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Eastwood basses
- Thread starter BellBottomBlues
- Start date
I too am thinking about getting one of the eastwood basses, an EEB as I favor the fretted. Wanted an ampeg since seeing Boz Burrell play one over 30 years ago.
Does anyone know how much these basses weigh? I tried emailing the dealer on ebay who sells them and no response.
Funny, when I looked at them I instantly also thought, change the pickup to a dark star, rio grande, or an MEC and add a piezo bridge for a cool looking, cool sounding rig.
Does anyone know how much these basses weigh? I tried emailing the dealer on ebay who sells them and no response.
Funny, when I looked at them I instantly also thought, change the pickup to a dark star, rio grande, or an MEC and add a piezo bridge for a cool looking, cool sounding rig.
- Feb 24, 2004
- 4,103
- 642
- 68
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Phantom Guitars, Eastwood Guitars
Just received my lefty EEB1 yesterday, and I can tell you it's pretty light, in a comfortable way not a cheap way.
And 8 months later...
I use a Classic 4. Great, great bass. I love it.
I've been lucky enough to try out all their current basses at a couple local guitar shops and am pretty impressed with the quality overall. Even though they're all (except for the EEB) short scale, the neck shapes vary considerably. For example the rocket is quite thick, but the airline is super narrow at the nut, but flares out considerably at the bridge, and my classic 4 is sort of average and parallel.
The EEB (to answer the original thread question) was probably the most comfortable bass I ever wore against my body. I just hated the 34" length and super thick neck.
They used to make a reproduction of the old Coral/Dano Hornet Bass. I'd keep my eye out for one of them.
I'm playing a gig this weekend and have a chance to use several different Eastwoods in the process if anyone is interested...
I briefly owned a recent High Flyer bass and it was ok for the $300 I paid including upgrades. I wouldn't use on as a main bass or on a gig though.
You know it is a Korean/Indonesian instrument as soon as you pick one up from my experience.
You know it is a Korean/Indonesian instrument as soon as you pick one up from my experience.
I lately started playing around with an Eastwood "Rocket" bass(their slightly odd version). I accidentally bought it(don't ask). Interesting machine. Chinese, with a body that appears to have been finished in one place and a neck that was finished in a dark cave in one of the 'stans... I have to give them props for the nice fretwork, though. Nicest I've seen from anything Chinese(and more than a few Koreans). The finish on the body is C.A.R. done in the true process quite nicely though definitely in some type of plastic-type paint. The strings had some type of toxic goo on them and were summarily tossed in the recycling bin. I cleaned up the urethane "moonscape" on the neck a bit and wiped some more on, evening up the surface better. The stop-piece tail necessitates the use of medium scale strings(like Roto RS's). Set-up out of the box was pretty close. I actually needed to slightly tighten the truss (instead of the usual loosening I do on asian instruments). Eastwood's site says the body is "tone-chambered" mahogany(whatever the hades THAT means). I see no evidence of any "tone-chambering" unless they mean the pick-up/control trench routing. The neck is like a P bass(1 5/8" nut width) but, thinner front to rear, and actually not bad to play on (for me, Mr. Jazz-neck-only). Kinda noisey for a humbucker with a sound that's, well, "different". I'm waiting on some light flats before condemning the pick-up outright. I'm thinking I'll either sell it or maybe "polish the turd" and keep it a while(right next to the "Badtz-Master", turd and turd alike!). One other plus is that spear-point headstock. I got it reasonably cheap, so if I need to fight my way out of a club.......I could get "medieval" on dey butts, if necessary!
Josh
Josh
I know this thread is 8 months old, but I'd sure love to hear more about/see pics of this "monster" bass!
I know you posted quite a while ago, but I haven't been to this site in awhile... starting up a new band (In the Pocket), and busy with the kids, projects etc. Sorry about that...
I think Mark posted a bunch of pics of the bass from when he had it, on this site and another bass-players' site specializing in vintage instruments. It dwarfs his Music Man fretless... It appears to have been made c.1969 by a luthier in Germany, and was purchased by Rod Clements (of Lindisfarne) off an advert in Essex or Kent in the the SE corner of England c. 1982. It's had a succession of owners since.
Its body has nearly the same dimensions as an Ampeg, but it looks small because of the giant neck. It's not only extra-long, but the strings are further apart in proportion--the bridge and pickups appear to have been custom made for it... the impression is sort of like picking up a bass set down by a giant. If you have a copy of the Universal Guitar Book, you can see a photo of it shortly before Bruce J. gave it a thorough overhaul. (which it needed)
It looks black in most photos, but it is actually a 2-color sunburst of black and a very dark reddish brown.
If you check out YouTube and search retrorocketsnbnc, you can hear and see me playing the bass, both upright in a stand and strapped on. IMHO, that is where this bass really shines, alternately playing it upright or strapped-on. It feels small for an upright and big for a strapped-on bass, a nice compromise. Sorry if some of the performances on YouTube are a little rough, it was that sort of concert.
There is also some footage of me doing the same thing with my AUB-1. Oh yeah, those are my two expensive basses-- the others are less expensive!
Having only two position dots drove me semi-batty, so I've added some temporary markers of my own. Otherwise, I've left it exactly as Mark sent it.
I had doodled with ideas of outsize basses for years, so when Mark offered it for sale, I pondered a while, and then decided, "if not now, when?"
For a 4-hour gig playing mostly strapped on, I tend to favor the AUB-1 or my Fender Fretless J.... however if the playing is more than 50% in upright-in-stand mode, or I'm just playing a few songs on bass, then the "Monster" may come out.... one limitation is that the case that comes with it is a flight case "built to withstand nuclear attack" to quote Mark. If I had a good protective gig bag, or even a lighter hardshell case for it, I'd probably take it out more often. As it is, the nuclear-bunker case only fits in our minivan, there's no way to haul it around in the PT Cruiser.
Feel free to ask more questions... it's a neat instrument, and I'm happy to own it.
If you don't get a reply to this post, it's probably because I haven't visited here in a while... you can try e-mailing me at [email protected].
I think Mark posted a bunch of pics of the bass from when he had it, on this site and another bass-players' site specializing in vintage instruments. It dwarfs his Music Man fretless... It appears to have been made c.1969 by a luthier in Germany, and was purchased by Rod Clements (of Lindisfarne) off an advert in Essex or Kent in the the SE corner of England c. 1982. It's had a succession of owners since.
Its body has nearly the same dimensions as an Ampeg, but it looks small because of the giant neck. It's not only extra-long, but the strings are further apart in proportion--the bridge and pickups appear to have been custom made for it... the impression is sort of like picking up a bass set down by a giant. If you have a copy of the Universal Guitar Book, you can see a photo of it shortly before Bruce J. gave it a thorough overhaul. (which it needed)
It looks black in most photos, but it is actually a 2-color sunburst of black and a very dark reddish brown.
If you check out YouTube and search retrorocketsnbnc, you can hear and see me playing the bass, both upright in a stand and strapped on. IMHO, that is where this bass really shines, alternately playing it upright or strapped-on. It feels small for an upright and big for a strapped-on bass, a nice compromise. Sorry if some of the performances on YouTube are a little rough, it was that sort of concert.
There is also some footage of me doing the same thing with my AUB-1. Oh yeah, those are my two expensive basses-- the others are less expensive!Having only two position dots drove me semi-batty, so I've added some temporary markers of my own. Otherwise, I've left it exactly as Mark sent it.
I had doodled with ideas of outsize basses for years, so when Mark offered it for sale, I pondered a while, and then decided, "if not now, when?"
For a 4-hour gig playing mostly strapped on, I tend to favor the AUB-1 or my Fender Fretless J.... however if the playing is more than 50% in upright-in-stand mode, or I'm just playing a few songs on bass, then the "Monster" may come out.... one limitation is that the case that comes with it is a flight case "built to withstand nuclear attack" to quote Mark. If I had a good protective gig bag, or even a lighter hardshell case for it, I'd probably take it out more often. As it is, the nuclear-bunker case only fits in our minivan, there's no way to haul it around in the PT Cruiser.
Feel free to ask more questions... it's a neat instrument, and I'm happy to own it.
If you don't get a reply to this post, it's probably because I haven't visited here in a while... you can try e-mailing me at [email protected].
