• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Gene Simmons LoBue Tribute Build

#861
On a 7-string guitar I built, the low B and high E strings ride just barely on the edge of the exposed bar and pole pieces. The guitar sounds brutally thick, and there is no lack of response at all. It may sound ever-so-slightly *different* than it would if the bridge string spacing was slightly narrower and brought the strings in line over the pole pieces, but it sounds great as is, so it's not a worry.

I would definitely route the neck pocket a bit deeper though, maybe 3/32", just to give your bridge saddles more room for adjustment.
 
#862
Plectrum72 said:
+1 to Grolsch. I use them on all my basses & guitars. Never had an issue. Cheap straplock, plus a beer to boot.

grolsch-premium-beer-5-bottles.gif
Click to expand...

Proud to be Dutch! :D
 
#867
bassgod76 said:
This is the strings on the bass. I now see why this pickup is made for the end if the neck heel. Notice where the strings fall.
image_zps23fb8374.jpg
Click to expand...

It should be fine, but it's better to have the cover of the pickup closer to the strings, with the pole pieces flush, than to have to raise the poles too far.

But either way should't be a problem.

Did Gene's bass use a Gibson bridge?

You can get one of those Schaller 3D bridges, which allow you to change the string spacing.
 
#868
THand said:
Devil's OCD advocate here. I wouldn't be able to take the pole/string misalignment. After putting this much thought/work and planning into this bass, that's going to eat at you every time you try to show it to someone.
I would deviate from the original, and get a hipshot A bridge. That will give you a little more height with out routing more for the clearance AND allow you to adjust the saddles to line up with the poles on the pickups.
I would much rather tell someone I put a more modern bridge on it (which you should be able to still cover), than have those strings not line up...
Click to expand...

Gene's original LoBue bass had the same "problem". I've read an interview where he said that the pole pieces didn't line up with the E string and that was why the bottom end was missing on the first couple of albums (I'd say it was more the fault of the production team).
No need to stray from the original... it seems like you've nailed it by accident!
 
#869
SGD Lutherie said:
It should be fine, but it's better to have the cover of the pickup closer to the strings, with the pole pieces flush, than to have to raise the poles too far.

But either way should't be a problem.

Did Gene's bass use a Gibson bridge?
Click to expand...

Gene had a Fender style bridge as what Bassgod is using. Like i said, if it worked for gene, it'll work for you. Honestly, he got pretty good bottom end while performing live. Cobo hall was a good one from the kiss anthology box set. Awesome tone!! :hyper:
 
#872
EpiRipper said:
Gene's original LoBue bass had the same "problem". I've read an interview where he said that the pole pieces didn't line up with the E string and that was why the bottom end was missing on the first couple of albums (I'd say it was more the fault of the production team).
No need to stray from the original... it seems like you've nailed it by accident!
Click to expand...

Actually, if you look through this thread you'll find that we already discussed the different Pickups that gene had in his bass. it started with a Single coil pickup, which was then replaced by a Guild pickup, then replaced by a P-bass pickup and finally replaced by the Gibson Humbucker that stayed until the bass was stolen from Gene.
gs005.jpg

Gene's bass with the P-bass pickup.

So since the Gibson pickup wasn't in the bass when those early albums were recorded I doubt that it played any part in the sound he got from it.
 
#873
Blazer said:
Actually, if you look through this thread you'll find that we already discussed the different Pickups that gene had in his bass. it started with a Single coil pickup, which was then replaced by a Guild pickup, then replaced by a P-bass pickup and finally replaced by the Gibson Humbucker that stayed until the bass was stolen from Gene.
gs005.jpg

Gene's bass with the P-bass pickup.

So since the Gibson pickup wasn't in the bass when those early albums were recorded I doubt that it played any part in the sound he got from it.
Click to expand...


Pardon me, with all due respect. The LoBue wasn't stolen. The story goes that Gene had loaned it to Micki Free, and, in turn, Micki never returned it.
I wonder what's happened to it, and, if it's actually put up somewhere? That'd be a damn shame if it's stashed away in a warehouse somewhere. But, the real shame is it's not out 'n about for everyone to see.
 
#874
millsbass5 said:
Pardon me, with all due respect. The LoBue wasn't stolen. The story goes that Gene had loaned it to Micki Free, and, in turn, Micki never returned it.
I wonder what's happened to it, and, if it's actually put up somewhere? That'd be a damn shame if it's stashed away in a warehouse somewhere. But, the real shame is it's not out 'n about for everyone to see.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that pretty much sounds a lot like being stolen to me.
 
#875
Andii Syckz said:
Gene had a Fender style bridge as what Bassgod is using. Like i said, if it worked for gene, it'll work for you. Honestly, he got pretty good bottom end while performing live. Cobo hall was a good one from the kiss anthology box set. Awesome tone!! :hyper:
Click to expand...

I always have wondered if it was actually an old Gibson EBO bridge.
Here is a pic of one from 1972 (it also used a cover):
1972-EBO-walnut-9.jpg
 
#878
THand said:
I always have wondered if it was actually an old Gibson EBO bridge.
Here is a pic of one from 1972 (it also used a cover):
1972-EBO-walnut-9.jpg
Click to expand...

Looking through the forum for the axeology page of the lobue and he swtich the bridge/taile piece combination for a fender style bridge. And he took the cover of an Eb-O bass to put on top. He never changed the bridge afterwards, he simply moved it back more. probably to make it like the custom gibson EBO he was using at the time. here's the axeology: http://axeology.com/LoBue.html#LoBue1976
 
#879
Andii Syckz said:
Looking through the forum for the axeology page of the lobue and he swtich the bridge/taile piece combination for a fender style bridge. And he took the cover of an Eb-O bass to put on top. He never changed the bridge afterwards, he simply moved it back more. probably to make it like the custom gibson EBO he was using at the time. here's the axeology: http://axeology.com/LoBue.html#LoBue1976
Click to expand...

They just say it "appears to be a Fender-style bridge"...and I agree..the footprint does look bigger than the EB0 style and more like a Fendery bridge.

He did change the bridge afterwards though. He moved the Fendery bridge back, removed the saddles, and kept the base to hold the balls of his strings. But, due to the scale of the bass itself, the actual bridge would have to remain in the same place or he would never be in tune.
If you look at this attached pic, I suspect under the EBO cover is something similar to the bridge on the left, with the "Fender-y" base plate performing the function of the string anchor piece pictured on the right.Invalid Link Removed

But that's a different incarnation than what BG is going for, and I don't want to de-rail his thread too far. But it is interesting to me how, once they actually had the money rolling in, Gene kept modding the hell out of this bass, instead of buying/having built what he wanted from scratch....something had to be special about it. For a while he had frigging Spectors, and yet kept playing his old Franken-Bue.
He doesn't seem to be sentimental (he ebayed all their old stuff years ago), so Charlie must have captured something elusive in this bass, and I hope BG has the same luck with his version :bassist:
 
#880
THand said:
They just say it "appears to be a Fender-style bridge"...and I agree..the footprint does look bigger than the EB0 style and more like a Fendery bridge.

He did change the bridge afterwards though. He moved the Fendery bridge back, removed the saddles, and kept the base to hold the balls of his strings. But, due to the scale of the bass itself, the actual bridge would have to remain in the same place or he would never be in tune.
If you look at this attached pic, I suspect under the EBO cover is something similar to the bridge on the left, with the "Fender-y" base plate performing the function of the string anchor piece pictured on the right.Invalid Link Removed

But that's a different incarnation than what BG is going for, and I don't want to de-rail his thread too far. But it is interesting to me how, once they actually had the money rolling in, Gene kept modding the hell out of this bass, instead of buying/having built what he wanted from scratch....something had to be special about it. For a while he had frigging Spectors, and yet kept playing his old Franken-Bue.
He doesn't seem to be sentimental (he ebayed all their old stuff years ago), so Charlie must have captured something elusive in this bass, and I hope BG has the same luck with his version :bassist:
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be a surprise to me if he did use something of the type. But What BG is doing, is pretty true to the 76 era lobue bass. Which is, imo, the best looking one. I always loved the lobue that when i was starting out on bass, i had a squier precision and one day, walked into a store, and it had an ibanez GaxB which looked like the lobue shape (+it was short scale) So i got my dad to trade the pbass for it. It's a great little bass to practice on. Good tone too. But the switch is kinda meh cause tones are cool, but lack something unique of the pickup.

But anyway, without further derailing, onto the show!! :hiding:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back