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Club Alleva-Coppolo (Part 14)

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#321
64jazzbass said:
Finally, a voice of reason.
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To be fair, one of the things that often happens and that is difficult to not get caught up in is comparing a couple of similarly spec'd basses and then attributing tonal differences to the most obvious difference (i.e., bolt-on versus neck through, finish type, etc.). Every bass sounds different...even literally identically spec'd models (wood is funny that way), but it is VERY difficult to attribute a tonal difference between instruments to a single spec difference (weight, finish, etc.) without a large sample size.

I'm sure back in the day, there was a bit of difference between those early, very thick poly finishes and the very thin nitro finishes. Today, with each finish seemingly being about the same 'thickness', and especially with luthiers who use top shelf, old, appropriately dried wood, I view finish as a pure aesthetic desicion.

IMO (and IME) of course!
 
#323
After spending some time at Link Removed yesterday and checking out some incredible vintage basses and guitars, it reaffirmed my decision to go with nitro. There's nothing that feels like that once it ages. Once it goes satin, that's the stuff, IMO.

I can understand not going with it to keep your basses new looking.
 
#324
Bernie Connors said:
After spending some time at Link Removed yesterday and checking out some incredible vintage basses and guitars, it reaffirmed my decision to go with nitro. There's nothing that feels like that once it ages. Once it goes satin, that's the stuff, IMO.

I can understand not going with it to keep your basses new looking.
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If you are talking about the feel of the neck, that makes sense. All Sadowsky basses have nitro finishes on the neck, and I agree, after many years, they start to feel very similar to Jimmy's satin poly neck finish:D

Just kind of kidding there (kind of).... aesthetically, there is something special about Jimmy's Nitro finishes, and I agree, a nitro finished neck after 20 years of playing can feel VERY good.
 
#325
KJung said:
If you are talking about the feel of the neck, that makes sense. All Sadowsky basses have nitro finishes on the neck, and I agree, after many years, they start to feel very similar to Jimmy's satin poly neck finish:D

Just kind of kidding there (kind of).... aesthetically, there is something special about Jimmy's Nitro finishes, and I agree, a nitro finished neck after 20 years of playing can feel VERY good.
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The neck and body, for me. There was a Tele there yesterday from '68, IIRC, and it had one of the best feeling necks I've seen.

The body on some of the Jazz's and P's they had were equally as cool. I just dig the feeling of old nitro.

Like I said when I ordered my LG5 from Jimmy - I'm getting nitro because I like the way it feels which factors into the playability of the bass. Any tonal benefits are icing on the cake.

Also, anyone that makes it in to Chicago and has some spare time, really needs to stop by that store. If vintage is your thing, that's the place to go. Just check out the website and see. Right on Lincoln off of Addison.
 
#326
Chef said:
I'd sure be curious to know "what seems more or less correct" to you guys, if you could measure a few properly set up LG5's.

fwiw, I measure pickup height by fretting the string at the last fret, and measuring from the top of the pickup body to the bottom of the string...
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That's the way I measure it too.

I find the "sweet spot" for the vast majority of J pickups (excepting the unusually hot, or unusually mild) is about 1/8-3/16" at the bridge pickup and 1/4-3/8" at the neck pickup.

Any closer than that and you can literally have too much magnetic interference with string rotation, amplification of undesirable overtones, etc, depending on the pickups' characteristics.

At least IME/IMHO anyway.

My pickups generally end up set such that when fretting that last fret, and pressing down on the string as though I were digging in pretty hard, "the string just barely misses the pole pieces."

This also works out to more or less the Sadowsky setup specs, fwiw.
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Really? That really seems kinda' high. Can you point me to those specs?
 
#327
For the record, you can mark me down as firmly in the camp that doesn't subscribe to the human perceivable tonal diffs between nitro and poly. IMHO/IME, the diffs are purely aesthetic and physical feel.

And yes, I've also played a LOT of directly comparable basses with both, so this isn't just a random post with no backing foundation.

IMHO Ken hit the nail on the head regarding what really affects tone in a humanly detectable way.

Again tho, just IMHO/IME, and of course FWIW.
 
#328
"piling on:"

If you can pick the nitro LG over the poly LG in a double blind listening test, I'll buy you a six-pack of whatever you drink...

Heck, I'd even buy the six-pack before the test, and drink a few with you:)
 
#332
esoxhntr said:
...foam...
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I must say your first post seemed kinda' odd until it was revealed it was a pickup height thing and not something else with regard to the foam.

That said, just outa' curiosity, where did you find your sweet spot regarding pickup height, and do you recall what it was originally from Jimmy? Again, so we're on the same page, I fret at the last fret and measure between the top of the poles to the bottom of the strings.
 
#333
esoxhntr said:
Well Joe, in one instance that was the case - same bass in poly and nitro - but I wouldn't attribute that sort of sonic difference in a one off scenario. It's a repeated characteristic that I've heard from a number of Jimmy's instruments; enough so that a bit of a pattern has evolved. Fact is, I've heard a difference and developed a preference, and it's not based on the "nitro is too expensive" argument that I hear on this forum an awful lot.

If there is one thing I can say about an Alleva Coppolo product, it is that they all seem to do exactly what they are supposed to do in terms of the materials used and the tone goals. And, they seem to be very consistent tonally, so that it is easy to monkey with them and hear what the tonal changes are, and what they can be attributed to.

As for your 62, I can't - nor would I - speak to what you can or can't hear. I can only respect the fact that you dig that bass and don't hear a difference. Your bass, your ears, your opinion. I can only speak for myself and my experience, which tells me that nitro on an alder bodied Alleva Coppolo has a subtle sonic difference which makes a big difference to me. That's all I'm saying.
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ill i can say is if you had the same bass with both finishes....thats dedication! im too cheap to try something like that:D
 
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