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Eastwood basses

#3
Actually, the 1960's Ampeg Scroll Basses all used a 34" scale... I own a 1967 AUB-1, and the scale is identical to my Fender fretless J-bass.:smug:

I believe that the Eastwood Ampeg-inspired bass also uses a 34" scale. It seems that the Eastwood has a somewhat smaller body, which may give it a different feel.

Ampeg knock-offs have been made in other scales. The most dramatic is the one-off luthier-built "Monster Scroll Bass" formerly played by Rod Clements of Lindisfarne, and illustrated on pg. 169 of Tony Bacon's Ultimate Guitar Book. That one has a 39" scale, and has given rise to erroneous rumors about 39"-scale Ampegs. Mr. Bacon, who is usually really accurate with his facts, mistakenly identified the instrument as an Ampeg that "may have had some modifications".

In the 1990's, Greco Japan made a scaled-down scroll-bass (available fretless!) with a 30" scale. If you want an Ampeg-styled instrument that's fretless in short scale, watch for these on e-bay... most are located in Japan though...:crying:

Ampeg made a short-scale bass in the 1960's-- they are really rare-- but these had a more conventional body style and a more traditional-looking 4-in-line headstock.

For detailed info on (real) Ampeg scroll basses, check out Bruce Johnson/s site xstrange.com.... he's the real expert.

By the way, I just bought the Monster Scroll Bass from "Aussie Mark"-- it is a really cool and different bass....:ninja:
 
#6
jgsbass said:
Not so sure about the 34" thing. I traded for a scroll bass in the early 70's. Took it home with a set of strings (long scale) and the strings did not reach the A or D string tuning peg. Brought the bass back.
Click to expand...

Doh.

Let's hear it from the expert, Bruce Johnson ....

"The tailpiece on these instruments hangs about an inch off the back end of the body on two steel posts, and the extra length between the bridge and tailpiece requires special strings that are about 3" longer than standard Fender length. This was done partly to get the necessary string angle over the mystery pickup, and also the extra string length allows the strings to stretch more, so they can be plucked harder like an upright bass."

Long story short, Simon was correct about the scale length. :bassist:
 
#8
I've read a few reviews that the Eastwood re-issue actually sounds better than the original Ampeg basses. From what I know, the Ampegs were made from plastic which made it sound pretty dull.

I checked out the clips on the website and I'm kind of GASsing for the EUB fretless
 
#9
I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

Oh sorry, wrong Eastwood! :hiding:
 
#13
One of my local shops (Guitar Boy) just became a Eastwood dealer. The only bass they have in so far was the Vox Club Bass copy. I played that thing for quite a while the other day. The workmanship was very good and the tone was incredible. Since I can't buy or consider buying a bass without thinking of upgrades, pinning down the bridge, a nice bone nut, better pots, and flatwounds and the bass would be perfect. Based on how good the Club bass was, I will be ordering the EEB very soon.
 
#14
Yea, those EEB-1's look sexy as hell man, i'm jonesin' for one of thse REAL bad. I've read on here and harmonycentral.com that they're the real deal too. Only drawback was from a guy who said that since the pickguard covers almost the entire surface of the body, the bridge is mounted on top of the pickguard. He said it affected the sound in a negative way, but all it took was for him to cut that part out and fix it directly to the body. With any luck, I hope to try one out next weekend.........
 
#16
Oops! Sorry guys, I didn't check this thread for a while. didn't mean to ignore you... As Aussie Mark has said, the earlier Ampeg scroll basses require extra long strings because of the distance from tailpiece to bridge. The later ones with the Fender-like bridge, and 4-coil magnetic pickup, will take any strings a Fender P or J will. If you have an early scoll bass, Bruce Johnson orders up strings for them in batches, and you can buy them from him at surprisingly reasonable cost. Bruce is your man for help with scroll basses....

The "Monster Scroll Bass" I bought from Aussie Mark requires strings 1-1/2" longer than an Ampeg AUB-1 or AEB-1, so I am taking really good care of the two sets of strings that came with it. It's fretless, so the strings should last a long time.

BTY, the "Monster" is fun to play, in a challenging sort of way.. 39" scale, wide spacing, fretless with side dots on just the 5 and 12 fret positions... it's really fun to practice on, makes all my other fretless basses seem easier to play! Sounds great too.....

Amazingly, my wife has not yet noticed that it is oversize... but my 5-year-old daughter has! That's my girl....

Am I running it at 39" inches? Not sure what other options there are, but yes, I bought it --among other reasons-- because I'd always been curious about extra-long-scale basses-- and a Quake Bass from Knuckle Guitar Works would have cost more, and possibly had less charm.... all a matter of preference I suppose.
 
#17
A postscript... (I really should have been watching this thread, sorry).:hiding:

I think I know where "Against Will" was coming from... the Ampeg Baby Bass, the upright electric that preceded the "horizontal" scroll basses, had a body of plastic or fiberglass filled with foam. And they had the under-bridge "mystery" pickup, which means that the bridge is resting on a thin, tensioned sheet of metal. Put those two features together, and the Baby Bass must sound, well, different.... :eyebrow: For whatever reason, Baby Basses and their various knock-offs are popular in Latin music...

The Ampeg scroll basses all have bodies made of wood... the early AEB-1 and AUB-1 are pieced together with a hardwood ply back, while the later ones with a more normal bridge and pickup use a more solid (better) construction. For the full story on these, check out Bruce Johnson's site xstrange.com....

I admit I haven't yet road-tested the Eastwood or one of Bruce's, but from my position of relative ignorance, I can see where both have their place.

Bruce builds a hand-crafted boutique instrument that approximates the dimensions of the originals with some carefully-thought-out modifications. His latest model has two pickups that use some of the peculiar design features of both types of scroll bass, in each case with improvements over the originals. At around US$3500, Bruce's instruments are priced comparably to other unusual US-luthier-made basses; and unlike most other bass builders, Bruce has to modify or scratch-build almost every piece of hardware in his basses. If you know you want a scroll bass and you want the best-playing one possible, Bruce's waiting list beckons.

The Eastwood scroll bass is made in Asia (Korea, right?), and while pricier than a Squier, Ibanez, or Epiphone, one could argue that it would be hard to find a bass under $1000 that stands out so much from the crowd. The body appears to be smaller than the originals (not a bad thing if you're shopping for a case!); and the headstock design is unusual, but more of a departure from the original than is the body. Hardware is standard off-the-shelf, with the design adapted to fit the hardware. That said, the Eastwood could be mounted with a Dark Star or other custom pickup and a piezo bridge, to give one a very unusual, attractive bass with tonal features that recall the original while sounding less peculiar. Stock or modified, the Eastwood is going to be more affordable than a Bruce Johnson or an original Ampeg, unless you really luck out buying one of those. If the Eastwood came with a scroll headstock, I'll bet they would have sold a lot more of them already... but the Ampeg headstock design uses more wood.

I think an Eastwood might look really cool with a pearloid pickguard.... ka-chow! Bet you could really upstage your lead guitarist with that.... Not that I would ever do that...:ninja:
 
#19
I'm really surprised there are not more people popping up talking about Eastwood basses. It seems like the most obscure oddball bass made can have a club on TB and get oodles of people coming out of the woodwork to discuss them, but a thread about Eastwoods (which are fairly well-known, I think) ends up with more discussion of old Ampegs than the actual Eastwood basses? Isn't anybody buying them?
 
#20
Chuck King said:
I'm really surprised there are not more people popping up talking about Eastwood basses. It seems like the most obscure oddball bass made can have a club on TB and get oodles of people coming out of the woodwork to discuss them, but a thread about Eastwoods (which are fairly well-known, I think) ends up with more discussion of old Ampegs than the actual Eastwood basses? Isn't anybody buying them?
Click to expand...

+1

After watching clips on www.youtube.com and comparing reviews, I think i'm going to get the Eastwood Hi-Flyer bass instead of the EEB-1. The Hi Flyer sounds way better, even though it's a short scale bass. I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with these basses, but its really no matter. At such low prices, you can always find out for yourself.
 

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