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Lakland Owners Group #69

#1,682
Took a couple hours to get my Lakland and Carlo basses setup with Carl Yesterday. Never know what to expect! We talked about the perfect Gin & Tonic. (Carl said what sold him was Jack Rudy Tonic syrup) Then we took a visit down the murky corridor to Letherbee Destillers and talked with them for just a bit. I ended up grabbing some Gin since Carl talked so exuberantly about his adult beverage of choice.
uploadfromtaptalk1408565397909.jpg

Then we got down to business.
Carl set up the Carribean Burst bass then he got to my baby. He's like "You feel like doing an experiment?"
Why not?
So he pulls out some old P bass coil from God knows where and hooks the tone contol up through it. It retains a bunch of the mids when the tone control is rolled down. Pretty cool. I noticed with the tone control wide open it has a different character to the highs and upper mids. Especially with that ebony fretboard it seems to take that upper treble sheen down and focus it more in the upper mids. Puts the neck pickup closer to the P bass camp than it was before. Cool!

So Carl hooked everything up through the only remaining switch not doing anything, so that now I can switch between the standard tone control and running it through this coil.
So now the controls are:
-Neck Pickup w pullup for single coil
-Middle pickup w pullup for tone selection
-Bridge Pickup w pullup for single coil
-Tone Control
-Chrome switch controls Coil 1/BOTH/Coil 2 of the middle pickup
Wowzers.
uploadfromtaptalk1408566537755.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1408566559843.jpg
 
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#1,684
basspraiser said:
That is way too cool sir! What are the pickups? No guard!
Click to expand...

Lace alumitones. They weigh virtually nothing, look cool, and now that I have heard them through my small pJB combo and fEarful 12/6 I can honestly say they are superb...very even cross the spectrum with no significant mid scoop or bump to my ear and easily eq'ed. They are grounded single coils so when my hands are not on the strings or bridge there is mild 60Hz buzz, but they sound so nice and open that it doesn't bug me. Very sweet. If at some point I want to do away with the buzz I can add a pre.

basspraiser said:
Would love to see a picture of your strap lock modification
Click to expand...

I will get around to posting this, but unfortunately not this week as I had hoped.
 
#1,686
morebassbaby said:
Took a couple hours to get my Lakland and Carlo basses setup with Carl Yesterday. Never know what to expect! We talked about the perfect Gin & Tonic. (Carl said what sold him was Jack Rudy Tonic syrup) Then we took a visit down the murky corridor to Letherbee Destillers and talked with them for just a bit. I ended up grabbing some Gin since Carl talked so exuberantly about his adult beverage of choice.
View attachment 466408
Click to expand...

Wait wait, not to divert things, but Letherbee is in the same building?! Something tells me we should make note of that during the LOG GTG..
 
Last edited:
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#1,687
honeyiscool said:
It depends on what you mean by "real." He's played Edwards/ESP most of his career, switching models every few years, but the one constant has been that he always played Zon and even today, he'll always rock a Zon Legacy Elite for part of every set. His Lakland is a signature model that basically looks identical to the Edwards and has only been around for maybe a couple of years. And it also has ESP electronics, doesn't it?

But I think they're all "real" Tetsuya basses because he helped design and put his name on all of them. One could argue (and be right) that the Lakland US model is the most evolved version of his signature bass, but clearly the others are similar to it. But if you want the whole shebang and the most flamboyant Tetsu bass possible, you've got to get the Lakland US version with the illuminated dots.

Part of me questions that there's an ulterior motive for the move from ESP to Lakland, though. Ken, the guitarist in the band, made a similar move from playing Fernandes guitars all throughout his career to switching to Fender a couple of years ago. And like Tetsu, Ken's Fender is almost identical to his signature Fernandes, with pretty much the identical (and very distinctive) color scheme, except the headstock says Fender. And this is right around when they engaged on a truly world tour w/ sold out show in Madison Square Garden and releasing two of their singles in English, which is something they never really did all that often as a band. I think they might have switched to American instruments to get them more visibility in America and elsewhere.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I doubt that you're sacrificing any quality by getting an Edwards Tetsuya model. They were good enough for him four years ago when they were one of the biggest bands in Japan. They're probably good enough for you now.
Click to expand...

At the risk of being pedantic... yes, kind of.

Keep in mind that tetsuya plays the ESP Japan versions, the top of the line. Edwards and Grass Roots are the lower level models. The Edwards versions are pretty close to the ESP versions, sometimes with the same hardware or electronics. But as good as the Edwards is, it isn't really on the same level. Grass Roots is budget line.

The ESP Bardic is certainly based on the Lakland 55-94. He then switched to playing actual 55-94's then to the Lakland 55-69 which, as you said, is the culmination of that process.

He does continue to play the Zon basses in the studio and they made a comeback on the latest L'Anniversary tour.

The Lakland USA 55-69 does have ESP electronics based on tetsuya's input. You can even buy the pickups and preamp separately. The bass does have luminous side dots but does not have LEDs.

Again, not trying to be picky. I own several of these instruments (ESP, Edwards, Zon and Lakland) and I love them!
 
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#1,693
Texan said:
Hmmm...now I wonder if the Doude is part of the FBI agents that are being sent...he's a man of mystery...thats how he gets all of those nice Lakies, the strong-arms the Pirracello Bros.;)
Click to expand...
Trust me....my work is not glamorous but it CAN be dangerous...still recovering from a slight industrial accident ( fell into an unmarked and uncovered precipice a couple of weeks ago) .... No permanent damage but still sore...[emoji16]

As for strong arming the brothers? Not going to happen....Leo is REALLY their security force.....the whole sales thing is a cover....[emoji10]
 
#1,695
morebassbaby said:
Took a couple hours to get my Lakland and Carlo basses setup with Carl Yesterday. Never know what to expect! We talked about the perfect Gin & Tonic. (Carl said what sold him was Jack Rudy Tonic syrup) Then we took a visit down the murky corridor to Letherbee Destillers and talked with them for just a bit. I ended up grabbing some Gin since Carl talked so exuberantly about his adult beverage of choice.
View attachment 466408
Then we got down to business.
Carl set up the Carribean Burst bass then he got to my baby. He's like "You feel like doing an experiment?"
Why not?
So he pulls out some old P bass coil from God knows where and hooks the tone contol up through it. It retains a bunch of the mids when the tone control is rolled down. Pretty cool. I noticed with the tone control wide open it has a different character to the highs and upper mids. Especially with that ebony fretboard it seems to take that upper treble sheen down and focus it more in the upper mids. Puts the neck pickup closer to the P bass camp than it was before. Cool!

So Carl hooked everything up through the only remaining switch not doing anything, so that now I can switch between the standard tone control and running it through this coil.
So now the controls are:
-Neck Pickup w pullup for single coil
-Middle pickup w pullup for tone selection
-Bridge Pickup w pullup for single coil
-Tone Control
-Chrome switch controls Coil 1/BOTH/Coil 2 of the middle pickup
Wowzers.
View attachment 466431
View attachment 466434
Click to expand...
Way cool....and the gin....yummy....I hooked at least one other friend on it....
My second bottle is almost gone...
Need a trip yo Carl to pick up another bottle ....and the only white bass you mention!
 
#1,697
lomo said:
Lace alumitones. They weigh virtually nothing, look cool, and now that I have heard them through my small pJB combo and fEarful 12/6 I can honestly say they are superb...very even cross the spectrum with no significant mid scoop or bump to my ear and easily eq'ed. They are grounded single coils so when my hands are not on the strings or bridge there is mild 60Hz buzz, but they sound so nice and open that it doesn't bug me. Very sweet. If at some point I want to do away with the buzz I can add a pre.



I will get around to posting this, but unfortunately not this week as I had hoped.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm....making me want a 5501 and modify it....wonder how those would sound with an lh3?
 

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