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Great strings. I have a set on one of my Precisions (fantastic!) and my '62 Jazz (pretty good). I'm afraid they won't be aggressive enough since the Pressurewounds were just OK sounding. I thought their aggressiveness would do the trick on the M2K, but it was just OK. However, I sure can take them off the Jazz and give them a whirl if the volume boosted doesn't help.
I picked up a 1994 LPB LB-100 in trade for a set of 5 nearly new truck tires today. I traded with a friend who bought this bass off CL about 10-12 years ago. I always told him I wanted first dibs if he decided to sell, so he recently brought it up and I was able to barter for a set of tires I had that would fit his truck. The original faded white pickguard was cracked at the output jack, but there were 2 brand new guards in the gig bag (parchment and cream pearloid). I spent a few hours cleaning it up, oiling the rosewood board, changing out the PG, cleaning up the pots, re-soldering the ground at the jack, and getting it set up. It feels GREAT, and sounds really good. IMO, the OEM pickup is a little woolly; not as much clarity in the highs as the Regenerate Guitar Works VRB-P that I've had for over 10 years, but it does sound massive and very even across the upper registers. I'll run it stock for a bit, but I do have another Honey Badger P pickup that I think will get swapped in to remove the wet blanket.
The neck is straight, with the famous bi-cut shaft. Really nice, straight, flat-sawn grain, topped with a very nice rosewood fingerboard, and NO ski-jump. Oddly enough, today (Oct. 5) is the neck's 24th B-day, so the bass was probably assembled within a week or 2 after that. I'm pretty sure this bass has hardly been played over the past 24 years. It's in near-new condition, and I know my friend who had it didn't play it much as he is a hobby guitarist.
Anyway, here are some pics.
The neck is straight, with the famous bi-cut shaft. Really nice, straight, flat-sawn grain, topped with a very nice rosewood fingerboard, and NO ski-jump. Oddly enough, today (Oct. 5) is the neck's 24th B-day, so the bass was probably assembled within a week or 2 after that. I'm pretty sure this bass has hardly been played over the past 24 years. It's in near-new condition, and I know my friend who had it didn't play it much as he is a hobby guitarist.
Anyway, here are some pics.
Nah, not with LPB. I've got tort on 4 other basses. That's plenty. I prefer the parchment on this one. I also have a cream pearloid guard for it, but I've got another blue bass with cream pearloid and that's enough for me.
Sweet!
I'm a massive tort fan but in this case, with that cream white or vintage white pickup cover, I'd say either your cream pearl or the parchment pickguard would be perfect!
I'm a massive tort fan but in this case, with that cream white or vintage white pickup cover, I'd say either your cream pearl or the parchment pickguard would be perfect!
Ironically enough, if I put the cream pearloid on, I'll swap out for a black pickup cover. Considering it, anyway, but the cream cover matches almost exactly the guard that I put on last night (see first pic), so it works. The cream cover clashed too much with the cracked white guard, IMO (see 4th pic). I would really like to put cream covers on a black jazz. Or I could see them on my sunburst/tort jazz. Or... possibly cream/white MFD covers for my sunburst L2500. That would be cool.
I'm not certain but you may have the Schaller pickup rather than Leo's Alnico. Someone please chime in on this.
I suspected that as I remember hearing years ago that they used something else (it was said to be a Gotoh at that time), but then I've also heard that the early LB-100s had a US-made Alnico G&L pickup. Not really sure. Overall, it's a nice sounding pickup, just quite a bit more woolly and not as clear in the top as I'm used to. I found that a little EQ goes a long way with this one. Will get to try it in a live situation tomorrow and Sunday and next week.
I have a FANTASTIC pickup I can swap in in just a few minutes if things don't work as well in a mix, so I'm not too worried.
Most of the first-run LB-100s used a Gotoh pickup wound to G&L's spec of 10,500 turns (5% overwind from a standard P pickup) due to the pickup placement. Some were reported to have a Kent Armstrong, I believe. The Schallers were on the very first run of the gen 2 (split coil) SB-1s before the MFD was put in.
The Gotoh sounds good, but I swapped mine out for a Fralin standard wind that I had acquired in a trade. The Fralin is a little more thumpy. I agree that the Gotoh is a little more wooly.
Yep, I had the early LB & SB sourced-out pups backwards. Thanks for the clarification.
Thank's for the clarification. I would agree with the 5% overwind; this one is loud, deep, a little more subdued in the top, and strongly low-mid forward. I'm sure it is a Gotoh. We'll see how it does in a mix tomorrow.
The Gotohs have a grounding plate attached to them, like this:
Also, wiring uses a .022uF cap, so it really leaves a lot of upper mids in place, IMO. I think the bass works better with a .033uF cap, gives a little more range. With the stock cap, I thought the best tone was all the way down on the tone.
Also, wiring uses a .022uF cap, so it really leaves a lot of upper mids in place, IMO. I think the bass works better with a .033uF cap, gives a little more range. With the stock cap, I thought the best tone was all the way down on the tone.
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I am sure some of us,have been there? Just got this 2002 G&L Asat L2000 semi-hollow body bass. Mostly got it because of the Tele style body. Knowing it was fretless bought it any way! Bass was in decent shape just needed new strings(replaced),and the jack was real loose,internally. Jack was tunnel style jack(replaced),and intonation adjust screws were missing(replaced).Bass in real good shape overall,had what looks like roasted maple neck. Anticipating replacing the frets,and put it back being a fretted bass? Have been playing it and it sounds great,just trying to adjust to playing a fretless bass. Trying to decide if I want to invest in refretting it or not. Already found luthier,and he said he would do it whenever I decide,and gave me an estimate. So undecided at the moment. May put it up for sale,and move on? Thanks,for listening/reading?
Do you need the money?
Is there something else you'd rather have?
Do you need another fretted bass?
Is it redundant to what you already have?
Do you want to learn or improve at fretless?
I'm kinda batting around these questions (well, not the fretless part) as I have a few Ls myself...
As a committed fretless player, I say leave it as is and either play it or sell it (pics...?). That said, you likely won't recoup the cost of the bass AND the fret job should you decide that it isn't for you, unless you got the bass ridiculously cheap. IMO, the only reason to make such a serious, permanent change to an instrument is if you're fully committed to that being your instrument. Otherwise, just sell it and buy the fretted version you want.
That's my opinion, anyway.
