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Club Bordwell Part 4

#2,181
fivestringgecko said:
Cliff put in Nordstrand Big Rigs and the Darkglass Tone Capsule (at my request, just to be clear), but I switched to a John East Uni Pre for the preamp.

I've tried every flavor of Darkglass and was curious about the Tone Capsules frequency points, but that was the final nail in the Darkglass coffin for me. I love the sound of Darkglass stuff in demos, but in personal reality I've never vibed with "the Darkglass sound," which it all has. The East has a warmer sound, with character that's its own but reminds me of Aguilar. It also has much more flexibility with parametric mid, bright switch and tone knob.

5sg.
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I've never been able to get on with darkglass either. But I love my big rigs. I considered a John East with mine too, but ended up with a richter which paired nicely in the bass I put them in.

Beautiful bass. I'm glad you were able to rescue it from darkglass. :)
 
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#2,183
fivestringgecko said:
In the meantime while we wait for more eye candy shots from Scott, things finally lined up with the gig last weekend and I got some fun photos with my Bordwell! We opened with some Prince, so this bass was kind of perfect visually! ha ha

I don't play it for every gig, but have been absolutely thrilled with the sound after switching away from the Darkglass preamp. Both pickups in single coil mode reminds me of a killer 70's spaced Jazz bass sound, and was really enjoying the front pickup in Series mode for this gig for a "P Bass with something more going on" sound.

Gotta find/make time to record some audio from after the electronics swap, and post a more formal review....

5sg.

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Great shots, Ross. What venue were you at in those?
 
#2,184
Incoming Thursday!!! Light, 33", Spanish Cedar, Birdseye maple back, amboyna burl top with blue epoxy, pau ferro board, Ulyate tic tac dual coils, Trickfish pre, small frets. Pretty basic.
:D
435691096_10232061613581693_1958220096378733080_n.jpg
 
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#2,185
Matt Power said:
Incoming Thursday!!! Light, 33", Spanish Cedar, Birdseye maple back, amboyna burl top with blue epoxy, pau ferro board, Ulyate tic tac dual coils, Trickfish pre, small frets. Pretty basic.
:D
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Yus! Oh man that is sweet. Great specs... and sorry but doesn't look basic to me. Looks amazingly spec'd out. Small frets and 33", perfect.

I have 32" down at the moment, but have wondered about 33".

(Also this confirms that the SCB is the best single cut shape out there for a four string. So good)
 
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#2,189
scottm said:
Wow that looks killer!
Let us know how you like that preamp, I'm very interested in trying one out.


-ScottM
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I have had them in an R Bass, a Stambaugh, and I have one going into my new Shawn May bass due in June. They're killer! I am having a second volume instead of blend opens up a ton of possibilities on another bass I am putting one into, as well!
They pair really well with dual coils.
 
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#2,196
Aaaaannnd.....I'm in deep doo-doo. It arrived, and it's freakishly good!! I had Cliff use small banjo fretwire and it's like the Autobahn!
Trickfish pre? Does its usual killer job. The real shocker was the Ulyate TicTacs. Man, they sound GREAT!! The magnets are really quite strong, and they have to be further away to avoid excessive warble on lower strings past the 12th. Cliff made a ramp out of the top material, and it works perfectly.

It's a very lively bass, and acoustically loud! Plugged in, it has single/series/parallel switches for each pickup, so even passive, there are tons of options!
I was able to source the knobs from Mouser and Amazon (believe it or not), and the exact same knobs are sold on a popular site that sells pickups, etc for 2x the price. So that was sweet, since they aren't cheap.
Spanish Cedar core, birdseye maple back, Amboyna Burl and resin top, pau ferro board and spalted purpleheart heel accent. Hipshot bridge and tuners, inlaid Dunlop strap locks.
Playing tonight and tomorrow, so it takes its maiden voyage with a really good piano trio...7 Steps to Heaven, Some Other Time, Oleo, Lucky Southern, etc. I'll follow up with a mini review after the weekend.
Without further ado...da pics!

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#2,198
Matt Power said:
Aaaaannnd.....I'm in deep doo-doo. It arrived, and it's freakishly good!! I had Cliff use small banjo fretwire and it's like the Autobahn!
Trickfish pre? Does its usual killer job. The real shocker was the Ulyate TicTacs. Man, they sound GREAT!! The magnets are really quite strong, and they have to be further away to avoid excessive warble on lower strings past the 12th. Cliff made a ramp out of the top material, and it works perfectly.

It's a very lively bass, and acoustically loud! Plugged in, it has single/series/parallel wswitches for each pickup, so even passive, there are tons of options!
I was able to source the knobs from Mouser and Amazon (believe it or not), and the exact same knobs are sold on a popular site that sells pickups, etc for 2x the price. So that was sweet, since they aren't cheap.
Spanish Cedar core, birdseye maple back, Amboyna Burl and resin top, pau ferro board and spalted purpleheart heel accent. Hipshot bridge and tuners, inkaed Dunlop strap locks.
Playing tonight and tomorrow, so it takes its maiden voyage with a really good piano trio...7 Steps to Heaven, Some Other Time, Oleo, Lucky Southern, etc. I'll follow up with a mini review after the weekend.
Without further ado...da pics!

View attachment 5423732 View attachment 5423733 View attachment 5423734 View attachment 5423735 View attachment 5423736 View attachment 5423737 View attachment 5423738
Click to expand...

So good! Congratulations. The matching headstock and ramp are rad, and when you consider those are also stabilized with epoxy it's screams amazing craftsmanship.

I've also got banjo frets ordered, so great to hear those are the truth and the way.

Any chance we could get a picture of the entire bass from top to bottom? I'm interested in how the CB headstock looks with the SCB shape.
 
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#2,200
LowWay said:
All this talk about banjo frets has me wondering if I should be going that way with my next build. Can someone sell me on them?
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They feel very, very quick under the fingers. I went with Stew Mac #0147 wire. It's what they used on early Laklands. I play a ton of jazz gigs playing melodies, solos etc, and it truly makes the bass feel very quick and the notes speak easily. 5/5 stars, man.
 
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