Renaissance/Turner Basses Club

[EdwardofHuncote]

Hey Rick, if you're still following us here, what's the deal on these volume/tone pots mounted on a separate piece? Survey says, pretty good idea... just curious how that came about.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Just a heads-up... if anyone's shopping for a Renaissance bass... Bass San Diego has a used RB-5 fretless in stock. Tortoise bound cedar top, walnut back/sides. Looks darn nice, and competitively priced.

I'm finding myself playing the Electroline more lately. I love playing it too, but after a couple sets I start remembering how nice it is not wearing a boat anchor over a bad shoulder.

 

[ChrisCassisi]

Been looking for a used electroline 4 for awhile. Want to join the club

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Welcome ChrisCassisi... ours is more an appreciation for Turner Basses than an official club, but feel free to add to the thread.

Electrolines are pretty rare secondhand... I lucked into my EL-535-PMM last August, after three years of looking. There is an EL-435-PMM on th' bay, but it's at Nick's Guitars in the UK. (and Nick is right proud of it.) We'll keep an eye out.

Edit - hadn't looked in a while, so I don't know how current this ad is, but try here:

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[ChrisCassisi]

Appreciate the heads up. Going to email them and see if this might be my first Turner bass

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Good Luck, and send us pictures! Love that tobacco sunburst. Somebody here has one very similar to that... back a few pages.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Hey guys, I noticed porterbass has listed his fretless RB5...

http://www.talkbass.com/index.php?threads/1084962/

 

[basspraiser]

Not a Renaissance but here's my 1980 Model 1. Was converted to fretless and not very well at some point in its life. I just sent it back to Turner yesterday for a re-fret and to replace a broken control cavity cover and rotating pickup surround. Great bass, 32" scale with really transparent pre.

nice man....really nice

 

[basspraiser]

Count me in!

I have a Ren5 fretless that I love....I think it is a 2010....got a really good deal on it...more mwah than any other bass I have ever played!

I have a MK Dragonfly as my fretted acoustic ...nice but does feed back at times....hope to replace it with a fretted Ren5 some day.

 

[basspraiser]

Hey Rick Turner friends...

Just letting you know that there is a Rick Turner Renaissance RB5 fretless at Guitar Center. It is at the Arvada, Colorado location. I spoke with Austin there and he also sent me some photos. Has a couple of dings on the top, otherwise looks very good. Rare cedar top with walnut back. Looks like it has the TI Acousticores on it and I forgot to ask about the condition of the fretboard. Austin's number at the store is 720-540-3033.

It is priced low at $799. I'd buy it but I already have two Turner Ren fretless basses, a 4 and a 5. I was thinking about buying it to have another with some different strings on it vs my others. Please buy it so I don't. ;-)

wow...cheap....if it were fretted ....

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Played two sets last night in Sedalia, Virginia with the band I used to play full-time with, for a bluegrass festival. In a venue like that, the audience expects to see an upright bass, and I get the visual expectations... been around that scene for 30+ years, but gotta say the RB-5 Custom fretless fit in seamlessly with the old gang, in place of the upright, as over time we've sorta' evolved into more of an original Americana thing. In addition to the *great* crowd, the sound crew was really digging the Renaissance bass fed through my Mesa Walkabout. The stage wasn't very upright friendly... as some of my doghouse-thumpin' brothers found out.

Wonder if Rick's ever thought of building an EUB version of Renaissance? That might actually work even better. Hmmmm...

 

[Jeff Scott]

I did a radio show a couple weeks ago using just the RB4FL with the PsychaProgJammy band. It sounded great in the studio through my Markbass Minimark amp, but even with a Sennheiser MD421 mic into the board the cokehead "engineer" couldn't make it sound good on air!

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Swapped out the stock chrome machines on my RB-5 fretted for black ones last night. The compulsive fixer in me had been twitchy about the mismatched hardware, and went with all-black on this elegantly plain guitar.

Also, polished the windings on the Acousticores with some 400-grit sandpaper before restringing. Highly recommended...

Updated pictures:

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Playing a private party on Smith Mountain Lake somewhere near Union Hall, Virginia. Caught this shot of the Electroline 535 PMM against the sunset. It's past my bedtime, on a work-weeknight (who in the sam hill throws a party on a Wednesday night!?) but this was a sweet gig... minimal PA and on a floating dock.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Couple Turners for sale here:

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Pretty sure ^this one^ was one of jibreel's modded Rens.


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Odd-looking Electroline 5'r... could be just the camera angle.

 

[Jeff Scott]

What's with the plate around the string ferrules on the back of the RB5FL?

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

I'm thinking jibreel converted this one to a 34" scale six-string at one time. Plate is part of the retrofit maybe?

 

[porterbass]

I'm thinking jibreel converted this one to a 34" scale six-string at one time. Plate is part of the retrofit maybe?

That is correct. Is was converted to a 6 string and then back to a 5 string. You can also see the extra tuner hole on the headstock that was plugged. That fretboard extension is interesting.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I too, like that fingerboard extension. An über ramp!

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Apparently, Rick is licensing Michael Kelly to build Renaissance-type instruments ... caught this new discussion thread last night:

http://www.talkbass.com/index.php?threads/1091017/

updated - He's posted some very useful information on this new line over there.