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Im Just No Gettin The Boutique Thing
- Thread starter thirtyhz
- Start date
Sounds more like baggage but whatever.
This place has some real characters.
It may be that in my late ‘50s I may see myself selling all my stuff to buy a single high-end bass (if everything runs well with the kids) ... at that point, notwithstanding the fact that I like Alembic’s sound, I may consider Fodera or, better, a master-built Fender made according to my liking ... on the other hand, for us living outside the US, it’s not easy to try a US boutique bass to get an idea of the general instrument’s feel, so I base my judgement solely on what I hear on recordings (I should visit NAMM but I should also do at least 100 other things before, which are more important) ...Sounds more like baggage but whatever.
This place has some real characters.
Has anyone claimed that wood is the only material a guitar can be made from? Nope.
At Brubaker we made a bass out of countertop. It worked fine. It did not sound like the basses made of wood. That's neither a good or bad thing necessarily
But his apparently did not, hence the preamp, to sculpt the tone to his liking.
That's incorrect. Read up on it: hint: he was a very busy session bassist. The less you carried the better.
I get that... but what gets me is that, knowing that your experience is limited, you still come up with hard conclusions and disparaging remarks. That's not a good look IMO but you are more than welcome to it. I know what I've experienced and the idea that my opinion is based on what I spent rather than experienced is just plain silly. You're welcome to that too. If you're ever in the Washington DC area let's hook up and I can give you a great sample of what you're missing. That would be fun.
I have not been impressed with every bass from any particular brand... but the ones that have are killin'.
Agreed on the weight and techno points. It's not just the higher end builders that are taking advantage of weight considerations. In fact, it's already happening even with mid-level priced production makers like G&L, with their very popular empress body option, e.g.
The trend towards lighter weight basses is unstoppable, as that's exactly what more and more players are demanding. The marketplace always responds to consumer demands, eventually.
Dunno what impact all this will have on sales for high end builders, but there is definitely a growing awareness that spending multiple thousands of dollars is not necessary to own a first class bass these days. I'd call that progress.
Brad you have to understand people like me ahah ... it’s not a question of good look or what ... you don’t have to believe that since you are American you can speak about something more than others ... I recognize that for me it’s difficult to get access to certain stuff but the story ends here .... you have surely hands on certain things but I have my hears, my experience to listen, elaborate, think etc... some people will believe to everything is stated about something they can’t see, some others not ... anyway, on the basis of what I hear, the tone of Fodera’s basses does not impress me much ... still consider a whatever P bass connected to a Avalon U5 as an always good term of comparison, a simple setup capable of producing a superb tone ... cost for starting recording = less than 2k ... cost of a Fodera with a Mike Pope ... 3.5 times ... these are the facts .... for the rest it’s a matter of personal opinions, pockets’ size, aims and goals in life, levels of importance of persons, things etc. ... if for you the difference is ok, it’s ok for me ... be advised, however, that this is a public place where everybody can be a professor although this is not my scope .. maybe it’s more yours .. I’m more a kind of Agent Provocateur (this is French by the way
) ...
Can you hear your bass when you play it unplugged?
Mike Tobias designs his basses for particular tones before the electronics go in. And as usual some of the TB Experts say he's FOS. It's not like he's been building at a high level for forty years or anything.
I can hear my bass strongly while unplugged. My pickups actually cannot (not directly at least). In fact they're solely interested in metal.
I understand that a high level luthier has surely a better sensibility than mine.
I guess that if you don't change the electronics nor the pickups nor their position you are talking about nuances and an higly skilled luthier can probably distinguish different bodies by this nuances.
Nevertheless, I still think that the electric bass is quite tautologically an electric instrument.
By the way I really like the fact that we are all playing what was designed to be a mass produced instrument. the electric bass is kinda like the Ford of string instrument. A very young instrument designed to be factory produced. A truly modern instrument.
Aside from weight, general ergonomics would have to be studied better ...
Well yeah, but that's on the individual player to develop personal preferences over time, having experimented with different ergos.
Same applies to electronic and hardware preferences. There are myriad choices available, so we try them and make decisions based on our experiences.
That said, the various ergo arrangements were established long ago. Anything ergonomically really new or revolutionary since the Steinberger L2 from over 30 years ago? I don't think so, but I'll remain open minded. I could cite more examples....but it seems to me that virtually everything imaginable may have already been offered at some point, from the extreme and ridiculous, to the sensible and functional.
You’re probably right but I am deteriorating with time ... what was ok 20 years now causes pain ...
I think that as far as the ergonomic approach to instruments is concerned, the biggest change is the availability of well made short scale basses.
Ha, tell me about it!
Even my daily workouts at the gym can't reverse the damage I've done to myself over time. The last thing I need is a pointlessly overweight albatross hanging from my neck reminding me of it.
Ha, tell me about it!
Even my daily workouts at the gym can't reverse the damage I've done to myself over time. The last thing I need is a pointlessly overweight albatross hanging from my neck reminding me of it.
Good point, there does seem to be a growing trend towards shorties. Especially solid body models, as opposed to the stodgy old Gibson-esque 330 style models.
Could it be that one day we'll all be sporting little Mustangs and such?....having abandoned our longer scale favorites? Heaven forbid!
Not me!....I'd rather fight than switch.
tools? = meh = everybody's got one.
tool users? = wow!
"the right tool for the job" = BS. any instrument i've ever played could play any job i've ever had. and TB members aren't any different.
As long as I have a neck and bridge pickup with different voicings, I can play literally anything I need/want to. So I only find the precision and single neck pickup basses (like EB0) restricting (because I play a lot of chords which I tend to play with a solo'd bridge pickup).
