The Jamiroquai bass player

[Howard K]

I think they were a bit over £2,000 in the London shops - but can't remember exactly as I tried a 6 -string as well as a 5 - but they were both over £2k.

I expect a production line bass for £2k or more would be majority hand made anyway wouldn't it?

For two grand I'd expect people to have sweated over the making of the bass!
My Fender was £1100 and that's got hand finished frets, fretboard, neck, finish etc etc.

The thing is that if you're gonna spend £2k on a bass you may as well have one custom made to your specs.

It does look damned nice tho... and it sounds great on 'a funk oddessy'

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I don't think it's hand-made but Yamaha have always had a good name for quality control in this range. I think if it was hand-made they would be saying so - here is the blurb :

"Yamaha TRBPII series basses combine elegant designs with ergonomic excellence and a deep, full tonal quality. Building on our established original TRB series which has met with much acclaim, PII basses feature a thru-neck design, individual machined bridges for each string and 3-band active EQ with full range and sweep of mid-frequencies for supreme tonal control. To supplement a pair of double-coil alnico pickups, piezo pickups are built into the bridge design which add another dimension to the warmth and depth of the body resonance. Signal from the piezo pickups can be mixed in with balance and volume controls. Crafted from a choice of three exotic woods - Maple, Bubinga or Ovankol - the PII bass is a uniquely versatile instrument, capable of releasing the full playing potential of the musician."

 

[Howard K]

sounds good alright... but you could get the all the same specs or greater, but hand made to for you, for more or less the same price... purely cause you're not supplementing a worldwide marketing strategy.

You said you tried one of these, how as the piezo then? - you said it just increased finger noise when changing positions, was there REALLy no discernable benefit?!

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

There's a review on Guitaist magazine's website which you could look at for another objective view!

But that's just my opinion on the piezos - I don't like too scratchy a sound - but I think if you are soling in the higher range like John Patitucci it really brings out the highs in the sound - so you can dial in a "solo sound" quickly.

But I did really like the bass's sound and playability.
These are the two things that are most important to me and they aren't objective "features" you can specify!

So how do you say to a luthier - I want this bass to sound like "my ideal sound in my head" and to be really playable, just for me?

If I find a bass that has the qualities I want - like the TRB5PII - then I know it as soon as I have played it - but I have no way of telling somebody how to build a bass like this!!

 

[Howard K]

That is indeed a very good point. Although I'd hope/ expect an experienced luthier could take cues from examples? I mean you can pick up any bass and immediatley say whether you like it or not and usualy you know why, it responds well, punchy tone, solid neck etc etc.
A luthier should know what qualities and specs give a bass it's sound - that's their expertise.

Piezos & hi frequencies - hmm, me too. If anything I tend to boost my mids quite frequently - especially if playing the bridge pick up... but bass/ treble only get a boost on occaisions

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally posted by Howard K
That is indeed a very good point. Although I'd hope/ expect an experienced luthier could take cues from examples? I mean you can pick up any bass and immediatley say whether you like it or not and usualy you know why, it responds well, punchy tone, solid neck etc etc.
A luthier should know what qualities and specs give a bass it's sound - that's their expertise.

You'd think so wouldn't you - but I know a local pro bass player who had a very good luthier build him a copy of an instrument that he really liked. I was at gigs where he played the original instrument - fantastic sound, truly inspirational. Then I saw him at a later gig, one of the first times with the hand-made "copy" based on the original and it sounded completey different - although it was the same player and rig!

So the tone was woolly, indistinct and was lost in the mix - it was a pale shadow of the other bass sound - although as he got used to it, he managed to compensate and get a better sound - but I could definitely hear that identical looking basses were producing very different results!!

Also - with what you say, it only means I am going to get something as good as what I've come across before and can describe accurately - so the new TRBPs suprised me with how good they sound and feel and I would have had no idea how to tell a Luthier how to make something better than what I have come across before!

 

[Howard K]

That's very interesting... Also, it's surpising yet understandable at athe same time?!

I mean a maple neck is maple neck right? ...but then when you thnik about it, what are the chances of one tree being the same density (or whatever) as another?

It could be an age thing mind? - We all know that wood dries as it gets older - a brand spanking new bass will undoutbedly sound differnt. I guess it has to 'settle' also.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I don't think there is as much variation as that, as wood is graded - but on the other hand I think that a very good luthier will know what woods to choose and how to use them in constructing a bass. But there must be lots of other small differences as well that contribute to sound in some way - like glues, how much/how little, laminates, using different woods together, what sort of varnish or not etc etc.

And that's not including electronics, hardware etc.

I think that the possible variation when you take everything into account must be enormous - so how as a "non-luthier" can you take all that into account?

Far simpler to just try loads of basses and find the one that sounds and feels the best - more fun as well!!

 

[Howard K]

Yes, I expect you're right.

Must be nice to own 'your' bass tho. One of a kind. I dig that idea.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well yeah, but if it sounds crap and gives you cramp in your wrist on long gigs, then it's just a fancy piece of furniture ....if you're lucky!!!

So the luthier can say - well you asked for lightwaves, piezos, hipshot detuner, leds, custom bridge - you got 'em!!

I just want a bass that sounds good - define "good"!!

 

[Howard K]

True... but wouldn't it look nice though

I'd be inclined to agree that there must be a certain amount of hit n' miss in the sound of it, but the dimensions should be spot on at least?

I mean it'd have to be a pretty crap luther if you asked for 18mm spacing and ended up with 1.8"

I can pick up 5 basses and say I want this width at nut, this spacing, this profile and this radius and I know what I'm going to get. How much variation can there be in a set of given dimensions?!

I'm intreagued now! I'm intent on at least speaking with Mr Peterson about having an SEI bass built for me, it'll be intersting to see what the deal is?
I shall make a point of asking "To what degree can you predict the sound, tone, playability and feel of the finished instrument?"
...and I shall report back. Probaly wont be for some time tho... only one days holiday left and half of that's booked for the studio, it's a hard life