Roscoe Club

[Nightman]

Good to hear Ray!
I've currently got them on 3 of my 4 fretted basses. Love the feel and love the sound!

The Chromes just might be my new strings of choice!! I had too many people comment on the sound of that Roscoe with the Demeter and Chromes. Part of the message had to do with going higher, so we broke into a groove based on Sly Stone’s I Want To Take You Higher!! Yes, this is a church, but a solid groove always works!! The Pastor loved it and came up to me after service and said, ‘Ray, you had that Motown like groove working it!! I didn’t know a bass could sound like that!’.
I give all the credit to Roscoe basses, Demeter Preamp, D’Addario Chromes, and Me!! Not necessary in that order.

 

[Nightman]

I’m very curious to hear one of my other basses on Chromes.

 

[Freddy-G.]

The Chromes just might be my new strings of choice!! I had too many people comment on the sound of that Roscoe with the Demeter and Chromes. Part of the message had to do with going higher, so we broke into a groove based on Sly Stone’s I Want To Take You Higher!! Yes, this is a church, but a solid groove always works!! The Pastor loved it and came up to me after service and said, ‘Ray, you had that Motown like groove working it!! I didn’t know a bass could sound like that!’.
I give all the credit to Roscoe basses, Demeter Preamp, D’Addario Chromes, and Me!! Not necessary in that order.

That's awesome, Ray! Wish I could have been there. Maybe if you invite me, I could join in the worship service and listen to your Motown sounds. You're certainly welcome to come to my church. We have an awesome band, too!

 

[KaseOfBass]

An XYZ franken P. I know you guys love your P's, vociferously stating such over & over etc. However, the interesting qualifier is that those basses are all 4 strings, right?

Coming from my strong biases for Roscoes with 35" scale, and my 5-string devotion, I certainly don't appreciate 4-string preoccupation of any type. Blasphemy, right? To me 4 strings in themselves falls into the category of XYZ. Oh, well.

Vive la différence !

Yeah, I'm with ya. I spent about the first year or so learning bass on a four-string and promptly moved to a five-string at the first opportunity I had after saving money. That was about 28 years ago. While I had a brief foray into four-string territory again around 2010 when Musician's Friend blew out the Fender Hwy 1 basses (I bought a P and a J), those didn't stick around long.

Same thing for P basses. I want to love them and they sound great in some performances, recordings, etc. But, when I've had them, I always reach for something else if given the chance. I just like something with a bit more snap and bite to the tone that you typically get from a pickup closer to the bridge.

I have been considering a six-string though. I've had a couple of those over the years and enjoyed playing them. But, five-strings are just home for me and what I'll likely always have/use.

 

[JOME77]

An XYZ franken P. I know you guys love your P's, vociferously stating such over & over etc. However, the interesting qualifier is that those basses are all 4 strings, right?

Coming from my strong biases for Roscoes with 35" scale, and my 5-string devotion, I certainly don't appreciate 4-string preoccupation of any type. Blasphemy, right? To me 4 strings in themselves falls into the category of XYZ. Oh, well.

Vive la différence !

Yeah, I'm with ya. I spent about the first year or so learning bass on a four-string and promptly moved to a five-string at the first opportunity I had after saving money. That was about 28 years ago. While I had a brief foray into four-string territory again around 2010 when Musician's Friend blew out the Fender Hwy 1 basses (I bought a P and a J), those didn't stick around long.

Same thing for P basses. I want to love them and they sound great in some performances, recordings, etc. But, when I've had them, I always reach for something else if given the chance. I just like something with a bit more snap and bite to the tone that you typically get from a pickup closer to the bridge.

I have been considering a six-string though. I've had a couple of those over the years and enjoyed playing them. But, five-strings are just home for me and what I'll likely always have/use.

The more things change the more things stay the same ......

 

[steelin4u]

Coming from my strong biases for Roscoes with 35" scale, and my 5-string devotion

I just like something with a bit more snap and bite to the tone that you typically get from a pickup closer to the bridge

How about a 35" Roscoe 5-string PJ? Beautiful, comfortable, great sound, and versatile if you need to switch from P to J to modern sounds in-between songs.

 

[KaseOfBass]

How about a 35" Roscoe 5-string PJ? Beautiful, comfortable, great sound, and versatile if you need to switch from P to J to modern sounds in-between songs.

View attachment 3562678

First...love the looks of that bass!

Ive gone down the PJ route before, having a Sadowsky PJ5 (jazz body) and a Fender P5 that I had modded to a PJ5 using a Nordstrand Big Split. To my ears, the PJ configuration is slightly thicker and richer sounding than a JJ. I found I much prefer a PJ to be passive, but I lean that way on jazzes, too. Luckily my Century JJ5 has the Aguilar OBP-1 that sounds virtually identical engaged and set flat to the passive tone of the bass.

I’d love to try a Roscoe Century PJ5, but my JJ5 keeps me close enough for my liking. Now, when I want to get some really stanky, funky tones...that’s the JM5’s territory.

 

[JOME77]

How about a 35" Roscoe 5-string PJ? Beautiful, comfortable, great sound, and versatile if you need to switch from P to J to modern sounds in-between songs.

View attachment 3562678

I’ve been thinking a lot about a Roscoe 5 P/J bass. Not sure if it should be the Custom/STD or the Classic style. I’m certainly not playing my Custom Signature these days but if I did play a 5 I think that I’d want it to sound more in the P/J bass sound realm. They just sit better in the mix to my ears these days.

 

[staccatogrowl]

@Joe BassPlayer : How about this?

• Alder SKB Standard 5, natural oil finish with thin protective poly coat (Keith has mentioned this)
• Wenge or purpleheart fingerboard
• Precision neck pickup, reverse configuration w/standard center line
• Roscoe Bart soapbar located .8" from the bridge
• 18v Bart 3-band with A/P push pull, additional passive tone control
• 3-piece maple neck
• 18" Roscoe string spacing

What do you think, Joe? (Ha, maybe I just spec'd my next build.)

Classic body style would not be in my menu choice. Fender-ish body is very uncomfortable to me, awkwardly big, and digging into my ribs worse than all of the XYZ posts in the Roscoe club combined. Plus the 19" string spacing and related neck upsizing would probably not be to my liking, either.

 

[JOME77]

@Joe BassPlayer : How about this?

• Alder SKB Standard 5, natural oil finish with thin protective poly coat (Keith has mentioned this)
• Wenge or purpleheart fingerboard
• Precision neck pickup
• Roscoe Bart soapbar located .8" from the bridge
• 18v Bart 3-band with A/P push pull, additional passive tone control
• 3-piece maple neck
• 18" Roscoe string spacing

What do you think, Joe? (Ha, maybe I just spec'd my next build.)

Classic body style would not be in my menu choice. Fender-ish body is very uncomfortable to me, awkwardly big, and digging into my ribs worse than all of the XYZ posts in the Roscoe club combined. Plus the 19" string spacing and related neck upsizing would probably not be to my liking, either.

I wonder what the Roscoe Bart would sound like paired with a P-Bass P/U?
They key would be getting one that balances well with the Roscoe Bart.
Maybe a Pope or East pre would work better. Especially if they provide the ability to adjust the pre gain of each pickup.

Hummmmm ....

 

[JohnnyR]

I wonder what the Roscoe Bart would sound like paired with a P-Bass P/U?
They key would be getting one that balances well with the Roscoe Bart.
Maybe a Pope or East pre would work better. Especially if they provide the ability to adjust the pre gain of each pickup.

Hummmmm ....

Sounds like the seed has been planted.

 

[Freddy-G.]

I’m happy to say that the three Roscoes I own gives me all what I’m looking for. I'm sure things will change over time. It always does.

The three includes a Classic JJ, a fretless, and a traditional Bart equipped LG.

Edit: They are all five string basses. I'm a fan of the low B string for the lower notes and the convenient left hand positioning.

 

[staccatogrowl]

It appears that Keith Roscoe may have settled the highly controversial religious debate, fretlines v. no fretlines. It's a compromise: Tabs. They are mini lines on the fingerboard edge, easily seen from a player's perspective if needed, and mostly obscured from the audience.

Debate settled? Likely not, but I think Jaco would approve. Well, at least I do : )

 

[ArtechnikA]

It appears that Keith Roscoe may have settled the highly controversial religious debate, fretlines v. no fretlines. It's a compromise: Tabs. They are mini lines on the fingerboard edge, easily seen from a player's perspective if needed, and mostly obscured from the audience.
Debate settled? Likely not, but I think Jaco would approve. Well, at least I do : )

They're executed well, but I do not like the idea at all. The dot between frets would screw with my head - they'd have to go. And the tabs have the same problem as frets - there's just too many of them. I find it confusing, although I can navigate a fretted bass better than I could a couple of years ago.
I agree it may be an interesting approach for someone transitioning from fretted, but I doubt I will ever be converted from my love of unlined boards.
I wouldn't disqualify a lined fretless if I liked everything else about it - but I'm not in the market for any more just now...
I'm glad there's choices.

 

[MattLplaysBass]

It appears that Keith Roscoe may have settled the highly controversial religious debate, fretlines v. no fretlines. It's a compromise: Tabs. They are mini lines on the fingerboard edge, easily seen from a player's perspective if needed, and mostly obscured from the audience.

View attachment 3564165

Debate settled? Likely not, but I think Jaco would approve. Well, at least I do : )

He’s not the first to have done this, fyi. Status and Zon (and I’m sure others) have done this before.

For the record, and a novice fretless player, I like the look of them, but I’ve never played them, so couldn’t say how they are to play. My only fretless is lined, my eub has dots on the board...

 

[TolerancEJ]

FBass also has a nice arrangement of mini lines. In the upper register, the lines are on the treble side of the fingerboard and in the lower register, the lines are along the bass side of the fingerboard.

 

[JOME77]

He’s not the first to have done this, fyi. Status and Zon (and I’m sure others) have done this before.

For the record, and a novice fretless player, I like the look of them, but I’ve never played them, so couldn’t say how they are to play. My only fretless is lined, my eub has dots on the board...

I had them on a Zon and while it helped some, the line of sight you have (as a player) prevents you from projecting the line down accurately (which results in more intonation issues than it solves; due to you instinctively fretting the note where you believe it projects and not where it actually would project).
Keith offered it me on the fretless that I had the new Diamondwood finger board installed on but I optd for the entire epoxy lines (due to my bad experience with the Zon fretless).
Also, on the Zon with the half lines (as they call them), they did not install the side dots (that bothered
ArtechnikA).

 

[SteveC]

I just don’t subscribe to the lines is for losers mentality. Many great players had lined boards. I just don’t see why it matters. My fretless is lined. It’s an amazing bass. No one cares if it’s fretted or fretless or lined of anything, as long as I play well and aren’t an a-hole.

 

[Skip Chucker]

I'm a fan of the blank fingerboard with the dots on the side. It's enough to give you a quick glance reference if you need it, but it isn't accurate enough to act like a crutch- but I've found I play better on a blank fingerboard and don't look at the neck so much.

 

[TolerancEJ]

I just don’t subscribe to the lines is for losers mentality. Many great players had lined boards. I just don’t see why it matters. My fretless is lined. It’s an amazing bass. No one cares if it’s fretted or fretless or lined of anything, as long as I play well and aren’t an a-hole.

I'm a fan of the blank fingerboard with the dots on the side. It's enough to give you a quick glance reference if you need it, but it isn't accurate enough to act like a crutch- but I've found I play better on a blank fingerboard and don't look at the neck so much.

Either way, unless the dots or lines are lumilay or similar, you won’t see them on a darkened stage anyway.