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Lakland Owners Group #69

#1,881
A few of things to check before you go buying anything.
  1. Has it been a while since the bass was set up? If so, do it.
  2. Has your slapping technique changed? It happens, maybe you're just really slapping and plucking to hard.
  3. Check the pickup height. If the treble side is too close to the strings, this could cause distortion when you're plucking the G while slapping.
  4. If you have an LH3 preamp try adjusting the mini gain pot on the circuit board - dial it back a bit and check to see if the distortion persists.
  5. While you have the control cavity cover off, check for any loose connections, wire leads touching where they shouldn't be, jack connections, etc.
 
#1,882
The Bartolini pre has a gain as well. Try come contact cleaner on the pots and give them a few turns to get rid of any oxidation. WD40 will work if that's all that you have. Check the leads from the battery box as well.
 
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#1,883
Can someone help me work out the body wood in my fretless 55-02 ?

It's painted black (factory finish, not a refin) so I can't see the grain. The serial is 0805**** and as I said, it's fretless, lined ebony fingerboard.

Anyone know what body wood that might be ?

Real reason for asking is it's my favourite out of my 3 lakies. The others (a fretted '05 55-94D (quilt top, 'burst) and a fretted '10 55-02 natural) both appear to be ash bodied and don't sound as 'right' to me as the fretless 55-02 ... so I'm trying to figure out the differences. Could be that the major difference is the fretlessness :) ... but I'm still interested to know the body wood for the black 55-02. Regarding body weight, my favourite bass with the unknown wood is 'perfect', the natural 55-02 is noticeably heavier and the 55-94 appears to be a touch lighter.
 
#1,884
BigBeatNut said:
Can someone help me work out the body wood in my fretless 55-02 ?

It's painted black (factory finish, not a refin) so I can't see the grain. The serial is 0805**** and as I said, it's fretless, lined ebony fingerboard.

Anyone know what body wood that might be ?

Real reason for asking is it's my favourite out of my 3 lakies. The others (a fretted '05 55-94D (quilt top, 'burst) and a fretted '10 55-02 natural) both appear to be ash bodied and don't sound as 'right' to me as the fretless 55-02 ... so I'm trying to figure out the differences. Could be that the major difference is the fretlessness :) ... but I'm still interested to know the body wood for the black 55-02. Regarding body weight, my favourite bass with the unknown wood is 'perfect', the natural 55-02 is noticeably heavier and the 55-94 appears to be a touch lighter.
Click to expand...
I believe all skylines are ash.
 
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#1,891
Here's some teaser shots from Leo!

ImageUploadedByTalkBass1410658641.955929.jpg
ImageUploadedByTalkBass1410658670.541047.jpg


Photo color is a little funky, but the body shot is close to its true color.
 
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#1,894
JEDI BASS said:
Nope :) same ash. But each piece of wood is different and can definitely sound different. Weight has one of the most dramatic effects. Strings, pickups, and preamps will radically change things also.
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Can you or anyone tell me what difference the heavier body would make to the sound. That is, assuming both 55-02s have the same kind of body wood (ash) and the only difference is the weight ?

I bought the natural, fretted 55-02 later than my favourite fretless 55-02 hoping to get the same sound, and I'm disappointed that so far I can't get it.

The two 55-02's ought to be pretty much the the same. Both have identical pickups and pre (Lakland LH3), both are ash (the natural one I can see is ash the black one you say must be ash) and they're both wearing flats.

The differences are: the favourite one has a fretless neck, ebony lined, and is wearing a well used set of labella 760FLs, the less favoured one has a fretted neck, rosewood, and wears a relatively fresh set of Roto flats, and it's markedly heavier.

I could swap the strings over I guess, to eliminate that contribution to the sound.
 
#1,895
BigBeatNut said:
Can you or anyone tell me what difference the heavier body would make to the sound. That is, assuming both 55-02s have the same kind of body wood (ash) and the only difference is the weight ?

I bought the natural, fretted 55-02 later than my favourite fretless 55-02 hoping to get the same sound, and I'm disappointed that so far I can't get it.

The two 55-02's ought to be pretty much the the same. Both have identical pickups and pre (Lakland LH3), both are ash (the natural one I can see is ash the black one you say must be ash) and they're both wearing flats.

The differences are: the favourite one has a fretless neck, ebony lined, and is wearing a well used set of labella 760FLs, the less favoured one has a fretted neck, rosewood, and wears a relatively fresh set of Roto flats, and it's markedly heavier.

I could swap the strings over I guess, to eliminate that contribution to the sound.
Click to expand...

Can't deduce that the body wood or weight is a major contributor to tonal difference between the two basses because there are many other variables at play.

Main variables to consider/isolate are string brand(LaBella vs Roto) and fretboard material(ebony vs rosewood) as well as fretless vs fretted tone.

Maybe try using the fretted neck with the same strings for both the bodies and later if required, do the same test with the fretless neck. That way you can eliminate the chance of the body making much of the tonal difference.
 
#1,896
darrenmt said:
Can't deduce that the body wood or weight is a major contributor to tonal difference between the two basses because there are many other variables at play.

Main variables to consider/isolate are string brand(LaBella vs Roto) and fretboard material(ebony vs rosewood) as well as fretless vs fretted tone.

Maybe try using the fretted neck with the same strings for both the bodies and later if required, do the same test with the fretless neck. That way you can eliminate the chance of the body making much of the tonal difference.
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I agree. You can't really expect a fretless to sound the same as a fretted bass. Fretless: flesh and wood are the contact point for the chosen notes.... fretted: metal frets. This makes a huge difference.

If you want to play around with weight, add a fat finger to the headstock. Or for a dramatic, instant demonstration: push the headstock end into a wall, effectively making the wall part of the instrument. You'll hear a difference instantly. You can also push the bass body edge into a counter top.
 
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#1,898
JEDI BASS said:
I agree. You can't really expect a fretless to sound the same as a fretted bass. Fretless: flesh and wood are the contact point for the chosen notes.... fretted: metal frets. This makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should have qualified my remarks, I don't expect the two to sound the same in every respect ... If I did then I would have had no need for the fretted. But allowing for the expected difference between fretted and fretless, I would have hoped to get them close. I have a very, very, different bass (Yamaha BB425X, passive, P/J, alder body) that is closer to my fretted tone goal than my fretted 55-02. That happens to be at present strung with ... Labella 760FLs, just like my favourite 55-02.

Holdsg said:
When I tried the Roto flats I found them very dark/compressed sounding. Not something I like. Try some other strings, say I.
Click to expand...

Yeah, since the info that I'm getting seems to be suggesting that heavy ash versus light ash (or whatever else is lurking under the black finish of my favourite 55-02) is unlikely to be be the cause of the difference (am I hearing you right guys ?), I'm now leaning towards the strings as the primary source of the difference I hear. Your description the of the Roto flats sounds apt to me, I think the fretted, non-favourite 55-02 is about to get a set of Labella 760FLs.
 

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