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Sei Owners Club

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#221
Hey there Mike - you post away mate, no probs at all. There will be plenty of good advice coming your way from far more knowledgeable people than me - just ask.

I tried a 6 when I commissioned my 1st build (how cool did that sound :D ) and couldn't believe how easy it was to play, it was all down to the neck - if 6 is the way your feeling then Martin will give you the neck profile you need.

I know what you mean about the Wicks - my n/t Thumb 5 weighs a ton. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about "got to be light woods" - pretty much any combination is going to be miles lighter than a wick. Again Martin would be able to sort that out.

As for becoming a member - well - stick your deposit down and I'll allocate a number to you along with a (w) to signify a waiter :cool:
 
#222
Mike

Welcome and well done for considering a SEI. I love Martin's custom made service, as it pretty much guarantees you will get a brilliant bass that will not disappoint.

The very first thing you need to do is to identify what you really like and what you really dislike about your current basses (e.g. Warwick weighs a ton). This will help guide you into identifying what are your requirements (sonically, visually and aesthetically), which will drive all decisions made about bass shape, woods, pickups, electrics etc.

All of us will gladly try and provide any advice you want, though in all honesty Martin should really be your main source for this. What he does not know is not worth knowing (he has been making these things for over 15 years) and is unbelievably patient and helpful at all times.
 
#223
Cool guys

I'm really serious about this because I know how long these things take and I know I'll be able to use the bass a lot live when I get it - which is important to me as that's where I'll feel the most benefit because I know it'll sound better than the Wick and be lighter....I know Martin reasonably well as I've been calling into the Gallery for a few years now, plus I know a few other Sei users, and London players, it's a great place to hang and having seen Mart and John working on loads of stunnig basses I know that I want to spend my money with these guys - they know what they ar doing - BIG TIME.

Anyway thanks for the friendly advice - IMO Sei's happen to be some of the best basses on the planet...

:hiding: Better hide now...

Cheers

Mike
 
#224
sei24bass said:
Welcome and well done for considering a SEI. I love Martin's custom made service, as it pretty much guarantees you will get a brilliant bass that will not disappoint.
Click to expand...

Man, don't want to sound offensive, but then how do you explain that they always have 2-3 or even more used Seis for sale? If you're gonna go the custom path, it's because you want something specific... if there are so many (relatively) people selling theirs, that's not what I would call "guarantee that the bass will not disappoint". Of course they will be nice or even great - god forbid if they weren't at that price point. But if you want just a great bass you can pick up one off the shelf, the idea behind custom basses is to get exactly or very close the bass you have in your head. There are also many people, even in this thread, that have/want to change pickups and/or preamp... dunno, it's putting me to second thoughts.

Again, not to diss Sei or Martin, I'm sure there are many many extremely pleased customers and, if you know what exactly you want then they will built it in a great way, but I think that one of the greatest virtues of a good luthier is to be able to translate what the customer wants and bring it to life. It's sad to see people waiting for 10 months and spending over $3500 just to sell the bass afterwards.
Just a thought.
 
#225
Dragonlord, there's a lot of Sei owners who order new Seis from Martin who use their old Sei as a part-exchange - one of the benefits of The Gallery being a bass merchant. Sometimes people's tonal needs change, or they want to move up to a 5- or 6-string, and it's good that Martin offers the flexibility of being able to trade in your old bass. I know a few Sei owners who have done this.

And sometimes there's other circumstances too - I sold my first proper Sei (the 4-string Flamboyant with the Lane Poors, ziricote facings and red LEDs that's on the LEDs page of the Sei site) back to The Gallery after I lost my job a few years back. I'm a bit gutted about that... it was a great bass, but it was a case of needs must - I loved that Sei, but I loved having a roof over my head and having food in the cupboards more! :D
 
#226
Sure, I just know some occasions where that's not the case. Anyway, Martin makes great basses, and he was very nice and welcoming, I love his designs, I'm just not sure his approach to some things is the best way to go for me. We'll see.
 
#227
The other issue with custom basses is, of course, you really have to know what you want. Martin can guide you, but you need to have a good idea of what you want beforehand, and you can really only get that from playing a lot of basses. Some people find tonal nirvana with a P-bass or Jazz Bass, but I'm a bit more fussy than that. :D I've had basses that sound great in isolation, but rubbish in the mix, or basses that recorded well but sucked for live playing, as well as basses that simply feel wrong for certain things. It's a learning curve.

My current Sei is my fourth custom bass (after previously having a Nightingale, a 4-string Sei and a GB, as well as quite a few other non-customs) and it's only now that I feel I've got it right. It took a lot of experimentation to find what I wanted out of a custom bass, and, for me, it ended boiling down to four things:

1) I wanted a tone that was somewhere between a Warwick Thumb, a Musicman and a P-bass This primarily influenced the pickups and wood selection - Warwick-like midrange punch and woodiness from all the wenge, and custom-wound MM & P pickups.
2) I wanted a huge-sounding low B. This influenced the 35" scale and the singlecut body style - I'm convinced the singlecut body style improves the resonance of the lower strings.
3) I wanted wide string spacing.
4) I wanted a very touch-sensitive instrument with good dynamics. This meant that the bass had to sound good passive first and foremost, with the active just there to add additional flavour. This also influenced the ebony fingerboard.

Everything else was just aesthetics, really, but it boils down to the few elements that will get you the tone and feel you really want. And it can take a while to work out what these are!

My next Sei will have quite a few differences from my current one - it'll be another 5-string, but a doublecut this time, with a rosewood fingerboard, an ash/maple body and EMGs, as I want a Sei that can convincingly ape the tone of a Spector, but with the same feel as my current Sei. It will have the same neck profile and string spacing as my present one, as well as my own little favourite details, such as the offset fingerboard LEDs, probably a tremolo and probably some other deliberate quirks.
 
#228
Yeah, that's great if you have the money and time to do it, but I'm afraid I don't and I feel a little like a lab mouse... your post made me realise even more that I shouldn't get in a custom adventure that may not end up well as I've already found what works for me... a Dingwall. I would do a few changes to the dingwall design, but a couple aren't possible with Sei either, so I think there's more room to go wrong than right.
The flamboyant is still one of the most beautiful bass designs I've ever seen though...
 
#229
First of all, I've got to say 'hi' to Mike !!

Mate, I've learned loads from the guys on this thread.. Before I ordered my Sei, I asked some questions and guys like Matthew, Paddy and Rusty have all chimed in with great ideas/suggestions. In fact, it was Matthew's 7 string which really made me get the order together as his bass was so close to some ideas I'd had floating about for some time. Luckily, he's a generous guy and sent me some more detailed pics and answered my e-mails !!

Everyone on this thread will try to answer anything you throw at them in a very clear and humourous way. It took me 12 years to get around to ordering a Sei, which brings me to my next point after reading the exchanges between Rusty and Dragonlord....

I've been playing bass for over 15 years now and have owned quite a few instruments. Some great, some not-so great (the Jackson and Urge in my sig are not to everyone's taste).

I do agree with Rusty that you have to have a very clear idea of what you want before going down the custom, and in this and my case, the Sei route.

Choice is a great thing, but too much choice is a major headache. You really have to centre on what it is you want from a bass, from the basic questions of headed/headless and the number of strings to the choice of preamp.

In my case, I wanted something real simple, but beefy sounding. I have basses with 3 band eq and I never use them etc, so I really focussed on what I wanted. I think this is why so many of us visited Martin on a number of occassions first to see if our ideas made any sense and to hear what suggestions he would make. We can them blend the 2 points o view and achieve a common goal, which is to make a bass for us to express our musical emotions on.

To me, this is an intensely personal thing. I could play one Sei and it will not suit me at all and it was someone else's vision and someone else's taste and ideas.

Personally, I had to create a very detailed spec sheet and then I went to Martin and we went from there. Some things stayed, some things went (like the fanned frets) but I went with a clear vision of what I wanted. In my opinion (and please remember this is only my opinion !!) going to Martin with a blank sheet of paper creates too much choice. It's much easier to say I want x,y,z...

Unfortunately, some people have to sell the Sei's as life gets in the way. I've had to sell stuff to keep the wolf from the door and it ain't nice. I don't have any stats to back this up, but I would suggest that more people sell Sei's because of their circumstances or trading-in than "I really don't like this bass and I want to sell it ". Players tastes change. Ben (seibass24 - hey man, I missed you by about a minute on 6/12. You were going out as I was sticking my way down the street !!) has updated his bass instead of selling it and buying another, a testament to the quality and longevity of his Sei.

This is my first custom bass. I'd met Martin a number of times in the last few years and even though he didn't know me from Adam, was always courteous and answered any questions I had. There was no doubt in my mind that when I had the funds I would get a Sei.

So really focus in on what you want and, hopefully, your choice should be easier.
 
#230
Fascinating exchange of views that I seem to have unintentionally started…

Dragonlord, you were right to question my previous posting, which was ambiguous to say the least (sorry…). Your are also right that the bespoke nature of custom made basses means there will always be a higher risk that the resulting bass does not fit the bill. Clearly that risk is not for everyone, especially if there are production basses that bring that satisfaction (I’ve heard good things about Dingwall’s by the way). There can be no bass guitar hierarchy. I’m just a fussy old git that could not find what I really wanted and was prepared to take that risk with the custom made route.

Rusty Chainsaw and 7 String you are also right in that having a really clear idea of what you want is a key factor in the custom made route. Finding the right luthier is also a critical success factor if our jumbled thoughts and requirements are to be turned into a viable reality (you wouldn’t choose a builder you did not get on with to build your house after all…).

There will be a whole host of reasons why people are selling their SEI basses (trade in’s, changing tastes, changing circumstances, customer uncertainty about their requirements etc. etc.). Given the number of SEI basses he has made I would be surprised if there weren’t any.

I guess what I was trying to say is that I have very easily found a real empathy with Martin, whose skills and experience have minimised that custom made risk of receiving a bass that didn’t hit the spot. My first SEI I have used exclusively for 12 years (I’m fussy old git remember…) and I have absolutely no doubt / worry that Martin will create a very different but equally pleasing bass this second time round. Martin inspires that kind of confidence, which in my experience has been very well founded.
 
#231
sei24bass said:
I guess what I was trying to say is that I have very easily found a real empathy with Martin, whose skills and experience have minimised that custom made risk of receiving a bass that didn’t hit the spot. My first SEI I have used exclusively for 12 years (I’m fussy old git remember…) and I have absolutely no doubt / worry that Martin will create a very different but equally pleasing bass this second time round. Martin inspires that kind of confidence, which in my experience has been very well founded.
Click to expand...

Yup, totally agree with this. It's great to have a luthier who works with you and takes your ideas on board. As I said before, some of the ideas I brought to him were rejected, but with good reason (:)) whilst others were taken on board and are in the bass. Each bass is a melting pot of Martin & customer and not just what he wanted to build, or has stock of, on order day.
 
#232
Rest assured guys that having spent 22 years playing various basses and got a very good idea of what sounds, feels and looks right for me - and I've tried top specced Foderas, Ken Smiths, Roscoes, Ritters, GBs, and a load of other basses - I'm confident that the bass Martin can build for me will fullfil all of my expectations - and having just spent another evening in the studio with my bastard Warwick Thumb and all the problems have with that - including neck dive, weight of the bass and finding the perfect tone - I know that a Sei will kick that bass in to touch.

Cheers

Mike
 
#233
Hi Sei24bass,

Not sure what you are talking about there. Villex pickups can sound both bright and thick, depending on the mid pot dialing. In any dialing they produce solid fundamentals. It's the only pickup some luthiers found suitable for picking low C# which is about 19 HZ.
As to wiring Villex pickups, they need to be wired as directed by Villex, otherwise they are not going to work properly. You can contact Mr. Villex directly at [email protected] and he will gladly answer all your questions.

Also, you might want to consider the new Villex passive booster; it has 4 positions. First is just a bypass, the other 3 will boost the output and enhance fundamentals and lower mids.

http://eu.villex.com/boosters.html


sei24bass said:
  • Villex Mid - Villex pickups are typically split coil affairs, with the bass coils wired in parallel and the treble coils in series (explains their bright passive sound). I have heard one or two complaints about Villex pickups being a little overbright when put through a pre-amp. No reason why both bass coils and both treble coils could not be wired in parallel, to reduce their brightness a bit. I am considering getting Martin to wire my new bass so that the Villex treble coils are in parallel when in active mode and in series when in passive mode!
Click to expand...
 
#234
Yarlipo, many thanks for your comments. Whilst I can see no reason why Villex pickups could not be wired up as I outlined in my original posting, I have never seen or heard of them being wired this way (hmmm…wonder why?? :eyebrow: ). Funnily enough, bass wirings have been on my mind since that posting a couple of days ago...possibly time for a u-turn me thinks and adopt the wiring recommended by William (Mr Villex).

I have heard sound clips of Villex pickups and read all the comments I could find, though have not been able to try them first hand. Have you got a bass with them in or had first hand experience?
 
#235
That's some fine basses you've played, Mike !!

So what put you off all those big names and onto Sei's..??

I remember a few years back when I was looking around, and I tried all the basses which I thought of. Then I tried a 6 string fretless Sei and nothing felt like it. Just superb playability and a great attention to detail (and it looked great too !!). OK, at that time life got in the way, but if it hadn't have done, I wouldn't have eventually bought a Conklin GT7 and be having my Sei made at the moment (by the way, I ended up buying a much cheaper Yamaha TRB6 II and having the frets taken out as they didn't do a fretless at the time).

Also, I've just read about the Villex passive rotary booster... It's definately something that I'll bear in mind as my bass will be totally passive...
 
#238
I think that some people sell their Sei basses also because they aren't 'their's', they were maybe bought used and are traded in when the owner buys one to his or her own specs.

I've owned a fair few basses over the last 20 years, including Wals, jaydees, Alembics, Status, and my Sei flamboyant 6 is the best that I've owned and played. There are one or two things that I'd change, or may even will change, possibly the pre-amp for example, it's a pity that I can't have a headstock grafted on, as 6 string double ball end flatwounds are hard to come by.

They also stock used Alembics, Fodereas, Wals, Zons etc.

The one I have on order is based on what I've learned from 20 years of playing, and from learning what I need in an instrument. It's also designed to be tonally different to my current bass.

I can honestly say though that I don't plan to sell my current bass when my new one arrives, it's just too good.
 
#239
Good day to all:

Attached (if I can get it right, that is...) is a shot showing my fanned fret headless Flamboyant 6'er the way she's supposed to look with her tuners, knobs, etc.

Comments?

Happy holidays to all

Richard Collins a/k/a "notrt"
 

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