Anyone know what model Ibanez fretless that is? I've never seen one before.
Great pics, btw! Thanks!!
A type of Ibanez Ergodyne.Not the typical issue.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Ibanez: Switching gears a bit, how long have you been playing Ibanez?
Percy: I guess 5 or 6 years・no, no, sorry it's longer than that. Actually, it's more like 8 or 9 years. Time flies. We did the last Brand X record in 1997, and I used an Ibanez on that・the first Ibanez that they gave me.
Ibanez: What model was that?
Percy: It was a Sound Gear. That was the first bass they gave me. Then they gave me an Ergodyne.
Ibanez: Is that what you are playing these days?
Percy: Well, it's a variation on an Ergodyne, because I gave them a bunch of suggestions for what I thought would be improvements on the Ergodyne. And one suggestion was to use a dense wooden body instead of a plastic body・which is what they did. And I suggested a thicker, stiffer neck, and a few other things. So that's what I've got now, and it's a big, big improvement over the Ergodyne・in terms of stability and tone and everything.
Ibanez: What are some of the features that you like most about your custom bass?
Percy: Well, one thing that's interesting about it is that it only has Piezo pickups・there's no magnetic pickup on it. I've gotten into Piezo's because they've got a very wide dynamic range, so it makes the bass very, very sensitive to how hard you play. You get a lot of dynamics just out of your hands. And depending on where you pick, it can have sort of an upright-type sound, which I like. So you can get a wide variation in tone depending on how you play it. There are things I like to do, like pulling the bottom or top string off the fingerboard to make it sound sitar-ish・the Piezo's really bring that out, because a lot of that is vibration in the body. The Piezo pickups are also very quiet, so you don't get stage-like noise. My bass is very dynamic sounding. And the new one is very stable. It barely changes with the weather, so the humidity or temperature can change and the neck doesn't move very much. It's quite light, and it's comfortable.
I always liked the Ergodyne body, even the plastic one・the shape of it is very comfortable. And there was an addition of a string tree to stop the section of string between the nut and the machine head from singing・cause one trouble was, if you played a really hard, open string, you'd hear these overtones that were not related to the fundamental. And it turned out to be those sections of the string up on the machine head singing away. So the string tree just damps those out. There's a nice fingerboard, too. It's got a nice taper. And they use the same spacing as a 4-string, which I like, because some 5-string basses narrow the spacing down, so you've got 5 strings in the space of the normal 4. And for me, it makes it difficult to play because you don't have enough room to bring your finger up to enough velocity to hit the string. So I like the way that they keep the 4-string spacing. It's a nice looking bass, too. It's got a nice aesthetic about it, just to look at.
. I read they do material from the first 3 albums, too. My favorites. Oh well. Glad you enjoyed it. Percy ROCKS!
Morocan Roll!
