Club Alleva-Coppolo (Part 13)

[DrGroovenstein]

My KBP5!

 

[Bernie Connors]

My KBP5!

An absolutely classic color combo. Gotta love it.

 

[Joelc73]

Anytime Joel, just let me know....Send me a PM and we'll work out a date/time...

I notice recently a lot of people are asking about weight and it should be made clear that the LM with an ash body is really the only heavy bass Jimmy makes. I believe on the LG, RA and KBPs Jimmy likes a nice light alder.

I don't know the weight of my LG but it must be well under 9 lbs. as is Mitch's KBP5.

Fantastic! I didn't realize you had an LG. I'll shoot you a PM in the next week or so and we can set up a time to connect.

I really appreciate it!

JC

 

[diglo]

Sold all...waiting til next year, but here.

 

[Vic]

I'm in too.

Here's what Vic took of my bass when he had it.

THE reason I bought mine.

 

[svtb15]

I wasnt picking on anyone.. especially roger in that post.. I was just saying ...
He is up to his eyeballs doing everything form scratch...
Even driving to go pick out wood and take it back himself..
what i said was not meant as any Dis.. I was just saying Jimmy is like the city that never sleep... gotta get that **** done..

Re: building parts got from others:

This is different than what I was talking about and also what I as thinking Kirk was referring to. What Roger does is very closely coupled with his business and he is very involved in the process. I was making the (possibly bad) assumption Kirk was literally talking about Jimmy buying "off the shelf" stuff from Warmoth or something and representing it as his work.

I may have posted prematurely.

 

[xkimsungminx]

THE reason I bought mine.

And the reason why I bought it, when it went up for sale, was because I found out you had it to try haha. Funny .

 

[Vic]

I wasnt picking on anyone.. especially roger in that post.. I was just saying ...
He is up to his eyeballs doing everything form scratch...
Even driving to go pick out wood and take it back himself..
what i said was not meant as any Dis.. I was just saying Jimmy is like the city that never sleep... gotta get that **** done..

Ummm... dude... you gotta' start reading more than every other word in the posts...

I was responding specifically to Ken with my comments/qualifications.

Sleep well, my friend. Tomorrow's another day.

 

[Vic]

And the reason why I bought it, when it went up for sale, was because I found out you had it to try haha. Funny .

Or maybe put a better way... "had to have one after trying it"

Seriously, that bass kicks so much booty it ain't even right.

 

[svtb15]

Thank you..You know a real good friend of mine is out on a huge tour right now. He has a chambered body bass and he loves it..He uses it about 80% of the dates.. and i think he used it on the bands records too. his 5 string P is about 7.75 pounds....
Does chambering affect sound.. I would have to assume so.. For better or worse.. well he likes it and the guy knows a great bass sound. So im guessing it for the better.... but here on talk bass people love to nit pick the smallest of things apart... But hey what else can we do when we have a night off form gigging..

Honestly I don't have enough experience with a chambered body bass to say one way or another..
TO me all my favorite bass sounds are from old vintage J basses and P basses. And almost everyone that i played is light. My 65 P is lighter than light and my "L" Jazz is about 7.9 pounds..
Some more than others.. I find the lighter alder bass pop more.. and the notes jump out.. And they sound loud when played acoustically.. I like a bass if it is loud acoustically for some reason.. But that is my taste...
Now Tom Barney a great bass player likes them heavy as a boat anchor. He cant get enough weight on a piece of wood.. And chambered may not be his thing when we talked. And he is no slouch player. He is a heavy hitter.
As always its taste and what you like.

yep, i like em light..
My new bass with the maple shop neck was about 9 pounds. but that was before all body routing, rounding and i have a little extra cut away on the treble side too as well as slight under size body.. so im guessing 8.5 in the end which is good for me and 5 string.. My P4 is about 8 pounds.. and it sings..

Kirk first: thanks for your " inside information" based on your good relationship with Jimmy!

When i ordered my LG 5 in March this year i asked Jimmy for a lightweight bass , less than 9 pounds would be great!
After a while Jimmy told me that he just got in some alder that is light so he would be putting a spread aside for my bass.

Man i lost it, is your next bass a LG or LM ?
I remeber seeing a You Tube video of you in de atelier of Jimmy cutting the wood and testing it with a random neck!
Especially the B had a killer sound ( clip with the censored beeps when you were cursing )

Kirk as you love lightweight basses also what are yur thoughts on " chambered bodies" ? I tend to think it will affect the sound in a negative way?

Peace




QUOTE FROM SVT15: PART 12 :
You can have hundreds of programs set up to run a=on a CNC... just load them in and your good to go.. its not just one trick...

I like my basses to be under 9 pounds.. I went to the shop and selected my wood.. I know others that have specificly ordered a light bass and he will do his best to find the right piece. and you will most likely be suprized, in a good way.
Remember the NYC 5 strings basses were slightly larger than a 4 string jazz bass.. by about 1/8" on each side of the body. give or take...

He is currently making me a slightly scaled down version body for my next bass. cut here and a cut there

 

[svtb15]

i know silly... I was just responding to what i read earlier today ..something i thought needed clarification .. way back in the previous thread....

i hardly have time to do this TB thing lately so i skim as fast as i can to get it done then move along .. gonna **** up sometimes.

Ummm... dude... you gotta' start reading more than every other word in the posts...

I was responding specifically to Ken with my comments/qualifications.

Sleep well, my friend. Tomorrow's another day.

 

[Baccomang]

Hello Kirk,

Interresting thoughts on the chambered body basses , never tried one though.

So your new bass is an LM5?
Good tips to take down the weight of the bass , 8.5 is excellent for a 5 string!
If you dont mind i might " borrow" some of your ideas!
But i am also curious about the bass when its all ready.
(september this year?)

yep, i like em light..
My new bass with the maple shop neck was about 9 pounds. but that was before all body routing, rounding and i have a little extra cut away on the treble side too as well as slight under size body.. so im guessing 8.5 in the end which is good for me and 5 string.. My P4 is about 8 pounds.. and it sings..

 

[svtb15]

HI.. my bass will be an LG5.. I was originally going to go with that shop neck because it felt like on old Lake Placid Blue that I sold.. But decided to go with a African RW fingerboard to match my other P4.
I really don't have any idea when it will be done.. I have not asked Jimmy .. Im am learning patience .... is that the right spelling?
You can borrow my ideas at your own risk.. I like to experiment...

Hello Kirk,

Interresting thoughts on the chambered body basses , never tried one though.

So your new bass is an LM5?
Good tips to take down the weight of the bass , 8.5 is excellent for a 5 string!
If you dont mind i might " borrow" some of your ideas!
But i am also curious about the bass when its all ready.
(september this year?)

 

[KJung]

Anytime Joel, just let me know....Send me a PM and we'll work out a date/time...

I notice recently a lot of people are asking about weight and it should be made clear that the LM with an ash body is really the only heavy bass Jimmy makes. I believe on the LG, RA and KBPs Jimmy likes a nice light alder.

I don't know the weight of my LG but it must be well under 9 lbs. as is Mitch's KBP5.

+1 My LG is paperlight... lighter than my NYC Sadowsky, and is just fantastic... probably right at 8 pounds or so (my LM feels a bit over 8.5... my bathroom scale is not accurate enough to hone in on an exact weight... just guessing based on how they feel versus my 8.6 pound Sadowsky).

My RA was quite a bit heavier... maybe 10 pounds or a touch under.

Not sure if the LG5's are going to have the new body shape or not... I assume so, since Jimmy mentioned that the primary reason for that was to balance the look of the wider neck.

Kind of confusing in A-C land at the moment.

 

[peterpalmieri]

.......................Not sure if the LG5's are going to have the new body shape or not... I assume so, since Jimmy mentioned that the primary reason for that was to balance the look of the wider neck.

Kind of confusing in A-C land at the moment.

I haven't heard of anyone on this site who's ordered a new bass and got the new body style. I wonder if he's waiting to integrate that with the CNC or if he's just working through already cut stock.

He has certainly added the one piece maple neck with stripe on the LMs, I am unsure at this point if that is standard or an option or if it will be available on the RA as well.

Based on my own experience he seems to be open to a custom neck profile at least while he's still doing them by hand. And it seems that he doesn't prefer the lighter ash bodies on the LMs but is willing to accomodate those that want to go light.

To me it seems like all really cool custom options that allow you to get what you want within some limitations. Rather then "this is the LM spec, take it or leave it" so from that perspective I like what's going on.

Having spent time spec'ing my bass with Jimmy I can say he does take a lot of time and looks for input on what you want from your order. It doesn't seem to me that he just wants to churn out the few models he offers and have them be all the same.

 

[vision]

To me it seems like all really cool custom options that allow you to get what you want within some limitations. Rather then "this is the LM spec, take it or leave it" so from that perspective I like what's going on.

Having spent time spec'ing my bass with Jimmy I can say he does take a lot of time and looks for input on what you want from your order. It doesn't seem to me that he just wants to churn out the few models he offers and have them be all the same.

+1...with my order he specifically asked me about each of his new options as far as what I wanted or didn't want (the one piece neck, new headstock or not, new body style or not, weight, etc.) so it seems like if you wanted a completely older spec LM he wouldn't have a problem with that at all. Might take longer as far as finding a light piece of ash that he's happy with, but he was open enough to weight specs that he brought it up when asking me what I wanted.

The flip side of this is that I would think that all these options have got to make his build process more complicated. since he can't just churn out a bunch of necks all the same spec, and a bunch of bodies all the same spec. I would think that his costs are higher and his build times are longer because of the different options available.

 

[KJung]

To me it seems like all really cool custom options that allow you to get what you want within some limitations. Rather then "this is the LM spec, take it or leave it" so from that perspective I like what's going on.

Having spent time spec'ing my bass with Jimmy I can say he does take a lot of time and looks for input on what you want from your order. It doesn't seem to me that he just wants to churn out the few models he offers and have them be all the same.

That's what makes his purchase of that massively expensive CNC machine kind of strange, since that is all about standardization to cut production time while keeping quality at a fixed level IMO.

Who knows. Let's just hope he doesn't fall down the 'Fodera hole' (which they are finally digging out of with their new business partner). That was bad news over there for a while (years) regarding delivery times versus time quotes, mistakes made on customer spec's, and a dip in quality/fit and finish, etc., probably due mostly to being exhausted and totally overwhelmed.

 

[Vic]

+1 My LG is paperlight... lighter than my NYC Sadowsky, and is just fantastic... probably right at 8 pounds or so...

Just to "weigh in", that actually makes my LG on the heavier side... it's just shy of 9 pounds... on a pretty accurate scale. That said, I specifically requested that (as close to, but not over, 9 pounds... and he perfectly nailed it), so he may have actually selected a slightly heavier piece of alder than he normally would have.

Not sure if the LG5's are going to have the new body shape or not...

I'm pretty sure it's across the entire J line.

 

[basses55]

Not a great picture....but one of the ACs with a more vintage/redder guard.

 

[basses55]

BTW Jimmy said in an email a few days ago that "now bodies are slightly different"....in regards to future builds.

Not 100% sure if that means he will or wont build the old shape or if all the models going forward will automatically have the newer style. This was in regards to an LG.