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Conklin Retro 9-String

Jean Baudin

Jean Baudin

Aug 27, 2003
1,413
183
redwood city, ca
www.jeanbaudin.com
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: See Profile
#1
Specs:
- Conklin 9-String Sidewinder
- Dragonwood Body
- Birdseye Pickguard
- Birdseye Headstock Laminate
- Birdseye Maple Fretboard
- Wenge Binding
- Wenge Block Inlays
- Yellowheart/Purlpleheart Neck
- Satin Black Finish
- 34" Scale
- 15 MM Spacing
- Bolt-On Neck Construction
- Conklin Pickups
- RMC Saddles w/ Piezos
- MIDI Polydrive Module
- Satin Chrome Hipshot Ultralite Tuners (w/ 1 Droptuner)

PICS:
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Some Words:
Obviously, the theme behind this bass was to make a 70's Jazz bass, Conklin-Style... only a 9-string. I wanted to give it the feel, but not make it look exactly like one (no jazz body, rounded-headstock, plastic/chrome pickguard, cloverleaf tuners, etc.) so it still looks like a Conklin.

The most striking difference between this bass and my other Conklin's is the weight. It practically floats. It weighs less than my Alembic 6 and my Bongo. The Bolt-on neck is super comfortable with easy access to the higher frets. The Conklin pickups are loud and clear and I'm having a blast using the MIDI (I probably spent 6 hours yesterday going through all the sounds on a Yamaha Motif Rack). The tracking is superb, however certain things I do just won't be picked up and the response on the lower strings are a little slow (I suspected this - and has nothing to do with the construction, just the limits of technology).

Sound samples will be available on my CD :) . Anything sounding like Yanni will probably be coming from this bass. :D :hmm: ;)

The bass took a while to make (I ordered this one 11/03) but well worth it. The Conklin 11 should be ready this summer.
 
#10
Beautiful bass ....AGAIN. :rollno:

Keep em coming, Jean... :rolleyes:
































I'm kidding, of course. You have the most amazing collection I've ever seen. And we still haven't seen ...

THE HIDEOUS CLAW!!!!! (yes, I'm really excited about this one...)
 
#14
looks real sweet! Congrats on getting your own signature model especially from such a high end guy like Bill. How many ppl can say that eh? :p I'd also like to see a full frontal body shot. and congrats on all the other 5 great customs you got in the last week or so :p

P.S. do you still have that video you made with the airplane landing on the neck of and ERB?
 
#16
Thanks for the Compliments, guys... the kudos go to Bill, Mike and Chris at the Conklin Shop.

embellisher said:
Jean, how many customs do you own now?:D
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Ask me again in January!

Cliff Bordwell said:
That Mario Bros. thing on your site is great
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Thanks!

SMASH said:
Any pics of the entire bass in one shot?

What does it weigh - you said it weighs less than this and that, but how much is that exactly?

With MIDI out, can you run any typical MIDI sound module like you would with a MIDI out keyboard - you play a note and the corresponding sound/even plays? Can you run the bass and MIDI at the same time - thereby generating MIDI and bass output? What's a typical cost of adding MIDI to a bass and do you know if a common 4 or 5-string can easily be retrofitted for MIDI?
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I'm going to need to take some pics of the bass - these were from Conklin, so I'll do some full shots (I didn't realize I left that out!).

I don't have a scale, a rough guess would be about 9lbs. I played a show this weekend, and the guy responsible for the creation of the Hideous Claw was there and he couldn't believe it was made of wood.

You can run it into any MIDI sound module but you need to have something covert it (Roland GR-33 or GI-20, Axon, Yamaha makes one too). There's a 3-way switch (on the pickguard) that sends the signal as 1) Synth only 2) Synth + Bass mixed 3) Bass only... there's a seperate volume for the synth and regular bass so I can blend the volume when using together. I also have another bass output if needed. The second switch I can use to change patches on the synth module. According to the Conklin website, it's $400 for the MIDI Polydrive and it also requires Piezos ($80 per string)... not sure what other companies charge or if a standard bass can be retrofitted (I don't see why not).
 
#17
Juneau said:
Thats awesome man! Being a signature bass have anything to do with going with parallel frets?
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Actually, that was so it would look more "traditional". ;)

sargebaker said:
and congrats on all the other 5 great customs you got in the last week or so
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:eyebrow:

sargebaker said:
P.S. do you still have that video you made with the airplane landing on the neck of and ERB?
Click to expand...

Don't remember the link... it's still up though.

Okay, I'm going to play bass now! :D
 

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