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The prettiest bass I've ever seen - NBD

#46
dkelley said:
I'd have a bridge j as well
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Now it's a bridge J! Haha! That li'l switch lets me select either top or bottom or both coils. But you're right... it's not 100% J that way... like 85%.
 
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#47
musicman556 said:
Now it's a bridge J! Haha! That li'l switch lets me select either top or bottom or both coils. But you're right... it's not 100% J that way... like 85%.
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Yea that's very cool. Just me.. I have never gotten the brightness I wanted for certain jazz fusion and solo work without a true bridge pickup. I'd actually choose PMmP to be honest.

But if those pickups are as great as you say, might be perfect how it is!
 
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#48
musicman556 said:
Yea, I'm a bit partial, I guess! This is the first bass I've ever had built, rather than just buying something that was already hanging on a wall somewhere. I have been a fan of Brian's basses at The LowEnd Bass Shop for over a decade, and last year finally pulled the trigger on having one made. I present to you, my LEJ5 Exotic MManP!

It's exactly what I wanted, and better than I expected! I met Brian yesterday afternoon to pick it up and I am still floored... I forget what the measurement was, but we went with a narrower nut than normal, because I have some reach issues with my left hand from shattering my elbow as a teenager. The narrower spacing at the nut allows me a much easier reach to the low C, C#/Db, D range, and we left the bridge spacing at the normal 19mm I believe. The pickups are made by Howard Ulyate, and as you can see we went with the Musicman/P setup. The Stingray pup is in the correct Musicman location, unlike in a Lakland. I really like the controls of my Skyline 55-02 so we copied that control configuration, and added a pull pot on the mid tone knob to allow bypassing the mid tone circuit, so you can get a 2 band eq option as well.

The body is ash with that gorgeous flame maple top, and the neck is a 5 piece, maple and purple heart, bound with pearl and sporting block inlays in the flame maple fretboard. My favorite color is blue, and I love bursts... this aquaburst came out even better than what I had pictured in my head! Just stunning.

I played for about 3 hours last night, and just kept loving it more and more. Brian's setups are fantastic, and it was exactly as I'd want it. Nice low action but not to the point of buzzy, and intonation is bang on. That low B is just FANTASTIC! This is a 34" scale it easily shames my 35" Lakland. Also, the evenness in response across strings is so much better than any other bass I've had. I can focus less on WHERE I'm playing, and more on WHAT I'm playing, if that makes sense. Speaking of where I'm playing... on my Lakland I was always kind of hopping between anchoring on the humbucker or jumping up to the single coil, and often I wasn't happy with either location. On my single pup Stingray you are either on the bucker or not, lol! 90% of the time it's just right, except when you want those softer, fat and round notes with less attack. Well, having this MmanP configuration is just perfect! I never really found myself having to think about where I was anchoring... I just naturally landed in the right place all the time, getting the attack I was looking for without pressure or forethought.

and MAN! Those electronics! Hats off to Howard for some killer pups! And Brian's preamp is just great. TONS of headroom... adding attack doesn't ever seem to get into limiting/crushing tone. Some other basses I've had just seem to get farty/boxy with too much aggression, but that doesn't happen here. I'm not talking about amp/cab giving up. I was playing at home at low volumes through a nice rig with a Heritage SVT 410 cab. This bass just gives you what you want, without putting the brakes on your fun when you get a little too rowdy! The 3 band EQ has a LOT of range! "A little dab'll do ya!" as they say!

I'm sure I'll come up with more to rattle on about later, but I should get back to work. (lunch break was over a few mins ago, haha!)

Let me stop for now with this thought... if you've ever wanted a bass built, and thought about talking to Brian about it but haven't gone through with it for whatever reason... call him! I spent 4x as much as I ever have on an instrument before and I am completely happy. I can't recommend his work, or HIM, enough. Great guy to deal with, and willing to put up with my indecision and help me to make the best decision for what I was wanting out of a bass. (Not what HE wanted, what I wanted... he just knows how to ask the right questions to help you make the right decisions!)View attachment 3585290 View attachment 3585291 View attachment 3585292 View attachment 3585293 View attachment 3585294
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Sweeter than Sweet!
 
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#49
Low84 said:
I definitely don't mean to hijack musicman556's thread... but I merely wanted to give kudos to someone else who went the P/Hum route instead of the P/J route. Way to go, dude! Yeah, in my opinion, a humbucker (or more powerful pickup) in the bridge that matches up better with the P and even stand on its own is a waaaaaaaay better option. Jazz Bass pickups in the bridge have a tendency to be thin and easily get overpowered by the usual P pickup. An isolated J-Bass pickup in the bridge position simply isn't an option for my tastes for any style of music.

Monterey Bay-ss -- the humbucker pickup in this bass is in the exact Music Man position.. and the P pickup is 3/16 of an inch closer to the neck versus a standard P. Yes, you're spot-on -- a P pickup that's this much closer to the neck still very much sounds like a P-Bass. That bass does the P and Music Man sounds wonderfully. What I dig most is the humbucker (a Nordstrand BigSplitMan) can go from parallel to single-coil (bridge coil only) to series... and with the onboard pan control, the options abundant. The bridge coil alone (basically a Nordy Big Split) sounds full and awesome... not at all wimpy... and combining it (or both coils) with the P is heavenly. If you're considering a P/Hum, I say go for it!
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Right on—thank you, and congratulations again to both of you.
 
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#51
musicman556 said:
The pickups are made by Howard Ulyate, and as you can see we went with the Musicman/P setup. The Stingray pup is in the correct Musicman location, unlike in a Lakland.
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Beautiful instrument, congrats.

So since the MM is in the correct location, is the P in the correct location? If not, why did you choose it that way? If so, is it really exactly next to the MM pickup like that?

BTW, MM/P is my favorite configuration so that's why Im asking.
 
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#52
SgtHulka said:
Beautiful instrument, congrats.

So since the MM is in the correct location, is the P in the correct location? If not, why did you choose it that way? If so, is it really exactly next to the MM pickup like that?

BTW, MM/P is my favorite configuration so that's why Im asking.
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I think @Low84 has your answer a few replies up …
 
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