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Renaissance/Turner Basses Club

#1,581
J.Wolf said:
Thanks for that advice, that’s really helpful. I honestly don’t think anything sounds like an upright or more importantly, behaves like an upright in terms of note envelope in an electric base format. Or even acoustic electric. The Rob Allen’s I have owned were their own thing and not necessarily very upright like, although the deep four was really compelling in a similar way.

For extra points though, the one that I’ve heard that sounds the closest is the benevolent. It’s shockingly close sounding, from the clips.
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Love my Turner Ren, and love my Rob Allen Mouse, but the Smith Creek Mandolin "Christopher" Double Bass Guitar is closest I have found to the sound/feel of an upright in the format of a bass guitar.
 
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#1,583
I used LaBella low tension flats on the five string Renaissance bass that I had, I felt it came closer to an upright sound than the Acousticores (which to me sounded more like an acoustic guitar). I would assume that the woods would have an effect on the tone, especially with a piezo pickup. But, I’m not sure which combination would be best to get an upright bass sound. Maybe a walnut back and sides, and black acacia top? Maybe contact the Turner shop to see what they think.
 
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#1,585
I'm trying to remember the conversation... it was 2013 when I finally got together enough cash to buy my first Renaissance.

I think the "Standard" back then (may sill be) that had walnut sides and back, and a cedar top. I played one in Nashville one time and was hooked. I have got to get me one of these! They came with full gloss finish and top binding. Sometimes certain ones had little bonus points Rick built in... cool headstock veneers or some wood he thought was nice.

I wanted an RB-5. There wasn't a single one anywhere. After a month or so, I called the Turner shop to ask when there might be another batch of them hitting the stores. It just so happened Rick answered the phone. He had just got back from NAMM with the all-quilted maple one I still have. Later when I sent it back to have some work done, I picked up a fretted RB-5 "Special" the all-mahogany satin finish model. The tonal difference between them was minimal.

Anyway, Rick said the major contributing factor is the solid western red cedar block they are built around. It's light and resonant, and being a center block it cut down on feedback at higher volumes while providing a platform for the pickup and preamp. That's in the literature that comes with them. There might be some minor differences between two basses, but they're designed to sound pretty much the same, all things being equal.
 
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#1,586
Thanks that's super helpful info guys. Ultimately, it'll probably come down to what's available used, but I'm not in a rush. The one I played had VERY old acousticores, so they were probably a lot more mellow than reasonably aged ones.
 
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#1,587
J.Wolf said:
Thanks that's super helpful info guys. Ultimately itll robably come down to what's available used, but Im not in a rush. The one I played had VERY old acousticores, so they were probably a lot more mellow than reasonably aged ones.
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Honestly, the older the better.

Particularly on a fretless, it helps to take a loop of 600-grit sandpaper and polish the windings some. I've changed my strings exactly once since 2013. They wore out faster on the fretted one.
 
#1,590
I don’t know if anyone here has tried the Broughton resonance filter, but I just tried it with a Model 1 bass and the sound was fantastic!
 

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#1,591
RVBASS said:
Nice video of Rick explaining Peanut

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I really enjoyed that. I assume they must have released it to promote the Turner Peanut reissues. I knew the story from Rick's former blog posts, but it's great hearing it in first-person. There are a few of those reissue Peanut guitars out now.

I'm reminded of a conversation with him some years ago, and maybe the reason he remembered me some. I had confessed one time how much I admired his luthiery skill, that I'd followed Fretboard Journal and other articles even before that when learning to build banjos and guitars.

Banjos. That got his attention. Rick was an old folkie. His first project had been converting a tenor banjo to 5-string. He couldn't remember what brand but a nice one from the Northeastern US, probably Boston or Connecticut somewhere. At the time we were talking, his son had a banjo project going.
 
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#1,593
I need to do some measuring to be certain, but I just old-fashioned eyeballin' tells me the the neck pocket and heel of my Electroline 4 is a Fender rout with an altered hole pattern.
Heel Pocket.jpeg

Neck Heel.jpeg


If it is... I'm about to order a Warmoth tiltback neck blank with a paddle headstock, and make myself a fretted replacement neck for 'Lancelot' here.

Turner EL-434 front.jpeg


It's a great fretless bass. I think it'll be just as great with some cheater-wire, and I'd like to be able to switch-hit without necessarily having another bass. (wait... what?!)

They have birdseye maple necks with graphite-reinforcement rods as an option, 21-fret slots as another selection. I think I'll go with a purpleheart fingerboard, match the headstock and do the inlays, side dots, and frets myself. I think I can even do one of those Big "T" logos in pearl or some other medium.

Hmmm. 🤔 Stewing on it.
 
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#1,596
porterbass said:
RT friends... Here's something I've never seen before:

An early Electroline with a Fender-style headstock. Seems like a piece of RT history from way back. Have any of you seen this before?

Pretty cool! This prompted me to go back and skim a couple of articles on Rick Turner's history and Alembic's history. I'm in awe every time I read all of this. Amazing stuff! I'm sure many of you feel this, but it really is an honor to own and play any of his instruments.

Rick Turner Custom frettless bass 1989 - Natural | Reverb
View attachment 5254322
Check out the names on the internal preamp (18V!!!):
View attachment 5254323

https://reverb.com/item/76007111-rick-turner-custom-frettless-bass-1989-natural
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Found it... hat-tip @porterbass from a while back.
 
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