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CELINDER BASSES???

bubinga5

bubinga5

Jun 6, 2006
1,113
582
51
cheltenham(UK)
#1
I have GAS for a Celinder J4,,how good are these basses.. i have 4g's saved, i want the best jazz i can get, i have heard chris makes the best..Any owners/players,if any, what your thoughts..

thanks Andrew.xxx

PS. if i ordered, could i get a sexy top and matcing head stock??
 
#2
There is a mega thread under my name if you do a search.

Very nice basses. The Update models seem to be the most popular. They are heavy, and very 'active' sounding. They are meant to cop the 'jazz on steroids' Marcus Miller type active J tone, and they do it well. Huge low end and sizzly top end. The other models (classic, etc.) are more 'passive' sounding.

These basses have REALLY gone up in price. I just sold my 5 year old Update 5 for almost $4K. The new ones can go for well over $6K US now, which IMO is a bit ridiculous (I don't even want to think about what a fancy top would cost!).

The bad news is that Chris is very hard to get hold of, and his customer service is among the worst in the industry. Time from order to delivery can be years. Even though you are in the UK, if you are interested in one of these, Glenn at Austin Bass Traders (Texas, USA) is probably the best bet. Glenn has Celinders on order, and if he has one that you like, he has them coming in every 6 months or so.

I would HIGHLY recommend taking a look at Sadowsky, Alleva, Nordstrand, Lull and some other companies that also make great boutique J's and have the reputation for a bit better customer service (especially if you don't need that 'super on-steroids Marcus' sort of vibe). All of these basses are between $3,000 and $4,500 with the options you mention in your post, with the Lull at the low end of that price continuum, and the Alleva and Sadowsky NYC at the upper end.

IMO and IME!
 
#3
KJung said:
Even though your are in the UK, if you are interested in one of these, Glenn at Austin Bass Traders (Texas, USA) is probably the best bet.
Click to expand...
Another option is contacting The Gallery in London. I know one UK Talkbass member who bought a Celinder through them, and was happy with the process. However, this was a few years ago, and The Gallery may not deal with Celinder anymore. And if not, Austin Bass Traders could indeed be a god bet, since it's one of few stores that seem to stock Celinders.

Happy hunting!
 
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#4
I have a celinder 4 for sale ash/maple it is a speciel one with rewerse headstock for making a more clear E,i had and tried some celinders this one is wery strong from top to botom!
and proberly the most solid sounding one ive tryed (p-maple-neck jazz-body-olympic-trans-white) i compared it with som old fenders from 66-71,they just hadent the boty as this one have,and it shows the booty from top to botom.great slaper,great finger style ,and the greatest bob at the back pic,and it shure can sound as a tuba aswell,amazingly just with duncan-antiqis .i dont like to let it go ,but have to sell to take in a my next celinder,,its for sale,if you want pics male me at.
[email protected]
good wibes to all of you!
 
#5
bubinga5 said:
I have GAS for a Celinder J4,,how good are these basses.. i have 4g's saved, i want the best jazz i can get, i have heard chris makes the best..Any owners/players,if any, what your thoughts..

thanks Andrew.xxx

PS. if i ordered, could i get a sexy top and matcing head stock??
Click to expand...


Hey Andrew- pmd you.
 
#6
hey basses55
the celinders are wery tight precis in feel ,you can feel the difrense just by holding it with your hand in the bolt construktion.C Celinder is a wery funky! player himself(solid)and the first bass he made was super ,hes a perfecktionist and most important a wery groovy one!in the celinder basses you find CCs groovy soul,and precies sprit.
(
 
#8
allexcosta said:
Looking for the ultimate jazz?

Allevas for 60's feel.
Celinders for 70's feel.

These are the best, forget the rest...
Click to expand...

The Vintage Celinders also do a nice take on the 60's feel.. I had my Vintage 5 for over 5 years and loved it... Celinders are still some of my favorite basses, great playing and sound/tone.. Chris is very hard to get ahold of, but he builds a great bass...:bassist:
 
#9
SCT1422 said:
The Vintage Celinders also do a nice take on the 60's feel.. I had my Vintage 5 for over 5 years and loved it... Celinders are still some of my favorite basses, great playing and sound/tone.. Chris is very hard to get ahold of, but he builds a great bass...:bassist:
Click to expand...

+1 I've played a couple of the more 60's based models (I believe they were called 'vintage'... active, but alder/RW and 60's spacing... I believe there is a totally passive 'classic' model also with true single coils, etc.), and they really did a good job at that sort of 'boutique but still very Fendery' sort of tone.

Most associate the Celinder brand with the Update models (the very active 'on steroid' heavy, late 70's inspired models), which are quite amazing!

Tom Bowlus has one of the Vintage 4 string PBass's (I think that's the model) and it is literally the finest P Bass type instrument I've ever played... tone, playability, fit and finish...everything. I don't even like PBasses in general, and I want that bass a LOT!:eek: I haven't played one of Jimmy Coppolo's P's though, and I hear that they are amazing also.
 
#11
+1 to pretty much everything that's been said, above. Here is a shot of my Celinders, though I traded the P-Update 5, on the left:

Issue1shots187.jpg


And I'll echo Ken's comments about that Vintage Precision 4, it's the best P-bass I have ever played. :cool:

I really do like Chris' basses (when they come out "right" - my wineburst J-Update 5 had some finish issues which had to be corrected). They are some of the best in the biz. But his customer service is truly horrible. I'd never buy another one new, but I certainly might pick up another one on the used market, some day.

Tom.
 
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#12
hey Bobinga5 i live in denmark copenhagen,i tryed a lot of celinders basses
and the ones that ive got are wery good,and i know the story of them
right now i got a friend selling me a celinder cheap, so if you want a super celinder for a wery good preis that you wont see anywere else,contact me you wil pay the same as i pay for my new bass i got a fretles with a maple top on alder,and a wery-wery old brazilian-rosewood,and maple neck it is with the fender head-stock,just like CCs own black 5stringer
or you can chose the olympic,but mail me,for pics and stof one have to go 1750pound
 

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