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The Reverend Club (part 8)

#3,341
John Stephen said:
For you Wattplower owners, how well does it hang on a strap, given that the strap button is on the back of the bass rather than on the horn? Does it tend to fall away from you?
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Ex-Wattplower owner. Part of the reason I sold it was because I did not like how it balanced for me, but I am very picky. It doesn't dive, but it certainly dips to the left, even after installing a strap button on the horn instead of behind the heel. I could not use the button behind the heel whatsoever. I don't hang my bass low so it was never gonna work for me. It definitely hung away from me using the stock heel position.

When you look at videos of Watt playing, it all makes sense though. Years of playing non-reverse Thunderbirds and Gibson basses made Watt adjust by hanging the strap in a way where the body is down low and the neck is up high so that the hands aren't fighting the neck as much, but this is not my way of playing. I'll have to wait to deserve a signature of my own ;)
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For what it's worth, the Sentinel is my preferred Reverend short scale. I foolishly sold my last one and hope to get another soon. It is perfectly balanced on the knee and strap, very versatile with the 3-way tone switch (and by virtue of having a p pickup in the p position), incredibly light, and looks incredible. Only mark against it is the width of the board and bridge spacing - 42mm / 1.653" nut width and 19mm bridge spacing.
 
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#3,342
Thanks Eric, that is good to know. I'm with you, I've tried hanging basses low and the neck pointing upward like the photo of Mike Watt, and I don't find it too comfortable. I think that's how Bill Wyman played as well. It doesn't work for me very well.

EDIT; Oops, I just saw the last part of your post, below the photo. Yes, I've thought about the Sentinel as well. I've got a Reverend 34" scale bass ( the Raymond, which they now call something else). The only thing I don't like about it (it's really a great bass) is the very short lower horn, which sometimes makes it slide off my knee, off to the right, when I play sitting down. Looks like the Sentinel has that same very short lower horn.
 
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#3,343
FunkyFlashFive said:
The Pickguard vs no is the biggest visual difference old to new other than the colors that have come and gone and the block inlays vs dots, but for comfort, the newer ones have a forearm cut where my old one doesn't. If I was buying today I'd try to get one with the cut, as the bound body edge is a little sharp and I've even considered getting a banjo style armrest for it like the one on my BH5.
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Thank you! Am I right in assuming the FM models are older than the periwinkle and midnight black models?
 
#3,344
DDR said:
Thank you! Am I right in assuming the FM models are older than the periwinkle and midnight black models?
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I'm not sure of the exact order of color release, but as far as I recall, there's been at least one FM and one solid color at all times, but what colors those were has changed a fair bit. And even within a single color name there have been changes, as my old violin brown FM has little in common with the Violin brown FM currently on reverb. For example, mine has bound and block rosewood board, black headstock, black back and side of the body, and is a much lighter and less red shade of tint to the flame maple. The more recent one has a maple board with dots, no pickguard, redish-brown stained back and sides, hipshot tuners, and a forearm cut.
 
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#3,348
Put new strings on my Decision P (love experimenting with strings) and noticed there's a seriously lack of sustain on my 3rd fret E string, and 6th fret G string... so weird. Seems to be less noticeable when I add some relief, but still. Never noticed it before.
 
#3,350
I just tried the Wattplower I (for about the third time) in one of my local guitar shops. I liked everything about it except for the tone control. It acted as a volume control. So in effect the bass had two volume controls and no tone control. Odd.
 
#3,351
John Stephen said:
I just tried the Wattplower I (for about the third time) in one of my local guitar shops. I liked everything about it except for the tone control. It acted as a volume control. So in effect the bass had two volume controls and no tone control. Odd.
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That is abnormal. I owned a Wattplower MK I and the tone worked just as one would expect:

 
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#3,353
John Stephen said:
Right, I figured it's an aberration. Some weird miswiring or something. In all other ways it was very, very nice. And it might just about fit in one of my electric guitar gig bags.
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It's an easy fix whatever it is, so rest assured if you wanna pursue it. They do fit in some guitar cases. I used a Gator ProGo with the bottom support taken out. You should just get the soft case Reverend makes for it though; best value all around.
 
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#3,356
ericplaysbass said:
...For what it's worth, the Sentinel is my preferred Reverend short scale. I foolishly sold my last one and hope to get another soon. It is perfectly balanced on the knee and strap, very versatile with the 3-way tone switch (and by virtue of having a p pickup in the p position), incredibly light, and looks incredible. Only mark against it is the width of the board and bridge spacing - 42mm / 1.653" nut width and 19mm bridge spacing.
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Eric, going back to this comment of yours, when you say you don't like the 42mm width of the nut, is that because it's too narrow, or too wide for you?
 
#3,357
Deleted member 268085 said:
I decided on the Root Beer Sparkle after seeing your video review of it. It's even more gorgeous in person. Yes, it hangs forward a bit like an SG, and does have a bit of neck dive, but it is a lot of fun to play.
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That's really cool - thank you! Glad ya dig it.
John Stephen said:
Eric, going back to this comment of yours, when you say you don't like the 42mm width of the nut, is that because it's too narrow, or too wide for you?
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Too wide for me. I'm a j bass nut width guy. The sentinel has a wide flat feel because of the nut width.
 
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