Sei bass owners - help please

[Nickthebass]

I'm starting to plan my Sei whilst I sort out financing. How specific should I be in my brief?

I like certain tones but a £2000+ to be a one trick pony would be a disaster. By the same token...not being specific enough could lead to me fighting to get my tone out.

Any advice?

Things I've sorted out so far

5 string, headless, Original body shape

J style pick ups (I like Js and also my Sadowsky MV4)

Want active & passive options (with a passive tone control)

Needs to be a slim neck (possibly asymetric) as I've got small hands


Stuff I haven't really thought about

What wood do I want (Should I just talk about one and leave the wood choice to Martin?)

Which pickups do I want? I've got Di Marzio Ultra Js, Sadowsky stacked 'buckers and EMGs in the arsenal already. What would contrast / fill a gap? Something a bit more old school?

Scale length. Never played a 35'' scale bass (also remember my small hands)

First position on a 24 fret Warwick feels a long way away. I'm used to J style instruments. Do I want / need 24 frets?

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

I'm starting to plan my Sei whilst I sort out financing. How specific should I be in my brief?

I like certain tones but a £2000+ to be a one trick pony would be a disaster. By the same token...not being specific enough could lead to me fighting to get my tone out.

Any advice?

Things I've sorted out so far

5 string, headless, Original body shape

J style pick ups (I like Js and also my Sadowsky MV4)

Want active & passive options (with a passive tone control)

Needs to be a slim neck (possibly asymetric) as I've got small hands


Stuff I haven't really thought about

What wood do I want (Should I just talk about one and leave the wood choice to Martin?)

Which pickups do I want? I've got Di Marzio Ultra Js, Sadowsky stacked 'buckers and EMGs in the arsenal already. What would contrast / fill a gap? Something a bit more old school?

Scale length. Never played a 35'' scale bass (also remember my small hands)

First position on a 24 fret Warwick feels a long way away. I'm used to J style instruments. Do I want / need 24 frets?

A visit to The Gallery and a good chat with Martin should help you sort out every other detail for your bass. But, to be prepared, here's a few thoughts.

In terms of wood, it all depends what kind of sound you're after. Want vintage-style warmth? Go for an alder body. Want a more dense, woody, Warwick-y sound? Go for wenge. Want light weight and a more open sound? Go for ash. I've also noticed a lot of the tone you get out of a Sei comes from the choice of woods in the through-neck laminate. Same caveats apply. A maple/wenge laminate is a good bet, although other options are available (my singlecut 5 uses wenge and bubinga). I've even played one with a maple/ebony neck. Super-clear sound, but not very warm. The fingerboard will also make a substantial difference to the tone - there's lots of choices, but it'll probably boil down to maple, ebony or rosewood.

The facing wood is more or less completely down to aesthetics. The facing will have a minimal effect on the tone, but nothing too substantial, so just pick whatever you think is the prettiest.

Whether you go for 21 or 24 frets won't make much of a difference in the feel - since the position of the bridge doesn't change, the nut will be the same distance away either way. And you may as well go for the 34" scale. You could even ask for 33", which doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference tonally and will bring the nut slightly closer to the body.

As for pickups, it's Martin's least favourite subject, especially J pickups. How about Nordstrands (Big Singles perhaps), Aeros or even Kent Armstrongs? Pair that with something like the East U-Retro preamp, and you'll have loads of tonal options to go with, including passive.

Seriously, just go to Camden and have a chat with Martin. You'll have all this sorted out quickly. Let him have his say too - he's been doing this stuff for nearly 20 years and knows his stuff, so if he makes a suggestion, he's probably right. The lead time is about 12-14 months at the moment, but, at the end of it, you'll have one of the best instruments you've ever played.

 

[matthewfoote]

Hi there

I agree with what the venerable Rusty said. I would also say join the 'Sei owners club part 3' here on TalkBass. You will meet a lot of Sei owners who will gladly share opinions and experiences.

Regards

Matthew [sei owner]

 

[sei24bass]

+1 for what Rusty said, especially re speaking to Martin. The best preparation you can do is to identify as clearly as possible what you want the resulting bass to sound like (bright, warm, fat, tight, modern, old school vibe etc) and how this bass will complement your other existing basses. Martin will spend some time discussing these things with you, as they form the basis on which he will recommend which woods, pickups and electrics to use.

Martin's basses have wonderfully thin profile necks. I have really small hands but can easily play both the Sei 8 string fretless & SEI 9 string fretted basses I own.

The number of frets largely dictates the amount of space between the end of the fretboard and the bridge. The stretch to the first fret is determined mostly by the design of the bass body (longer top horns that place the strap button nearer the nut will reduce that 1st fret stretch) and a bit by the scale length (longer scale lengths increase the stretch).

Re the one trick pony, Martin can make you a bass as tonally specific or flexible as you wish (my 2 SEI basses demonstrate both extremes!). Be aware that whilst greater sonic flexibility can be really useful, it inevitably comes with some greater knob twiddling and therefore reduced ‘just plug in and play’ ease of use.

Martin typically asks for a very modest deposit, with the balance on receipt of the finished bass. I would consider going and seeing Martin soon and using the 12-14 month wait to raise the rest of the finance. It might seem a lot of money, but my SEI basses I can honestly say are right up there as the very best things I have ever bought in my life. Highly recommended.

Finally please do come and join the SEI owners club as we all would love to hear what happens, see the resulting bass and help wherever we can. You don’t have to own one, just having at least 1 on order is sufficient!!

 

[cnltb]

Play as many sei basses as you can possibly get your hands on, identify elements on each you like/dislike so you can point martin towards specific things rather than describing a sound for example as we all tend to use different terms for the same thing and wires can get crossed easily.
You can always exchange pickups if you don't like the first set you put in. Same goes for electronics.

 

[Nickthebass]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I'm going to be down in London in a couple of weeks so I'm going to make a pilgrimage to Camden. They've got an original 5 string headless on sale at the moment so I'll give that a whirl.

Why are pick ups and J's particularly Martin's least favourite topic?

I'd love to try out a bunch of Sei's so if anyone fancies shipping theirs up to Aberdeen for me to have a go that would be great.

The brief I suspect will go something like this.

5 string, headless (probably), (most likely) Original depending on the feel in 1st position. Warm but punchy in an old school sort of way. Enough punch to get the bottom and mids through the mix.

Pickup to be J shaped humbuckers (unless there's a very convincing argument otherwise).

If I want a more modern (big bottom and glassy top) sound I've got a Sadowsky.

Might be rethinking the headless thing....has anyone had issues with the lack of strings available?

 

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I'm going to be down in London in a couple of weeks so I'm going to make a pilgrimage to Camden. They've got an original 5 string headless on sale at the moment so I'll give that a whirl.

Why are pick ups and J's particularly Martin's least favourite topic?

I'd love to try out a bunch of Sei's so if anyone fancies shipping theirs up to Aberdeen for me to have a go that would be great.

The brief I suspect will go something like this.

5 string, headless (probably), (most likely) Original depending on the feel in 1st position. Warm but punchy in an old school sort of way. Enough punch to get the bottom and mids through the mix.

Pickup to be J shaped humbuckers (unless there's a very convincing argument otherwise).

If I want a more modern (big bottom and glassy top) sound I've got a Sadowsky.

Might be rethinking the headless thing....has anyone had issues with the lack of strings available?

J pickups are Martin's least favourite topic because he gets asked about them so often. For the more bottom-heavy, "old-school" sound you might want to think about Bartolinis or the Kent Armstong J pickups. Most of the other options are going to be somewhat more modern and "hi-fi".

There are advantages to the headless thing, especially if you go for an Original - they fit in a guitar-sized gig bag. Plus they're lighter and balance a bit better. Of course, double ball end strings can be hard to get, plus, in my experience, the nut always feels further away on a headless (even though it technically isn't, it's just that there's less weight at the headstock-end of the neck).

On another note, are you related to the (in)famous former TB member Nickthebassist, at all?

 

[Nickthebass]

No relation to Nickthebassist (that I'm aware of!!!)

Have been thinking about Nordstrand Fat Stacks. Given the reviews I've read (Jazz bass but the bridge is a bit less nasal) it sounds pretty close to what I'm going for.

Gigged last night with my FrankenFender J with EMGs. A bit of boost in the 100hz ish area, roll off the tone a bit and turn bias about 50:100 in favour of the bridge pick up.

That sounded pretty good to me so if the Nordys are closer to that then there's less farting about that I have to do.

Seriously considering going totally passive on the Sei.