I was reading my Bass Player Magazine today when I found this David Gage's advertisement about a new piezo pup called the "LifeLine". From the description on the website, it seems to be located in the bridge adjusters area with no mod required. If they come up with a design ala full circle that actually sounds good with arco, I might give it a shot! https://www.davidgage.com/lifeline.php Does anybody know more about this?
It says it is being rolled out at the NAMM show so we'll hear something soon. ...and GAWD is his site SLOW. Wow. I almost gave up.
I'm wondering if it will require metal adjusters, in order to work properly? One of the reasons that I've never considered a Full Circle, is that I prefer the look, feel, and sound of my Ebony ones. Just a personal preference mind you. The Ehrlund EAP and Pre Amp work so well on my bass, that I'm really not looking at trying something else. That said, Ned Steinberger and David Gage are very smart guys. I don't think that the Sound Clip did all that well, so it's nice that they are still developing other designs. The original Realist was a god send for me when it originally came out. Ric
I would be interested but the arco had better be as good or better than the realist. I am doing about 50/50 pizz/arco these days the realist delivers what I need.
Mounted at the adjuster without glue or fasteners, the LifeLine will fit on most bridges without changing a thing. Hmmm... I wonder if he's got something which just slides in between the unthreaded side of the wheel and the bridge leg/foot. This would be easier to install/remove than the FC and work with any adjuster you want. Pretty cool idea if that's it.
That's what it looks like, I was at the shop last Friday and there was an Upton hybrid that had it on. I didn't check it out too closely, and didn't plug it in, I was mostly just hanging out waiting for a repair to get done and talking to Sam. Looks pretty nice though....
Sweet, that sounds cool! Do you mean that it looked like a piezo film sandwiched between the adjuster and the bridge foot? Well, I guess we're about to find out in a day or so...
That's exactly what I recently designed and built some months ago. Still a prototype, however. I still work on the details, to make it more rigid. But I already gave it a name: the U-turn ;-)
I saw a picture on their website, pretty much looking like a prototype to me! Maybe I'm being too superficial but I hope they'll cover that unfinished metal thingy at the adjuster area with something more classy!
Really amazing, that David Gage and I have been working on more or less exactly the same design principle. However, he was first with launching a product, obviously.
My "U-Turn" pickup is basically a sandwich of teflon and electret foil which slides between adjuster and bridge. The weak point is wire connection, which can easily get damaged when you turn the adjuster with your fingers. I'm still working on an improvement here {} David's solution looks much more rigid on the photo. I'm curious to really see (and hear) his design. Soundwise, there will be a difference for sure, since he uses piezos.
And here's a closer look at the thing: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=15602737&l=ef88fbb11c&id=90888253293
I'm subscribing to this. Maybe it will be between the FC and Realist? FC clarity and punch but realist arco capabilities? Hoping it's awesome. New pickups are always welcome for more options.
I don't mind being the guinea pig on this one! We'll wait for more details about the price point and such (in March?), but that sounds like a serious option.
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