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NBD - Early 80's Carvin LB-50

HankHillWaluigi

HankHillWaluigi

May 2, 2015
312
465
#1
I went out for lunch with a pretty little lady friend of mine yesterday after having moved to a new town and we decided to stop in the local music store and peruse the goods as I needed some guitar strings. The store had a kinda nice little selection of instruments, but one caught my eye - it looked like a Gibson Ripper knockoff, and I'm an absolute sucker for Rippers and always wanted one (thanks Rick Danko!). After we ate, we went back to the store and I plugged it in and this thing just blew me away! Incredibly nice neck, punchy and growly tone, sustain for days, and lots of variation with the tone thanks to the controls. I ended up buying it on the spot for $325, and all it needed is a little bit of cleaning and a truss rod adjustment. A really fine American made bass that I got for an absolute steal!

I'm pretty sure the body is two piece maple, and it's kind of a boat anchor at around 10.5-11lbs - I haven't put it on the scale but it definitely weighs more than my 10lb SX Ursa II five stringer. With all the variation I can get from the controls, I've managed to cop a Ripper tone, Rickenbacker tone, P tone - not exactly but within the ballpark. I really dig the neck - not overbearingly thick and not too wide or narrow at the nut. The Schaller tuners hold tune well and the high mass bridge is kinda nice for a change than my usual vintage Fender style that I dig. The nut threw me off though.

Also, I'm pretty sure the stock GHS Rollerwounds (Pressurewounds?) that came on the bass back in the 80's are the same ones that are still on it. Really high tension, bright, and growly still - I dunno if I want to change them out yet (I did give them a wipe-down with some alcohol first :whistle:).

Really looking forward to using it at the next band practice!
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#9
garp said:
Congrats!

One of the more interesting pickup designs I've seen on a bass.
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Thanks! If I recall correctly, they're the MB-22 pickups rewound for bass. Very punchy, but I find the E-string to be slightly lacking in bass. I'm thinking of ordering in some TV Jones Thunderblades as another TB'er had done, the cream pickups just aren't working for me.

armybass said:
Why the hell do they always come without the TRC's. Old Carvins and Ibanez's. Lovely bass btw. It's very high on my want list. I had a black LB-40. Always on the hunt.
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Ha! I actually have it but I had taken it off to adjust the truss rod right before I took the photo.

Eilif said:
Excellent find, and quite a deal too. Hope the action comes down. You don't see too many of those around.
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Thanks, and indeed it was. Here's hoping it just takes a turn or two more on the truss, but my main issue is the bridge as I don't have the correct allen wrench for the saddles. I think it requires a 1mm hex key, but the smallest I have at the moment is a 1.5 :meh:. I may end up switching the saddles out for vintage threaded barrel sizes though.
 
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#10
HankHillWaluigi said:
Thanks! If I recall correctly, they're the MB-22 pickups rewound for bass. Very punchy, but I find the E-string to be slightly lacking in bass. I'm thinking of ordering in some TV Jones Thunderblades as another TB'er had done, the cream pickups just aren't working for me.



Ha! I actually have it but I had taken it off to adjust the truss rod right before I took the photo.



Thanks, and indeed it was. Here's hoping it just takes a turn or two more on the truss, but my main issue is the bridge as I don't have the correct allen wrench for the saddles. I think it requires a 1mm hex key, but the smallest I have at the moment is a 1.5 :meh:. I may end up switching the saddles out for vintage threaded barrel sizes though.
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Take the bass to a hardware store and go to the hex key section. You should find a match. I did for both my National N850 and Custom Kraft Bone Buzzer basses, and the hex required for those is HUGE!
 
#11
GretschWretch said:
Take the bass to a hardware store and go to the hex key section. You should find a match.
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That would be my suggestion as well.

As for the saddles, I wouldn't swap them unless you feel the need to modify the spacing. Carvin's aren't super-collectible, but with any part I'd err' on the side of original unless there is a notable shortcoming.
 
#14
So y'all, I decided to take a chance and get some new pickups for the Carvin. After a bit of debate, I decided to go with some thunderbird pickups as they have AlNiCo 5 blades and would be able to capture all strings equally. I brought the bass down to my dad's place and we got to work:
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Unfortunately, we did not have a router but he did have a dremel 3000. Now I know that dremels are not a substitute for a router but we did have to work with what we have. The new pickups were 3.7"x1.5", so it was only slightly larger than the stock routes - 2 hours worth of work later and they were in!
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I still need to make a shim for the pickups (being held in by foam and held up by foam as well), but overall I am very satisfied with the change. The pickups look and sound fantastic - no lack of lows or low-mids here! Both pickups on sounds gnarly and aggressive - with a lot of bite and punch (kinda like a 70's jazz on a few cups of coffee). The neck pickup alone sounds like a thicker P bass, and the bridge pickup solo'ed sounds like a barky 70's jazz bridge pup. I may have had to sacrifice the phase switches and series, but I'm much more satisfied with the sound!
 

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#16
Really nice work!! Congrats.

I have always had a thing for these and some years ago I got one. Then I grabbed another. I left one stock and dropped in a pair of TV Jones Thunderblades in the other. Really well made, premium parts, easy to play and interesting tones. These were premium basses and are hidden gems.
 

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