Lakland Owners Group #69

[cymbop]

@Stranger Danger and @J-Fev inspired me to make a pic of these Laklands in one place. A happy little family. There are a few other basses in the house, but honestly I could live with just these three.

 

[Z-Bass]

@Stranger Danger and @J-Fev inspired me to make a pic of these Laklands in one place. A happy little family. There are a few other basses in the house, but honestly I could live with just these three.

Great trio! And always good to see an update shot of your custom 44-64. The paint on top coat is wearing nicely.

 

[ejschultz]

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Anyone ever see the full documentary? My brother works with the filmmaker's wife. They were talking about this today and I can only find the preview. I'd spend the 45 minutes watching it.

 

[Gecko 5]

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Anyone ever see the full documentary? My brother works with the filmmaker's wife. They were talking about this today and I can only find the preview. I'd spend the 45 minutes watching it.

Dan Lakin gave me a copy on DVD. I have now watched it YEARS

 

[Si-bob]

@Stranger Danger and @J-Fev inspired me to make a pic of these Laklands in one place. A happy little family. There are a few other basses in the house, but honestly I could live with just these three.

View attachment 7119741

That Hollowbody!!!

Si

 

[Johnny Alien]

 

[ejschultz]

All the places I checked and YouTube didn’t come to mind. Hopefully I have good enough cell service to watch it on lunch today.

 

[Steve88]

Just listed some Lakland basses and some pickups, if anyone here is interested!

Skyline 55-60 with a J-Retro
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/lakland-skyline-55-60-with-j-retro-preamp.1663861/

1998 55-94 (I'll probably regret this one)
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/1998-lakland-55-94-with-bartolini-pickups-and-preamp.1663864/

DJ4 Pickups
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/lakland-j4-single-coil-pickup-set.1663863/

 

[macribas]

Just listed some Lakland basses and some pickups, if anyone here is interested!

Skyline 55-60 with a J-Retro
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/lakland-skyline-55-60-with-j-retro-preamp.1663861/

1998 55-94 (I'll probably regret this one)
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/1998-lakland-55-94-with-bartolini-pickups-and-preamp.1663864/

DJ4 Pickups
https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/lakland-j4-single-coil-pickup-set.1663863/

Great stuff there!

 

[daddymactx]

Thanks @Johnny Alien that's a serious blast from the past!!! All I can say is WOW!!

 

[daddymactx]

My Lakland 55-63 Dan Lakin made for me, still doing work.. 20 years later....

 

[Stagelab]

My Lakland 55-63 Dan Lakin made for me, still doing work.. 20 years later....

View attachment 7124604

What a setup! Is that a custom Modulus? The only one with holes I remember was Oteil’s signature. His had f holes that looked different from yours.

I thought Dan drove the commercial side of Lakland and others did the building. Listened to a podcast with him and that was discussed. Maybe I’m mistaken?

 

[Stagelab]

I’m looking for a P and there’s a Bob Glaub Skyline for sale locally for $900. see pic. Ash body. I believe it’s all stock.

- how do I confirm the model and year? Is there a way with the serial number?

- is this a J neck with a 1.5 nut width and a slim C profile? The reverb ad says 1.625.

- how would you compare this bass to those labeled 44-64? Basically the same instrument, just made in different years? I get a little confused by Lakland’s model names.

- how would you compare this bass to a MIA P?

- are there other Lakland P’s you’d recommend instead?

Thanks for any info and opinions you can share.

 

[daddymactx]

What a setup! Is that a custom Modulus? The only one with holes I remember was Oteil’s signature. His had f holes that looked different from yours.

Thanks for the props on my rig. Yes Joe Perman custom made that one for me.. It doesn't have f holes. The top is spalted burl with a satin finish vrs gloss. What looks like f holes are the cool wood imperfections.

I thought Dan drove the commercial side of Lakland and others did the building. Listened to a podcast with him and that was discussed. Maybe I’m mistaken?

When I say Dan built it, He answered the phone, checked on the 55-63 bodies, (cause when I ordered in late 2003 he only had 2 of those bodies left as that model was discontinued. It was the Willie Weeks model!!) and we discussed exactly what was going into the bass. Incidentally, the build was done about 3 years b4 that pic when I visited the old tire warehouse factory, we met and hung out!! Great guy!!!

 

[athfngl]

I've been lurking here for a while, and have owned three Laklands over the years: two Skyline 55-02's and a USA Classic 44-64. Both 55-02's were boat anchors, which is ultimately why I sold them. Unfortunately I fell into financial hardship last year and had to sell my remaining bass equipment and my 44-64.

So when I could finally afford to rebuild my whole setup, I went searching for a white whale: a Skyline 55-02 under 9lbs.

It took me a while, but I finally found one! So here's my one and only bass. 8.8lbs, perfectly balanced, plays like butter.
I put La Bella 760FL-B strings on it - I highly recommend trying flats on these at least once if that's your flavor.

I also built out a simple and tonally clean amp-less rig to complement this bass, and I couldn't be happier with it. Super excited to be playing again! Thanks for being such a great group, I hope to get more involved this year.

Cheers!

 

[macribas]

I’m looking for a P and there’s a Bob Glaub Skyline for sale locally for $900. see pic. Ash body. I believe it’s all stock.

- how do I confirm the model and year? Is there a way with the serial number?

- is this a J neck with a 1.5 nut width and a slim C profile? The reverb ad says 1.625.

- how would you compare this bass to those labeled 44-64? Basically the same instrument, just made in different years? I get a little confused by Lakland’s model names.

- how would you compare this bass to a MIA P?

- are there other Lakland P’s you’d recommend instead?

Thanks for any info and opinions you can share.

Let's go!

Year: Skylines are numbered according to their year/month/day of manufacturing: YYMMDDnnn. So a 030422123 bass would be the 123rd bass built on April 22, 2003.

Model: Some time around 2010 they changed a few things at Lakland, Dan Lakin sold the company. Apparently the signature deals were with Dan, so when he left, the Bob Glaub and the Joe Osborn basses had to be renamed. They stopped making the Scheffs and the Dunns. The Darryl Jones production even paused for a bit but they eventually re-signed with DJ. So the Bob Glaub became the 44-64. Same bass.

The one in the picture is a Korean bass, I found the listing on both eBay and Reverb. So that wouldn't be the 1.625 nut. That only came after. Back then they either had the 1.75 nut or they would use an Osborn neck (1.5") on it. Front the pics it looks like a 1.75 inch nut. Our resident expert in Korean Skyline Glaubs @Johnny Alien might know more.

Compare to a Fender: very subjective. In my book, a great Lakland Skyline is on par with a great American Fender P.

Other Lakland Ps... well, to me it comes down to the neck profile.

 

[macribas]

When I say Dan built it, He answered the phone, checked on the 55-63 bodies, (cause when I ordered in late 2003 he only had 2 of those bodies left as that model was discontinued. It was the Willie Weeks model!!) and we discussed exactly what was going into the bass. Incidentally, the build was done about 3 years b4 that pic when I visited the old tire warehouse factory, we met and hung out!! Great guy!!!

My 55-63 is from 2004 (according to the serial number on the neck) so maybe the body on mine was one of those two left?

 

[Johnny Alien]

Let's go!

Year: Skylines are numbered according to their year/month/day of manufacturing: YYMMDDnnn. So a 030422123 bass would be the 123rd bass built on April 22, 2003.

Model: Some time around 2010 they changed a few things at Lakland, Dan Lakin sold the company. Apparently the signature deals were with Dan, so when he left, the Bob Glaub and the Joe Osborn basses had to be renamed. They stopped making the Scheffs and the Dunns. The Darryl Jones production even paused for a bit but they eventually re-signed with DJ. So the Bob Glaub became the 44-64. Same bass.

The one in the picture is a Korean bass, I found the listing on both eBay and Reverb. So that wouldn't be the 1.625 nut. That only came after. Back then they either had the 1.75 nut or they would use an Osborn neck (1.5") on it. Front the pics it looks like a 1.75 inch nut. Our resident expert in Korean Skyline Glaubs @Johnny Alien might know more.

Compare to a Fender: very subjective. In my book, a great Lakland Skyline is on par with a great American Fender P.

Other Lakland Ps... well, to me it comes down to the neck profile.

You covered it all really well. That said I just had a 2002 Glaub that had a nut width of 1.625". I think there were just some randoms like that and they weren't intentional. I would say its the exception because I had not seen one before on an early year. The natural ones only had one run so they are not common at all. Thats a great price for one

 

[Mohawk]

So I hit a little unforseen snag on the BG5 project tonight when something that I had completely overlooked was exposed. You'd think at my age and experience I would be smarter than I am but that is too often not the case. I get a thought in my head, file it as 100% correct them am surprised when it's wrong. So I bought the set of used Lakland PJ pickups and had every expectation that they would fall right in. P went in as planned except for discovering tha the radius on the PG P cutouts were the wrong radius, too round, and didn't fit well with the squared corners of the new P pickups. So I spent some quality time hand filing and re-radiusing those corners with fine results. Hard part is done. Grab my new J pickup and to my surprise it's far too long and the screw 'bumps' are in the wrong place. I was stunned, blood pressure rising and saying nasty things in my head about the folks that routed that spot in the first place. Now we know that the EMG 'Long Jazz' fit fine because that was in there. and because it was the 'long' version well, hell, my Lakland bridge pickups are long too... right? And, embarrassingly, never once did the thought enter my head that I might want to measure something. I even have a Lakland bridge pickup in my parts drawer! No need, because it will fit.

Not so much:
View attachment 7114761 View attachment 7114762

So I am dead in the water at that point, really disappointed, and by disappointed I mean ridiculously pissed. All these thoughts about finding a suitable sized 5 string J pickup that narrow that will accommodate the string spacing, what if I couldn't, how much new compromise will I know be forced into by someone elses ineptitude, etc., etc. So I start weighing options. Burn it? Submit to the correct EMG set? Re-rout for some larger dual coil? Or perhaps I'll just call it a night and re-group. Then I remembered that when the routing was done they had Nordstrands installed so somewhere that compatible set exists. And if that one does there are likely others. Things are getting brighter now. And so I learn that there are some suitable 3.7" wide 5 string pickups out there. Looking back at the older pictures the Nordstrands actually align very nicely. Is that a 'vintage' width? This is not something I kwo much about. Obviously...

So now I will have to go shopping again, this time armed with my newly acquired knowledge.

On the positive side the rest of my planned projects had gone off beautifully

Neck cleaned, waxed and frets checked and polished
View attachment 7114776

Bridge disassembled cleaned, polished, saddle height screws lubed, saddles shined up, and bridge mounting screws had their heads polished as well. This was one of the more dramatic cleanups. It had a lot of years of stuff accumulated in areas that never get cleaned.
View attachment 7114778

Same treatments for the tuners which they had 15 years of general haze and dullness. Didn't take them down as far but just more for function check and lubing. These came out nicely as well, especially the barrel nuts and washers which responded well to some polishing. Even polished the small rear mounting heads for a nice detail.
View attachment 7114784

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And since I can't not do them as well, polished the neck screw heads.
View attachment 7114786

And that's all for now. Audere 3 band preamp on order and time to find some pickups that will fit.

I went with the Nordstrand NJ5S hum cancelling on my 55-94 pickup upgrade per Nordstrand's recommendations. It was probably a good choice to avoid noise in some clubs as occasionally I have to switch the MM5.2 coil to parallel due to noise, but I prefer it in single coil mode. Although I suspect that the NJ5 vintage single coil would sound slightly better. Also, the NJ5S has a shielding layer across the magnet poles on the bottom that the NJ5 does not have. They have two widths available standard so you supply your width on the order sheet. Love the red with tort PG!

 

[daddymactx]

My 55-63 is from 2004 (according to the serial number on the neck) so maybe the body on mine was one of those two left?

Probably so, though I ordered in late 03, my bass was delivered in Mar/Apr 2004 but my S/n is 6713, made in USA.. My understanding was that our basses were the last that used the same body style as the 55-94 but were cut for dual J pickups like on the Willie Weeks. Later on the J bass resurfaced as the 55-AJ, then the DJ when they got Darryl back. Also the 55-60 models were dual J style but non of them had the exact 55-94 body style. If I'm off someone holler..

on the left is an AJ I got from the new factory after John Pirrocello bought Dan out. A student of mine bought that bass and still has it..

This is a 55-60 skyline with an east pre I sold a while back..