Sei Owner's Club (Part 2)

[melt]

Heh, I'm glad you didn't.....

So's my missus.

Yep, my yin-yang (or "Melt" as Martin referred to it, hence my username) was indeed Alex's old bass, and was the first Series 2 singlecut (having now played both I find the Series 2 more comfortable).

I remember once upon a time I was down the Gallery and asking Alex if he was still using his Kingbass. He said "nope, I'm playing this", and pulled it out of a gigbag and handed it to me. I didn't even play it, but I thought "hmmm, something feels very right about this bass, even though I'm not sure about the looks", never dreaming I'd end up with it. The looks have grown on me BTW; last time I had it in for a setup, I was watching Martin playing it thinking "wow, how cool is that?". The Wooten-ness worries me a bit (you're kind of setting yourself up for a fall playing a bass reminiscent of his!) but I try not to think too hard about that. The only disappointment is that I can't use it in my band; it's not aggressive or big enough sounding, at least through my current rig. More for funk or (home) jazz noodles methinks.

 

[Bassworm]

So's my missus.

Yep, my yin-yang (or "Melt" as Martin referred to it, hence my username) was indeed Alex's old bass, and was the first Series 2 singlecut (having now played both I find the Series 2 more comfortable).

I remember seeing pic of your bass a while back and thinking what a striking looking instrument it was.

 

[sei24bass]

I hate playing in stores though, I feel so self-conscious and look like someone who has never picked up a bass before.

+1. I now take a really good pair of headphones with me instead...may look a little odd but avoids both any sonic peculiarities of the cab you are using and that self conscious thing.

 

[matthewfoote]

is anyone going to Glastonbury this year.

I ask because Ben McCurdy, my 16 year old nephew, will be playing there on I think the 29th. He is part of a nationwide compitition to build a band and won through the London area finals where he became part of the London band. He plays lead guitar and is very good.

not sure about the name of the band yet or what style of music or even which stage he will be playing but I think its quite a good start to his musical CV.

Regards

Matthew

 

[smperry]

I love looking at the beautiful basses in this thread.

M

 

[melt]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Finally got round to taking pics this morning.

It makes a righteous noise and I'm thorougly enjoying playing it at the moment.

Cheers,
Mike E.

Mike, is the core body wood walnut? What's the weight like?

 

[Bassworm]

Mike, is the core body wood walnut? What's the weight like?

Not absolutely sure (I must ring up Alex and ask him to remind me of the full spec) but I think it is walnut.

It's the one downside of the bass, that it is quite heavy compared to my other basses, however it's an acceptable tradeoff when the fantastic sound it makes is taken into account.

Mike E

 

[AidanHampson]

Just spoke to Martin about my bass, hoping he would say it's almost finished and that I'd be able to pick it up in a couple of weeks. It was not to be - apparently Martin Sims still has it (plus 3 others) and it will be at least 2 more weeks before Martin has installed the hardware and has it ready. Grr... Martin did apologise, even though it's not his fault and I can't be too annoyed as I'd rather it be absolutely ready than a rushed job.

I'll keep you all updated.

Aidan

 

[7string]

I know how you feel...

I had big delays at the finishers (this was all pre-Sims) before my Sei was finished and then the cavity covers were lost by DHL (so more had to be made and then sent away again). It is all worth it in the end though, so hang on in there....

I had a friend of mine visit from down south and as he's a pro graphic artist / photographer / illustrator I asked him to take some photos of my Sei and other basses. It was actually sunny in Glasgow today so we were able to take some shots outside with the sunlight being filtered by the large trees which overhang the back garden. From seeing the pics on the small screen on the camera they looked pretty darn good. Now he's going to do some more work on them before I get copies. I'll post the necessary shots when I have them.

 

[melt]

Thanks Mike. Maybe it's a good job I didn't go for it then, as my back is a big problem these days. I might be having to let my Alembic go because of it, which will be a horrible blow for me as I waited 20-odd years to get that bass. Luckily my Sei 4 is light as a feather, one of the lightest basses I've ever owned.

 

[BigRedX]

I believe that Sims Custom were either moving or expanding the workshop which is why the current crop of Sei basses have been delayed. Although I don't suppose that getting their own range of Enfield basses ready for the LGS would have helped matters.

When I spoke to Martin Sims on Friday he said that my bas just needed final polishing which should be happening this week.

Hopefully not long now.

 

[sei24bass]

BigRedX & Juan King - Guys you've got to the most difficult part of the waiting process (so tantalisingly near yet so far) . Dig deep, the wait fades quickly to a distant memory when you've got your new bass.

 

[sei24bass]

All

Just a little update re the SEI 9 that Martin is building me. The spec has changed quite a lot since Feb, so here it is again with all the changes:

• Ripple ash single cut chambered body (custom shape)
• Wenge through neck, with quilted Bubinga stringers and maple accent lines (34” scale length)
• Spalted silver maple front & back body & headstock facings
• Quilted spalted bubinga fretboard (bookmatched), with ebony binding and abalone fretboard position markers
• Single Delano pickup (Musicman style) & Audere circuitry
• Piezo and possibly midi
• Gold hardware
• 9 strings (tuned B through high D)

Whilst it is only 4 months since I placed the order Martin has already cut the facings and may soon start gluing up the neck... No pictures I'm afraid, out of respect for Martin who prefers not to have pictures at these early stages published on the Internet.

Have a good weekend all.

 

[matthewfoote]

Sei24bass

Those specs sound fantastic, a really nice choice of wood and a perfect contrast to your darker 8 string. I know there are no photo's to post as yet, but I will be watching with interest for when they do appear

Regards

Matthew

 

[7string]

Yup, the spec sure sounds great !!

There seem to be a few items new to Sei as well. Chambering, book-matched fingerboards and I don't remember seing a spalted Sei either !!

Quick question, why aren't you going for another low F# this time??

 

[Mike Flynn]

Hey Sei24 - that bass sounds... ridiculous... but brilliant! Wonderful wood choices and combinations - it'll be another beast for sure - no doubt Mr P will excell himself again.

I'm getting a Sei Jazz made - sooon - not got the budget sorted yet and I haven't paid a deposit - but me and Martin had a good preliminary chat about it and I have some nice ideas coming together already - just need to sell my Thumb bass... c'mon someone - but it - it's a great bass!

I'll keep you posted - a few more lovely Seis are nearing completion - this thread shall continue for a long time me thinks!

Mike

 

[melt]

Martin was showing me the spalted silver maple when I was there last. Veeeery nice.

 

[sei24bass]

All
Thanks for all your kind words and comments...stupidly it never ceases to amaze me that other people are interested in my basses!

I always try to maximise the number of different instrument sounds my basses can do. The SEI 8 was designed to be able to do the fretless, acoustic and at a push the double bass sounds (think huge deep, warm, rich clear sound).

No surprise therefore it cannot do the edgy compressed finger funk style sound that I also love... so this has been the core design objective of the SEI 9 (hence the Wenge neck & Ash wings). The fantastic deep large sounding F# string does not really fit with this sonic objective, hence tuning will start at low B. Also starting on low B means the top 6 strings can be tuned like a normal guitar (albeit one tone lower than normal), so I intend to use piezo’s & the Ghost acoustic guitar module on these strings, to create the steel strung acoustic guitar sound. I’m still not decided on midi yet...

I also like having basses that look very differently from each other (hence all the different woods from the SEI 8). The nature of my ‘big’ basses does mean that there have been a number of SEI firsts for both the SEI 8 (first 8 string, first 3 octave neck, first double truss rod) and the SEI 9 (first 9 string, first chambered bass...).

Have a good week all.

 

[7string]

The handy thing about Ghost is that the Hexpander preamp for the MIDI stuff piggybacks the acoustiphonic pre, so it fits together really neatly.

Lots of good info here Link Removed.

There's some video stuff here which goes through the installation as well as some soundclips Link Removed

I'm sure that you can buy a kit which has both the preamps and all necessary switches and so on. Just can't find the page at the moment !!

The only problem is how to get 9 strings into a pre which only has 6 inputs.....

 

[matthewfoote]

This might be old news, but it's new to me, have you seen this one!!! I am not sure what to think although I am leaning towards interesting/I like it.

Regards

Matthew