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Mike Gordon's new Serek

jschulman

jschulman

Aug 21, 2018
584
1,559
Long Island, NY
#1
If you're a fan of Phish, and you follow them on social media, you might have come across Mike Gordon showing off his new Serek:

Mike Gordon on Instagram: "As you may have noticed — been playing a new bass the past few nights with Phish. Wanted to share some thoughts/info/comparisons, if you don’t mind listening to some rambling. Hope you’re enjoying. #bass #serekbasses #phish #rambleon"

It's a passive short scale with 21 frets, which is a pretty massive change from the active, full scale Moduluses that he's been using with the band since the early 90s. The Serek looks and sounds great, but the impression I'm getting is that it is inadequate for the purposes of playing with Phish:

Mike Gordon on Instagram

I have a huge love for this band and Mike as a bass player, but I can't imagine playing on stages that big, having endless resources for gear, and manually applying a piece of wood with a few extra frets in order to properly play Guyute. I'm wondering why he made this change and why he thought sacrifices like this were worth it.
 
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#2
I’ve been looking into Serek’s lately. They’re one of the few non-FSO that still look “right” to me when I think about what a bass “should” look like, and it’s cool that they focus a lot on medium and short-scale instruments while offering 5+ string options.
 
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#3
Jake Serek is making him another Midwestern 2 with 24-frets, an ebony fingerboard, and a preamp. Looks like Jake went to hang out with Mike this weekend. I currently own nine Serek basses and after visiting Jake’s shop and meeting him in person it makes me want to support Serek even more. I think a guy like Mike cares a ton about the relationships he has with the people who make the gear he plays.
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#4
Mike Gordon is my main influence and the reason I play a Modulus. I also find this puzzling, but what makes him happy is the most important thing for him. I love all the qualities of the Modulus that the Sarek basses seem to be missing, but I think it would be cool if Sarek develops a Gordon-inspired model that checks all the boxes too. Options are always a good thing!
 
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#8
India_Sierra said:
I get that he might have fancied a change but I don't think the Serek bass sounds that great. 'Growing pains' is probably a good way of putting it as if he sticks with Serek then Phish fans will just have to remember the good times with the Modulus tone.
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The bass is incredibly unPhishy. I'm sure it's a fine bass for certain things, but not Phish. Why would he go that long doing one thing, nearly 40 years, then do literally the exact opposite? Passive pickups and short scale is bizarre for Phish.

I was also baffled to read today that in 2016 Trey switched all of his pickups to single coils that fit in the humbucker cavity. Shortly after, he switch to coil tapping humbuckers so he could play with single coils. I could swear I heard something extremely unPhishy from Trey too the last two times I went. It was definitely the Single Coils > Line 6 M5 > Trainwreck. This sounds nothing like Trey's amazing signature tone and I don't like it.

Phish has become not just old man Phish, but an entirely different band in the last 7-8 years or so.
 
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#11
jmattbassplaya said:
What changed your mind?
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I still think it isn't practical, but it has so much character in the mids, without sacrificing a really fat and clear bottom. It also plays with effects really well. The practicality stuff can be worked out especially if he's getting other builds.

I always felt like Mike's tone was kind of bottomless, in a way where I wanted to hear him better. But I haven't felt that way at all these past three nights.
 
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#12
jschulman said:
I still think it isn't practical, but it has so much character in the mids, without sacrificing a really fat and clear bottom. It also plays with effects really well. The practicality stuff can be worked out especially if he's getting other builds.

I always felt like Mike's tone was kind of bottomless, in a way where I wanted to hear him better. But I haven't felt that way at all these past three nights.
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I don't like the bass, it sounds weak on recordings, but I haven't seen it live. I will say from the videos he looks like he has more pep in his bass playing though, could be inspired by the different feel.
 
#13
Bob_Ross said:
...which perhaps explains why he's not playing Modulus now
:::ducks:::
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Oteil changed too tho right?


I didn't love Mike's sound on Sunday I was in the 100's not far from him - might have been a location thing.

I felt frustration like when I'm playing and can't dial in sometimes, and you can see him talking in the side mic a few times looking for adjustments....

I'll be back tomorrow sitting onthe other side.
 
#14
bluepeep said:
Oteil changed too tho right?


I didn't love Mike's sound on Sunday I was in the 100's not far from him - might have been a location thing.

I felt frustration like when I'm playing and can't dial in sometimes, and you can see him talking in the side mic a few times looking for adjustments....

I'll be back tomorrow sitting onthe other side.
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Yeah I think he's also still getting the hang of it. I remember seeing them last New Year's run and I thought Mike sounded not just off, but bad...I think he triggered some effect and it was feeding back from his monitor, and it looked onstage like he was struggling. Not the fault of the Modulus but I was surprised. MSG of all places should have great sound.

But from 227 I thought that bass sounded clearer and tighter than ever.
 
#16
So, this news bummed me out as well.. and my speculation was unfortunately confirmed at the recent SPAC benefit shows (which I can’t really complain about, the Derek Trucks sit in was a blast). Im not saying the bass sounded bad, but the tone was not nearly as cutting and articulate as normal.

THEN Mike brought out his Modulus for the Possum encore and it was IMMEDIATE how noticeably clearer (and better imo) it sounded.

Even my non-phish fan girlfriend pointed out the difference and she is not one to notice these types of things, ever.
 
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#20
Maybe he should premier a Ric 5er next? I saw and heard him play a Serek on Jimmy Fallon tonight. I guess I haven’t been following the news, but I’ll reserve judgement till I hear Phish at Alpine a week from next Friday.

Kind of brings to mind all the bass changes Phil L went through over the years - but nobody seems to complain about Phil’s sound on his (most recent) Alembic. Admittedly, the new Alembic (Susan Wickersham at Alembic had been after Phil to return to Alembic since at least ‘04) was a big change from his Modulus sound (was I the only one that noticed?) but it still fit Phil’s neo-Dead and original sound.

That said, on paper at least, I share the concern that nothing I expected to hear from a Serek would cover enough bases to compete with his Modulus. But on the other hand Leah got a lot of different basses (Gibson EBO, Guild Starfire,Fender Jazz,G&L L-2000 plus plenty of others) to sound like Phil Lesh. So who knows?
 

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