Club Stambaugh - Show your Stammies!! [Part 3]

[scottm]

Finally ordering my 2nd in two weeks.

Here's the twist. It'll still be 6 strings......but really short scale and about an octave higher than normal.

Since I haven't been in an active band for many years, trying to mix things up and decided to order a B-Bender Tele style guitar. Hoping to play a lot of guitar and bass this winter before the race season starts next spring.

Very cool!

-ScottM

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

No updates from anyone??

I sent in my deposit for a 6 string twanger machine.

Considering price and quality of workmanship I would have thought that these basses would be more popular than what they seem to be.

 

[spade2you]

Considering price and quality of workmanship I would have thought that these basses would be more popular than what they seem to be.

No kidding. Chris and Cliff make amazing basses that are much less expensive than comparable basses....and the occasional guitar.

I'd guestimate my Twangercaster would be 5-6k at Fender custom. I'm paying less than 1/2 of that.

 

[jasonbraatz]

Mine should start build in the next few weeks...so maybe finished March - April-ish? April would be a year deposit-to-door, so I think that sounds about right considering my previous basses.

 

[Jared Lash]

So I've become incredibly intrigued with Chris' "Fossil" design.

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And the review I got from poisonoakie (the only TBer I know of with one) cemented that I'll be ordering one soon. What I'd really like to do is get a pair of Stammies - one a Fossil and the other a nice compliment to it, both of them done in Chris' ODB shape.

I'm also thinking of forgoing top woods on either bass and getting them finished with poly and a custom pickguard.

I'm not sure about the color scheme for both, but for one I'm really digging this look:

Here is my (admittedly awful) initial sketches for the Fossil/ODB without a pickguard (where I'm stuck right now):

Fossil

Thoughts and opinions?

Any ideas on pickguard shapes?

 

[Jared Lash]

This thread needs bumping.

I'd love some input on my project. One thought I had was to take the normal ODB shape (which seems jazz inspired) and flatten out the back of it to give it more of a "Pbass inspired" look. Good idea? Bad idea?

But I also want to hear updates and see pictures of basses in the works.

And while I said so in the thread he created for it, Alvaro I really dig your bass. Such a great example of a completely custom instrument.

GMSweet I dig that track you uploaded. Great tone. I'll have to see if I still have clips of my Stambaughs to share. I know I have recordings from gigs but I'm not sure how much soloed stuff I have of either of them.

jacochops - have you got your Stambaugh now? If so, what are your thoughts? Pictures?

spade2you, I thought you were originally getting a six string bass from Chris with three jazz pickups? Why the change of plans? Still, your guitar sounds like a great idea.

And jason braatz - I can say in all honesty that your fretted Stammy is the reason I'm leaning towards doing a finished Stambaugh this go round. Every time I see it I'm floored. Combine that with Unity Bass' clear finished ash ODB which made me really GAS for a bass with that shape and I really had no other choice.

 

[spade2you]

I still eventually plan to get the J/JJ bass from Chris. Was planning on Aero pickups and MIDI, but there were many things to still work out.

I originally picked up bass around '99 because it was hard to find bands as a guitarist, but now there's not much on bass. Still not much on guitar, but I've been flirting with playing guitar and bass to help my odds and keep me on my toes. This Tele really didn't take much effort to spec it out, other than a few slight logistics that we can work out later.

 

[Rich Treat]

I've been wanting to order a Stambaugh. Like Jared I really dig the ODB body shape. A while back a couple of TBers posted their 6 strings that have the ODB body, and I thought they were stunning. It will be a while before I will have enough saved to order it, but I know exactly what I want:

Alder Body (ODB)
Spalted Maple Top
3-piece Maple Neck (bolt on)
Birdseye Maple Fingerboard
6 string w/ 19mm spacing at the bridge
EMG P/J Pups
Pope flexcore preamp

 

[spade2you]

I had no idea EMG made a 6 string P pickup. Is this new? Seems like Nordstrand recently came out with a 6 string P pickup, too.

 

[eude]

I had no idea EMG made a 6 string P pickup. Is this new? Seems like Nordstrand recently came out with a 6 string P pickup, too.

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They've done it for a long time, I recall looking at that pickup well over a decade ago when I built my own bass...

Eude

 

[Jared Lash]

I've been wanting to order a Stambaugh. Like Jared I really dig the ODB body shape. A while back a couple of TBers posted their 6 strings that have the ODB body, and I thought they were stunning. It will be a while before I will have enough saved to order it, but I know exactly what I want:

Alder Body (ODB)
Spalted Maple Top
3-piece Maple Neck (bolt on)
Birdseye Maple Fingerboard
6 string w/ 19mm spacing at the bridge
EMG P/J Pups
Pope flexcore preamp

Nice specs. Just out of curiosity, why the alder body? I really dig alder, but I've always had it on passive instruments. I am a huge fan of the ODB shape. I've only got to play one once and it was a very early Stambaugh and it looks like the shape has been refined since then. Still I remember thinking it was comfy. Any ODB owners care to share their thoughts on the feel of that shape?

My fretless Stammie has EMG J's oriented like a NT Warwick Thumb and an ACG pre. Fantastic tone - my favorite fretless ever.

I need to take more pictures of it. I have plenty of the fretted, including this old gig picture that always makes me smile. A girl in the crowd gave me that hat. I don't remember why. My drummer can't use that excuse - he brought his with him.

 

[spade2you]

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They've done it for a long time, I recall looking at that pickup well over a decade ago when I built my own bass...

Eude

Interesting. I guess I thought EMG and Bartolini only made 4-5 string P pickups. Besides a recent Nordstrand, I don't think I've seen too many 6ers with P pickups, other than the final version of the Peavey TL series.

 

[Rich Treat]

I love alder. I've had alder on a couple of Spectors, including a 4-string that I currently own. Both of the Spectors of course had emg pups as well. The 4 string that I have has p/j emgs. That combination seems to give you tons and tons of punch.

I've talked to Chris once about this build. At that time, I was thinking about getting more passive pick ups like the nordstrand big-splits, or maybe some single coils. Since then, I've realized just how much I love emg pups. If he told me that this wood combination would be too bright with emgs, then I'd go with ash.

Nice specs. Just out of curiosity, why the alder body? I really dig alder, but I've always had it on passive instruments. I am a huge fan of the ODB shape. I've only got to play one once and it was a very early Stambaugh and it looks like the shape has been refined since then. Still I remember thinking it was comfy. Any ODB owners care to share their thoughts on the feel of that shape?

 

[Rich Treat]

I was thinking about this one for the neck position. Offset coils like a P-style pickup, but inside one housing instead of two separate housings.

Invalid Link Removed

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They've done it for a long time, I recall looking at that pickup well over a decade ago when I built my own bass...

Eude

 

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

And while I said so in the thread he created for it, Alvaro I really dig your bass. Such a great example of a completely custom instrument.

I'm so glad you liked it, Jared. And I'm so happy with it, that the only thing that is preventing me from ordering my second Stambaugh (fretless this time) is the lack of funds. Hopefully I'll be able to get the project started by the end of the year.

I'd love some input on my project. One thought I had was to take the normal ODB shape (which seems jazz inspired) and flatten out the back of it to give it more of a "Pbass inspired" look. Good idea? Bad idea?

It's a very personal decision. As you probably know, I'm not a fan of Fender-style basses, but one thing's for sure: I've never liked the aesthetics of Precision basses. On the other hand, I find Jazz basses to be very sexy.

I'm not sure about the color scheme for both, but for one I'm really digging this look:

I've never been a fan of green basses either, but the combination of that tint of green with the maple fingerboard and black block inlays/binding is simply striking!

Any ideas on pickguard shapes?

As you know, my Stambaugh doesn't have a pickguard, so you can guess what I think about them. But if my bass had one, it would undoubtedly be like that of an EBMM StingRay 4/Sterling/Bongo, the only pickguard shape I can tell I really like.

 

[Jared Lash]

What I know for sure is that I love the Fossil concept with the 33" scale length and the 3 single coils with switching options. I've even got a good idea of what woods to use. The difficulty for me is picking a body style. I'm looking for something a little different that still has a vintage look to it which I'm finding harder to pull off than I thought, especially when looking to do a comfortable body shape.

I dig the ODB shape but now I'm wondering if perhaps I should just use the standard Fossil shape. I'd love to hear what people think.

Here's an image showing the Stambaugh Fossil, ODB, and CB shapes along with the Tele guitar along with a jazz and Pbass just for reference.

 

[jasonbraatz]

I know which one of those I'd pick!

 

[Jared Lash]

I know which one of those I'd pick!

There's a reason your bass is on that list. I love that style. Having Chris give it that Fender/EBMM like plumpness makes it look even better. It doesn't have as much offset as the ODB shape so it's somewhat in between a jazz and pbass but with the horns giving it a more modern look.

I really dig it, but I'm not sure it works for a pseudo vintage styled bass.

 

[GMSweet]

Jared,

I still love the ODB shape. When I was considering having a custom built, I didn't really know about Chris other than from TalkBass. As I was selecting a builder I fell in love with that shape, then the headstock and then his building attitude. It wasn't until I was at the end of my selection process that I realized he lived an hour away from and I could go talk to him. It was sealed; I could buy local and get what I wanted.

We've both since moved and I haven't been to the new shop yet. I've been in discussion with him about a few changes since I haven't been completely happy with my tone recently. He has offered to source a Mike Pope Flexcore for me and I've talking with Chris and Max from BestBassGear about pickup selections. The Bart X45CBJD and MV52CBJD(3) from the clip I posted were just a bit too thin for me so I recently fell back to the X45K's that I had in it.

Does anyone here have any experience with the Delano JSBC (or the JC 5 HE) in their Stammie? What about Aero PJ's? I'm looking for a warm, round, full bottom end that is still articulate and open at the top.

It's great to see the activity on this thread. I hope to make it to Chris's in the next few weeks and I'll see if I can bring my camera along.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[GMSweet]

This thread needs bumping.

I'd love some input on my project. One thought I had was to take the normal ODB shape (which seems jazz inspired) and flatten out the back of it to give it more of a "Pbass inspired" look. Good idea? Bad idea?

But I also want to hear updates and see pictures of basses in the works.

And while I said so in the thread he created for it, Alvaro I really dig your bass. Such a great example of a completely custom instrument.

GMSweet I dig that track you uploaded. Great tone. I'll have to see if I still have clips of my Stambaughs to share. I know I have recordings from gigs but I'm not sure how much soloed stuff I have of either of them.

Jared, it almost looks like a Stambaugh collage (we don't need those fen*er references ). Resonance back end, ODB front end, Fossil scale and electronics. I'd go with the ODB/Resonance headstock though, the other is just too fen*ery for me. I think a solid finish would work, but the smaller pick guard from the Resonance would help set it off nicely. Perhaps in black pearloid or tone-on-tone mint green pearloid for some sparkle.

Just some thoughts.

Matt