I think he's actually an immortal, so no Ken will not retire.
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I think he's actually an immortal, so no Ken will not retire.
Five years ago I sold my Smith for $3300, I can’t believe what they’re going for these days.
SOLD - Ken Smith BSR6GN
SOLD - Ken Smith BSR6GN
If anybody out there has got a Burner, that's maybe fallen down the pecking order a little bit, do what I've done; have a short scale neck made for it!
I took a chance, and bought my 1991 Burner Custom on here from VroomVroom almost 10 years ago, and had it shipped over. Ken Smith Burner 5 Fretless
I'd been on the hunt for one since I first saw Hadrien Feraud, realised the string spacing and tone was what I'd been looking for, and finally this popped up for sale. It was fretless when I got it, so I had it converted back, added an ABM adjustable brass nut, and played it solidly until about two years ago when the thread on here about converting 4-strings to 5s caught my eye, and I put two basses together using four string bodies mated with custom necks with a 45mm nut width, and a Roscoe Beck-style switching system on both. The tighter string spacing really suits my hands. Being quilted maple, the Burner isn't light, so I took all the things I liked about it, and put those into Jazz Basses with ash bodies, one of them chambered.
Recently I needed an operation on my left hand, and I'd been noticing some pain in my wrist occasionally. So one night I pulled the Burner out, and remembered that if I capo'd it at the 2nd fret I'd have a 30" bass. So I gave it a go, and it was so comfortable I contacted the fella who made my first custom neck for me, Link Removed here in Dundee. He agreed to make a neck that would look just like a factory item, with a few changes to distinguish it, such as the volute, the tuning machine configuration (better choice of strings), and a gold decal instead of the abalone. I'm a strong advocate of threaded inserts in the neck instead of normal screws for a tighter match to the body, and after setting it up to my own style, and playing it solid for hours, I can honestly say......there's no difference at all!
I expected the tone to get typically thumpy and dull; nope! Clearly just a lucky combination of the threaded inserts, the solid quilted maple body, the five-piece neck construction, and the pickup position changing in relation to the strings, but it just sounds like a Jazz Bass. Plenty of top end from it even with old strings, the B string still has as much definition and sustain as my 34" scale fives, but this is so much fun to play! And because the original neck is 24 fret, when mated with the body, it all looks totally proportionate.
If you've a Burner that's doing nothing, or any bass with a 24 fret neck for that matter, I'd totally recommend having a drop-in shorter scale neck made for it, like a 30" or 32" scale neck.
I took a chance, and bought my 1991 Burner Custom on here from VroomVroom almost 10 years ago, and had it shipped over. Ken Smith Burner 5 Fretless
I'd been on the hunt for one since I first saw Hadrien Feraud, realised the string spacing and tone was what I'd been looking for, and finally this popped up for sale. It was fretless when I got it, so I had it converted back, added an ABM adjustable brass nut, and played it solidly until about two years ago when the thread on here about converting 4-strings to 5s caught my eye, and I put two basses together using four string bodies mated with custom necks with a 45mm nut width, and a Roscoe Beck-style switching system on both. The tighter string spacing really suits my hands. Being quilted maple, the Burner isn't light, so I took all the things I liked about it, and put those into Jazz Basses with ash bodies, one of them chambered.
Recently I needed an operation on my left hand, and I'd been noticing some pain in my wrist occasionally. So one night I pulled the Burner out, and remembered that if I capo'd it at the 2nd fret I'd have a 30" bass. So I gave it a go, and it was so comfortable I contacted the fella who made my first custom neck for me, Link Removed here in Dundee. He agreed to make a neck that would look just like a factory item, with a few changes to distinguish it, such as the volute, the tuning machine configuration (better choice of strings), and a gold decal instead of the abalone. I'm a strong advocate of threaded inserts in the neck instead of normal screws for a tighter match to the body, and after setting it up to my own style, and playing it solid for hours, I can honestly say......there's no difference at all!
I expected the tone to get typically thumpy and dull; nope! Clearly just a lucky combination of the threaded inserts, the solid quilted maple body, the five-piece neck construction, and the pickup position changing in relation to the strings, but it just sounds like a Jazz Bass. Plenty of top end from it even with old strings, the B string still has as much definition and sustain as my 34" scale fives, but this is so much fun to play! And because the original neck is 24 fret, when mated with the body, it all looks totally proportionate.
If you've a Burner that's doing nothing, or any bass with a 24 fret neck for that matter, I'd totally recommend having a drop-in shorter scale neck made for it, like a 30" or 32" scale neck.
Attachments
Anyone here actually been to his shop in Bucks County, PA?
Ken Smith Basses
420 Race St.
Perkasie, PA 18944
Home - Ken Smith Basses
Ken Smith Basses
420 Race St.
Perkasie, PA 18944
Home - Ken Smith Basses
Check it out! and see what you think!
The are all really great sounding instruments! I think the Warwick and the Smith sound less "open" than the first Fodera or Jazz but sit better in the mix right out of the box, followed by the SC Fodera. Those three seem to have the most low-mid "oomph" IMO. But again, all of them sound just fantastic in their own ways!
I can’t say with 100% certainty, but in Smith basses, that is usually a trim pot for adjusting gain in active mode.
That's exactly what it is. Mostly used to adjust the active output in relation to the passive output, to your liking. Keep bass & treble in center detent while adjusting.
Swapped to ebony dome knobs and loving the new look.
Is this a brubaker built smith? I’ve been wondering what the tone difference would be if any.
I have 1990 BT5
Thanks. I am a huge fan.
I am cutting treble 30%, that’s it.
I am direct in a focusrite —> GarageBand with a touch of compression
I am cutting treble 30%, that’s it.
I am direct in a focusrite —> GarageBand with a touch of compression
