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Gibson Midtown HollowBody

#41
Calexia13 said:
Siggy,

Also, I have a hipshot supertone bridge laying around. I wanted to put it on just to see how it would change the sounds. But the inserts are all the way into the body, I don't want to push down on the finish when tightening the bridge as it will probably mark the body. Maybe I will put some felt under the bridge before putting it on.

Regards,
Click to expand...

I am big full contact/high mass bridge guy. The better you transfer the string energy to the body the sweeter the sound. I was thinking about getting one, but feel like dip5h17 :scowl:for buying a bass this close to Christmas. Let us know how you like it.

Siggy
 
#42
I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had the bridge lying around so I put it on. As far as a tonal difference I don't hear one. But it does look pretty bad ass on there I have to admit. I also don't have to worry about the bridge and saddles popping off when I remove the strings.

I also put on some amber speed knobs I had in a drawer. One last thing that I am going to do is install a treble bleed circuit. The bridge pickup doesn't need it, but the neck is pretty powerful and when I turn down the volume down from anything less than 10, I lose the treble it has.
 

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#43
Calexia13 said:
I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had the bridge lying around so I put it on. As far as a tonal difference I don't hear one. But it does look pretty bad ass on there I have to admit. I also don't have to worry about the bridge and saddles popping off when I remove the strings.

I also put on some amber speed knobs I had in a drawer. One last thing that I am going to do is install a treble bleed circuit. The bridge pickup doesn't need it, but the neck is pretty powerful and when I turn down the volume down from anything less than 10, I lose the treble it has.
Click to expand...

I had been giving some thought to changing out the bridge on my Epihone Jack Casady for one of these. Congrats, all the best with it! :cool:
 
#47
Calexia13 said:
Siggy,


By the way, do you have any buzzing around the 12th fret on the G string?



Ed
Click to expand...

No buzzing. I had lowered bridge a full turn and everything was buzzing,:hmm: then raised it back up a half turn and everything is fine.

My Midtown setup has very little relief, about the height of 2 pieces of 20lb copy paper. tested at the 5th fret of the G string While holding (I capo'd) the 1st fret and (held)12th fret.The height of the open G string is 1/16" at the 12 fret. (I used a hex wrench).

If only the G string is buzzy, I'd try raising it a little.

I hope this helps,
 
#48
Pimpernel Smith said:
I really like the look of this bass in sunburst. How does the sound compare to the Jack Casady bass?
Click to expand...



They are two different beasts.

The JC has a bigger body, one pickup centered between neck and bridge, a traditionally built maple body, rosewood fretboard.

The Midtown has two pickups positioned at the neck and bridge, A routed mahogany slab body w/maple top. and a maple fret board.

The Midtown has an impressive tonal range. I think that you could get a Midtown to sound like a Jack Casady but not visa versa.
 
#49
Looks interesting. Says "designed by Gibson USA", but doesn't say where it is made.
Anyone know?
335/Jack Cassidy body?
Is it semi-hollow with a block extending from the neck joint to tailpiece?
Is it bolt on?
I would think that if it were neck-thru and made in USA it would be more like $2k.
 
#50
Siggy said:
They are two different beasts.

The JC has a bigger body, one pickup centered between neck and bridge, a traditionally built maple body, rosewood fretboard.

The Midtown has two pickups positioned at the neck and bridge, A routed mahogany slab body w/maple top. and a maple fret board.

The Midtown has an impressive tonal range. I think that you could get a Midtown to sound like a Jack Casady but not visa versa.
Click to expand...

Routed mahogany slab body like the Epiphone Zenith...
Probably very heavy like the Zenith.
Hmmm.
Think that it is a re-tooling of the Zenith body with a 335 top?
Is the top arched or flat?
 
#53
Siggy said:
She was delivered around 2pm. Nicely packed in two boxes


Upon opening the case I was greeted with a pretty sight.

Top.jpg


The wood tone looks much nicer then the pictures on the Gibson site. The binding is listed as cream, but it is a little darker then that. It's darker then the binding on my 67' Coronado. I kind of like it. I think it gives a little vintage vibe.


Headstock.jpg




So i loosened the strings and adjusted the bridge posts in one full turn. Strings two low so I brought the screws out 1/2 turn and the height was right where I Like it.

The bass is well balanced. There is a little more stretch to reach the tuners but not bad. The bass weighs 8-3/4 lbs on the kitchen scale.

It has nice sustain and wide tonal range. The long scale and maple finger board probably helps this a lot. It's pretty bright sounding but toggle to the neck p/up and roll off the highs on the tone pot and the big humbucker will take you back to the 60's.

What I'm not crazy about (dislike is to harsh)

The strings. I think they're nickle and blacken my fingers after a couple of minutes. No biggy, A set of DR high beams would brighten the tone and keep my fingers clean. Actually, a nice set of D'Addario Chrome flats would turn this into a blues monster.

I like the idea of the maple fretboard. It looks like rosewood at a distance but it lacks luster up close, and not much grain either. I like to use bee's wax and lemon oil on my rosewood to keep it from drying out and it gives it a nice appearance. I don't think it would work on maple.

I prefer having my p/up switch in front of the vol.& tone controls like a Ric. This is something I may change later however the toggle mounting hole is larger and would mean taking a tool to it and probably voiding my warranty :(


These are all very minor issues and easily corrected. I realy like this bass and think it will be a keeper for quite a while. :hyper:
Click to expand...

Looks like rosewood to me. By the way, they switched to rosewood ("10/12 – Fingerboard species changed from Baked Maple to Rosewood").
Link Removed
 
#60
Yeah, but there have been some pretty embarrassing typos on that site from day one:

"All this and the Midtown Standard Bass oozes pure Gibson class in your choice of hand-sprayed nitrocellulose finish in Cherry, Cherry, Pelham Blue Black, or Pelham Blue."

I have no idea, it just seems weird that both AMS & Same Day have removed the PB option from their site. Plus there was a little online blurb from Sweetwater about Pelham Blue no longer being offered on the 6 strings, but if you click through it says "in stock."

I'm not trying to start any rumors here. I mean it's the beginning to the holiday weekend, my wife is pissed at me & I am just jonesin' for my Cherry Midtown to get into my hot little hands!

Maybe I should just put down the laptop & pick up the beer....
 

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