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Renaissance/Turner Basses Club

#25
I've seen Rick post on TalkBass before, back in my lurking days... usually on pickup or electronics threads, those being his forte' from way back.

My take is, he's a pretty busy guy running a fairly small shop, but maybe he'll drop in here sometime for the occasional Q&A on the instruments themselves.
 
#26
A number of years ago, I asked Rick to build me a medium scale lined fretless Renaissance. It was beatiful and killer in every way, and I loved it, but after a few months I realized that fretless wasn't for me. A few months later I couldn't stand to see such an incredible instrument not being played - so I sold it.

This is the one:

Front.jpg


Headstock.jpg


BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
#30
Love my fretted 5-string Renaissance bass. I have owned two Rens. The first one was a fretted 4-string that I got in 1997 after Henry Kaiser showed me the prototype fretless he had in his collection and put me in touch with Rick. I don't play fretless very well so I opted for a fretted model. I have pretty much exclusively played five-string basses since the mid-80s. At first Rick didn't make a five-string Ren but I was so knocked out by his instrument that I had to have one even if it only had four strings. I sold it about 9 years later to help finance the purchase of an Acoustic Image Coda_R to play my five-string Ren through. I got the five-string late 98- early 99 which is around the time they became available. When Rick started making these there weren't as many wood and cosmetic options as there are today. One of the things that attracted me to the instrument, though, was the cedar top which gave it the vibe of an acoustic guitar. For that reason I prefer a cedar top for this instrument visually but wish I had the herringbone binding on the body and a wood face on the peghead.

I am always looking for low volume acoustic gigs so I can play my Ren. On the other hand one of the best things about the Renaissance bass is that you can play extremely loud, too... with no feedback. I have tried using steel strings on mine but prefer the TI Acousticore.
 
#31
Thanks All! This turning into a healthy thread.

I saw earlier, porterbass was using TI Jazz Flats on a Renaissance... I still have the TI Acousticores on both of mine, but now that one of them is fretless, may need to explore something to be easier on the fingerboard.

I keep TI Powerbass rounds on the Electroline, but hope to keep the low tension feel on the Ren's... Who else is using tapewounds?
 
#32
I have not tried other kinds of strings on mine as I love the uniqueness of the Acousticore strings and the sound/tone they give me. I assume that strings like the Jazz Flats would provide a totally different sound? I have used them on several different basses over the years and currently have JFs on my 2012 NAMM Show Rickenbacker 4004 Laredo (Ruby). I also use TI Jazz Rounds on some basses, occasionally.

BTW, my RB4FL was a 2005 NAMM Show bass :cool:; it is not fancy but does have a wood headplate with the Turner lion logo :bassist:, and wood knobs.
 
#33
Pretty sure I put Markley Blue Steels on my Ren when I tried switching from the Acousticore. Bass still had a fairly "soft" sound, not as much punch as I would want to play electric rock music. Flatwounds or tapewounds would be an interesting choice but IMO the Acousticore strings are what give the Renaissance its unique sound or at least help you to fully realize it, especially if you play fretless.
 
#38
Jeff Scott said:
Years ago (probably mid '90s or so) there was an interview with a bassist who had a black one.
Click to expand...

I have a black Turner Ren RB4FL. You can see it in my profile photo, although I have Status-Graphite black tapewounds and black Hipshot tuners on it now . I'll take some better photos tomorrow and post them. It is truly a gorgeous Turner bass with the gloss black front, Indian Rosewood fretboard, and Indian Rosewood back/sides. Impeccable workmanship.

I'll also post a bit tomorrow about my trials with strings on them. I had the acousticores on both to start and changed to TI Jazz flats and Status-Graphite tapewounds. I really liked the acousticores and felt nothing negative towards them...it was just a personal preference.
 
#40
I really like the TI Acousticores, especially after they're played in, but in the interest of extending the fingerboard life on the fretless, I may be willing to compromise. The various tapewound strings have my attention, but I have zero experience with them.

Looking forward to reading the reviews here.
 

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