The back pad also fits in with Gretsch's fondness in the '50s and '60s for gimmickry in general. For example there's the weird Floating Sound Unit bridge, sometimes referred to as the Tuning Fork bridge, used on some late '60s and '70s Gretsch hollowbodies. Invalid Link Removed Or the built in string mufflers used on some models. A lot of this stuff came from the weird brain of guitarist Jimmie Webster, a Gretsch endorser and product demonstrator who released a method book for fretboard tapping several years before Eddie Van Halen was born.
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I like hollowbodies but...
- Thread starter ThuzzleFump
- Start date
Having had a WF Bass, and a Vox Apollo, the pads on each serve their function. The WF pushes it's mojo over the top. The WF is one of the finest Basses I've ever had through the stable. The pad is embellishment. The Vox padded cover actually does cover the 9V battery cover, and access to electronics. I traded the WF for a V6, and still have the Vox.
Robin
Robin
Haha!
Well, most belt buckles I reckon are cheap pot metal... so to keep from getting scratched the protector should be harder... what's harder than pot? Meth I guess
...
I need to go to bed
I'll try: I like the thumpiness of the attack/decay. I like the way they look, and the light weight. I grew up with a collection of really old R&B records (think 1950s) and I have always loved that vintage sound.
I'd say you need to broaden your horizons hollow-body wise if you don't like those - because that's essentially a (vntage) Gretsch thing (yes there were copies in the 60s that did it too).
If you don't like weirdo GRetsch style appoinments - pretty much anyone elsemaking a hollow body will provide a bass that does not have that feature.
As far as sound - the rear of the bass is already being muffled by you and your clothes so the effect is nominal at most (and even less since the rear is a "reflector" not a "resonator".
Actually, ironically they were to protect the back from scratches - it was the 60s they covered everything in vinyl to protect it - they somehow didn't consider permanently installing coat snaps on the back as "damage" to the finish.
I think it is only fairly recently that manufacturers have chased the idiosyncratic weirdness out of semi-hollow designs. For example the Warwick Star bass looks a lot like a Rivoli/EB-2D style bass, but it sounds totally modern. Likewise Lakland have produced semi-hollow basses that have all the weirdness factor ironed out.
A lot of what is chalked up as 'semi-hollow tone' is really just shortscale/flats/weird-pickups-in-weird places tone in my opinion. If you built a 30'' scale length bass with strange mini-humbuckers located either right at the end of the neck or right down at the bridge, then strung it up with flats, it wouldn't matter if the body fore and aft of the central section is hollow or not. If you want a vintage semi-hollow bass then you have to accept the weirdness. I've played a Vox Wyman bass and the neck was like a snooker cue. I've played an old Guild M85 that had the 'suck' switch and the massive body... you just have to accept that that is how these instruments roll.
I own a semi-hollow at the moment, purely for window-dressing. It fits the aesthetics of the band and I've always wanted one. Nothing more complex than that! I don't think the soft pad on the back of old Gretsches and the like is anything to worry about.
A lot of what is chalked up as 'semi-hollow tone' is really just shortscale/flats/weird-pickups-in-weird places tone in my opinion. If you built a 30'' scale length bass with strange mini-humbuckers located either right at the end of the neck or right down at the bridge, then strung it up with flats, it wouldn't matter if the body fore and aft of the central section is hollow or not. If you want a vintage semi-hollow bass then you have to accept the weirdness. I've played a Vox Wyman bass and the neck was like a snooker cue. I've played an old Guild M85 that had the 'suck' switch and the massive body... you just have to accept that that is how these instruments roll.
I own a semi-hollow at the moment, purely for window-dressing. It fits the aesthetics of the band and I've always wanted one. Nothing more complex than that! I don't think the soft pad on the back of old Gretsches and the like is anything to worry about.
I have this (ignore those leftie guitars in the back, they're my dad's). When I bought mine it was in a sale for ~£550, retailing about £800 normally, I see they're going for over £1000 now post-Brexit vote. Anyways, great vintagey hollow Gretsch thump, no buckle protector thing. It came with insanely bright strings on it so I put flats on it, nowadays I prefer nickel rounds on it. What more do you want from a hollowbody bass? This thing sounds amazing, I only wish I had a decent tube amp to do it justice.
You would, however, have to worry about eight screw holes into the body of the guitar holding on a padded pleather disc. So... there's that.
I dunno....people don't seem to mind drilling holes in the body of the bass to attach a pointless pickguard so why worry about a few extra holes in the back?
You have just made my inner guitar nerd sooooooo happy!
The Gxx dxxned Germans got nothin' to do with it [spoken in the voice of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, of Texas]!!!
Here's a padded cushion the OP will love as it it not on a hollowbody bass.
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A very valid question..
A hollow bodied Bass is, essentially a sound chamber. Sure, it has it's own agenda.. being a Bass, and that comes first. It also has the ability to resonate other sounds being created in the band. I feel the Bass vibrate when there a kick or snare hit during a sound check (when not playing). And when The whole band is playing, I feel everything, especially the Bass note attack!
MANY years ago, I was given some good advice about shopping for a Bass. NO AMP, play it and see if it resonates, especially on the low E.. good advise. I've started selling off the heard, not because any of them are bad Basses, I've just found the 5123B is MY Bass. Strangely, I purchased the first of the 5123B's on specs alone. I knew what I was getting with the second
Robin
