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G&L Club Part 7

How about just an umbrella drink and to hell with the hat. :D

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It's interesting to hear you say that. I often have little to offer on sound discussions here, because my stings/ set up and sound is so far and away from what most of us seem to prefer. I have yet to hear a G&L demo with 16th note punk and stainless strings. I gave up watching them so long ago.
For me, I stick with my GHS rubberbands (40-95 boomers) and drop the action as low as possible (around ~1mm bass side/.9mm treble side) and play finger style. I tend to dig in as well to get a snappy, nasty, grindy tone. I'm certainly no Flea, but this isolated track is kind of what you'd hear out of my bass/amp
 
Thank you!

I went with the standard #12 neck (1 5/8 nut width) and 9.5" radius. I've found over the years that I prefer the p-bass size instead of jazz, as I find the jazz necks get a bit too cramped for me. I still own the Tribby JB-2 for slap stuff, but everything else is the p-bass-ish.
Thank goodness! I prefer #8 so I don't need to worry about obsessing over it and haunting you to sell it to me!
 
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For me, I stick with my GHS rubberbands (40-95 boomers) and drop the action as low as possible (around ~1mm bass side/.9mm treble side) and play finger style. I tend to dig in as well to get a snappy, nasty, grindy tone. I'm certainly no Flea, but this isolated track is kind of what you'd hear out of my bass/amp

Lol. I just posted that RHCP in another thread yesterday. Sir Pscho Sexy
 
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So, for the guys who play 5-strings but prefer narrow/wider spacing,
I had a thought of a possible bridge mod, but don't have a 5'er G&L to test the theory.
It looks like the saddles from the Schaller roller bridge
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assuming the same width, may be able to fit onto a G&L.
Now, you may lose the ability to lock the saddles due to the schaller saddles being so much shallower, but you'd be able to adjust the spacing a bit if that's your thing.
 
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View attachment 3052017
The Kiloton is exactly what I wanted, threw on some Chromes and it sounds really good. Sounds more mellow than the L-1000 but has enough of that bite to cut through. And it doesn't have that Stingray/Sterling clankiness that always turned me off from Musicmans.
Nice quartet ya got there.
You really got your bases covered.
 
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I've come to the conclusion that the G&L bridge is the best bass bridge design ever. I'm planning to contact G&L so they can design me a gold plated one to wear around my neck in support.:D
I'm a fan as well.

But...
my only gripe is the saddles being a bit too tall, which means for me (and some others) is that the saddles, particularly the G-string saddle, bottoms out before I get the action where I want.

I've got three G&Ls. An '81 Wunkay, '13 SB-2T and '14 Wunkay.
The neck pocket on the '81 was cut so deep, that without any tilt and the E/G saddles bottomed out, the action was still about 1/8".
The tilt system did get me the action I like though and it's playing the best it has since I got it.

The SB-2T required 2 small shims to get the action I want without having the G saddle hit the deck.

The '14 Wunkay is the only one that didn't need a shim. The G saddle is mighty close to being bottomed out though.

In a perfect world, shims/tilt systems would not be necessary, but the fact of the matter is sometimes they are needed for some individuals.
That said, I don't like G&L any less because of this, it's just one extra step in setting up a bass.
 
I'm a fan as well.

But...
my only gripe is the saddles being a bit too tall, which means for me (and some others) is that the saddles, particularly the G-string saddle, bottoms out before I get the action where I want.

I've got three G&Ls. An '81 Wunkay, '13 SB-2T and '14 Wunkay.
The neck pocket on the '81 was cut so deep, that without any tilt and the E/G saddles bottomed out, the action was still about 1/8".
The tilt system did get me the action I like though and it's playing the best it has since I got it.

The SB-2T required 2 small shims to get the action I want without having the G saddle hit the deck.

The '14 Wunkay is the only one that didn't need a shim. The G saddle is mighty close to being bottomed out though.

In a perfect world, shims/tilt systems would not be necessary, but the fact of the matter is sometimes they are needed for some individuals.
That said, I don't like G&L any less because of this, it's just one extra step in setting up a bass.

I'm with you on the saddles bottoming out. That's nearly the case for the G string on my new LB100. I suspect that the large size (and hence the mass) of the saddles—especially when they're tightened together—is another piece of that G&L sound.
 
I'm with you on the saddles bottoming out. That's nearly the case for the G string on my new LB100. I suspect that the large size (and hence the mass) of the saddles—especially when they're tightened together—is another piece of that G&L sound.
I may be the odd man out (as I usually am)
but I don't lock the saddles on my G&Ls.
I've sat and played them with and without the saddles locked and I prefer the tone without the saddles locked.

I will say it's a subtle difference, but
To me, with the saddles locked, there's a sort of compression to the tone that I don't like.
With the saddles unlocked, I feel the overall tone is a bit more open to my ears.
 
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Warning! Extremely subjective content trigger ahead!
I know you were asking about the B string in particular but what I think makes the G&L low B so unique is their neck. I tend to gauge a neck by how fast I can play on it without feeling any ill effect caused by string placement, fret edges getting in the way, the finish of the neck feeling sticky, etc. (not design flaws but just the actual makeup of the neck and how the instrument is built) My 5 string G&L's have all consistently fallen in right between my 6 string and 7 string guitars but before most of my four string basses.
The B strings on G&Ls IMHO are in the top tier 34" B strings on the market and like it better then most of the boutiques.
 
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I may be the odd man out (as I usually am)
but I don't lock the saddles on my G&Ls.
I've sat and played them with and without the saddles locked and I prefer the tone without the saddles locked.

I will say it's a subtle difference, but
To me, with the saddles locked, there's a sort of compression to the tone that I don't like.
With the saddles unlocked, I feel the overall tone is a bit more open to my ears.

Well then there are two of us exceptions to the rule. I've left mine unlocked as well.

The bass arrived that way and after having installed the set screw to lock them I removed it again.