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Looking for a fretless 6

#41
@ Hasbeen
Sorry I missed you in my last post. The reasons I want a 35 are:
1. I've been playing 35 for about 10 years and think that it would affect my intonation on both my new instrument and my old ones.

2. I've found the longer scale to provide better tension on a low b. That's a matter of taste or opinion but that's my thing :)

Believe you me, I know the difficulties that this choice has added. The VAAAAAST majority of basses are not 35 inch scale. That's just my lot in life I guess.
 
#42
Awrite, Roy, Unclejane and Bassbenj win. I bought the Carvin on Ebay. With a 14 day money back(-%15 restock), I can't really go wrong, right? All in all, that is a killer looking bass. As long as it plays properly, I don't think I could do any better for the price. The electronics and p'ups can be changed later if need be.

I'm not sure if it is a piezo bridge or not... I think Roy mentioned that earlier. There sure are enough knobs for one to be there. It wasn't in the listing but heck, the listing said that it was a maple neck. Some of the neck is maple but I don't think all of it is. I guess I'll figure out those things when I get it in hand.

Thank you all for helping me sate my G.A.S. You have all been most helpful and I am grateful for your input.

This brings me to another question:

How do you guys think I should address the bridge p'up? It's been replaced and left a gap. I was thinking either a ebony p'up bezel or cover. Don't get me wrong, I'll play it just like it is but I have a feeling that down the road, I'll want to fix that.

@ Benj
Man, the knob almost was a deal breaker.
 
#43
ddhm said:
Awrite, Roy, Unclejane and Bassbenj win. I bought the Carvin on Ebay. With a 14 day money back(-%15 restock), I can't really go wrong, right? All in all, that is a killer looking bass. As long as it plays properly, I don't think I could do any better for the price. The electronics and p'ups can be changed later if need be.

I'm not sure if it is a piezo bridge or not... I think Roy mentioned that earlier. There sure are enough knobs for one to be there. It wasn't in the listing but heck, the listing said that it was a maple neck. Some of the neck is maple but I don't think all of it is. I guess I'll figure out those things when I get it in hand.

Thank you all for helping me sate my G.A.S. You have all been most helpful and I am grateful for your input.

This brings me to another question:

How do you guys think I should address the bridge p'up? It's been replaced and left a gap. I was thinking either a ebony p'up bezel or cover. Don't get me wrong, I'll play it just like it is but I have a feeling that down the road, I'll want to fix that.

@ Benj
Man, the knob almost was a deal breaker.
Click to expand...

If you look at the bridge, you'll see that there are inserts on each bridge piece that the strings pass over. Each one has a piezo inside.
You could use the ebony bezel and it would work nicely with the appearance of the bass, IMO
The neck looks like maple/walnut with maple stripes or maple/koa-either way it should sound great. Congrats!
 
#44
ddhm said:
Awrite, Roy, Unclejane and Bassbenj win. I bought the Carvin on Ebay. With a 14 day money back(-%15 restock), I can't really go wrong, right? All in all, that is a killer looking bass. As long as it plays properly, I don't think I could do any better for the price. The electronics and p'ups can be changed later if need be.

I'm not sure if it is a piezo bridge or not... I think Roy mentioned that earlier. There sure are enough knobs for one to be there. It wasn't in the listing but heck, the listing said that it was a maple neck. Some of the neck is maple but I don't think all of it is. I guess I'll figure out those things when I get it in hand.

Thank you all for helping me sate my G.A.S. You have all been most helpful and I am grateful for your input.

This brings me to another question:

How do you guys think I should address the bridge p'up? It's been replaced and left a gap. I was thinking either a ebony p'up bezel or cover. Don't get me wrong, I'll play it just like it is but I have a feeling that down the road, I'll want to fix that.

@ Benj
Man, the knob almost was a deal breaker.
Click to expand...

I don't see why you'd ever need to change out the electronics. I think a lot of guys do that just based on the myth that the stock Carvin electronics are no good, especially the 18v new stuff. So they end up doing a bunch of work exchanging perfectly good PU's and preamps for another set of perfectly good PU's and preamps. And for a whole bunch of $ they could have spent on other stuff ;)

This one looks recent and has the 18v stuff in it, so it's going to sound as good as anything else you can get. Why the Bart was added, who knows. But it's likely to sound really good since Barts are super nice PU's. So who cares..

PS: it might have been thought by the original owner that the Carvin MM style HB pickup was going to be too aggressive or honkish sounding. Or another myth he might have fallen for is it's too "tame". Either way, tho these pickups look aggressive like the MusicMan, but they don't sound that way at all. And they're not overly tame either. Eg. here's my bunny 6 FL on the bridge PU in a badly recorded and played sample. And I'm using a really aggressive amount of compression; it still sounds very smooth:
https://soundcloud.com/unclejane/my-new-compressor
Here's another with a lot less compression:
https://soundcloud.com/unclejane/bunny6
again it's still very smooth, even with a practice amp being recorded on an iPhone. But at the same time, in the occasional event I do play the notes right, they're quite audible and serviceable (if it sounds reasonable with crappy recording methods, that's a good general rule-of-thumb that you have a good basic starting point on the tone. I always get that out of the box with my Carvins).

So, to be honest, what I'd do if it were mine is, to fix the gap, I'd just put another Carvin HB in it and restore it to original. But like I said, it's probably still going to sound killer either way with the Bart also.

But like Roy said, it does have the piezo pickups in it and my guess on the neck woods is Koa or Walnut with maple strips. The 5 piece neck puts it up there with boutiques in terms of quality (my bunnies have the reverse, maple with walnut strips).

Otherwise, I don't see why you couldn't play your whole career on this one as-is and for only $800 or whatever it ended up being....

PS: replacement knobs you can order from the factory at carvin.com...

LS
 
#45
I was totally kidding about the knob but thankee fer the heads up on the replacement.

As far as the electronics go, I was thinking more about if it suited my tonal palette as opposed to doubting the quality. If all is well with the instrument, I'll probably not do anything to it other than the p'up bezel thing for a good while. Unfortunately, replacing the stock p'up will not fix the cosmetic issue. It looks like they had to do a little chewing out of the body to get the Bart in.
 
#47
ddhm said:
I was totally kidding about the knob but thankee fer the heads up on the replacement.

As far as the electronics go, I was thinking more about if it suited my tonal palette as opposed to doubting the quality. If all is well with the instrument, I'll probably not do anything to it other than the p'up bezel thing for a good while. Unfortunately, replacing the stock p'up will not fix the cosmetic issue. It looks like they had to do a little chewing out of the body to get the Bart in.
Click to expand...

Well be sure to put up some recordings so we can hear it... :)

LS
 
#48
Bass arrived today. Packed well, barely even dented the cardboard on it's way here. The strings were VERY nasty and the bass needed a cleaning something fierce. After taking care of those things, I plugged it up and quickly discovered that I need to look over the controls on the Carvin site. I went ahead and played around a little and made some very happy sounds although it was a bit like throwing random switches and hoping for the best lol. A problem soon remedied.

The description from the seller wasn't exactly accurate. The main neck beams are mahogany with maple stringers. The body is mahogany as well. The fretboard wasn't too warn but will need some love in the not too distant future. Plenty of life left in it.

Since I'm talking about the woods, the top is beautiful. The trans black is subtle and ties with the fretboard nicely.

I'm kinda concerned about the electronics. In my knob turning, I found a very buzzy setting that I think was the piezos. I'm looking into that further in a bit.

All in all I'm very happy with this instrument... surprised even. I'm sure that after a good set up, I'll be WAY happy. Thank you guys for the suggestion (and continued pressure) of this bass.

There will be audio clips after a bit. I mean, give a brotha a chance to work on his intonation and the bass a little ;)

Now, off to the Carvin Museum and to my amp. Thanks again guys!
 
#49
That's a hell of a bass for $800! I've got a great fretless BB76 that I custom ordered but whenever I see deals like this I feel a tiny bit of buyer's remorse... Could've saved half my money if I hadn't been so picky on the options LOL!

Anyway, congrats, and I'm looking forward to some clips in the future!
 
#50
Small update:
I took the bass to my luthier to have it set up and dressed up. His diagnosis was less than great. His initial thought is that the bridge wasn't set into the body quite correctly. The lines just weren't right. It needs a new nut, a little electronics love and I'll have to wait to see what else.

Before anyone asks, yes, I do trust my luthier. His work has always been fantastic and honest. I've been dealing with him for over 20 years.

We'll also have to see how the seller wants to handle this. I really don't want to send it back although he would have a hard time charging me the %15 and shipping since it wasn't listed accurately.

Wish me luck guys.
 
#52
Ok... looked at the auction page again. Looks like he just copied the current XB76 specs from Carvin's site. Unfortunately said specs have changed since the bass was built.

This bass does not have the Hipshot "Style A" bridge or the preamp with sweepable midrange like the current ones.
 
#53
IronSpatula said:
Ok... looked at the auction page again. Looks like he just copied the current XB76 specs from Carvin's site. Unfortunately said specs have changed since the bass was built.

This bass does not have the Hipshot "Style A" bridge or the preamp with sweepable midrange like the current ones.
Click to expand...

Can't tell from the pics about the bridge and unfortunately I haven't seen the piezo bridge up close so I couldn't say if it's been replaced or not. It looks kind of like the stock one, but if something else was forced on there that could be why the mounting was off. How is it off?

The preamp may have been swapped out with something else, maybe as part of the pickup swap also.

If it were me at this point, I'd be thinking about returning it if I could and building a new one on carvin.com. Especially if it was misrepresented by the seller with the replaced preamp and if something really is wrong with the bridge....

LS
 
#54
unclejane said:
Can't tell from the pics about the bridge and unfortunately I haven't seen the piezo bridge up close so I couldn't say if it's been replaced or not. It looks kind of like the stock one...

The preamp may have been swapped out with something else, maybe as part of the pickup swap also.
Click to expand...

I don't think the bridge or pre have been swapped. They look like stock parts for an older XB76 is all. The piezo bridge is based off the Hipshot Style B rather than the Style A they use now, and the preamp looks to be the 18v system without mid sweep which they used prior to the introduction of the Icon, at which point the sweep became standard. It all looks the same as my 2004 BB76, actually. Except for that chrome knob... ;)

So even though they're stock parts, they don't match the specs the seller listed.
 
#55
Ironspatula is correct, the bridge and pre are the older stock stuff from Carvin as far as I can tell. I had a good look at the pre @ Carvinmuseum.com and it looked very similar.

The bridge/action issue is on initial diagnosis and just by eye and feel. His initial thought is that the bridge needed to come down by 1/8 or so. It's very slight but the bridge height adjustments were awfully low for the action to be so high. He thought that perhaps the angle of it was wrong and not the height. Again, that was just his initial assessment. In the next week or so, it will get a good looking over and proper diagnosis.

I'm pretty sure that he did copy the specs from the website and this is a very custom instrument. That's okay I think. It has a lot of bells and whistles, looks nice and has a lot of potential. I'd almost rather not get rid of it. That really depends on the cost involved in the repairs I suppose.

I contacted the seller and totally left the ball in his court. He mentioned perhaps helping on the repair costs. We'll just have to see how that pans out. I'm tempted to make him pay for all of it or give me my $ back in its entirety. No restock free (because it was listed incorrectly) and he should pay shipping if it goes that way. Do you guys think I should go ahead and tell ebay about it? Would it actually be Paypal?

Thanks for your continued input and support guys :)
 
#56
Probably no need to get eBay involved unless the guy doesn't cooperate. Just make sure everything gets done in a timely fashion...

I have to confess I don't totally understand what you mean with by the "angle" of the bridge. They mount flat to the top. That the action is high relative to the saddle height doesn't really mean anything as long as you can adjust it enough. It could also be that the tapered end isn't long enough on the current strings - if you get the tapered part sitting in the saddle, it will make a big difference in string height and possibly help your piezo response too.

Now if the neck angle is wrong, you might just need a truss rod adjustment. That shouldn't be a big deal. Neither should cutting a new nut. (Or just shimming the existing one or deepening the slots.) Carvin has been known to make mistakes, but I don't think mis-mounting a bridge has ever been one of them.
 
#57
I'll only get Ebay involved if there is a problem I suppose.

As far as the angle of the bridge goes: it seems that the height of the bridge is too high overall. The angle thing is just a possibility. I don't use taper core strings so that's not it The B string seems to rest on the saddle... but it won't fire the piezo unless we press down on the string @ the saddle. That is why we thought that the bridge cut might not be dead true. If it were angled forward just a bit, that would happen. Heck, it could be something as simple as re-seating the bridge... perhaps the previous owner removed it and didn't quite get it back in place? We don't feel that the saddles CAN be adjusted enough... that's another part of the indication of a possible problem.

There is just no telling what is going on until my luthier has time to have a real look at the thing. He's got it and will get to it soon he said. (crosses fingers) He was even nice enough to bump me to the front of his queue (after current work that is).

Y'all be good... I'm off to work.
 
#58
ddhm said:
I don't use taper core strings so that's not it. The B string seems to rest on the saddle... but it won't fire the piezo unless we press down on the string @ the saddle.
Click to expand...

Not using tapered-core strings is the problem. These saddles were designed specifically for them. Non-tapered strings are just too thick to sit correctly in the piezo element, and may not make enough contact with the piezo to create sound - exactly what you're experiencing. Switching to tapered-core strings should solve that issue completely and will also lower your string height. :)
 
#59
I have to ask how you came across that piece of info?

I gave Carvin a call today just to check out any tips or tricks that they might know about that bridge. I spoke to the head tech there (Albert I believe) and he told me that the bridge was not designed for taper core only and it shouldn't be necessary. I wonder if that info was based on a current model, all of them or an older one? He suggested that it might be a problem with the saddle piece. I guess we'll have to see and I'll have to follow that up with another phone call.

Thanks again for your input :)

Ps. I made that other call to Carvin. Albert said that none of the piezo bridges were designed to be used with taper core only.
 
#60
Interesting. I can't claim to have heard it officially from a Carvin tech. But I remember other P-series owners having the same issue, probably on the old Carvin BBS years ago. That's why I've made a point of always getting taper wounds for my BB76PF.

The response of a piezo element is heavily dependent on the pressure applied to it. My BB76 has exactly the same bridge as yours, and I can see how on the .128 B string the tapered part sits perfectly in the saddle's groove, and the non-tapered part is clearly too thick to do so. Even if it wasn't an intentional design decision, there still may be an effect.

But it may well not be the problem on your bass. However, trying a $7 or $8 tapered-core B might be a lot less hassle than messing with your bass's electronics.

Tell you what - I'll see if I have a non-tapered B anywhere, give it a shot with my bass, and report back.
 

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