NBD: 2016 D'Angelico EX-Bass

[steve_rolfeca]

I've been "acoustifying" my guitar and bass lineup for a few years now.

It started with a piezo/magnetic semi-acoustic guitar in the early 2000's, and accelerated after having to retire some heavier instruments because of a chronic lower back problem. Along the way, I discovered that I like a little extra acoustic resonance, and that I gravitate to compact form factors.

At this point, my only solid-body instrument is my 7 lb 10 oz Dingwall ABZ-5. On the guitar front, my Telecaster is a thinline, and my archtop is completely hollow: an ES-339 sized Epiphone Casino Coupe.

I've also been enjoying guitar-scale AGB's with nylon-core strings ever since Taylor brought out out the GS Mini bass. After a couple of false steps, I eventually settled on a Guild Jumbo Junior.

The Junior has gotten a lot of play since COVID, but it's too confining on electric gigs. AI started looking for a half-way point between the Guild and the Dingwall, but my wish list was pretty restrictive:

• Scale length over 30".
• Weight under 8lb.
• Open, reasonably bright electric tones.
• Enough resonance for a woody tonal character, but minimal feedback.
• Consistent sustain across the entire fingerboard.
• Compact body.

The full-sized Gretsch G5440LSB is a cumbersome beast, especially once you add a hardshell case. It doesn't appeal to me sonically, either. Ibanez has some nice medium-scale semi-acoustics, but they're unobtanium at the moment, and oddly heavy for their size.

I bought a B-stock Hofner Ignition Club bass as a starting point, but even after mods, the short sustain, questionable tuning stability and lack of definition just aren't my cup of tea.

Thus, this latest purchase:

D'Angelico wasn't on my radar at first, as they dropped their bass line 4 or 5 years ago.

Thankfully, a friend ran into this EX in a consignment shop last month, and was raving about it.

Based on the Excel SS Shoreline guitar, the EX-Bass shares the same body shape and 15" lower bout.

The scale length is 32.25", and the nut width (44.5mm) and string spacing (18.5mm) could have been made with a long-scale Dingwall owner in mind.

The neck is a fairly slender vintage C shape, and like everything else on this bass, it splits the difference between typical electric and acoustic basses. It's pleasingly chunky, but still feels fast and sleek.

Best of all, this one has clearly seen minimal play, and was set up by Weston Instruments in Ottawa, including a full Plek job. I don't know if this bone nut was original equipment, but it's perfectly fitted, and the fret job is absolutely immaculate.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

It came with used, heavy-gauge D'Addario nickel rounds installed. They are well played in, but not worn out. Plugged-in, these strings and the fairly hot proprietary D'Angelico humbuckers provide a dark, warm tone that clearly gives a nod to Gibson and Hofner.

I don't know what comes down to the construction vs the longer 32.25" scale, but the open E string in particular, has a very rich, fat low end. Almost like a sub octave, and much more enjoyable than the weedy, hollow-sounding low E on my Hofner Club.

I would have preferred VVT, but the master volume, tone and 3-way switch are pretty flexible. The bridge pickup placement is well back from the bridge, giving it a useful, mid-forward tone for burpy, staccato lines. As expected, the neck pickup being right up against the end of the fingerboard makes for a round, smooth tone with just the right amount of "wood" in it.

The pickups are well balanced in terms of tone and volume, and it sounds great with both pickups on.

It's hard to tell with these strings, but there's enough bite there that I can get convincing solid-body electric tones out of it when I adjust the EQ on my G-K MB Fusion head.

Although D'Angelico called this a hollow body bass, it does have a fairly hefty block under the top, to anchor the oversized Tuneomatic-ish bridge and stopper tailpiece. In a smart piece of design, there's a short, U-shaped maple block that leaves a tunnel through the middle, but ties the bridge block to the back of the body. Acoustically, the end result is somewhere between a semi-acoustic bass and a German Hofner, in the sense that there's enough body resonance to give it a pleasingly woody tone, but plenty of sustain, and a fairly low likelihood of feedback under most conditions.

Acoustically, I prefer the post-mounted bridge and block over a floating bridge and tailpiece. Tuning stability is much better, and you can get the "Hofner thump" when you need it with a bit of palm muting or a piece of foam.

Seated, the mid-sized body is comfortable and compact, without the awkward, tail-heavy feel of an Gibson EB-2D.

With that huge ornamental headstock, I expected the EX-bass to have some neck dive, and it does. And quite a headstock it is:

I will say that the neck dive is much less than I expected. Probably in part because of the shorter scale. Also, I suspect that the flowerpot is plastic rather than metal...

I would have liked a volute, but the headstock angle is pretty shallow, and I'm not overly concerned about headstock breakage. The detail work inside the cutout around the flowerpot up top is very clean- this is an excellent example of up-market Korean craftsmanship.

 

[Killing Floor]

That's really pretty. Curious to know the scale. Love the blocks. I'm sure there is a fancy name for it, that "violin burst" finish is gorgeous. Enjoy.

 

[abarson]

That's a great write-up!
You addressed one of my immediate thoughts about neck dive as a consequence of the headstock.
Keeping an eye out for one local.

 

[Basically Bob]

Wow! Thanks for sharing!

… and I thought my days of GAS were over

 

[steve_rolfeca]

That's a great write-up!
You addressed one of my immediate thoughts about neck dive as a consequence of the headstock.
Keeping an eye out for one local.

See my edit, above.

The seated neck dive is less than I remember from my '64 Precision. That used to head for the floor every time I took a hand off the neck.

However, I haven't had the D'Angelico on a strap yet- that was a brain fart. I was actually thinking about my Hofner Club Bass when I wrote that.

Despite it's light weight and smaller headstock, the Hofner dives much worse than the D'Angelico when seated, for two reasons:

• The tiny body (12.6" lower bout, IIRC).
• The extremely light (dare I say flimsy?) construction of the Hofner's almost full-hollow body.

More on why the D'Angelico hasn't been on a strap yet:

• Unbeknownst to myself, or to the poor shipper at Spaceman Music in Ottawa, the EX-Bass has a fundamental weakness.
• As near as I can tell from interior photography with my cheap Chinese Endoscope, there's no tail block in these basses- the kerfing stops short of the endpin area, and the ends of the body sides are just butt-glued to each other at the center.
• After the sides are joined, someone drills a hole in the end of the body, inserts a short (3/4" or so) piece of 1/2" dowel into the hole, and then sends it off for paint.
• The bottom strap button is screwed to the end of that piece of dowel.

The dowel is mostly supported by being glued to end grain, and even there, we're talking about the edge of the thin plywood (1/4"??) sides.

Guess what happens if the instrument is dropped vertically onto the strap button?

This happened despite it being packed in the excellent TKL case that comes with the EX-Bass, the case being surrounded by tons of bubble wrap, and well supported inside a stout cardboard carton.

As you can probably see from the second case pic, it doesn't help that TKL cuts the foam short to make space for the strap button, reducing the protection at the spot where it needs it the most.

The store has been great about it so far. I'm looking for quotes from local repair shops, and Spaceman has already committed to arranging a partial refund to help cover the repair cost.

Still, there's a moral here- if you're buying one of these online, insist that the shipper removes the endpin, and stores it in the string pocket.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I've already spoken to a luthier friend, and there's a fiddly but not overly long-winded cure for this:

• Cut a small block of hardwood, roughly the height of the inside of the body cavity at the endpin.
• Round one side of the block to match the radius of the curved end of the body.
• Taper the block's top and bottom, so it can sit down into the tapered end of the body.
• Drill a small hole for the strap button into the side of the block, but drill all the way through.
• Run a guitar string through the hole in the block, from the inside face out.
• Fish the string through the bridge pickup opening, and down into the body until it comes out the hole where the strap button used to be.
• Apply glue to the area where the new tailblock will sit.
• Pull on the string to draw the block in tight against the damaged area.
• From outside, take a clamping block with a guitar tuner set into it. Run the string into the tuner, then crank it down to apply tension to the guitar string, sucking the tailblock in tight against the end of the body.

All that's necessary after the glue dries, is to do a small cosmetic touchup around the repaired area, and screw the strap button into the new tailblock.

The bass will be much stronger than it was prior to the repair, and the strap will cover the repair, making it invisible to audiences!

 

[Bullitt5135]

The same thing happened to the endpin on my Ex-Bass when it shipped. I had a luthier fit a small oval-shaped plate (meant for an output jack, maybe?) over the hole that the endpin now screws into.

I like my Ex-Bass for mellow country, folk & oldies, but it's fairly nondescript to my ears for louder rock music. The only issues I've had are a loose output jack and pickup wires that occasionally like to vibrate against the body. Still, it's a really beautiful instrument...I really need to play it more. Of all the basses I own, it's the one my wife would prefer to see hanging on the wall in the living room.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

The same thing happened to the endpin on my Ex-Bass when it shipped. I had a luthier fit a small oval-shaped plate (meant for an output jack, maybe?) over the hole that the endpin now screws into.

I like my Ex-Bass for mellow country, folk & oldies, but it's fairly nondescript to my ears for louder rock music. The only issues I've had are a loose output jack and pickup wires that occasionally like to vibrate against the body. Still, it's a really beautiful instrument...I really need to play it more. Of all the basses I own, it's the one my wife would prefer to see hanging on the wall in the living room.

Son of a gun...

It still needs to be reinforced inside, but that would certainly be a lot easier than trying to touch up the finish around the hole!

 

[Bullitt5135]

Son of a gun...

A plate wouldn't be as stout as the internal repair suggested to me, but certainly a lot easier to do.

It seems to be doing the job.

 

[scuzzy]

I played this model at CME earlier this year. It was the 2nd most impressive bass I played there, and I played several over $3k. It played and sounded great and was fantastic quality.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

The only setup issue I have with it (other than needing the endpin repair), is that the neck pickup doesn't sit parallel to the strings. I'll fiddle with the pickup ears later, to fix this.

This is a common issue with archtops:

The Art Deco styling is a bit overdone to my taste, but as you can see, the top and back veneers are very nice, and all the woodwork is extremely clean and precise. The center book match is very pretty, almost worthy of a boutique instrument. Overall, the build quality and fit and finish remind me of peak Japanese manufacturing.

If it wasn't for that thick polyester jacket, it could almost be a $2,500 instrument.

...Or a $5,000 Gibson!

 

[JRA]

once that endpin is good-to-go you'll be back in business with that beautiful ax! it sure is a looker --- and it's great to hear that it plays so well for you --- congratulations on your new instrument!

 

[J Wilson]

People just didn't think of D'Angelico and bass together. Which is a damn shame, as that's just elegantly beautiful.

I'm not a hollow body and/or short scale guy, but I'd have bought that one on looks alone. Gorgeous!

 

[steve_rolfeca]

It is easy on the eyes, but I’m more interested in how it sounds. The Hofner I’m currently selling was a pretty little thing, but didn’t work on the gig.

I put a fresh set of 45-105 EXL-165’s on the EX last night, and used it for an impromptu session at a retreat center today. No amp, pedals or EQ- just straight into a Headrush FRFR108.

The Headrush is bottom-heavy in the first place, and the D’Angelico sounded a bit too dark for my taste on the first two switch positions, even with the tone wide open.

The bridge pickup was great with the fresh nickel rounds, though. I dialed the tone back a bit, and it fit in nicely with a Korg Triton on an electric piano and pad blend.

Feel-wise, the extra couple of inches of scale length gives it a reassuringly solid and familiar feel. Much like a 34” bass, but with a little less tension. I quite enjoyed it.

I’ll be using it tomorrow with my MB Fusion/AudioKinesis rig, Diamond BCP-1 compressor, and Barber Linden Compact EQ. I shall be curious to see how it works with regular amp voicing, and some outboard tone shaping.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Yesterday was a learning experience!

Found a few minutes to redo a few things on my pedal board, then rushed off to play without testing. There was something wrong with the 18V output on the new power supply, so my compressor only worked in passive bypass, and thanks to the time I wasted on figuring that out, I didn't have a chance to try out the Barber.

Meanwhile, I'd loaned my acoustic to the guitarist, who recently damaged his own. Unfortunately, I strung it with extra-lights, thinking that it would help him to cope with the unusually wide neck on mine.

Bad move. He's a physiotherapist, and although he doesn't look like it, he's strong as an ox. He was constantly pushing the skinny strings out of tune- especially when he capo'd up for a bunch of flat keys we were playing in yesterday. He also flubbed his capo placement on a couple of songs he was leading, which threw the keyboard player off at first.

To top it off, we were also having monitoring problems, so it was hard to hear myself over a wall of keys and pitch-challenged guitar.

Add in the unfamiliarity of a shorter scale and not having a low Eb for some of the keys (I've been a 5-string specialist since the mid-80's), and I was feeling pretty off-balance.

I brought my amp back from the venue, so I can hopefully spend some more time getting familiarized with the D'Angelico this week. Hopefully next time will go better.

 

[Bass Viking]

I played that bass while it was at Spaceman. I liked it! I also own a D’Angelico Excel 59 guitar (a jazz box) and I love it. Congratulations!

 

[Bullitt5135]

The only setup issue I have with it (other than needing the endpin repair), is that the neck pickup doesn't sit parallel to the strings. I'll fiddle with the pickup ears later, to fix this.

I seem to recall flipping my neck pickup 180° (or maybe just the bezel?).

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I seem to recall flipping my neck pickup 180° (or maybe just the bezel?).

In this case, I'll have to get more creative. If you look at the picture above, you'll see that rotating the bezel would actually make it worse.

An angled shim under the bezel would help, or I may be able to fiddle with the ears on the pickup to get a better angle.

Not a critical issue, as the pickup sounds fine as it is.

 

[Geogio]

The whole endpin story has been very enlightening. I've had several of these on my wish list and I was about ready to "maybe" commit to one of them after the holidays but now I don't know think I will.

Thank you all for the discovery.