New Mike Adler TWELVE STRING BASS????

[j-raj]

A different view of the neck(photo by Jay) It's less than an inch thick.

cool. (yikes at the same time!)

How many truss rods are in that thing?

 

[Geoff St. Germaine]

Oh wow, that is just deadly. This whole thread gives me this desire for a very extended range instrument like this that can be used for both bass, guitar plus what neither of those could do on their own. I've seen lots of ERBs before, but it seems none have really caught my attention beyond "that's a great looking bass" because I never really saw myself being able to use one (though I certainly knew that the owners of them could). Now for some reason this Novax instrument is calling to me.

 

[mark beem]

Oh wow, that is just deadly. This whole thread gives me this desire for a very extended range instrument like this that can be used for both bass, guitar plus what neither of those could do on their own. I've seen lots of ERBs before, but it seems none have really caught my attention beyond "that's a great looking bass" because I never really saw myself being able to use one (though I certainly knew that the owners of them could). Now for some reason this Novax instrument is calling to me.

If I ever get the urge again I'll probably get a Phalanx...

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

If I ever get the urge again I'll probably get a Phalanx...

Is that a lefty or a righty?

 

[Jay Terrien]

MB, did I just hear that you were selling the Stambaugh's and Conklin's to buy a Warr?

Jim Wright of Warr gave me an amazing home demo 2 years ago. The hollowbodied models are flat out genius and suprisingly lightweight, given their specs.

Those Warr instruments are simply amazing but God, the learning curve is somewhat intimidating, depending on how you tune it. There's nothing like buying an extended range piece of gear for $5000 and having no clue how to navigate on it!

If I ever get the urge again I'll probably get a Phalanx...

 

[Jay Terrien]

Garry, tell everyone about the unique black finish.

When I first saw the bass, from my viewing perspective, I thought it was an incredibly DARK NAVY blue stain. But, it's black.

Mark, I thought the neck was thin on the 11-string, but I couldn't believe this when I first saw it. It is strong enough to stand on,yet it is only about 3/4" thick. Imagine a 6 string with a neck like that.I took a photo with a ruler next to the neck and i hope to post it soon.The bass is very easy to play.

 

[mark beem]

MB, did I just hear that you were selling the Stambaugh's and Conklin's to buy a Warr?

I suggest you immediately go and get your hearing checked, my friend..



No, I may eventually get a Phalanx to go WITH my Conklins and Stambaugh, but NEVAH, NEVAH, NEVAH, NEVAH, will I sell either the Conks or the Stammie (I actually don't even have it yet)...

 

[mark beem]

Those Warr instruments are simply amazing but God, the learning curve is somewhat intimidating, depending on how you tune it. There's nothing like buying an extended range piece of gear for $5000 and having no clue how to navigate on it!

AFAIK The Phalanxes are tuned in standard 4ths for both sets of strings.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

No, I may eventually get a Phalanx to go WITH my Conklins and Stambaugh, but NEVAH, NEVAH, NEVAH, NEVAH, will I sell either the Conks or the Stammie (I actually don't even have it yet)...

Careful, Mark. That's the exact sort of quote we see around here so often that's usually followed a month and a half later by a "I'm selling my bass" thread in the classifieds

 

[mark beem]

Careful, Mark. That's the exact sort of quote we see around here so often that's usually followed a month and a half later by a "I'm selling my bass" thread in the classifieds

I'll GIVE them to you before I'd post a for sale thread here in a month's time..

 

[Garry Goodman]

Garry, tell everyone about the unique black finish.

When I first saw the bass, from my viewing perspective, I thought it was an incredibly DARK NAVY blue stain. But, it's black.

Well Jay-it's a gloss Black,and it reminds me of the black edges on my sunburst Gibson EB6 .Mike can tell you more about it.

I want to remind everyone that this is not like the the instruments in photos some of you have been posting on this thread.It's an in line 12,not two guitars sharing the same neck like the 11-string guitar,Warr guitar or Stick. Also those instruments just don't have the range that this 12 string does.The 11-string guitar pictured above is an expanded version of Kenny Kidd's 1994 9 string: a 6 string guitar with three added bass strings. Jauqo's guitarist has a 13 string .
This one goes to 12...

I don't feel that those instruments are in the same category.Non sequential tuning ,i.e. EAD the start over an octave higher E A D G B E
The Adler in line 12 is a 92 note guitar spanning 10 octaves ,000 range to octave 7 tuned in sequential 4ths.Thanks to Jauqo III-X's developement of the C#00 string and our .004 string and Mike's bridge design, this instrument exists.

 

[adlerguitars]

Sorry for my absence guys, it's been as busy as the pre-NAMM rush around here!

The bass has a multi laminate maple neck with 3 truss rods and more reinforcement than I originally thought would even fit. The neck is reinforced through the body and headstock as well. This bass has mahogany body wings. The single Villex pickup is split for stereo operation (in my opinion, Villex makes the best SubContra-range pickup out there). The preamp is 4 bands with each band sweepable to any frequency from 2 Hz-200 kHz. We used guitar tuners on the treble side to keep the length of the headstock down and aid in tuning stability resulting from reduced headstock flex. I designed the bridge in AutoCAD and it features a string locking feature that negates the need for ball ends on the highest strings (patent pending,)

The finish is Speis (pronounced “speese”) hot black used in painting custom hot rods and motorcycles. It is supposed to be the blackest- black on the market.

On a more personal note- Garry and I have had this on the drawing board for more than a year and a half… well before the 11 string was even complete. To our knowledge the .004 string didn’t exist so we had it made from scratch and purchased the entire supply. By my math each of the 12 notes is found 37 times on this bass (full range guitar?), and if you ask me, that is the crazy part!


Peace,

Mike

 

[MikeBass]

Now I can relate all those ledger line notes to strings and frets that were off in never never piano land before.This instrument is a valuable learning tool that brings the piano and most orchestral instruments under your finger tips.I still will bring my Hofner 4 string to the gig to play "Dock of the Bay", my Tobias 7 to play my duo's music, but the 12 is the ultimate stand alone solo instrument .I think as a bass player ,knowing I can use my bass skills to access most music in the same way a pianist does, I feel comfortable selecting a 4 ,or 6 ,or 7 ,or 9 string for the particular project/gig.As this unfolds, I think not having to put down the bass to play something I only was able to play on a piano or guitar before will be nice.

For myself, i can resolve the whole "ERB issue".Yes ,you only need 4 strings to be a bass player.You can apply your bass technique to gain access to everything other instrumentalists have access to because you are not only a bass player,you are a musician.Tubby the Tuba was a bad influence on my young mind.

See, now I get it. I guess it took reading this post to make me understand what I really knew all along damit!!

2 questions guys:
1
At what point and please excuse my limited knowlege of "ERB's" out side of owning a six in the past and just toying with a GT-7 (trust me, when I played it, it was toying!!) does the sheer size of the neck hinder your ability to play??

And 2
For what ever reason I'm compelled to want to not even mention "bass" in the description because it seems to me that, even though you may use it to play bass lines, your really using it as another, well, just stringed instrument.
Just as a keyboard player would play bass lines, we may say "keyboard bass" but it's still identified by what it is, not exactly what it is fuctioning as at a given moment. So does it cease being a "bass" in the traditional sense?? And more of an "Extended range fretted stringed instrument"? (ERFSI )

BTW, DO NOT take this as a flame, I'm very intrigued by these and do not have the skills as you guys do, so I live vicariously through you!!

But one last thing, if you use the ERFSI( ) for what it is, sweet, but why the hell on a Venessa Williams gig, which could be played on a 5 (and maybe a 4) would you use something with a neck wide enough to land a plane on!
Wouldn't it just be more comfortable to just pull it out when you need the range as opposed to man handling that thing just to play in "normal" 5 string bass range most of the night?
You can't tell me VW music calls for the range of 9+ strings much if at all. With the exception of a solo spot or two.

And don't say "well a piano player most of the time doesn't need 88+ keys" because I'm talking about the size of the neck being a factor.
A keyboard player playing a C Maj scale anywhere on the keyboard is the same. Not true on a 9 or 11 string.

I can see it now Websters:
Erfsi (errf-see) noun; (also see ERB) Extended range fretted stringed instrument covering the full range of full piano yet played in a guitar or bass guitar like style.

I'm just a fiver trying to understand

 

[Marlat]

FWIW Garry Goodman doesn't play with Vanessa Williams (although im sure he would like to ) - Al Caldwell (another TB user) plays with Vanessa.

 

[Bernie Connors]

Yeah, I like full-range guitar too.

 

[adlerguitars]

See, now I get it. I guess it took reading this post to make me understand what I really knew all along damit!!

2 questions guys:
1
At what point and please excuse my limited knowlege of "ERB's" out side of owning a six in the past and just toying with a GT-7 (trust me, when I played it, it was toying!!) does the sheer size of the neck hinder your ability to play??

And 2
For what ever reason I'm compelled to want to not even mention "bass" in the description because it seems to me that, even though you may use it to play bass lines, your really using it as another, well, just stringed instrument.
Just as a keyboard player would play bass lines, we may say "keyboard bass" but it's still identified by what it is, not exactly what it is fuctioning as at a given moment. So does it cease being a "bass" in the traditional sense??

Garry would be the best to answer question 1, so I'll give question 2 a shot...

We thought about this before the show and came up with 2 answers: it has a bass-like scale length and would qualify as a bass -or- maybe it's just a full-range guitar



Mike

 

[Marlat]

Yeah, I like full-range guitar too.

But would that "title" preclude you from participating in Talkbass....

 

[adlerguitars]

But would that "title" preclude you from participating in Talkbass....

Me?!?!

Garry maybe, he's the one who owns it!

Mike

 

[Bernie Connors]

But would that "title" preclude you from participating in Talkbass....

Uh oh..... I'll have to rethink that then.

 

[MikeBass]

Garry would be the best to answer question 1, so I'll give question 2 a shot...

We thought about this before the show and came up with 2 answers: it has a bass-like scale length and would qualify as a bass -or- maybe it's just a full-range guitar



Mike

See, now this is starting to make sense!!!

I for one will admit, most of my opinion of them was, "but your playing BASS ", "why the hell do you need that many strings??"
And I'll still take that approach when seeing Vanessa Williams and others, when their "bass player " is playing one of those. Outside of a solo spot again..........

To me the logistics of that interstate width neck just to play bass lines is quite silly. Unless you have hands the size of Buick Roadmasters!!! Then, well, I'll shut the hell up

When I don't need the range of my 5, if I can pull it off, I put it down and pick up my 4 (songs back to back and such might not let this happen for me) just to make it a little easier.

I own some fine basses like yours, but as an example, in my Steely Dan cover band, I use my 4 most of the time (70's Fender Jazz or Fender VB Jazz) and leave the Fodera or Sadowsky 5's on the stand serving back-up duty. So it's not a matter of high quality.

I'm sure that your basses Mike, are on the same level as anyone elses.
So it's not a matter of getting my/a sound.
My fusion group is a different story, I use the range of my 5's. Soloing for me is easily done within the 22 fret range of my 5! I wouldn't know what to do with anything more!! I'm lost most of the time now!!

You guys have really put up some good posts and I'm glad to see it didn't turn into a "trad bass" bashing "ERB/FRG/ERFSI" thread.
(and please, figure out a freakin' name!!)

I think my work is done here, thanks!