Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[beans-on-toast]

When Going Up the Country it's a brötchen, wurst und bier bitte.

I only order from the kids menu.

 

[Jeff Scott]

GOF's I've been pondering... My favorite bass is my Ibanez SR500 mahogany lefty with ovangkal/walnut neck. It has two very mellow sweet Bartolini MK1 pickups and I really like the rich sound they put out. I'm thinking about buying my last midrange bass before I retire, and it's probably going to be either a Cort A4 lefty which is a blonde version of the SR500 or an SR505 which is 5 string. Problem is, I've never played a 5 string for 40+ years. I play in local bands and they never complain. I know Cort isn't as well known as Ibanez but it's the same company where Ibanez basses are made. The SR505 is identical to my SR500 except for that extra string.

What say ye GOF's? Forget the 5 string and get the blonde Cort? Questions just ask..

You haven't really lived until you have at least one 5 string bass. I got my first one in the summer of 1987, after seeing a local (L.A. at the time) band called the Fents at Danté's in North Hollyweird. That was a Yamaha BX-5. Later on (the '90s and into the mid '10s), I owned three (count them, three!) ZON 5 string basses (My Three Zons), and nowadays I have a pair of Martin Keith Elfin 5 basses (one fretted, and the other, fretless - it has nothing to worry about). There's more to a 5 string bass than a few extra low notes (of course, you can go the other way, with a high C instead of a low B, depending on your proclivity).

When you get your (you will get one, you know, Will), if you go low and you get a bit nervous about hitting those LOW NOTES, think of the B string as a really long finger rest. I had to convince Chris Clayton (Pick of the Ricks) to look at my Elfin 5 in that way before he would pick it up and play it!

 

[Jeff Scott]

When Going Up the Country it's a ..... bier...

 

[GwenOnBass]

I only order from the kids menu.

^ exactly why I got my fake ID - to order from the kid's menu!

 

[GonePlaid]

Grapes of Wrath, yes. Woody Guthrie went to California to help convince the workers to unionize, yes. The Beverly Hillbillies, yes!

There was a time in the 50’s that Boeing was enticing large numbers of folks to relocate there. Independently, both my parents and my wife’s came within a hair or moving there. It must have made a deep impact, we have three groups of family that eventually moved to the west coast.

My father was an aircraft instrument man with an indie company in Miami. He got a very good offer from Boeing. Preferred to stay in Miami.

 

[GonePlaid]

I'll have a brioche, thanks.

Krispy Kreme for me!(Key Lime filled)

 

[GonePlaid]

You haven't really lived until you have at least one 5 string bass. I got my first one in the summer of 1987, after seeing a local (L.A. at the time) band called the Fents at Danté's in North Hollyweird. That was a Yamaha BX-5. Later on (the '90s and into the mid '10s), I owned three (count them, three!) ZON 5 string basses (My Three Zons), and nowadays I have a pair of Martin Keith Elfin 5 basses (one fretted, and the other, fretless - it has nothing to worry about). There's more to a 5 string bass than a few extra low notes (of course, you can go the other way, with a high C instead of a low B, depending on your proclivity).

When you get your (you will get one, you know, Will), if you go low and you get a bit nervous about hitting those LOW NOTES, think of the B string as a really long finger rest. I had to convince Chris Clayton (Pick of the Ricks) to look at my Elfin 5 in that way before he would pick it up and play it!

When I got my first 5er(96 Gibson LPB25), I played it as a 4 with the long thumb rest and only went for the Eb or D at the end of songs. Even now(great Bob Seger song), with 2 5ers, I usually play one of my 4s, sometimes with the Micro POG for octaves.
LPB25

EpiBird 5er

 

[alaskaleftybass]

What are your intentions for the B string?

My sense from reading TB is Bart MK 1 love depends on who's doing the asking. Not a lot of pups that are replacements that don't require modification. Cort and Barts appear to be two peas in a pod to me.

Agreed. The Cort bass looks like nearly a twin cousin to my SR500... and you're right, @Morrighan , I'm drawn to the Cort because of the Bart MK1's.

They both share the same ovangkal/walnut necks, which are super smooth and fast.

Ibanez SR500

Cort A4 Artisan

 

[alaskaleftybass]

When I got my first 5er(96 Gibson LPB25), I played it as a 4 with the long thumb rest and only went for the Eb or D at the end of songs. Even now(great Bob Seger song), with 2 5ers, I usually play one of my 4s, sometimes with the Micro POG for octaves.
LPB25View attachment 3424561
EpiBird 5er
View attachment 3424562

Nice basses, @GonePlaid

 

[beans-on-toast]

Agreed. The Cort bass looks like nearly a twin cousin to my SR500... and you're right, @Morrighan , I'm drawn to the Cort because of the Bart MK1's.

They both share the same ovangkal/walnut necks, which are super smooth and fast.

Ibanez SR500
View attachment 3424581

Cort A4 Artisan

View attachment 3424582

Some day, they’re going to run out of left handed basses. Always a justification for buying another one.

Look what happened with the poor Nauga. It’s pretty much extinct. Just try to find an authentic naugahyde these days. They’re all fake.

I have a naugahyde covered Yamaha drum stool. It’s very comfortable.

 

[GonePlaid]

Some day, they’re going to run out of left handed basses. Always a justification for buying another one.

Look what happened with the poor Nauga. It’s pretty much extinct. Just try to find an authentic naugahyde these days. They’re all fake.

I have a naugahyde covered Yamaha drum stool. It’s very comfortable.
View attachment 3424615

I think I still have a Nauga somewhere around here.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I think I still have a Nauga somewhere around here.

Our nauga died of lack of oxygen because it did not understand plastic slip covers are not to be used as a toy. There should have been a law that mandated plastic slip cover warnings. Except our naga never learned to read because we kept it out of school to work in the mill with its siblings. The slip covers did make sure our nauga was never burned by too-hot coffee from Mickey D's.

 

[The Owl]

Couldn't help myself

 

[Jeff Scott]

...The slip covers did make sure our nauga was never burned by too-hot coffee from Mickey D's.

Stella? Is that you, Stella?

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Some day, they’re going to run out of left handed basses. Always a justification for buying another one.

Look what happened with the poor Nauga. It’s pretty much extinct. Just try to find an authentic naugahyde these days. They’re all fake.

I have a naugahyde covered Yamaha drum stool. It’s very comfortable.
View attachment 3424615

Poor Nauga...

You know, Beans, I think I know the answer already on the bass. I love the ovangkol/walnut neck and the MK1 pickups. I wish I could get more excited about getting a five string, as suggested, but I've played some and the wide neck just doesn't agree with my fingers....

p.s I stand corrected from my other post. It's spelled ovangkol/walnut, and to be honest I don't know if the other part of the neck is walnut or wenge.... I'm so confused..

 

[GonePlaid]

Poor Nauga...

You know, Beans, I think I know the answer already on the bass. I love the ogangkol/walnut neck and the MK1 pickups. I wish I could get more excited about getting a five string, as suggested, but I've played some and the wide neck just doesn't agree with my fingers....

When I decided I wanted a 5er, I looked all around and at various brands. A 4 string P is too wide for me so a 5 was outta the question. I wanted a Gibson but they weren't making any at the time. I found my barely used Les Paul 5 at a shop in Ft. Lauderdale. I asked to see it. The salesman hooked it up to some monster amp. I turned the volume on the bass off-I just wanted to see how it felt. I called back the next day and bought it. Point being, they aren't all wide. Try to get measurements from those that interest you-and good luck.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Point being...
Without the volume up...without plugging it in at all...you know 95% of what you need to know about your potential new bass.

Plug it into your Univox amp from the ‘70s or the bitchinest new thing...doesn’t change the nature of the wood the bass is made of, the truth of the way it was bolted together, the way the Wings were glued and clamped, and braced together.

An unplugged Bass is an organic thing.
It ‘speaks’ to you, or it doesn’t.

 

[Al Kraft]

Our nauga died of lack of oxygen because it did not understand plastic slip covers are not to be used as a toy. There should have been a law that mandated plastic slip cover warnings. Except our naga never learned to read because we kept it out of school to work in the mill with its siblings. The slip covers did make sure our nauga was never burned by too-hot coffee from Mickey D's.

Many significant cultural highlights that explain the latter part of the past century are contained in this post.

 

[GonePlaid]

Many significant cultural highlights that explain the latter part of the past century are contained in this post.

It's like reading a time capsule.

 

[Passinwind]

Poor Nauga...

You know, Beans, I think I know the answer already on the bass. I love the ovangkol/walnut neck and the MK1 pickups. I wish I could get more excited about getting a five string, as suggested, but I've played some and the wide neck just doesn't agree with my fingers...

I bought my first five string 45 years into playing Will. Tried other people's ones a fair number of times over the years and never bonded with any of them. Most had those pesky speed bumps, which was pretty much always the first deal breaker. But then neck dimensions were never really to my liking either. Two years ago I decided to give it a shot regardless, and the Marco Bass I eventually settled on has a pretty thin neck that's also not super wide. Took about three months to get semi-comfortable, and a year to get up to what I consider gigging speed. During that time I almost never played my other basses, but I did bring a few other of Marco's fivers home and made it a point to shed on them too. Now I can jump on most fretted 5s pretty happily, although my reading is still kinda sketchy. I think that's more because they're fretted than because they are fivers though.

From what I've experienced, I'd recommend something longer than 34" scale for best results with a low B. My Marco is 34.5", but most of the other ones that sound best to me are 35". And then of course you may have to dual in strings and amplification from scratch, more or less. YMMV, but I'd say if you are reluctant, just don't jump.