Really like that L-1500!Throwback Thursday...
My G&Ls circa 2010. From this picture, I only still have the L-2000 and the Legacy. I don't even have the couch anymore. Heck, I don't even have that house anymore...
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Yeah, I wouldn't mind that one back. But the one I really regret letting go is that SB-2. Candy apple red Tribute, and one hell of a player. But, GAS got the better of me. I've had the L-2000 and Legacy since the early/mid 90s. They will be the last to go, if I were ever forced to sell everything. All of my other basses have had a tendency to rotate every few years.
Nice arsenal! And I can always give a virtual high-5 to a fellow cherryburst L-2500 owner!Throwback Thursday...
My G&Ls circa 2010. From this picture, I only still have the L-2000 and the Legacy. I don't even have the couch anymore. Heck, I don't even have that house anymore...
Although, there's some part of me that also wants to give you a virtual smack upside your head for getting rid of it!
Never thought about it. Never had a problem with the regular nut, and never used a wheel. So, I guess I don't see the point.
G&Ls have always had truss rod adjustment at the headstock. I've never seen a headstock with a wheel adjuster.
Right, but why? It seems G&L took the latest and greatest of Leo's designs, like MFDs and Saddle Lock bridges. I know American Fender and Music Man basses have them (truss wheels), I just don't see why G&L didn't also adapt the design.
Speaking of truss rods....
My brand new (built on early 2016 but still new in the case) M2500 that I just got a week or so ago has a very noticeable truss rod rattle/vibration. I've done pretty much all I can to isolate and locate the source of the noise and I'm pretty certain it's the truss rod somehow vibrating or rattling. Happens pretty much on any note on any string although some worse than others. I've tried loosening it just a hair and tightening it back up again just a hair but I haven't had any luck reducing the noise. I thought it may settle sown over a bit of time but it doesn't seem so. I guess I might have to get ahold of G&L about it next week and see what the next step might be. Any ideas or info on something like this out there in G&L land?
My brand new (built on early 2016 but still new in the case) M2500 that I just got a week or so ago has a very noticeable truss rod rattle/vibration. I've done pretty much all I can to isolate and locate the source of the noise and I'm pretty certain it's the truss rod somehow vibrating or rattling. Happens pretty much on any note on any string although some worse than others. I've tried loosening it just a hair and tightening it back up again just a hair but I haven't had any luck reducing the noise. I thought it may settle sown over a bit of time but it doesn't seem so. I guess I might have to get ahold of G&L about it next week and see what the next step might be. Any ideas or info on something like this out there in G&L land?
My LB-100 may have a similar issue, I am not 100% sure, yet. Please, keep us updated if you find out whether G&L will fix it for you?
Really? I know MM and Sadowsky have them, I didn't know Fender had started.
No idea as to why, body end truss rod adjusters are usually thought to be the better design - less chance of the headstock snapping off or the truss rod splitting up through the fretboard or out the back of the neck.
My JB-5 did the same thing-- turned out the rattle was NOT the trussrod, rather a slightly loose tuning key shaft. Try playing open notes that cause the rattle, take hold of the "G" tuning key as if you are tuning-- maybe even put a little pressure on it (again, as if tuning). Repeat on each tuning key until the rattle stops. Only took me an hour or so of trouble shooting to find the problem-- LOL!
Hopefully this works for you too
my mysterious rattle was the nut, the bass needed a different slot angle for the flatwounds
I thought I could get the noise to lesson or maybe even go away if I put the hex wrench in the nut and held a little pressure on it. I could be wrong. I'll have to mess with it a bit more tomorrow. It does seem to be loud enough to hear it through the amp though...Killer bass otherwise though. Not trying to take anything away from it, I just want to get it straightened out.
Check if nut slots are not too wide, especially with the E or A strings. This happens when one changes strings for a lesser gauge and is a potential cause for rattling.
Check that it isn't the string vibrating against the frets between the nut and the fretted note. If the relief is flat enough and the nut is cut low enough, you can sometimes get a bit of string rattle.
Thanks guys. All interesting ideas. I'll be looking into it a little more today.
On a different note, I hit tonal bliss at last nights gig. I played one of my L2500's through my small rig which consists of a GK 700rb ii and a pair of GK neo 112 cabs. I think the kicker was the ebs multicomp compressor which I've had but never really used. The sounds was soooo full and punchy that it was just awesome. I recently did the single coil mod on that bass so there's so many tone's I wanted to try but I couldn't get off of my favorite which is active with both pickups in series. I just can't imagine a better bass.
On a different note, I hit tonal bliss at last nights gig. I played one of my L2500's through my small rig which consists of a GK 700rb ii and a pair of GK neo 112 cabs. I think the kicker was the ebs multicomp compressor which I've had but never really used. The sounds was soooo full and punchy that it was just awesome. I recently did the single coil mod on that bass so there's so many tone's I wanted to try but I couldn't get off of my favorite which is active with both pickups in series. I just can't imagine a better bass.
My L2K has that single-coil mod as well, and I've found that most of my time is spent with the coils split-- either in the middle position, or neck-- such a fantastic option that really turns these instruments into the Swiss Army knives of the bass world
I had a problem like this with an L-1500 built in 2006/7. The truss rod nut was rattling against the headstock, so I inserted the adjustment wrench, pulled the nut away from the wood, and shoved a piece of a rubber band in there. It actually worked.
Sweet. I also have two Neo112 cabs and a 700RB-II, though now I mostly use my MB-500. No question this G-K gear is killer with MFD pickups. I played a couple of gigs last year cranking my M-2500 through the MB-500 and a single Neo112 cab, and it sounded awesome. IMO, G&L's blend modern clarity and punch with old-school grit better than just about anything else, and the G-K stuff lets you hear all of it.
A little compression never hurts, but I haven't been using it lately.
Regarding truss rods. There are 3 versions. The first was for the bi-cut neck. I never had any problems with any of those. The second is modelled on the Tribute rod and is described here: G&L Trussrod
More recent basses have a 2-way rod; this is what Ken Baker said about it on BassesByLeo: "That's the older design - or the second of three, actually. The original design in the old bi-cut neck was the kind that was set in the neck in a curved fashion, and tightening the nut applied longitudinal pressure on the neck creating the backbow needed to counteract string tension. The rod above sits in the neck straight. The current rod looks similar to the one above and also sits straight in the neck, but both ends of the adjuster are threaded much like a turnbuckle which allows double action.
"
I have a Tribute JB-2 and USA MJ-4 and both use the 3rd design. The are both great basses and I have had no trouble setting up to my preferences.
I then went to try a new-ish L-2000. The truss rod had a distinct resonance on one note so I decided not buy.
I did then buy an immaculate, used SB-2. After a few weeks of playing, this truss rod developed a slight resonance. This was when I found I could not adjust the rod. Loosening or tightening just gave a creaking noise. Eventually the nut snapped off. In 30 years of setting up my own basses this is the first time this has happened to me.
On the latest rod, the nut is welded to the thread to give the turnbuckle double action described above. So you cannot remove/replace/check anything without removing the fingerboard.
I have not yet done anything about it (there have been a few other things keeping me busy) as the UK XdoesX [edit] did not have a G&L distributor when the problem occurred. It looks as if I will have to get the neck sent back to the USA at my expense as I am not the original owner, and before that it was imported from a USA dealer (see warranty conditions). So two out of three "new" G&L basses have been great. The third is going to prove expensive.
To my way of thinking the first 2 rod designs were simple, and the second in particular an elegant solution to the neck relief problem, applying torque without compression. It is possible to remove/check/replace the nuts to ensure long-lasting operation. The third design is locked into the neck and solves a problem I have never encountered - negative relief on a neck. G&L is not the only company that uses 2-way rods of course.
This is not a "dig" at G&L as they have made some of the best basses I have owned, but a note of caution. If your bass has the third design, then take great care if the truss rod adjustor feels unusually stiff when making adjustments in either direction. At that point I would take it straight to a luthier who knows how the design works.
More recent basses have a 2-way rod; this is what Ken Baker said about it on BassesByLeo: "That's the older design - or the second of three, actually. The original design in the old bi-cut neck was the kind that was set in the neck in a curved fashion, and tightening the nut applied longitudinal pressure on the neck creating the backbow needed to counteract string tension. The rod above sits in the neck straight. The current rod looks similar to the one above and also sits straight in the neck, but both ends of the adjuster are threaded much like a turnbuckle which allows double action.
"
I have a Tribute JB-2 and USA MJ-4 and both use the 3rd design. The are both great basses and I have had no trouble setting up to my preferences.
I then went to try a new-ish L-2000. The truss rod had a distinct resonance on one note so I decided not buy.
I did then buy an immaculate, used SB-2. After a few weeks of playing, this truss rod developed a slight resonance. This was when I found I could not adjust the rod. Loosening or tightening just gave a creaking noise. Eventually the nut snapped off. In 30 years of setting up my own basses this is the first time this has happened to me.
On the latest rod, the nut is welded to the thread to give the turnbuckle double action described above. So you cannot remove/replace/check anything without removing the fingerboard.
I have not yet done anything about it (there have been a few other things keeping me busy) as the UK XdoesX [edit] did not have a G&L distributor when the problem occurred. It looks as if I will have to get the neck sent back to the USA at my expense as I am not the original owner, and before that it was imported from a USA dealer (see warranty conditions). So two out of three "new" G&L basses have been great. The third is going to prove expensive.
To my way of thinking the first 2 rod designs were simple, and the second in particular an elegant solution to the neck relief problem, applying torque without compression. It is possible to remove/check/replace the nuts to ensure long-lasting operation. The third design is locked into the neck and solves a problem I have never encountered - negative relief on a neck. G&L is not the only company that uses 2-way rods of course.
This is not a "dig" at G&L as they have made some of the best basses I have owned, but a note of caution. If your bass has the third design, then take great care if the truss rod adjustor feels unusually stiff when making adjustments in either direction. At that point I would take it straight to a luthier who knows how the design works.
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