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Retro style basses - What do you like about them?
- Thread starter Sacha Lévesque
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- mojo retro retro bass vintage
Any basic passive Fender P or J is arguably retro...
The Nordstrand Acinonyx is amazing. Hung out with Carey last summer and he had one of the prototypes with him. Plays and sounds fantastic. Also a great option for someone looking at lightweight options.
Ones like the Eastwoods strike me as mimicking the cosmetics but cutting corners and making them more conventional - like the Ampeg scroll bass knock-off where they cheaped out and didn't do the scroll and just put a basic P-bass pickup in it. Not very interesting personally... The Bruce Johnson ones on the other hand are a refinement on the originals the same as many contemporary luthiers versions of Fender designs.
Italia was doing some interesting vintage inspired guitars and basses. Never played one though.
Ah, but Danelectro did make long scale solidbodies (the Silvertone 1443 and a Coral version). The best bass they made IMO (but that's not what they've reissued...)
I love taking old original oddballs and getting them gig-worthy. They can sound great and be not-Fender enough to be interesting both in tone and look.
Some of mine - all these from 1964 and all long-scales (the first is a 35" scale) and I would not hesitate to use any as a main bass on a gig (and have)
While it's a better known model, it still embodies 'retro' IMO:
The Nordstrand Acinonyx is amazing. Hung out with Carey last summer and he had one of the prototypes with him. Plays and sounds fantastic. Also a great option for someone looking at lightweight options.
Ones like the Eastwoods strike me as mimicking the cosmetics but cutting corners and making them more conventional - like the Ampeg scroll bass knock-off where they cheaped out and didn't do the scroll and just put a basic P-bass pickup in it. Not very interesting personally... The Bruce Johnson ones on the other hand are a refinement on the originals the same as many contemporary luthiers versions of Fender designs.
Italia was doing some interesting vintage inspired guitars and basses. Never played one though.
Ah, but Danelectro did make long scale solidbodies (the Silvertone 1443 and a Coral version). The best bass they made IMO (but that's not what they've reissued...)
I love taking old original oddballs and getting them gig-worthy. They can sound great and be not-Fender enough to be interesting both in tone and look.
Some of mine - all these from 1964 and all long-scales (the first is a 35" scale) and I would not hesitate to use any as a main bass on a gig (and have)
While it's a better known model, it still embodies 'retro' IMO:
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I've always said Old basses don't sound better than new ones...but they sound like the recordings we love and to me that's better.
No, you just agreed...I wrote 90% is the look. The buyers do not want (or care about) the retro feel and sound, only the look.
When I hear retro bass I think of this type of style. Does anyone make anything similar today?
I guess it could be interpreted that way, but I look at it like they buy the new retros for both the look and sound. I certainly didn't buy my Jay Turser violin bass or my 09 Longhorn because I wanted retro looking basses that sound like an Alembic
I never liked the way P basses feel or play, yet I own a 73 and 76. When I don't know what bass will be appropriate I bring a P..because I know nobody will be offended by that motown sound.
Phantom Guitarworks! Phantom Guitarworks Phantom Guitar plus Bass Models |Phantom |Teardrop |Mando |Vintage reproductions of original British Jennings Musical Instrument Guitars & Basses
Phantom Guitarworks Teardrop Guitars plus Basses | Vintage reproductions of original British Jennings Musical Instruments Guitars & Basses
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Here is the science I was referring to. As I said, I am not sure how this squares with the study you cited and I don't have time to figure it out right now. I have a four year old bouncing off the walls!
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OMG...I wish I had the cash! Those are so cool! I can still dream!
Thanks very much for posting that link, Doctor. Just speculating on how to reconcile the study you found and the one I linked to earlier: maybe instruments do get to be better with age but don't continue to do so forever. Maybe the effects of the vibrations eventually lead to breaking down of the wood fibers to the point that the tone suffers.
But if that takes a century or longer, it'll probably be a good long while before we have to worry about the tone of our basses deteriorating.
Also the better quality of lumber available at that time and how long it dried and aged before being used makes a big difference. Hardware and pickups have def improved over the yrs though.
5 pages and nobody mentioned the Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro and Jack Casady. Love the look tone and feel of these:
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This is my retro bass, a japanese knock-off from the 70's.
Very cool.. Some of those 70's lawsuit instruments are amazing!, My guitar player has a Japanese Les Paul that sounds better in my opinion than his new one.
