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Lakland Owners Group #69

There isn’t one. They’ve continued to get better, but you don’t see the same collection of topwoods and BEM now that you did in the first 5-10 years. Still. There’s no Golden Era - that’s just fluff to try and add value to a bass that’s on the block.
I can sort of agree with you, in that Lakland still makes amazing basses. Although, after years of asking, I sold my first Lakland to a close friend for over twice what I paid for it. It was a 99 or 00 55-94 with crazy birdseye and the Barts that preceded the ones that have a rep for being dark. I’ve tried to buy it back several times. He won’t sell it. And, we are talking about a much used 55-94 deluxe that we both value at well over 3k. My 98 bass called Sexual Chocolate... I had another friend borrow it for a bit and then try to buy it. It’s another that I value at well over twice what I paid. My friend had a Carlo built to try to replicate SC but it doesn’t. It’s a great bass but not the same as my 98 Lakland.
 
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Cool wall there Tex!

Love the basses... Extra pick guards and comic books...

Very artistic!

But what's with the batteries?

After the "Knob-a-tory" was destroyed in the Hurricane Harvey, I started modifying, designing and building various types of boost and overdrive pedals. Some of them have different polarity and can't be Daisy chained, hence the batteries. Here's a some recent builds...and yes, I love my comic books and cartoons.
IMG_20190801_201307819.jpg
 
After the "Knob-a-tory" was destroyed in the Hurricane Harvey, I started modifying, designing and building various types of boost and overdrive pedals. Some of them have different polarity and can't be Daisy chained, hence the batteries. Here's a some recent builds...and yes, I love my comic books and cartoons.
View attachment 3495039

'splain me what they all do?

After you saying.. No more knobs???

:(
 
The Batteries are on the wall so I don't lose them. Simple enough.

Rick and Morty is a combo of a transparent transistor based overdrive (Rick) and a clean boost (Morty) they are true bypass function independently. They will both push the preamps tubes and give some great grit. The switch in the middle let's you change the signal order. If you wan boost then OD, switch to the right. If you want OD then boost, switch to left.

Thor is an opamp based overdrive that give that Marshall JCM800 feel. Think the guitar sound on Appetite for Destruction. The switch on the side of Thor let's you change the tone capacitor value to give 3 different choices the tailor the sound to your pups or amp, think low, med and high frequency choices.

Hulk is a boost that adds a bit of grit all the way around. The more you turn the knob, the more volume and breakup you get. It's really good for pushing preamp tubes. Think the bass in Beastie Boys Sabotage.
 
Some folks say the same thing about Pre-CBS Fenders as well.
The pre-CBS Fenders I’ve laid hands on, which were several early 60s jazz basses, felt amazing and played just as good. I would not pay 5k or more for them though, since US Laklands feel and sound close enough and cost less than half on the used market, typically.

And, as for the comment that golden era is used to sell basses, I am not offended by that... don’t get me wrong, as I’ve never said it in a listing. My 55-94 and Sexual Chocolate have never been listed for sale by me. I was practically begged to sell them. I made the mistake of naming a price for Traci (55-94) and he said done. :-(
 
I don't think that there's a golden era for Lakland. I don't think the concept fits with any smaller-scale manufacturer: there's no 'Golden Era' Sadowsky or Modulus or Wal or Alembic either.

In my head, 'golden era' equals a period of time where a manufacturer was making a low enough number of instruments to be choosier about wood, and able to do rigorous QC on the stuff leaving the factory.

Neither of those apply to Lakland. Dan Lakin may have had access to a stock of amazing BEM in the early days, which has now run out, but Lakland have produced a couple of NAMM basses in the last couple of years with pretty eye-popping fingerboards even so.

You could maaaaayybee argue that 'golden era' is also the epoch when the company was in the hands of the founder - hence the cachet of 'pre-CBS' Fender basses, but Fender was a special case. That was a manufacturer being bought by MegaCorp Inc., which ramped up production because they were only interested in short-term profits.
I don't get the feeling that John and Bo Pirruccello are the heartless faces of evil corporate money-grabbing capitalism...
YMMV.

In other news, I had the rare opportunity to play an identical bass to mine, made by one of Lakland's direct rivals: a store here in Berlin had a Sandberg California 5-string fretless, 3-band active with MM/J pickup config!
Pretty much my 55-02 fretless - same price as well.
Sounded nice, fingerboard was a little thicker, neck was less of a satin finish. Tobacco sunburst finish looked a little dull; I think the Laklands are a bit more buffed and polished.

The big difference was in the fit of components; the routes for the neck pocket and the pickups left a noticeably bigger gap between the parts. I was surprised how much of a difference that made to my perception of the instrument. I'm sure somebody will be very happy and proud to show off his high-quality Sandberg, but it's hard to explain: in my hands I was more aware of it being a collection of bits that have been screwed together, rather than a single instrument. Very odd sensation. But glad I went with Lakland :)

Peace,
SoundSupport
 
Hmm... did anyone else see this? Dan Lakin selling a Glaub

Lakland Bob Glaub Pre-Pirruccello 2007-2008 | Dan Lakin D.

The last line is intriguing- “I’ve got to make room for my new line coming this October.”

I never played a D. Lakin, the reviews were good but I couldn’t get past that headstock... wonder what he’a up to?
 
Hmm... did anyone else see this? Dan Lakin selling a Glaub

Lakland Bob Glaub Pre-Pirruccello 2007-2008 | Dan Lakin D.

The last line is intriguing- “I’ve got to make room for my new line coming this October.”

I never played a D. Lakin, the reviews were good but I couldn’t get past that headstock... wonder what he’a up to?

That's pretty nice.

Not sure that he actually kept all of the unfinished stock...

John J sent me a picture on Facebook of a hollowbody with the name "D Lakin" on the headstock.

I did get a cryptic voicemail from Dan... Have not returned it yet..

Hmmmm