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G&L Club Part 3

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#721
Hmm... $1,800. They should be careful not to exceed a price point that will drive potential customers to another US made but easily customizable manufacture: Carvin and their SB4000's

:eek:

For $1,800 you could get a decked out SB4000 or SB4001 with Koa and flame or BE maple, active preamp with passive tone control, multi-lam neck, etc.
 
#722
Picked up this guy:
1981 L2KE-FL fretless; with a similar vintage L1K neck.
Currently electronically gutted, and set up like a passive J-bass with vol/vol/tone.

I'll try it the way it is, but will probably re-modify it to sorta stock, but still passive:
vol/treb/bass
pickup selector switch
and L1000 coil tap with :
dual parallel, single coil, single coil with bass boost...
maybe just one switch for both pups, maybe one for both.

L2KE-FL.jpg
 
#723
This is a tribute, was given to me as a gift after winning a playing award in jazz band on a Reno trip. It was custom cut for the original owner who plays with the "broken wrist" technique.

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#725
What is "broken wrist technique," and how are the modifications to this bass helpful for that?

Benberg said:
This is a tribute, was given to me as a gift after winning a playing award in jazz band on a Reno trip. It was custom cut for the original owner who plays with the "broken wrist" technique.

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Click to expand...
 
#730
Yes, it's standard now.
PLEK is viewed with mixed opinions in the luthiery community.
Yes, it can make for a nicely playable neck. Yes, it makes for repeatable results. Yes, it can save some man hours, and therefore some cost.

However, it takes quite a bit to setup and maintain a PLEK machine to perform optimally.
If it's not, you can have a large run of less than optimal results.

Also, fretwire is actually a fairly complex and well engineered thing.
There's a lot that goes into string-side shape and profile, and the outer layer is hardened for wear resistance.
Plek changes this shape, and takes off the hardening.

Time might be better spent, with better results, looking to tighter quality control of milling and finishing neck and fingerboard blanks. Small variations in these can result in big variations in playability due to these variations manifesting themselves as the frets not laying well on an uneven playing field. It might be best to have a perfect neck and fingerboard to lay the already well made frets into.

Just some stuff to think about. There are several other layers of things to think about in the process of getting all that just right;
PLEK isn't necessarily A New Miracle that makes everything better. Great Luthiers have been doing great fret dressing by hand for years and years.
 
#732
Chef said:
Yes, it's standard now.
PLEK is viewed with mixed opinions in the luthiery community.
Yes, it can make for a nicely playable neck. Yes, it makes for repeatable results. Yes, it can save some man hours, and therefore some cost.

However, it takes quite a bit to setup and maintain a PLEK machine to perform optimally.
If it's not, you can have a large run of less than optimal results.

Also, fretwire is actually a fairly complex and well engineered thing.
There's a lot that goes into string-side shape and profile, and the outer layer is hardened for wear resistance.
Plek changes this shape, and takes off the hardening.

Time might be better spent, with better results, looking to tighter quality control of milling and finishing neck and fingerboard blanks. Small variations in these can result in big variations in playability due to these variations manifesting themselves as the frets not laying well on an uneven playing field. It might be best to have a perfect neck and fingerboard to lay the already well made frets into.

Just some stuff to think about. There are several other layers of things to think about in the process of getting all that just right;
PLEK isn't necessarily A New Miracle that makes everything better. Great Luthiers have been doing great fret dressing by hand for years and years.
Click to expand...

Yikes.

Well ok, now I have a question. Presuming the PLEK machine is in proper order and will set up a bass PERFECTLY! Can funky things still happen with the neck's playablity if it must be shipped on from Cali to Mass? I mean, PLEK-ing still doesn't make a wooden instrument invincible, no?
 
#733
I recently took my FankenFender Jazz bass to a local luthier to have the nut filed down. I have a Warmoth neck on it, and I told them to check it over and if they believed it needed to be PLEKed, let me know. They have a PLEK machine there. I was really very tempted to ask to see it. I'm a computer geek at heart.

They said that Warmoth necks are typically very good and don't need much work. Mine only required the nut filing and it plays great.

My G&L and my Lakland are both PLEKed. Of my four basses, the G&L is clearly the best neck. I have a suspicion that even though G&L basses are PLEKed, they many not need much work.
 
#734
No. Nothing makes an instrument invincible.
You should totally expect to need a trussrod tweak after a move from low humidity CA to high humidty MA.
That should be all though, given that everything else is optimal, which, it should be.
 
#740
There is a very good video series about G&L on You Tube, which includes the PLEK process.

A quick search will turn it up. It features Steve Grom doing a plant tour, and a stop in Leo Fender's office, which is exactly the way he left it on the day he died.
 
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