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Got a Bass Today - 7 string

S

slipperyPete

Sep 18, 2001
92
0
41
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
www.myspace.com
#1
Well my Conklin GT-7 finally arrive today. I purchased it on eBay (oh the horror) with some poker winnings. I have wanted an extended range bass for quite some time and after being able to play on it for only a little over an hour today (work from now until 1 am) I can already tell this won't be my last ERB.

I do have one question, I was wondering if there is anything I should do to take care of the fretboard? My only other bass (a Rickenbacker 4003) does not require anything special besides a nice cleaning, but I wouldn't want to neglect the newest member of my bass family. Thanks.
 
#2
Congrats on the entry into ERB land. If you have the purpleheart fretboard, I don't think you have to do anything special. The only thing I would do to mine was take some VERY light steel wool and Lemon oil to it if it got grundgy.
 
#5
It is just the Purpleheart fingerboard, so I'll just make sure to keep her clean.

Yes, if it weren't for poker I probably wouldn't have been able to afford this for a couple more years being a lowly college student (not too mention being able to eat.)

I don't know if any of you saw the listing or not, but the body was reshaped to make it more contoured and lighter which was a huge selling point for me because I am a small guy so a lighter bass is more appealing. I'll be taking some pictures tomorrow so I'll post them for anyone interested that didn't see the listing.

Also, any tips on getting myself accustomed to such a different beast, i.e. songs to practice that utilize the extended range, would be much appreciated.
 
#7
slipperyPete said:
It is just the Purpleheart fingerboard, so I'll just make sure to keep her clean.

Yes, if it weren't for poker I probably wouldn't have been able to afford this for a couple more years being a lowly college student (not too mention being able to eat.)

I don't know if any of you saw the listing or not, but the body was reshaped to make it more contoured and lighter which was a huge selling point for me because I am a small guy so a lighter bass is more appealing. I'll be taking some pictures tomorrow so I'll post them for anyone interested that didn't see the listing.

Also, any tips on getting myself accustomed to such a different beast, i.e. songs to practice that utilize the extended range, would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Congrats and welcome to ERB-town :bassist:

I did see that listing, kind of curious how the bass sits with the trimmed down body. I'm a big guy, so the body size doesn't bother me, actually, it's so well balanced that I was wondering if the "trimming" would mess up the balance.

As far as technique is concerned, you'll likely find that moving up to a 7 is going to require several adjustments, most of them relating to hand positioning and string muting. For example, if you're the type that regularly anchors your thumb on the back of the neck, you'll need to free up the thumb to make some of the stretches across the neck to get to the lower register strings. I had to make adjustments to my right hand position for string muting.

You'll likely also find that eventually you'll be moving across the neck rather than up and down. This may take some adjustment, but it also opens up a lot of different and creative ways to work through chords ....

Good luck with it, and post some pics of it when you get a chance ....... :cool:
 
#12
Here are the pics finally...
 

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#14
Yikes! Why would someone slim that bass down? I had one for a long, long while, and the weight wasn't a big deal because it was balanced perfectly. I think that maybe slimming down the body would offset the balance enough to counteract to goal of making it feel lighter.
 

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