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Modulus Mob
- Thread starter rockstarbassist
- Start date
Holy Mother of Whatever! That is freaking GORGEOUS!!! Hope you are as physically satisfied with it (because you, unlike me, get to hold and play it) as I am visually satisfied with it! Congrats!!!
I would say that -- seriously -- this post and the related posts are SUPER important. Here is the "gedankenexperiment" (though experiment) I would offer to demonstrate the importance. Imagine you have a Q6 like mine; it's maybe your second six-string bass in the whole world. Your first was maybe an Ibanez SoundGear. But who cares? Point is, you've become accustomed, at this point, to basses with a "slick" finish on the back of the neck (never mind the fretboard for now). Say, then, that years later, you purchase -- oh, I dunno -- a Conklin Groove Tools seven-string (made in South Korea), and it has this weird composite laminate neck, with seriously porous and large-grained wood, and the finish is "natural" or whatever. Well, despite the fact that you're thrilled to have an extra string, the "tacky" and "sticky" feel of the neck is a total impediment to your enjoyment of the new instrument. That stuff TOTALLY matters (at least to me). My Conklin sits there collecting dust, mainly, because I can't stand the coarse, grainy, tacky feel of the back of the neck. If it were silky smooth, like my Modulus Q6, I would feel totally different about it. I've even contemplated finding a local luthier type to glop on some polyurethane finish to the back of that Conklin's neck just so I can bring myself to play it regularly.
Quick update... The seller read my post on here and contacted me via PM. He immediately reached out to Pat Wilkins (where he had the bass refinished originally) and inquired about restoring the neck to gloss (which Pat said should be possible by using his equipment to buff and polish it back to gloss and if not, he can add a gloss finish). The seller shipped the bass to Pat yesterday and he'll get to work on it when he's back at the shop next week. My experience with the seller was great and it looks like this bass will all shined up in no-time!
I love my Mono Vertigo- fit my Q5 perfectly, but the ProTec Contego does a good job too and is not as much $$$.
Thanks, I'm seriously thinking about springing for a Mono Vertigo bag. The bass will be coming in a beat up Modulus case, however, I may be joining a band that will require me to bring my bass to work as rehearsals are nearby. This means I'll need to need to leave my bass in the car as there's no safe place for it in my office building. Not optimal, but the area is very safe and I can hide the bass in my rear trunk and park in the parking garage. The issue is that a regular hard case won't fit back in my trunk, so I'm thinking something like this Mono bag would do the trick. Plus I could also use it for gigs...
Separate, but related question.. If I start keeping my TBX5 in my car will that cause any issues with the bass once the temps heat up around here in the Summer? I know the neck is carbon fiber, but of course the body is made of wood. Anyone have issues with storing their Modulus in extreme heat and/or cold temps? I'm thinking if any bass could handle it, it would be this one!
Subjective. Generally anything that has 20mm padding all round, heavy duty zippers, neck support, plush interior, headstock and bridge pads, ample storage
compartments, bottom strap pin support, 600 Denier Polyester construct,
rubber protection pads on either end. I recently picked up a Fender FB620
with all these features. Unfortunately says Fender on the outside but I bought it for transport- not looks. And for $50.00- hey...
My #1 is an Access StageIII hybrid.
Thanks and I'm aware that my request for recommendations was subjective.
Thanks for the tips. The Access Stage III hybrid looks really cool.
Leaving a $5,000.00 TBX in a gig bag in the trunk of a car in the summertime
may forfeit your club membership
and qualify you for the dreaded 20 year neck warp.If no one else knows what's in your trunk or steals your car. Insurance probably
won't cover such ill - advised decisions. Well, it might- never tried.
But that's just my (subjective) .02 common cents. YRMV. Best.
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I'm using the Mono 80 bag for my Q4 and it works great. That's the version that can unzip all the way, which I prefer.
I'm sure that even carbon graphite can flow if the temperature is high enough. The trunk with no direct sunlight would probably be okay because the temperature would not be much higher than the outside ambient. I used to apply warp to carbon graphite and fiber glass model airplane wings by leaving them in the car with a twist applied and sun coming through. It was a very effective way to introduce a permanent twist. You could probably fix a bowed Modulus neck if no torsion rod by the same method. But fortunately my 95 Q4 has a good neck so I haven't needed to try it.
Captain Pedantic wishes to point out that the actual carbon graphite fiber(s) can never "flow" ...I suppose if it was subjected to high enough temps it would eventually simply self-combust, but it would never liquify. The epoxy resin that's used in conjunction with those graphite fibers to form the carbon fiber pre-preg material Modulus necks are made out of may soften -- that's probably why you were able to deform your model airplane wings -- but it would still never "flow" as it's a thermoset polymer; it can never return to its liquid form once cured.
So there's no danger of finding a pool of black goo oozing around where your bass once was. But still, keeping a carbon-necked bass in a hot automobile trunk would not be recommended.
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Thanks guys. Message received. Don’t store your Modulus in a hot trunk.
Cheers,
Tom
Cheers,
Tom
As Bob_Ross alluded, "carbon fiber" is usually short for carbon fiber composite, i.e. carbon fibers in combination with a material that binds the fibers together, usually epoxy resin.
One of the standard specifications for all epoxies is "tg", which is the temperature at which the hardened epoxy starts to transition from it's glass state to an elastic, i.e. softer, state. All epoxies soften at some temperature.
Off the shelf epoxy like West System, which cures at ambient temperatures (70f or so), has a tg of 116f.
From what I know, Modulus uses thermoset pre-preg carbon fiber in a mold, cured in an autoclave. Same kind of stuff widely used in aerospace. Any pre-preg I've ever seen has a curing temp of at least 100c, so you can assume that the tg of this stuff is a fair bit above that. And there's carbon fiber/epoxy systems that withstand very, very high temps as well.
Even on the hottest day, you're never going to be able to actually boil water (100c) in your car. So probably not a problem...........
HOWEVER - just knowing that "tg" is a thing, and not knowing the exact specification for the stuff Modulus used, there is no way in hell I'd leave my stuff in a potentially hot car unless there was a dire emergency
Yes what I meant was that the matrix (epoxy) between the fibers would soften enough to allow some movement between fibers. Some engineering 'flows' are measured in microinches per day or longer. So my use of the term is not what most people would think of as flow.
Also, the inside of a trunk will not be too different than the outside temperature but inside the car will get quite hot in the sun. Like an oven because the visible light coming through the windows hits the interior surfaces and gets partially re-radiated at infrared wavelengths, which is heat.
Take it outside, poindexters!
It’s times like these I’m glad I have a job where I don’t have to think much
Take it outside, poindexters!
It’s times like these I’m glad I have a job where I don’t have to think much
It’s times like these where I wish I had a job that required me to use more of my brain power.
"It’s times like these where I wish I had a job that required me"
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