Hyperbass question for Mr. Manring

[Spencer!]

Hey Michael,

I was watching this [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] and I noticed that when you tap the body and the back of the neck of the bass that the sound actually comes through the amp. Does the Hyperbass have some sort of pickup in the body?

 

[Clay_Bass]

Yes. There are piezos on the bridge plus magnetic pickups. In recordings he will sometimes put ceramic pickups on the body to get even more body noise.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

IIRC, Joe Zon put transducers in a couple specific locations in the neck and body for just this purpose when Michael wanted to use them.

 

[Gsus]

BP article

A good amount of information about the Hyperbass. Except, of course, how to use it like Manring.

 

[Spencer!]

Thanks guys!

 

[hooligans]

I have a question about the hyperbass as well.



Does each hipshot detuner puts the string both up and down a step? And does the bridge do the same thing (except, as the article says, for all of a couple of strings)?

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

A Hipshot Xtender brings the tuning down whichever measurement you set it to (for example, if it's tuned to E, you can tune the dropped setting anywhere from Eb all the way down to C) when you flip the lever down, and it will tune back up to the original tuning when you flip the lever back to its original position. You can only go between two notes at a time without retuning. Sperzel has a tuner called the "D-thing" that apparently lets you switch between two different dropped tunings, but there seems to be so little info available on it that I'm wary of it's usefulness.

I'll leave the Hyperbass II bridge question for those that know more about it than I do.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

By the way, I just had an Elrick fretless bass finished for me that will have a Hipshot Xtender on all four strings, and the Xtenders aren't modified. I haven't seen the bass yet, but it will arrive on Friday- I'll post pics so we can see how big the headstock will need to be to accomodate all of the Xtenders.

 

[tenorbass]

Bryan I read in a Matt Garrison interview that he has a hipshot on one of his 5 string tenorbass's to take the E down to a B. This lets him have a 6 string bass. Is it possible to take a standerd gauged E string down to B with a hipshot and have it not be super flopy?

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Bryan I read in a Matt Garrison interview that he has a hipshot on one of his 5 string tenorbass's to take the E down to a B. This lets him have a 6 string bass. Is it possible to take a standerd gauged E string down to B with a hipshot and have it not be super flopy?

I've read him saying that before- the Hipshot site says it goes down to C, but it may well go down to B...I haven't tried going below a C before. I'll try it and let you know.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I just checked, and I can actually down to a low A, a whole step below low B- I shoulda tried that sooner I did notice that it takes up a good amount of room for the Xtender to go down that low (since the tuner tips more the lower you go), so it might not go that low on every headstock, but it does on mine.

My Elrick bolt-on 34" four-string actually held that detuned .100 E string really well- I'm happily surprised. That gives me great hopes for the new four-Xtender equipped one that's arriving on Friday.

 

[hooligans]

but you do have to preset what it drops down to, right? as in you can't drop it down from an E to a D, then raise it to an F# can you?

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

but you do have to preset what it drops down to, right? as in you can't drop it down from an E to a D, then raise it to an F# can you?

Nope, you can't. You can just flip between the two preset notes- there's one closed postion note, and one open position note.

 

[hooligans]

but with the hyperbass, since it has a bridge detuner, it is possible to do that?

 

[bassjigga]

Yes. The Hyperbass has a special bridge with two levers which raise/lower the saddle height. One on the bass side moves the bottom two strings together and the other on the treble side moves the top two strings together.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Yes. The Hyperbass has a special bridge with two levers which raise/lower the saddle height. One on the bass side moves the bottom two strings together and the other on the treble side moves the top two strings together.

One of the switches raises or lowers all of the strings at once, and the other can adjust one or more strings at a time (at least according to the article- I watched a Manring vid last night where he shows how one adjustment lever changes all the strings at once as well).

 

[bassjigga]

Oh cool, my mistake.

 

[Burg]

How does the bridge on the Hyperbass actually work?
In Michael's tuition video he explains it as a set of cams (spell check?) that move the bridge saddle back and forward, therefore adjusting pitch.

What does he actually mean by this?

 

[Gsus]

I'm with Burg on this one.

I have the Hal Leonard "Michael Manring" DVD where he plays four solo pieces off of Thonk and in describing the detuning possibilities of the Hyperbass he explains the bridge.

I know moving cams=changing tuning, but how does one set the cams? The particular bridge on Manring's Hyperbass (with bridge tuners like those on the VB4) isn't standard on the ones Zon is making now. Surely there's a way to change the cam height or else we'd all be stuck playing "The Enormous Room."

Not that that's a bad thing.


Jared

P.S. I recently played "Excuse Me, Mr. Manring" live and had no trouble using my hipshot to switch between low B and E. The string didnt seem overly floppy, though noticeably looser than an actual B string.

 

[Spencer!]

I recently played "Excuse Me, Mr. Manring" live and had no trouble using my hipshot to switch between low B and E. The string didnt seem overly floppy, though noticeably looser than an actual B string.

Wow, you deserve some serious props if you can pull that song off!

What's the tuning?
Edit: Figured it out: standard tuning, rare for Michael! I'm learning this on a 5 string, so I can hit the low B he uses the detuner to reach.