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Pickup Mod On My Roscoe Fretless

#22
So I re-recorded Mojo with my fretless and the new Nordy DC pickups. The bass is definitely much livelier now in the midrange, and it's also hotter. I think I'm happy...don't wanna jinx it :hmm:

So here's Mojo w/ bass & drums: Mojo B&D

And here's the nekkid bass: Mojo B

Danny's going to use this Gadow to lay down the guitar tracks and vocals over the break. I can't wait to hear what he does with it.
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And how 'bout those drums? They definitely don't scream "programmed". Color me impressed by Sonar's "Session Drummer 3".
 
#26
The new p/u's do sound good Greg. I think what I hear that's not traditional Roscoe fretless is the ebony board. That's not a bad thing, it's just a different thing.
My Gecko fretless (ebony board, Bart/Bart combo, alder body) sounds very similar to your fretless. When I A/B it against the Rsocoe, the diamondwood board has more mwah and growl up and down the neck. I really notice it in the lower registers.

If my Gecko had played like a Roscoe (and had been a lb. or 2 lighter) I probably woun't have gotten the Roscoe fretless.

:hmm: Awe! Who am I kidding! I'd have still got the Roscoe fretless.:)
 
#29
LilRay said:
What is diamondwood if not wood? Composite?

How does it differ in feel compared to the ebony you like?

God Bless, Ray
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It's wood (laminated, like Baltic Birch, IIRC) that's been pressure-impregnated with epoxy resin. I've got a Diamondwood board on my fretless. Can't even make a mark on it with my fingernail, it's so hard. Roundwound strings don't groove it at all, they just polish a little where they contact it.
 
#30
lwrthnwhalepoop said:
It's wood (laminated, like Baltic Birch, IIRC) that's been pressure-impregnated with epoxy resin. I've got a Diamondwood board on my fretless. Can't even make a mark on it with my fingernail, it's so hard. Roundwound strings don't groove it at all, they just polish a little where they contact it.
Click to expand...

My Diamondwood board has marks on it, severly light ones, that you can't feel with your fingers, but marks none the less.
 
#31
Yeah, if I were looking for a negative word to describe diamondwood, I'd say "harsh". But that's not right - the reason it's such a great choice for fretless is that it's got all kinds of growl, bark & (dare I say, to stick with the dog metaphor) bite. It's a mean material tonally, perfectly suited for fretless.

I'd love the tone and the durability, but I'm not crazy about the look and just the general concept. But that's really just me, totally a personal preference thing. No knock on anyone who digs it, it is a great material... just not for me.
 
#32
RocketMusic said:
Yeah, if I were looking for a negative word to describe diamondwood, I'd say "harsh". But that's not right - the reason it's such a great choice for fretless is that it's got all kinds of growl, bark & (dare I say, to stick with the dog metaphor) bite. It's a mean material tonally, perfectly suited for fretless.

I'd love the tone and the durability, but I'm not crazy about the look and just the general concept. But that's really just me, totally a personal preference thing. No knock on anyone who digs it, it is a great material... just not for me.
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Heh, if we all liked the same thing, Roscoe wouldn't have an options list!

I really would have loved a Roscoe with an ebony board, but they kinda put a nail in that coffin recently with the upcharge, their reasons are understandable, though.
 
#33
RocketMusic said:
Yeah, I'm too much of a sucker for wood to go the diamondwood route. My shop tools would look at me funny if I played that :confused:

But there's no doubt diamondwood does sound good, and it probably holds up better, too... it's just not the material for me.
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Fully understand Greg. I grew up really lusting over the diamondcoat (epoxy) ebony boards on the Pedulla Buzz basses and when I became a Roscoehead the Diamondwood was just perfect for me. IMO the Diamondwood sounds warmer and wood like than the epoxied ebony.
But I do like the sound of the ebony board on my Gecko and plan on keeping it for that reason (although I doubt that it'll get much playing time with the Roscoe fretless in the house). It's got more warmth and does produces a more woody tone than the Diamondwood or epoxied ebony.

But I FELL in love with that huge growl and mwah produced from those Buzz basses and the Diamondwood IMO is a notch up from that.
I think it was Mark Egan that stated "Imagine a huge bumble bee buzzing perfectly in pitch!"

As for the looks of diamondwood, the maple birdseye diamondwood is very easy to look at!;)
 
#34
JOME77 said:
Fully understand Greg. I grew up really lusting over the diamondcoat (epoxy) ebony boards on the Pedulla Buzz basses and when I became a Roscoehead the Diamondwood was just perfect for me. IMO the Diamondwood sounds warmer and wood like than the epoxied ebony.
But I do like the sound of the ebony board on my Gecko and plan on keeping it for that reason (although I doubt that it'll get much playing time with the Roscoe fretless in the house). It's got more warmth and does produces a more woody tone than the Diamondwood or epoxied ebony.

But I FELL in love with that huge growl and mwah produced from those Buzz basses and the Diamondwood IMO is a notch up from that.
I think it was Mark Egan that stated "Imagine a huge bumble bee buzzing perfectly in pitch!"

As for the looks of diamondwood, the maple birdseye diamondwood is very easy to look at!;)
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+1

My fretless has a Spanish Cedar body, so I think the Diamondwood board is complementary, tone-wise, to the cedar which is a bit on the dark & woody side. On an ash or alder body - or paired with more aggressive pickups - it might be a bit too "live" for me. I love the punch when playing over the bridge pickup and the huge "mwah" when I move up toward the neck.
 
#37
Darkstrike said:
How about just plain "awesome" because that *is* what it is! :cool:
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:o Aw, shucks! :o

Thanks, I appreciate that! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, although once again the effort was really 10% bass playing and 90% production effort.

Danny had programmed a nice latin drum groove, he had two tracks of electric guitar noodling all the way through, plus an acoustic guitar noodling all the way through, too. I think he was just giving me plenty of ammunition to cook something up with.

First, I mined all the guitar noodling for some good parts. I just kept the one little section of electric for a solo, and that is actually pieced together from two tracks. I let the acoustic noodle throughout in the background, although I boosted it for a "solo" spot near the end. Then I let the bass take the lead in some spots, or sit back and support in others... what fun!!

The best part of my day was when I accidentally hit "mute" on the drum track. All of the sudden, the groove really blossomed now that there was some space for the other parts to breathe. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere...
 
#39
Heh - I was just wondering why I cut so much of the electric guitar work. As I was mixing, I was thinking it just had an unpleasant tone... but now I realize that the dang thing is flat!

If I'm feeling charitable, I'd say I had good ear instincts... but I really should have picked up on that right away and held off on posting this until Danny had a chance to re-record his electric part :help:

That's one problem with having the producer in the band. If his parts (i.e. my parts) sound cool... post it :bassist:
 

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