Carlo Robelli Club!

[MusicallyMrM]

I finished it up this evening, fabricated a Pickguard, added New Chrome Tuners and Knobs. Don't have much over a $100 in this old re-built/modded Carlo Robelli Bass. Plays great and sounds fantastic.
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Kewl. . This bass reminds me of a 70's Gibson Ripper that I have.

 

[EdBo]

I wish I could find one like this cheap.

Or better yet !

I can dream.
But the one I have I can gig and not worry about hurting it.

 

[GKon]

I finished it up this evening, fabricated a Pickguard, added New Chrome Tuners and Knobs. Don't have much over a $100 in this old re-built/modded Carlo Robelli Bass. Plays great and sounds fantastic.
View attachment 3232377

That came out great! I'm so happy for you that you ended up buying it and it worked out well for you. Like I always say, these basses play and sound great!
I'd love to hear it with the mid mounted pickup.

 

[zkurtb]

Hi All,
Following up on my CR project - setting up and fixing the recently acquired 5-string (posts 166 and 171). I did finally get the bad push-pull pot replaced. It was a fair amount of soldering, lots of wires were connected to it. I've been unable to test it as the 9v battery plug is missing one pole. No stores here in remote north idaho carry those so I have some mail ordered, still awaiting their arrival. Meanwhile I put in a temporary nut shim from some plastic material I have around, to test out the thickness I'd need. It seems to be just right. Now I need to get something of that thickness I can glue in (and is black...). The truss rod/relief has also been adjusted, and the bridge height, although some fine tuning may yet be needed. Tried to get a picture but it doesn't show well. Currently the string height is 3/64 at the first fret and 8/64 at the 12th.

 

[GKon]

Hi All,
Following up on my CR project - setting up and fixing the recently acquired 5-string (posts 166 and 171). I did finally get the bad push-pull pot replaced. It was a fair amount of soldering, lots of wires were connected to it. I've been unable to test it as the 9v battery plug is missing one pole. No stores here in remote north idaho carry those so I have some mail ordered, still awaiting their arrival. Meanwhile I put in a temporary nut shim from some plastic material I have around, to test out the thickness I'd need. It seems to be just right. Now I need to get something of that thickness I can glue in (and is black...). The truss rod/relief has also been adjusted, and the bridge height, although some fine tuning may yet be needed. Tried to get a picture but it doesn't show well. Currently the string height is 3/64 at the first fret and 8/64 at the 12th.


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View attachment 3317769

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I love that you're taking the time to resurrect this bass! Trust me, you won't be sorry.

Definitely keep us updated.

 

[Joshua Friedman]

Hi folks, this is my bass. I am an amateur guitar player. I use the bass to lay down blues tracks on garage band and improvise with the guitar. Had not used the bass really since I bought it around 15+ years ago, just started fooling around with it a few months ago. I decided to change the strings, using a set of flat wound D'Addario 50-105. I could barely get the E and A through the holes at the base of the bridge, and the E simply could not be forced into the slot in the tuner peg, too wide. So I need to order some strings. Couple of questions. Can anyone identify the model I have? Anyone know the max width E which can be used on this model? I thought it would be fun to fool around with flat wounds, because they feel so smooth when moving around the fret board. Is there a different type of string you would recommend for blues/rock? Hope I handled this post correctly, am obviously new to this forum, apologies if I screwed it up!

 

[Joshua Friedman]

The D'Addario 100 could just be squeezed into the tuner peg, so problem solved.

 

[Doc-rock]

Well three years later here are my CR 4 string ( 15 years whit me) pickup and preamp from Aguilar, bridge and

machine heads from Gotoh.

 

[Marc DLarosa]

Sooooooooooo... about 2 hours ago, a friend showed up with this (knowing what a sucker I am for old MIJ basses), and I probably paid way too much for it. But... well... won't be the last time.
It was spray painted a really cool Blue ( I KNOW... I should have taken "before" pics. Sorry, but I didn't even think to look on TB for a CB club, til I sat down), but nevertheless, SPRAY PAINTED!!! I took My orbital sander to it, with 800 grit, to see if I could decipher what color She was originally. To my surprise, the original POLY was still intact, and in pretty nice shape, and could probably be buffed to its original luster. Unfortunately... there are some small dings where the blue didn't come out.
Therefore, this is gonna be My first "restoration project." She is gonna be white. And, I have ordered a BLUE abalone tort pickguard that I think will go well with the abalone headstock logo. Also, She's getting a new Graphtec nut, and aftermarket bridge/pickup covers, along with a Maple thumb rest.

Or... I may just start a bonfire with Her. But this neck... OMG!!! THIS NECK!!!


WISH ME LUCK!!!

 

[Marc DLarosa]

Relic(ing) is done. Dry for a week, then... off to the shop for POLY... Wish Me LUCK!!!

 

[Flipflop Mojo]

I really don't know much about the brand, and I don't own one, but I saw one of these hanging in a GC the other day:
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and it reminded me of this:

or


I LOVE Joe Dart, and it looks like he's killing it on a Carlo Robelli! The brand is alright by me...

 

[Flipflop Mojo]

I have one of those blond CR basses that I bought for $50 about 15 years ago. I can't seem to part with it because the tone is so nice, but I would like to upgrade the pickup. MM pickups are too long so wondering if anyone has a suggestion?

 

[BadJazz]

Just found this: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I'm not the seller, and this ad is two days old as of the time of my posting. Looks damn nice.

 

[Charlie28711]

I just bought a $50.US CR 4 string. I have no idea what the model is but I've seen some places calling it a SWD. It's the all natural looking one with a single MM type Hubucker. Kind of like the new MM Joe Dart. Except for the 3 controls.
Whoever had this had lost the nut and replaced it with, I kid you not, a piece of a child's action figure spear looking bit. So I replaced that already with a Black Tusq XL nut. At 14.00 from Amazon it's almost one third the price I paid for the bass. Lol.
But the neck is straight and the truss rod is working. Next I'll upgrade the pots and the tuners. The pickup I'm going to leave alone for now. It has a nice dark mudbucker sound.
I replaces the rusted strings with some Rotosound 66 Swing bass nickel 45 -105 roundwounds. Which did brighten the tone some. I guess I'll head out to GC.

 

[Charlie28711]

Well three years later here are my CR 4 string ( 15 years whit me) pickup and preamp from Aguilar, bridge and View attachment 3404359 View attachment 3404360 View attachment 3404361 machine heads from Gotoh.

I just picked up one like yours. What pots and caps do you use in your upgrade? Mine has 500k;s with green caps. I'm probably going to keep it passive. Do I stick with the 500's and some orange drops or go with 250's. I do tend to like a dark tone.

 

[Haysfordays]

Hello CR Club! Just got this and thought I would share. Neck through. Longest sustain of any bass I've had. Made me laugh out loud how long a high G sustained.
Pickups look stock but no way that the varitone is stock. Pretty cool and usable tonal options.

 

[missinglink44]

Wow, that sucks about the accident. But, let's hear it for the sturdiness of the Carlo Robelli!

Would you like a club number?
Yes, make me a CB Clubber. I just picked up a used fretless 4 P/J type. Tuners are crappy ordering Gotohs as we speak, D/G neck pickup is silent, need to search for a lose wire, bridge sounds good.

I've decided that I'd like to posthumously award Club Member #1 to Mr. Robelli himself.

So that would make me Club Member #2 and you Club Member #3. Let me know so that I can mail out all the new member info

 

[missinglink44]

Make me a GB Clubber !!!

 

[Illbass]

Hi Everybody,

A few weeks ago I made an impulse buy at a pawn shop.
I couldn't pass up a 34" scale 6-string for a couple hundred bucks.
The playability of this neck is still blowing my mind.

The previous owner obviously knew what was up and could either do their own work or had it setup nicely.
The string action is perfect from first to last fret. Even with a low action, there is still somehow plenty of dynamic range and doesn't bottom out unless really digging in. The neck doesn't curve slightly to one side like I've noticed on other basses where you have a lot more tension on the B/E side than the G/C side.

I'm teaching myself how to do fret leveling and dressing on some other basses. I've got a lot to learn yet but I still can't achieve this nice of a setup on much pricier basses. Ironically this Carlo Robelli has become my reference point.

Since these pictures I've added ultralight tuners because the neck dive was so bad it was practically unplayable for me.
The remaing issue is the electronics. Either the pre is shot or something is wired wrong.
The Treble and Bass just don't do anything. Volume works. Blend acts more like a 3 way switch than a blend.

Any chance anyone has experience with these electronics please let me know.
Debating on tinkering with the current setup or dropping in a new pre when I find a good deal.

Oh and do I qualify for a club number?

These pictures are before I did any work.

 

[Val Tremola]

My first bass was a Carlo Robelli Precision- sunburst with a maple neck. This was back in the mid 70s so it was pretty much a perfect copy of a Fender. The headstock was identical to a Fender other than logo. $125 from Sam Ash, White Plains, New York. I thought it was amazing but my teacher, Brother Stanley Fortuna, wasn't too impressed. But Stanley was a monster player, a jazz genius who had little love for my kind of music. But that man could play