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Lakland Owners Group #69

Picked up the 5564 double P fretless today from Carl. I gave it a quick playthrough when I was there and this bass is absolutely fantastic.

The " mwah factor" is extremely intense. More than I thought it would be.

I can get a typical p-bass tone by soloing the neck pickup and a crazy mid-range tone by soloing the bridge pickup.

Carl made a comment that he wasn't sure how well the two pickups would play well together but they certainly do. He was very impressed as was I.

I cannot wait to play it in a band setting and figure out how well it does.

Hopefully I will have some glissando opportunities Sunday morning. If not it'll be a mini trial. :-)

I will give a full report with pictures Sunday afternoon.

I also had him take apart the skyline 5564 that I'm sending to Pat to get refinished.

I also had him put on some sadowski Black label flats onto my white lightning. That brings a bass more into the tonal arena where I want it.

Hope you all have a great weekend. PEACE
 
Can A guy have too many P Basses?

I'm asking for a friend :-)

IMG_20250316_162608717.jpg
 
I guess I'm becoming a hoarder.

Total of 18 currently....
8 Lakland
5 Carlo
1 Mad man music (JJ)
1 LTD
1 ,Rick Turner
1 NS EUB
1 Christopher upright (4 string)

Put another way
6 P style basses
3 J style basses
1 EUB
1,upright
2, semi acoustic ( not really but close)
5 various with humbuckers etc

Put another way
1 upright ( fretless)
1EUB (fretless)
4 electric fretless
12 fretted

Put another way
6 active
1 active EUB
1 UPRIGHT
8 Passive


I think that is most of the permutations. :-)
 
I played my new bass in church for the first time today.

This is the first time that it has been in a band setting and I will tell you that it is excellent.

Carl really outdated himself this time.

The neck is absolutely butta to play... It really does almost play itself. I know other people say that but this bass really does.

I have several b a s s a s with really good necks but this one is absolutely the best of the best.

And the double P set up? Let's put it this way. I am a lover of a good steak so I'll use an analogy that fits that....

They are both great pieces of beef like a piece of sirloin and a piece of ribeye so they are the same type But very different flavors.

The vintage pickup is exactly what you would think. Very '70s vintage sounding which is excellent.

The bridge pickup is definitely snarly and brings a good grind into the mix. I think that is why he wanted to put that at the bridge because it would be more grindy and grunchy.

For most of the songs I used a mix of about 75% of the volume in the neck pickup and about 50% of the bridge pickup.

There was one song where I turned the bridge pickup off just to see how that sounded and I got a great standard P sound out of it.

The two pickups really do compliment each other very well.

And I think I mentioned in a post yesterday that the mwah Factor is much higher than I thought it would be. That is to say that I really love it.

I cannot say enough about this base or Carl's work.

I am contemplating having him maybe make a fretted neck that I can switch out on this bass on occasion.

I got some good compliments from our guitar player as well as drummer and our saxophone player. They all said it sounded fantastic.
 
Can A guy have too many P Basses?

I'm asking for a friend :-)

View attachment 7177594
For the most part, I've never really been a P bass guy though I do own a couple. The type of music I play tends to call for a jazz bass although I will say that I own a Sire P5R (5 string P bass) with roundwounds on it and I do love the sound of that bass. I own a 90's MIM Fender 4 string P bass that almost never gets played and I also own a 1982 Fullerton Vintage Reissue P bass that has flats on it but again, I rarely play it. I just can't seem to get these P basses to cut through the mix like my jazz basses do (except for the P5R which does a good job of cutting through). I understand they definitely have their place...after all, we wouldn't have most of the Motown songs w/o the P bass.
 
TImmus:

Sounds Like you have some very nice P basses!

I am sure others would want them if you do not like them....why do you hang onto them?

What the of music do you play?

How are the keys and guitars EQ'd (I find this to be an issue sometimes with cutting through)

My P basses seem to cut through just fine...while some of the "brighter" basses (if you will) seem to get lost in the guitars.
 
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TImmus:

Sounds Like you have some very nice P basses!

I am sure others would want them if you do not like them....why do you hang onto them?

What the of music do you play?

How are the keys and guitars EQ'd (I find this to be an issue sometimes with cutting through)

My P basses seem to cut through just fine...while some of the "brighter" basses (if you will) seem to get lost in the guitars.
I tend to play a lot of CCM/Worship stuff and quite often play at a Black church and play the Black Gospel stuff, hence the reason I play mostly 5 string basses. Up until I moved to MO from NH three and a half years ago, I was playing originals with a Christian band that ran the gamut as far as style goes but about half of it was riff driven, Metallica style stuff, the other half was a little more mellow stuff kinda like in the style of Pink Floyd/Porcupine Tree with a bit of Funk thrown in for good measure.

The MIM Fender sounds great by itself but in the context of a band, it seems to get lost. I've tried running it through an EQ to boost the mids a bit or pull the lows down but it still sounds...well...lacking. I pulled out the Mexican p'ups in it and replaced them with Fender "Originals". I think those are "copies" of 62 p'ups. I am also not really a 4 string player but will play one in a pinch. One of the things I wanted to try but haven't had the time yet is to try different "tone" caps in there. It's been so long since I've been in it that I don't remember what's in there at the moment but I think it's a .047 uF...maybe different strings? I think right now it has D'Addario rounds on it.

The Fullerton...it's a storied bass. The neck was made in 12/82 and the body was made 1/83. It's "storied" because it doesn't fit the '57 or the '62 version...in fact it looks exactly like a '59. The old friend I bought it from in the late 80s, he's since passed away, bought it new. Everyone that sees it says that there is NO way it could be what it looks like because Fender never made a '59 reissue but there it is.

I have no reason to not believe the guy I bought it from...we'd been friends for years. I remember when he bought it as I was just getting into playing bass myself. He would've had to either swapped the neck or body but I know he never did. It's fun to play and again, sounds great on it's own but within the context of a band, it's lacking "something". His style he played was R&B...

That bass has Fender 9050 flats on it. I run flats on that bass, mainly for historic reasons but also I was told the frets on those basses tended to be made of softer nickel and I don't want to wear them down.

If I were to sell it (and right now I don't want to), what would I call it in the ad?

About 10+ years ago, there was a pretty long thread on here om TB about that bass...no determination was ever made as to it's pedigree.

Back when I was doing amp repairs at a large New England Music store chain, i was in a shop where we had a lot of Fender reps walk through and visit us. I asked one about it and his comment was "anything can happen at Fender, especially during that time". He said it's possible that my friend ordered like he received it but he never mentioned it as being a special order.

I don't know. It has a beautiful Fiesta Red nitro paint job with some wear caused by the previous owner and myself, rosewood fretboard, reverse tuners, gold anodized pickguard and the bridge and pickup covers...everything screams '59 P-bass. I don't know and probably never will. The previous owner is long gone so I can't ask him. I just play it occasionally and hope someday, the mystery may be solved.
 
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I tend to play a lot of CCM/Worship stuff and quite often play at a Black church and play the Black Gospel stuff, hence the reason I play mostly 5 string basses. Up until I moved to MO from NH three and a half years ago, I was playing originals with a Christian band that ran the gamut as far as style goes but about half of it was riff driven, Metallica style stuff, the other half was a little more mellow stuff kinda like in the style of Pink Floyd/Porcupine Tree with a bit of Funk thrown in for good measure.

The MIM Fender sounds great by itself but in the context of a band, it seems to get lost. I've tried running it through an EQ to boost the mids a bit or pull the lows down but it still sounds...well...lacking. I pulled out the Mexican p'ups in it and replaced them with Fender "Originals". I think those are "copies" of 62 p'ups. I am also not really a 4 string player but will play one in a pinch. One of the things I wanted to try but haven't had the time yet is to try different "tone" caps in there. It's been so long since I've been in it that I don't remember what's in there at the moment but I think it's a .047 uF...maybe different strings? I think right now it has D'Addario rounds on it.

The Fullerton...it's a storied bass. The neck was made in 12/82 and the body was made 1/83. It's "storied" because it doesn't fit the '57 or the '62 version...in fact it looks exactly like a '59. The old friend I bought it from in the late 80s, he's since passed away, bought it new. Everyone that sees it says that there is NO way it could be what it looks like because Fender never made a '59 reissue but there it is.

I have no reason to not believe the guy I bought it from...we'd been friends for years. I remember when he bought it as I was just getting into playing bass myself. He would've had to either swapped the neck or body but I know he never did. It's fun to play and again, sounds great on it's own but within the context of a band, it's lacking "something". His style he played was R&B...

That bass has Fender 9050 flats on it. I run flats on that bass, mainly for historic reasons but also I was told the frets on those basses tended to be made of softer nickel and I don't want to wear them down.

If I were to sell it (and right now I don't want to), what would I call it in the ad?

About 10+ years ago, there was a pretty long thread on here om TB about that bass...no determination was ever made as to it's pedigree.

Back when I was doing amp repairs at a large New England Music store chain, i was in a shop where we had a lot of Fender reps walk through and visit us. I asked one about it and his comment was "anything can happen at Fender, especially during that time". He said it's possible that my friend ordered like he received it but he never mentioned it as being a special order.

I don't know. It has a beautiful Fiesta Red nitro paint job with some wear caused by the previous owner and myself, rosewood fretboard, reverse tuners, gold anodized pickguard and the bridge and pickup covers...everything screams '59 P-bass. I don't know and probably never will. The previous owner is long gone so I can't ask him. I just play it occasionally and hope someday, the mystery may be solved.
Great background!

Yes CCM needs a fiver! Love those Eb and low D songs!

I can see how "metal like" needs a bit of cut through..I still think a P bass could cut it.

It's not so much how you are EQ'd....its the guitars. If they are too mid/bass range you will get lost.

The Fullerton story is great! Nice to have a bass like that. I can see why you want to keep it!

As for Fiesta Red nitro .....oh yeah Baby!!!!

I am having a bass refin'd to that color very soon (as soon as I can send it out)
 
Great background!

Yes CCM needs a fiver! Love those Eb and low D songs!

I can see how "metal like" needs a bit of cut through..I still think a P bass could cut it.

It's not so much how you are EQ'd....its the guitars. If they are too mid/bass range you will get lost.

The Fullerton story is great! Nice to have a bass like that. I can see why you want to keep it!

As for Fiesta Red nitro .....oh yeah Baby!!!!

I am having a bass refin'd to that color very soon (as soon as I can send it out)
I'll post a few pix of it in the next few days...
 
How does the double precision pickups work for you?
Per my post a few entries up:

"And the double P set up? Let's put it this way. I am a lover of a good steak so I'll use an analogy that fits that....

They are both great pieces of beef like a piece of sirloin and a piece of ribeye so they are the same type But very different flavors.

The vintage pickup is exactly what you would think. Very '70s vintage sounding which is excellent.

The bridge pickup is definitely snarly and brings a good grind into the mix. I think that is why he wanted to put that at the bridge because it would be more grindy and grunchy.

For most of the songs I used a mix of about 75% of the volume in the neck pickup and about 50% of the bridge pickup.

There was one song where I turned the bridge pickup off just to see how that sounded and I got a great standard P sound out of it.

The two pickups really do compliment each other very well.

And I think I mentioned in a post yesterday that the mwah Factor is much higher than I thought it would be. That is to say that I really love it."

I think they work well together!

I was inspired by Leland Sklar and my buddy JJ!
 
Thank you.
That is a special one for sure!
Lakland vintage P and a custom wound J (Carl specified)
The white has a "slight" blue tinge to it...was going for a pearlescent look.
Unfortunately its not a prevalent as I had hoped...but it is cool up close.
This thing sounds GREAT!
 
Picked up the 5564 double P fretless today from Carl. I gave it a quick playthrough when I was there and this bass is absolutely fantastic.

The " mwah factor" is extremely intense. More than I thought it would be.

I can get a typical p-bass tone by soloing the neck pickup and a crazy mid-range tone by soloing the bridge pickup.

Carl made a comment that he wasn't sure how well the two pickups would play well together but they certainly do. He was very impressed as was I.

I cannot wait to play it in a band setting and figure out how well it does.

Hopefully I will have some glissando opportunities Sunday morning. If not it'll be a mini trial. :-)

I will give a full report with pictures Sunday afternoon.

I also had him take apart the skyline 5564 that I'm sending to Pat to get refinished.

I also had him put on some sadowski Black label flats onto my white lightning. That brings a bass more into the tonal arena where I want it.

Hope you all have a great weekend. PEACE
Fantastic!! Thanks for the update and very happy for you that it came out so well! Not that I doubted that with Carl's amazing work, but the special touches like the PUs - intense mwah? wow, score!!
 
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