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The Pedulla Club!

#3,142
Hey everyone! Just got a 99 MVP 5. Got it for a steal but it does need some hardware upgrades. Was wondering if anyone has attempted changing out the tuning keys themselves before. Also if I’m correct I’ll have to get a new bridge as Pedulla doesn’t make mine anymore. Was wondering if anyone had tried this and if the holes would would line up, definitely not comfortable drilling into my pedulla but I don’t want to send it off to Pedulla beings I just got it! A 20 year old bass and still blows everything I’ve ever played away, besides my first MVP
 
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#3,143
85E378B1-B55A-40BB-9B99-BFE8044D5B30.png
 
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#3,145


I’m not much of a reader and reading on this Pentabuzz is a challenge because it is so easy for my hands to slide out of position reading the chart. I don’t care because I am not quitting. My Pedulla is the easiest to play fretless, I have ever had by a mile!:bassist:
 
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#3,148
IronLung1986 said:
If you look at the early designs it seems like Mike was after a particular ergonomic experience from a pretty early point, which the shape was meant to serve. Basically to have your plucking hand more toward the front of your body rather than further off to the side as in a Fender. Beyond that I'm guessing it was just an evolution of his own aesthetic preferences.
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Mark kept asking Michael to cut away some of the wood to give him more access to the higher regions, to balance things out, Michael carved out more of the top horn as well. I'm always suprised how people dismiss the design as 'not ergonomic', as it's ALL about ergonomics. And then they are afraid to place the lower horn on their lap, as it will 'break' easily. Never happened. A Pedulla MVP/Pentabuzz, when sitting down, is perfectly balanced when you place the end of the lower horn on your thigh.
 
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#3,149
Pedullist said:
Mark kept asking Michael to cut away some of the wood to give him more access to the higher regions, to balance things out, Michael carved out more of the top horn as well. I'm always suprised how people dismiss the design as 'not ergonomic', as it's ALL about ergonomics. And then they are afraid to place the lower horn on their lap, as it will 'break' easily. Never happened. A Pedulla MVP/Pentabuzz, when sitting down, is perfectly balanced when you place the end of the lower horn on your thigh.
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Yea, the ergonomics of an MVP/Buzz are objectively a bit odd coming from something like a Fender. You really have to wear it up high like Doug Johns for it to make sense. When I first got my Pentabuzz I was wearing it lower and finding it hard to handle due to balance and ergonomics problems. Then I noticed that all the well-known Pedulla players wear them way up high and figured that's probably how they were meant to be worn. Sure enough, as soon as I made that change the whole bass clicked. Still a bit of neck pull to deal with but it's not a big deal. Sitting down is of course no problem at all.
 
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#3,150
IronLung1986 said:
Yea, the ergonomics of an MVP/Buzz are objectively a bit odd coming from something like a Fender. You really have to wear it up high like Doug Johns for it to make sense. When I first got my Pentabuzz I was wearing it lower and finding it hard to handle due to balance and ergonomics problems. Then I noticed that all the well-known Pedulla players wear them way up high and figured that's probably how they were meant to be worn. Sure enough, as soon as I made that change the whole bass clicked. Still a bit of neck pull to deal with but it's not a big deal. Sitting down is of course no problem at all.
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I knew it! I'm a natural born 'buzz player. I automatically wore mine higher than my other basses:smug:

Thanks for the back story guys. And yer right, just looking at an MVP through Fender eyes you wouldn't guess the ergonomics
 
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#3,152
Pedullist said:
Mark kept asking Michael to cut away some of the wood to give him more access to the higher regions, to balance things out, Michael carved out more of the top horn as well. I'm always suprised how people dismiss the design as 'not ergonomic', as it's ALL about ergonomics. And then they are afraid to place the lower horn on their lap, as it will 'break' easily. Never happened. A Pedulla MVP/Pentabuzz, when sitting down, is perfectly balanced when you place the end of the lower horn on your thigh.
Click to expand...

I agree!
 
#3,153
Just received a used Pedulla Nuance 5. This is my 5th Pedulla but the first bolt-on neck design. The bass arrived with a terrible setup but after a little work inside the neck pocket and fret leveling it plays really good now. All the fret buzz is gone and it set up with nice buzz free low action.
I was a bit surprised that on a bass of this price that the neck pocket was not cleanly routed (causing the G string to be extremely close to the edge of the finger board).
This one definitely has one of the best tops that I've ever seen! It looks stunning from any angle. Super deep quilt and a some really nice spalted areas too.

To my ears it sounds very similar to the MVP4 and 5's that I owned. Maybe a bit more compressed but you can really hear the clear maple tone.

Here's a pic a sound clip of the bass on one of my older bass orchestra recordings. It sits well in the mix.

IMG-0849.JPG
 

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#3,155
JOME77 said:
Just received a used Pedulla Nuance 5. This is my 5th Pedulla but the first bolt-on neck design. The bass arrived with a terrible setup but after a little work inside the neck pocket and fret leveling it plays really good now. All the fret buzz is gone and it set up with nice buzz free low action.
I was a bit surprised that on a bass of this price that the neck pocket was not cleanly routed (causing the G string to be extremely close to the edge of the finger board).
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Seems odd that a Pedulla would slip through QC with those issues. Normally, I would expect a consistently high standard for fit and finish. Although, I've had to get such work done on inexpensive import instruments, there really should be no need for a fret level and neck pocket adjustment on a Pedulla, especially considering the price.

The Nuance has me somewhat curious. Its body shape is similar to the Rapture, though I gather it doesn't sound much like one. I wonder how much of that has to do with the pickups/placement, and how much is from other factors?
 
#3,156
12bass said:
The Nuance has me somewhat curious. Its body shape is similar to the Rapture, though I gather it doesn't sound much like one. I wonder how much of that has to do with the pickups/placement, and how much is from other factors?
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Never played a Rapture. My Nuance has a very open sound. If I had to compare to any bass that I've owned I would say that it reminds me of one of my MTD 535 basses (tulipwood body and maple neck w/Rosewood finger board).
Now that I've got it playing really well I'll focus a bit more on using the electronics. I owned a Thunderbass 5 around 10 years ago but being primarily a Roscoe kind of guy, I didn't keep it very long (and didn't get around to varying the internal mid-range trim pots). Any preferred settings that you Pedualla guys really like in that area (or is it just a matter of experimenting with them to see what you like best)?

Here's another recording of the Nuance using a pick. It's an original sound track with a very simple bass line but it demo's the sound of the bass. When I get in a new bass I always like to record it on songs with other basses that I own (or owned) to get an idea of how it compares.
 

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#3,157
I experimented with the mid trim pots in my Pentabuzz a bit. Of course, I took note of where the starting points were so I could get back to “stock” in case I got things really wonky, which I did lol. I actually really like the standard BOOST position were it started so after fiddling a bit, I set it back to normal. The CUT position however was just too scooped for me so I adjusted the frequency up a bit and presto. Nice slightly scooped sound but it a bit more punch.

I love the shape of the Nuance and the top on yours is gorgeous. Was it a new build from Mike did you purchase it from a retailer?
 
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#3,159
[QUOTE="Element Zero, post: 21352773, member: 301272”]

I love the shape of the Nuance and the top on yours is gorgeous. Was it a new build from Mike did you purchase it from a retailer?[/QUOTE]

Thanks.
I got it used from a TB’er
 
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#3,160
JOME77 said:
Never played a Rapture. My Nuance has a very open sound. If I had to compare to any bass that I've owned I would say that it reminds me of one of my MTD 535 basses (tulipwood body and maple neck w/Rosewood finger board).
Now that I've got it playing really well I'll focus a bit more on using the electronics. I owned a Thunderbass 5 around 10 years ago but being primarily a Roscoe kind of guy, I didn't keep it very long (and didn't get around to varying the internal mid-range trim pots). Any preferred settings that you Pedualla guys really like in that area (or is it just a matter of experimenting with them to see what you like best)?

Here's another recording of the Nuance using a pick. It's an original sound track with a very simple bass line but it demo's the sound of the bass. When I get in a new bass I always like to record it on songs with other basses that I own (or owned) to get an idea of how it compares.
Click to expand...

I love my Nuance 4. It gets a lot of gig duty in my rotating arsenal. I would say that describing it as a "richer/warmer MTD" is pretty accurate. This is not a "warm" bass per se, but among my very clear/accurate basses, it is definitely warmer and more punchy than most. It's pretty balanced, overall.

IMG_8488.jpg
 
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