I wipe my basses and strings off with a soft rag after most gigs, but not to the point of removing strings and fingerboard treatment on a weekly schedule. Maybe every other time I replace the strings.
Your wife is very observant!
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Roscoe Club
- Thread starter JOME77
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I wipe my basses and strings off with a soft rag after most gigs, but not to the point of removing strings and fingerboard treatment on a weekly schedule. Maybe every other time I replace the strings.
Your wife is very observant!
My TB life and my FB life are colliding...Cool!
Learn something every day...
Fred 312b= Matt
FreedyG = Gary
Something about guys with TB names beginning with "Fred". They use an alias!
I started learning Rush tunes about 40 years ago. 2112 was my gateway.So, believe it or not, I'm actually learning my first Rush tune. Not sure why but I never listened to them much and never covered one of their tunes.
Of course I knew that Geddy Lee was a great bass player and that was confirmed when I started working out the tune "Limelight". The tune constantly changes time signatures!Great bass lines.
Since my Roscoe is the only bass that I have these days loaded with Nickel RW strings, I pulled it out of the case and used it.
With a little grit added it really nails his tone. I think I've been working on it for 3-4 hours (yesterday and today) and I'm only up to 2:38 (where the solo begins). Really fun and challenging tune to play!
Of course on this tune I'm finding that the low B makes a great thumb rest!
I’ve never been in a band that played a Rush tune. Not exactly cover band stuff - both because of the music and the technical ability to pull it off. Geddy was my first influence and I think there’s still a little bit there today. I don’t play Rush much these days, but it’s still a part of “my technique” and I’m glad I saw them on the last tour - especially with Neil’s passing.
You can get a Geddy-esque tone from a Roscoe. Crank the highs, maybe favor the bridge pup.
I learned a ton by working my way song by song through the Rush anthology book with my teacher back when I was starting. It really taught me about rhythm, and how to use my ear.
While I stick to laying the groove in the blues rock scene, I love Geddy's lines. I am glad that I got to see them right after Neil came back from his motorcycle mental health sabbatical.
Funny this came up, I started working through that book again. Learning is occuring all over again.
That is a sharp bass- everything is very complimentary (figured woods and all). Sometimes it’s all a bit much, but not there. Good selecting!
I know they call katalox “mexican ebony”, does it have an ebony-ish tone?
It does and that was what I was wanting to give more clarity to the quad Bart’s. Ebony has always been my favorite fretboard but Keith doesn’t do a lot of them for some reason. I think the flames Katalox is actually prettier than Ebony though.
Agreed. Supposedly a lot of ebony is dyed to make it all black, and it’s getting hard to find. That katalox reminds me of the classic purpleheart with sapwood Roscoe look.
My Roscoe has a fingerboard made of ebony heartwood which is multicolored. I think it’s beautiful.
I love the look of that board and bass. Kind of similar to the Master Grade Koa Keith should have finished this week for me. I really love wood with Sapwood in it.
That’s what I think of when I think Roscoe, especially when I first started looking. Seemed like all their basses had a fingerboard like that.
Same here Steve. I had several Roscoe's with either spalted Rosewood or spalted purpleheart.
It was Keith's signature fingerboard of choice for many years.
I used to love the look of inlay in fretboards and still do but the sapwood necks are just gorgeous. Really glad Keith showed me some of this type fretboard.
I don’t need another Roscoe but I’d love to have a “classic” fingerboard like that.
Katalox is a very hard wood that is referred to as ebony, but is not of that species. It is found in Mexico and Central America.
Roscoe suggests that Katalox is a great candidate for fretless as well as fretted. Agree 100%. It's a great candidate for builds to be.
Add it to the list of great tonal choices like purpleheart, maple, pau ferro / morado (rosewood substitute not of that species), wenge, and ebony, but sadly not diamondwood, black or blond.
Other than that, trust that Roscoe will only offer tonally viable and durable wood choices, pleasing the ear as well as the eye. Just open that checkbook and make those Roscoe coffers sing.
Roscoe suggests that Katalox is a great candidate for fretless as well as fretted. Agree 100%. It's a great candidate for builds to be.
Add it to the list of great tonal choices like purpleheart, maple, pau ferro / morado (rosewood substitute not of that species), wenge, and ebony, but sadly not diamondwood, black or blond.
Other than that, trust that Roscoe will only offer tonally viable and durable wood choices, pleasing the ear as well as the eye. Just open that checkbook and make those Roscoe coffers sing.
Any of my Roscoe brethren know what Koa does tonally or if the Koa will have much effect tone wise. My bass will have a swamp ash body with maple Wenge neck and Katalox Sapwood fretboard. I’m hoping it will be more open sounding like my Buckeye with same woods except top and same neck and fretboard woods.
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D-Cline just sent me pics and video of him finishing up starting the inlays before the poly finish goes on the matching wood blank Keith sent him for my knobs. Starting to get excited.
Finished pics of the matching wood knobs for my Koa Roscoe. Devon said that was some of the nicest koa he’s ever seen. I had the gold accent line to match the black and Gold accent hardware I’m having done on the bass. They turned out fantastic.
Here's what one wood guy states:
A hardwood top such as koa produces a natural compression, so there tends to be more of a controlled, sustaining “roll-in” effect to a note. An all-koa guitar will produce strong fundamental focus, with a splash of top-end shimmer.
I've had a couple Roscoe's with Koa tops. One had a mahogany body and the other had an ash body. IMO the body wood had more of an affect on the overall sound. I say this because the Koa/ash Roscoe had a the typical sound of ash (fairly aggressive) and the Koa/mahogany Roscoe had a smoother sound with a really full low end. I'm of the opinion these days that an ash bodied Roscoe with a Wenge wedge neck is the way to go. You get the aggressive tone of ash soothed over nicely with the natural compression of the wenge which results in a nice aggressive growly tone. Add a nice maple or walnut top (nice clear highs) and you get the perfect sound (at least to my ears).
Of course based on the description of Koa (above) it may add the needed compression and really blend well with the aggressive sound of ash.
I'm thinking that for a koa/ash Roscoe, a neck with a wenge stringer would work nicely.
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Yeah that sounds good. I've owned every body wood Keith offers mostly and to my ears in a full band mix the Ash is the best for added punch and clarity. The Mahogany body basses sounded best in my practice room and small venues where the amp would carry the room but the added clarity means a lot when standing out in a busy mix.
