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Rick Turner and... Michael Kelly???

#22
Rick here...

They did a fantastic job of building to my specs for a Renaissance made out of high quality laminates. I'd initially designed this for US production a good five or six years ago, but because of finishing, neck carving, and setup expenses, I really couldn't get the cost down far enough; I literally could not afford to make these in the US. It's a true semi-hollow body...bent sides, top, back, and a solid center block.

Right from the start, I said "no compromises on electronics", and they had absolutely no problem with that. Most Asian-made instruments do have compromised electronics; I said, "make the compromises elsewhere if need be to hit a good sub-$1000.000 street price.", and they delivered the goods.

And please don't judge one until you plug it in. I think these will really surprise you.

BTW, no mic...that's wrong. It's the straight ahead 18 volt Wavelength system...high headroom piezo undersaddle pickup with volume and passive tone. We get the 18 volts from two AA cells using a voltage multiplier that Kevin Beller of Duncan and D-TAR came up with. Killer!

Next up, a fretless version and a 5 string, fretted and fretless.
 
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#26
upload_2014-7-24_15-16-6.png

Rick Turner said:
Rick here...

They did a fantastic job of building to my specs for a Renaissance made out of high quality laminates. I'd initially designed this for US production a good five or six years ago, but because of finishing, neck carving, and setup expenses, I really couldn't get the cost down far enough; I literally could not afford to make these in the US. It's a true semi-hollow body...bent sides, top, back, and a solid center block.

Right from the start, I said "no compromises on electronics", and they had absolutely no problem with that. Most Asian-made instruments do have compromised electronics; I said, "make the compromises elsewhere if need be to hit a good sub-$1000.000 street price.", and they delivered the goods.

And please don't judge one until you plug it in. I think these will really surprise you.

BTW, no mic...that's wrong. It's the straight ahead 18 volt Wavelength system...high headroom piezo undersaddle pickup with volume and passive tone. We get the 18 volts from two AA cells using a voltage multiplier that Kevin Beller of Duncan and D-TAR came up with. Killer!

Next up, a fretless version and a 5 string, fretted and fretless.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarifier Rick - yeah... that bit about the microphone didn't sound right. Figured also they'd have to be pretty well-made instruments before being offered with D-Tar electronics. Anxious to try one! :bassist:
 
#27
No special strings required; the prototype came with round-wound nickel strings. I was more than pleased by how it sounds strung this way, but use anything.

These are coming out as standard long scale instruments, 34" scale. Bear in mind that this is just the beginning, and we'll be filling out the line over time. Next will be a 5 string and also doing both the 4 and 5 as fretless instruments, too. Also understand that these will be street-priced at well under $900.00, so doing very limited production of specialty versions...short and medium scale, for instance, is probably not in the cards at this time. To make this work, they really have to be produced in batches of 100 or more instruments of a type at a time. I think they are a remarkable value at that price point, and that is the whole idea around this project.

This whole thing will help me move my own shop more in a custom direction. Scale length? What do you want? No problem. Fancy woods? No problem. Custom string spacing? No problem. Etc., etc., etc. This is what US custom shops can do well. I can't build sub-$1,500.00 instruments and stay alive...even below $2,000.00 is a real stretch for what I do and where I do it. So that's where an arrangement like this comes in. I do know how to design for this kind of price point...the body making system is fairly revolutionary on these, and I do know where NOT to make compromises...pickups and electronics being very important to me.
 
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#35
Rick Turner said:
We're headed in a Model 1 direction...
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhh yes, Model 1 indeed:

turner_lowres.jpg


turner1_lores2.jpg


turner4.jpg


Amazing!

Rick, here is the custom medium scale fretless you made me in 1999:

Turner.jpg


You may recall it - I never was able to adapt to fretless and one of my biggest regrets EVER was selling it rather that sending it back to you for a fret installation.

I am in love with the Model 1's as above. Scratching my head hard on that one - in a GOOD way! By the way, is that a tiny trim pot on the body next to what I am guessing is the volume pot?

All the best on this and your endeavor with Michael Kelly.

I hope they are so amazingly successful that you and Michael will be forced to make those 100 medium scalers and many, many more!

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
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#38
I don't know why MK gets a whipping on here..I used to own a "Club 4" fretless that was a very well made bass..the only real flaw was the electronics and the factory strings(not a fan of bronze strings)..I replaced the strings with TI Acousticores and it did improve the sound..so really the only flaw was the electronics..for a $300. bass it was well worth the money..
 
#39
I happened to notice these are beginning to show up in the eBay stores... can't be much longer before they hit the local MK retailers.

They look pretty good... I'm anxious to hear a firsthand review from a player.
 

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