also want to point out, as most of you are saying here, you guys are looking for super low action with minimal regular adjustments, which in my personal experience is not the case. Now I am a person who learned to play in the 1960's, and what I call low action for all of you would be super high action (20-30 thousandths at the 8th fret) so I need to adjust the neck much less frequently. If you read the bass maintenance article done by Roger Sadowsky about ten years ago he talks about how Will Lee has actually moved to slightly higher action over the years, and I am sure in part it is due to being able to not have to constantly adjust the neck before playing it.

Either way, pretty darn amazing that you can have a bass at the price point of a Brubaker Brute that you can dial in super low action in most cases.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Tom! Overall the Brute neck is super comfy, easy to get around on, and can hold some slick low action (a rosewood fretboard would be nice :p). My main point was making sure that i could make the adjustments as needed. I've owned a couple "budget" (not that the Brute is "budget" by any means) basses that had the truss rod max out very quickly or just not work properly after some time.
 
#568
Looks like the newly updated Brutes are finally arriving soon......least I hope so. :hyper:

Yeah, and I meant to ask here if the Brutes came with rods in the neck like my Skylines. Guess not. Me, I like abit higher action on my basses. But I'm wierd that way, cuz I sorta pound my basses when I play.

And that's just on some Tx blues cover tunes. :cool:

Can't wait to pound my new, black, Brute MJX-5er. :bassist:
 
#569
ErnieD said:
Looks like the newly updated Brutes are finally arriving soon......least I hope so. :hyper:

Yeah, and I meant to ask here if the Brutes came with rods in the neck like my Skylines. Guess not. Me, I like abit higher action on my basses. But I'm wierd that way, cuz I sorta pound my basses when I play.

And that's just on some Tx blues cover tunes. :cool:

Can't wait to pound my new, black, Brute MJX-5er. :bassist:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I got a message from the shop I bought my Brute SC from that they expected to be able to ship in about two weeks. Can't. F'n. Wait.
 
#570
I've gotten a couple emails since I paid for my Brute back in mid-May; hope this last one is for real.

I may do as suggested here recently and contact TR...bass to see if I can possibly get a real ship date. Going right to the source........I hope.
 

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