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The Mike Lull Club Part 3
- Thread starter Ron Plichta
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so the one on R is old, and one on L is as is now? both look good in my book.
the pickguard as control plate is a pretty unique look.
the pickguard as control plate is a pretty unique look.
Thanks, man. I ordered the bass with two pickguards, so they are both new. They sent the bass out today, and Paul was nice enough to send me some pics with both of the pickguards. Right now, I'm liking the gold one more.
Hopefully, I'll be an official member of the club early next week.
Hopefully, I'll be an official member of the club early next week.
Okay, so here is my first contribution to the Lull thread. I got the M5 about a month ago, which prompted me to get the P5. I had been thinking about a 5 string precision and had even bought and sold a Fender after not being happy with it. After playing the fretless Lull, I knew that this was the right direction to go. I got the P5 in today so I have not had much time with it, but so far so good. And it weighs in at 7.6 lbs
After years of thinking about it, I'm getting more serious about a PJ5 build. (I had a Lull jazz 70's style 4 but one of my students wanted it, and I have other basses that do jazz basses well so he got it.)
Definitely doing RW (probably upgrading to Madagascar kingwood) and alder body for warm vintage tones. I usually will take the best wood i can get and am a little disappointed they aren't doing Brazilian anymore.
I'm pretty sure I'll try the 35" out even though I'm not really into 35's anymore, but Ive heard good things about Mike's 35s and this bass will mostly get played low- no fusion solo stuff.
I will probably go passive; the only preamp I want these days is the Pope Flexcore and that could be added later if needed.
I was thinking of going more classic on finish as well- chrome hardware and pickguard, but I cannot decide on a finish. I have another burst bass on order so I don't want to do the 59 burst which is the most classic for these woods.
I've been thinking maybe the Olympic white with tort guard. I don't want anything too odd colored. I was also toying with a Satin black w/ tort, probably not a gloss black because it's hard to keep clean.
I also had this weird idea to do something gray with a torg gaurd but cant seem to find any samples of any fender like instrument to see what that would look like. Another thought was to see if mike does burl or spalted tops. I havent seen any but sometimes those seem to look cool with some classic trans colors even though they arent very conventional.
Anyway, just wanted to share. Any feedback welcome, though, if anyone has any thoughts on these possible specs.
Definitely doing RW (probably upgrading to Madagascar kingwood) and alder body for warm vintage tones. I usually will take the best wood i can get and am a little disappointed they aren't doing Brazilian anymore.
I'm pretty sure I'll try the 35" out even though I'm not really into 35's anymore, but Ive heard good things about Mike's 35s and this bass will mostly get played low- no fusion solo stuff.
I will probably go passive; the only preamp I want these days is the Pope Flexcore and that could be added later if needed.
I was thinking of going more classic on finish as well- chrome hardware and pickguard, but I cannot decide on a finish. I have another burst bass on order so I don't want to do the 59 burst which is the most classic for these woods.
I've been thinking maybe the Olympic white with tort guard. I don't want anything too odd colored. I was also toying with a Satin black w/ tort, probably not a gloss black because it's hard to keep clean.
I also had this weird idea to do something gray with a torg gaurd but cant seem to find any samples of any fender like instrument to see what that would look like. Another thought was to see if mike does burl or spalted tops. I havent seen any but sometimes those seem to look cool with some classic trans colors even though they arent very conventional.
Anyway, just wanted to share. Any feedback welcome, though, if anyone has any thoughts on these possible specs.
look through here
http://www.rocketmusic.net/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=LULB&keywords=all
and also search their archive of Lulls. also, i was just at his shop on saturday and he had a p4 with a brazilian rosewood f/b. it's not on the option list anymore, but you might try calling him to see if he could possibly source one for you, although i'm sure it'll be a bit costly. i'm in the same boat as you are, as i'm trying to decide on what kind of options i want for my bass. it'll either be a p4, black, tort, rosewood. or it'll be a 54P with a T-bass pickup in lieu of the single coil. but i cant decide on colors and pickguards or if i even want a pickguard.
http://www.rocketmusic.net/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=LULB&keywords=all
and also search their archive of Lulls. also, i was just at his shop on saturday and he had a p4 with a brazilian rosewood f/b. it's not on the option list anymore, but you might try calling him to see if he could possibly source one for you, although i'm sure it'll be a bit costly. i'm in the same boat as you are, as i'm trying to decide on what kind of options i want for my bass. it'll either be a p4, black, tort, rosewood. or it'll be a 54P with a T-bass pickup in lieu of the single coil. but i cant decide on colors and pickguards or if i even want a pickguard.
I've been all over the rocket page. Someone should grab that P4 while it lasts!
I'm pretty good buddies with Dan at Premier Bass Guitars, my local AD and he's going to order a bass to my specs and then give me the option to buy it. If I don't love it, he's gonna put it in his shop . . how cool is that? We went over specs today and he's gonna talk to lull about a few things, like chambering alder to keep weight down.
For now, I'm going Oly white, vintage tort guard, Madagascar RW and matching headstock (at Dan's suggestion).
I had a PJ5 alder/rw, passive, sunburst, 35" scale. *Really* nice bass but I've ended up going with 34" scale only on my instruments and like a bit tighter string spacing on a 5. I have a P4 on order that will be passive. I generally prefer active (and with a PJ I think active is a good idea), but a P seems to work passive in my hands. My P4 will be trans orange with black pg, alder/maple.
I am a fan of the passive p myself. I had not played a Lull until about a month ago. They just blew me away, and now I have two.
It's been creeping into my brain that I need a PJ4 with flats to hangout with my other Lulls. My 4 banger with flats right now is my fender jazz that Mike PLEK'd... That's almost the same right....right!?... Crap.
I'm gonna have the pj5 built passive and put a pre in it later if at all. Depends on how it gets used.
I swore I was done with 35s but I can't part with my 35" roscoe fretless 5 because it sounds so good, and I've heard from trusted sources that this particular 35 is happening. I would love to compare the 34 to the 35 if I could.
Paul, you have two or three lulls already , right? I know the fretless And 24 pj5 from YouTube. What else? Just the jazz 4?
I swore I was done with 35s but I can't part with my 35" roscoe fretless 5 because it sounds so good, and I've heard from trusted sources that this particular 35 is happening. I would love to compare the 34 to the 35 if I could.
Paul, you have two or three lulls already , right? I know the fretless And 24 pj5 from YouTube. What else? Just the jazz 4?
Hey Robin. My two Lull 5ers are the main gigging basses right now. The Fender is an uncommonly good '05 that has the S1 switch and sounds great for flatwound duty. I have a MTD 635 for six string stuff, but have a Skjold Slayer 6 on the way. I bugged Mike more than once about adding a 6 to his line, but he doesn't want to get into that... Which I dig. Throw in a 160yo double and a fretless ubass and I'm pretty happy in bass land. As far as bass guitars are concerned though, the Lulls are ruling the roost. I have big hopes on this Skjold, however. I need to do another vid for that M5V fretless... With Chromes on it, it absolutely sings while being "ballsy" at the same time. Pretty much my perfect definition of a FL.
Paul. I wanted to thank you for doing those videos. They really are the only well done review of Mikes basses that I could find. They pushed me toward Lull basses.
I know you didn't ask me, Robin, but if you're ever in L.A. You could A/B a 34 inch P and 35inch PJ5 at my place.
That sounds like a usable stable, and yes, the Lull's certainly sound like good day-to-day gig basses.
I consolidated a bunch to get my Fodera Imperial 5 and have a Callowhill style Junk 5 coming for my J bass sounds coming shortly. It was a close call between the Callowhill and the Lull jazz, so that's why I thought it might be cool to get the Lull for a P. If I don't love the Lull when it comes in, I think another Callowhill would be my next choice. Of course, all speculation as neither of them exist yet.
Other than that it's the Roscoe fretless and a double bass from Nick Lloyd.
If I was gonna add one more, it would a modern sixer with like Skjold, Wynn, Ken Lawreence, or another Fodera (if I could afford it.) I played an Erskine Skjold this winter and it was pretty great.
Quality, not quantity, my mother always said . . .
Both off-the-charts good, although I play the 4 a lot more than I do the 5. Flats on both.
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