That sunburst looks beautiful especially with the matching headstock but if it were me I'd go with the swamp ash/maple. That ash looks nice in clear or with a vintage tint like your example. I have a 75RI jazz ash/maple and that LB-100 ash/maple would be part of the family. Mine looks almost exactly like this one.
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Keep in mind the rosewood fingerboard will have a warmer tone & the maple fingerboard will be brighter and more articulate.
Mine showed up yesterday. Alder/ Rw. Nice and warm but not too woolly. Plays like a dream.
I picked up a pine-bodied LB-100 from Rocket Music a while back. It sounds pretty damn amazing. With regards to tone, G&L did a really great job with their pickups. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a poor-sounding bass made by them. Plus, if you buy from Greg, he is a stand-up guy and I'm sure will make sure you're happy with your purchase.
^^^^^And THIS... this is why I want an LB100 so badly..
Glad I stumbled upon this thread.
I've looked at the G&L website , but can't find where to order.. am I missing something ?
The website would refer you to dealers. I found mine on eBay. If you go that route make sure you don't make any deals that don't feature a "best offer" option. You could get one used for much less than retail price (which has been creeping up the steadily in the past few years). I saw a few deals here on TB that were great, involving exceptional basses, but for those you have to wait.
I'm considering purchasing an LB-100. I've narrowed it down to two:
Swamp Ash body with Maple/Maple neck/fretboard
Alder body with maple/rosewood neck/fretboard
I'd prefer to have the one that would offer a little more aggressive sound. Recommendations?
They will both be close enough.
The LB-100 is already slightly more aggressive than a traditional P. It's got a bit more highs as the pickup is A) high quality and engineered well so it doesn't bleed off highs and B) it's moved about 1/4" closer to the bridge compared to a Fender P.
The swamp ash body and maple neck might make the bass slightly brighter. I have my doubts about wood affecting tone in solid-body instruments. However the G&L does have that saddle-lock bridge that resonates deeper in the body (you can feel it in your ribs) so maybe the wood does have some more affect on dampening the string vibrations in this case.
Necks do seem to have some affect on tone. It's not drastic, but I've found ebony is definitely brighter sounding than rosewood. Maple seems to be a toss-up IMO. Fun fact : rosewood is a denser wood than maple most of the time. The thicker finish used on maple to protect it from denting is what is reputed to make it brighter.
If you want a more aggressive bass look for a SB-1 or even more-so aggressive -> an SB-2. On a SB-2 you just don't want to max the bridge volume if you want a aggressive P sound--keep it around 90% max. Maxing the bridge volume is only useful if you want a slap scoop IMO.
Thanks for the info @Kubicki Fan , I appreciate it . I try to steer clear of eBay if possible . Ive seen a few pop up here, but wasn't in a position to purchase at those times .
I did see, a sub'd to a thread here, can't recall the name right now , of what seemed to be a gentleman able to get , or owns a store that regularly stocks and sells G&L..
I'll keep an eye on it, but I'll check the site again as well, wouls like to order one if it's possible
I did see, a sub'd to a thread here, can't recall the name right now , of what seemed to be a gentleman able to get , or owns a store that regularly stocks and sells G&L..
I'll keep an eye on it, but I'll check the site again as well, wouls like to order one if it's possible
Compared to a Fender P bass, the LB-100 has an extra fret and the pickup is slightly closer to the bridge. The tone knob works really well to control those extra highs you get, I'd leave it around 8/10 for a traditional "open" P sound.
Other than that G&Ls have a Plek job which makes your frets super level and buzz-free. They also have aluminum post tuners (lightweight) and a bone nut. Pickups are like Fender Custom-Shop quality.
G&Ls can be ordered custom for about the same price as one in stock as well (depending on the retailer), so you can pick from several neck profiles and sizes. You can order a LB-100 with a Jazz bass neck, or a baseball bat, or a modern P neck in three different fretboard radii. You can order a G&L with a quartersawn neck or not. Then you can pick various color schemes and woods for the headstock, body, neck and fingerboard.
G&L operates like Fender did in the 1950s and early 60s, with the small shop that takes custom orders and whatnot. G&L is also a Leo Fender company like Fender Co. is. Arguably G&L is sort of back to those Fender roots with that small shop / innovative feel.
I don't think Fender offers Plek jobs on any of their instruments. Their bridge design is also very different. The saddle-lock bridge has a lip of metal deep in the body that seems to make it resonate through the wood well. They also allow you to keep the saddles free-floating, or you can use a screw on the side to lock them together, in-place.
For what it's worth though I think G&Ls most impressive innovation are the MFD pickups. I am quite partial to their basses that use those, like the SB-1 or SB-2. They sound like low-impedance pickups, retain plenty of highs, but are quite high output, and yet operate completely passive. The design gets them something like 4X the output per coil wind so they don't have to wind it as hot for more output. So you get high output but clean sparkly highs.
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Fun fact - not too long ago, G&L moved the LB-100 pickup to be in the traditional spot (i.e. a smidge closer to the neck). So there are a lot of older ones (built prior to sometime this summer, 2016) with the pickup slightly bridge biased. But newly built ones have the pickup in the "more Fender correct" spot.
If you find yourself wanting to replace your pickguard, this is good info to know. There are now 2 versions of LB-100 pickguard. G&L can tell you based on the serial number which one you need.
I own two LB-100's, and I have one of each pickup location. I think they're both great sounding P style basses.
If you find yourself wanting to replace your pickguard, this is good info to know. There are now 2 versions of LB-100 pickguard. G&L can tell you based on the serial number which one you need.
I own two LB-100's, and I have one of each pickup location. I think they're both great sounding P style basses.
