I have no idea what to call this bass. GGLM (Geoff, George, Leo, Michel)? This is definitely a “Talkbass Bass” – a very high level of customization.
Modulus Neck, G&L split coil and soapbar humbuckers pickups with K-switch (series-parallel, split for bridge humbucker), Tonestyler + alternative passive tone, hipshot bridge and tuners, with 2-stop detuner, custom Alder body with white and tortoise binding.
Tl;dr, scroll down for photos.
The story: This is my first custom instrument, and it's a mutt. The neck is from my 1980s Modulus Bassstar, which I bought around 2000. I have the Modulus Mob people to thank, because I was originally going to modify the body, and they encouraged me to keep intact and just start with a new one. Since I live near Michel Fournelle’s shop, I decided to have them build me a body. My wife helped me pick out the colors—we decided piano black goes with everything, and she saw an acoustic guitar with the double binding and said that looks amazing. The nice thing about the tortoise is that I can look down and see it—it’s for me, mostly. The black on the back goes really well with the design on the graphite neck, too. The not nice thing about piano black? Shows dirt in photos. Also, the white binding pops more in person than in my photos.
The body is basically a bound precision-style body but with one modification: a longer upper horn. The Modulus neck is heavier than a wood neck (at least heavier than the wood necks I have), even with the ultralights on it, so the longer horn ends over the 11th fret, providing some more balance. The bass was carved by hand, rather than by a CNC machine, which means that the body is beautiful but not technically perfect. It's mostly nothing anyone but me will ever notice, and I actually like that it's the result of someone making it with their hands. There are a couple little gaps where the neck meets the body, but they were kind of unavoidable, and they don't matter for tone. The Modulus neck connects with bolts, not screws, so it has a very solid joint with the body.
I’ve always loved the sound of G&L basses, but the Modulus Bassstar neck is pretty special: bright but more “Fendery” than their other necks, rock solid even without a truss rod, and the thickness, 1.5” nut and 9.5” radius are perfect for me. In the six months it took to get everything done, G&L started offering a 9.5” radius.
But G&L doesn't currently offer this pickup combination. They should! The aggressiveness of the split coil humbucker in the neck position complements the neck perfectly, and gives me a lot more mids than the old EMG pickups did. The bridge humbucker is much more useful than the G&L single coil, especially since I can run just the back coil if I want to add some brightness to the neck precision. Soloed in series or parallel, it’s tons of growl and deep bottom end in parallel. I chose a pan pot rather than a switch so that I could have inbetween sounds, and I still am messing around with that a lot. I really have no idea of what humbucker blends will sound good in a mix, but the P-series humbucker with the tone all the way off is a hell of a dub sound, even with roundwounds. I am not yet sure on the tonestyler, but again I won’t know until I’m in a mix.
Right now, the bass is strung with D’Addario XL Balanced, 45-107, but given that it’s a graphite neck, I’m considering a .115 or .120 E string so I can tune down to C with some more tension when I’m so inclined.
I’m a crap photographer, but here are the pics:
Modulus Neck, G&L split coil and soapbar humbuckers pickups with K-switch (series-parallel, split for bridge humbucker), Tonestyler + alternative passive tone, hipshot bridge and tuners, with 2-stop detuner, custom Alder body with white and tortoise binding.
Tl;dr, scroll down for photos.
The story: This is my first custom instrument, and it's a mutt. The neck is from my 1980s Modulus Bassstar, which I bought around 2000. I have the Modulus Mob people to thank, because I was originally going to modify the body, and they encouraged me to keep intact and just start with a new one. Since I live near Michel Fournelle’s shop, I decided to have them build me a body. My wife helped me pick out the colors—we decided piano black goes with everything, and she saw an acoustic guitar with the double binding and said that looks amazing. The nice thing about the tortoise is that I can look down and see it—it’s for me, mostly. The black on the back goes really well with the design on the graphite neck, too. The not nice thing about piano black? Shows dirt in photos. Also, the white binding pops more in person than in my photos.
The body is basically a bound precision-style body but with one modification: a longer upper horn. The Modulus neck is heavier than a wood neck (at least heavier than the wood necks I have), even with the ultralights on it, so the longer horn ends over the 11th fret, providing some more balance. The bass was carved by hand, rather than by a CNC machine, which means that the body is beautiful but not technically perfect. It's mostly nothing anyone but me will ever notice, and I actually like that it's the result of someone making it with their hands. There are a couple little gaps where the neck meets the body, but they were kind of unavoidable, and they don't matter for tone. The Modulus neck connects with bolts, not screws, so it has a very solid joint with the body.
I’ve always loved the sound of G&L basses, but the Modulus Bassstar neck is pretty special: bright but more “Fendery” than their other necks, rock solid even without a truss rod, and the thickness, 1.5” nut and 9.5” radius are perfect for me. In the six months it took to get everything done, G&L started offering a 9.5” radius.
But G&L doesn't currently offer this pickup combination. They should! The aggressiveness of the split coil humbucker in the neck position complements the neck perfectly, and gives me a lot more mids than the old EMG pickups did. The bridge humbucker is much more useful than the G&L single coil, especially since I can run just the back coil if I want to add some brightness to the neck precision. Soloed in series or parallel, it’s tons of growl and deep bottom end in parallel. I chose a pan pot rather than a switch so that I could have inbetween sounds, and I still am messing around with that a lot. I really have no idea of what humbucker blends will sound good in a mix, but the P-series humbucker with the tone all the way off is a hell of a dub sound, even with roundwounds. I am not yet sure on the tonestyler, but again I won’t know until I’m in a mix.
Right now, the bass is strung with D’Addario XL Balanced, 45-107, but given that it’s a graphite neck, I’m considering a .115 or .120 E string so I can tune down to C with some more tension when I’m so inclined.
I’m a crap photographer, but here are the pics:
