Geddy Lee Jazz Bass

[arntseaj]

Hi, all,

Well, tonight I spontaneously sold my Schecter Diamond J to my friend which I am going to put towards my dream of owning a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass Here's the thing:

I play in Drop A#. I have been playing in Drop A# for awhile and I use D'Addario XL Nickels 65-85-105-125.

For those of you who own a Geddy Lee, will the thin neck be able to support the 65-125 gauge strings no problem? Will the Badass II bridge accommodate a 125 string? And does the Badass II bridge allow medium-high action? The bridge on my Schecter only catered to low-medium action at best.

Thanks

PS: Please no comments saying that 125 is too much of a thin string for Drop A# and that I need to upgrade to a 135 or something. It's worked perfect for me so far lol

 

[Hans Gruber]

Great questions. Over time, I honestly the thin neck won't hold as well as you'd like. It's nominally thinner than other necks, but still for something THAT low, it could pose to be a problem, though now that I think of it, 125 at Bb (A#) is pretty floppy, so it might doable.

The badass is pretty versatile. You can cut to size. Worst case, you can sell it and buy an unslotted one and cut to taste. Still, not sure if that .125 will fit through the channel, either. So if the badass doesn't fit, you can always try one of the many Fender 5 hole bridges. I wager most Hipshots will do the trick.

I had a Geddy for a while and it was a great bass. Hope you enjoy!

 

[superdick2112]

You will need to re-slot the nut for the fatter strings, but that should be about it. I've never used larger than a 105, but the bridge slots seem like they would allow for a 125, and the bridge saddles (on mine at least) allow for a wide range of action.
The higher you run your action, the more leverage tension you will be putting on the neck, so I'd run it as low as you comfortably can.

 

[rogersjoe]

Well hello fellow drop tuner! Lol, yes the geddy lee can handle the low tunings. I own two geddy lees and two 65 reissues. Drop B (125-95-75-60) and drop C# (110-90-70-50). The both work perfect. Had to do some filing to the nut of the two drop b basses. But no issues after that. As far as the action goes idk. I have always had super low action.

 

[arntseaj]

Thanks for all your input guys!

And good to hear about your down-tuned Geddy's The reason I want one is because of the tone (obviously) and because all my favorite bands have played them and they play in Drop A#.

 

[kerrycares]

my Geddy Lee has been converted to a 5 string.
It's the black one in my avatar.

 

[MattZilla]

Hi, all,

Well, tonight I spontaneously sold my Schecter Diamond J to my friend which I am going to put towards my dream of owning a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass Here's the thing:

I play in Drop A#. I have been playing in Drop A# for awhile and I use D'Addario XL Nickels 65-85-105-125.

For those of you who own a Geddy Lee, will the thin neck be able to support the 65-125 gauge strings no problem? Will the Badass II bridge accommodate a 125 string? And does the Badass II bridge allow medium-high action? The bridge on my Schecter only catered to low-medium action at best.

Thanks

PS: Please no comments saying that 125 is too much of a thin string for Drop A# and that I need to upgrade to a 135 or something. It's worked perfect for me so far lol

I used regular 45-105 for tuning to A. Being a guitar player and a stoner, I verymuch preferred the easier feel. I had a relatively fatnecked mexi jazz that was strung per common reccomendations for bass tuned to A0- fat and tight... the Geddy sounded better across the whole neck while the mexi sounded really overtoney above the 10th on the recordings for my band at the time, both sounded the same in the mix below the 10th. I put the regular strings on the mexi and tuned down- magic! I will not tell you that any stringset is too thin unless you're trying .009-.032", that is too thin to tune to A0. probably.

The neck is not as thin as many ibanezes, and you already plan on using a stringset thinner than many would recommend for your tuning, I'm sure that it will handle it just fine.

My Geddy is an '07 MIJ. On its BAII, I can drop the strings to too low to play at all or jack them up to way too high for me. I can't say a thing for how big of a string it'll go, but since you're going to have to have someone bust out a file on the nut and saddles anyways, may as well tell them to keep a drill handy for the back of the bridge.

Congrats on the way-cooler bass!