The Official Rumblekat Club

[tommyzai]

Hi!! I'm proud to be a member here!
I just ordered a Epiphone Allen Woody Rumblekat from American Music, and I'm very excited. I'll be playing Brit Invasion and indie rock with it. I want to put flats on it and change the 3-point bridge.
1. Which flats would match nicely?
2. Which 3rd party bridge would match nicely?
Thanks so much!!!

 

[John Stephen]

Hi @tommyzai ! Welcome to the club. The Rumblekat is an excellent bass. It's hard changing the bridge because of the curvature of the bass surface; it's not flat. Among the people here who have replaced the bridge (including me), the replacement people seem to use the most (because it may be the only one that works on the curved top of the bass) is the Hipshot Supertone (pic attached). You'll have to put a little piece of soft cloth or padding beneath each of the two posts on that bridge, again to accommodate the curved surface of the bass. And they're expensive. But my experience with the Supertone was very positive -- it produced more clarity, less thuddiness (if that's a word), and also more sustain (though I wasn't particularly looking for that).

I've used a few types of flats on it -- LaBella Deep Talkin' Bass, LaBella Low-Tension Flats, and GHS Precision Flats. I liked them all, with a slight nod to the GHS on that bass.

Good luck, and enjoy it!

 

[edmidlifecrisis]

I have tried various strings and always end up with GHS Pressurewounds on my Rumblekat. They work well and sound great! I have the factory bridge and have no issues with it.

 

[tommyzai]

Wow!! Thanks so much for the fast, supportive responses. I heard about the GHS Pressureounds . . . are they a hybrid that is between flat and round?

This bass comes with 105 Rounds. Would 100 Flats be about the same tension? Any thoughts on 105 vs 100 vs 95 for this bass?

Any thoughts on the Gibson Flats? The dealer offered me a special price, but . . .

• Warm, mellow tone with deep low-end
• Ultra smooth feel
• Developed and approved by Gibson Master Luthiers
• Light Gauge: .045 .065 .080 .100

 

[John Stephen]

I'm not familiar with the Gibson strings, so I can't say. Perhaps Ed or someone else has some experience with them.

 

[edmidlifecrisis]

I'm not familiar with the Gibson strings, so I can't say. Perhaps Ed or someone else has some experience with them.

I’m not familiar with the Gibson strings. The pressurewounds are in between rounds and flats and to me they just have the right balance. I think they’re pretty popular on talkbass. There are a lot of threads about them. You can do a search.

 

[tommyzai]

Thanks, Ed.
I'm sure the Pressurewounds will perform well. In my case, I love smooth flats for feel and use white gloves on my fretting hand for many songs. I thought about taking a chance on the Gibson's but decided to play it safe and go with the GHS Precision Flats. For years I used LaBella Deep Talkin' on my Hofner, but from what I'm reading on this thread . . . the GHS Precision Flats seem to match the Rumblekat better.
I'm super grateful for the responses . . . especially since I'm new and don't even have the bass in my hands yet . . .

One last Question . . . .

Anyone swap out the nut with a Graph Tech? I did that with my other instruments. I'm wondering if there's a benefit here as well.

Tommy Zai

 

[tommyzai]

Just when I was all set to buy GHS Precision Flats I discovered they only come in 95 or 105, nothing between. ;-0

 

[tommyzai]

I just ordered a Rumblekat, and I'm trying to get a Graphtech replacement nut. I've know the Nut Width(1.68" or 42.7mm), but can someone tell me the height? Thanks in advance. I'm hoping to have the strings and nut ready when the bass arrives.

Note: In my previous post, I mistakenly mentioned GHS Precision Flats in 105 gauge. They only offer 95 in short scale.

 

[tommyzai]

If anyone is interested and/or doesn't know . . .
I spoke with Epiphone today. The strings that come with the Rumblekat are:

 

[John Stephen]

Good to know, thanks Tommy. I never really know what strings come stock on new instruments. I guess I do have experience with Gibson strings after all, given that they came with my Rumblekat.

 

[Crusher47]

I just ordered a Rublekat of my very own. Should be in later next week. I noticed that club numbers for this club were being assigned on the first couple of pages but it died off. The original member that started the club has not posted in a couple years. If nobody minds, I can take over monitoring and providing numbers for this club. I already handle the Fender Jazz Bass club numbering so it's not an issue to take this one over as well.

If the original starter of the club returns and wants the assigning numbers back, I can provide an updated list and hand the duties back. Just let me know

 

[Oddly]

The Rumblekat shows up as discontinued on the Epiphone website. Guess they are gone...

Sad news. Be interesting to know how many were made and sold. Not that I'll ever sell mine but it'd be nice to know we're all playing a collectible rarity, right?

 

[tommyzai]

My G string is too low. All other strings are perfect. I raised the saddle on the D/G side to compensate, but still a little low.
Would you recommend raising the saddle more on the D/G side or some sort of shim or something under the G string? I realize that it's best to have all three points of this bridge fairly even, with the front one a little higher.
Am I okay having one side raised (see pic)?
Other options?
My truss rod and intonation are spot on after my hours of adjusting.

 

[John Stephen]

There are others here on TB who have more expertise in this than I do, but one thing that comes to mind, is to check the nut slot for that G string. Perhaps the slot is too deep so the string is sitting too low. If the nut slot seems okay, I guess your only option is to raise the D/G bridge post a bit higher than you have it. Maybe someone else will chime in with other options. And there is the replacement bridge mentioned above that has individual string-height adjustment screws. That's an expensive option, though.

 

[tommyzai]

Thanks, John. Yeah, I looked into the replacement bridges but it would be just under $200 after tax and shipping for Babizczewzdfde or Hot something, which seems unreasonable. I'm not sure how to raise the post if that's the best stock alternative. The nut seems fine . . . no buzzing down there, but up high near 12th it's too low.

 

[John Stephen]

OK, well, it was worth checking anyway. To raise the bridge post, you screw that screw on the D/G side -- I think that's what you already did, when you said you raised the saddle on the D/G side. I was referring to the same thing. Anyway, hopefully someone else will come along who will have some other insight into it. Good luck with it.

 

[tommyzai]

The problem with raising that side of the bridge is that it also raises the D string. I guess I need a workaround for the lack of individual sting height adjustment.

 

[PaperbackRyder]

maybe slide a little shim under the G saddle?

 

[Crusher47]

OK everyone, I went thru this entire thread a couple of times to ensure accuracy. Here are the Latest & Greatest Rumblekat Club Members with their Numbers. Hope to add a few more members to this great club!! I should be joining the club as well later this week

Number -- User Name
1 - - user362432 *Founder
2 - - Andy114
3 - - Signalsdrone
4 - - zaphodfender
5 - - Oddly
6 - - mongo2
7 - - georgiagoodie
8 - - only4
9 - - WI Short Scaler
10 - - Paulabass
11 - - Jasn Basn
12 - - Ender699
13 - - Kev1955
14 - - tkonbass
15 - - olswhisker
16 - - John Stephen
17 - - sunbeast
18 - - maj34
19 - - thevince
20 - - weissguy
21 - - Ostie
22 - - khix83
23 - - El Larry
24 - - dsteinschneider
25 - - mattyrudes
26 - - Gary Conn
27 - - edmidlifecrisis
28 - - Wettonized
29 - - RootAndFifth
30 - - vin088xk1
31 - - crunge
32 - - icefly
33 - - SpicyBrown
34 - - Steve Fox
35 - - conner5833
36 - - checkhunka
37 - - tommyzai