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For the price they are unbeatable (the hellcat ones, the fender ones by labella are ridiculously expensive for some reason)
Be aware that they may not fit in the tuning pegs on your Agile. You may need to ream out the string-holes in the peg for the E and A strings at least. You may also need to file the bridge and neck nut to accommodate the thickness of these strings. The Agile is not made to accept these thicker strings out-of-the-box which personally is a turn-off for me. Hope it works out!
Also, if you have a VI with a trem the LaBellas for the Cat VI might be too short. Not sure....
And then there are the "official" Fender Bass VI strings made by Fender. Even those these stainless rounds have been discontinued there are still plenty floating around on the web and eBay for $23.00 or so. The upside is they are long enough to accommodate the trem which the LaBellas for the Cat aren't. Still MUCH more expensive than the LaBellas for Hellcat VI though. But, if you have a VI with a trem the LaBellas for the Cat VI might be too short.
I just built one last year! One of a kind, like nothing else in the known universe!
Started out with a Danelectro 30" scale neck and attached this to an old NOS Coral Firefly hollowbody I got on E-bay
Used a Rosewood fingerboard, three floating humbucker pickups, an archtop bridge, and a trapeze tailpiece get everything put together.
It sounds really cool but there are somethings I really need to work out with it. Definitely need a better tailpiece and may go with a bigsby. Much easier to ground the strings with as well. I had a tune-o-matic with "roller" pieces but this put the strings much too close together so I am using an ebony bridge now. Probably need to revisit this again too.
Get lots of compliments with it. Has a great tone and I can do lots of "Guitar" stuff on it as well. Probably need to play out with it a little more. This thing might just make me FAMOUS!!!
Started out with a Danelectro 30" scale neck and attached this to an old NOS Coral Firefly hollowbody I got on E-bay
Used a Rosewood fingerboard, three floating humbucker pickups, an archtop bridge, and a trapeze tailpiece get everything put together.
It sounds really cool but there are somethings I really need to work out with it. Definitely need a better tailpiece and may go with a bigsby. Much easier to ground the strings with as well. I had a tune-o-matic with "roller" pieces but this put the strings much too close together so I am using an ebony bridge now. Probably need to revisit this again too.
Get lots of compliments with it. Has a great tone and I can do lots of "Guitar" stuff on it as well. Probably need to play out with it a little more. This thing might just make me FAMOUS!!!
- Feb 24, 2004
- 4,103
- 642
- 68
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Phantom Guitars, Eastwood Guitars
Hey everybody, i was just wondering if 27 inches would be an acceptable scale length to hold up an E-E tuning.
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I understand the nut/tuners may need a little work but would there be enough tension? I had a Hellcat VI for a while and loved it but couldnt justify the price so i sold it to get something i'd use more and have been looking for a cheaper alternative ever since.
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I understand the nut/tuners may need a little work but would there be enough tension? I had a Hellcat VI for a while and loved it but couldnt justify the price so i sold it to get something i'd use more and have been looking for a cheaper alternative ever since.
Hey all,
I've had my Gretsch Jet Baritone for the last half a year, and have persistent problems with it being very low volume output, furthered by the fact that it's impossible on this model to raise the Humbuckers any closer to the strings...anyone else have volume issues with this or anyother Bass VI style instruments? Solutions anyone?
P.S...I'm playing through an Ampeg Combo (if that matters)
Thanks in advance
I've had my Gretsch Jet Baritone for the last half a year, and have persistent problems with it being very low volume output, furthered by the fact that it's impossible on this model to raise the Humbuckers any closer to the strings...anyone else have volume issues with this or anyother Bass VI style instruments? Solutions anyone?
P.S...I'm playing through an Ampeg Combo (if that matters)
Thanks in advance
- Feb 24, 2004
- 4,103
- 642
- 68
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Phantom Guitars, Eastwood Guitars
@jbb, I've owned one for several years without problem. Have you checked the output jack? Is the output level consistently low in all p/u settings?
Generally, people consider that to be too short, resulting in a too floppy E string. Haven't tried it myself, but I suspect that the conventional wisdom is right.
@iamthebassman ...They're all pretty similar, the neck pickup is marginally louder : how would I check the output jack? It's been back to the shop once where they gave it a look over and said it was fine :/ but it still doesn't sound quite right to me 
An observation, after having an Ultra VI for 10 days or so: I do not hate the pickups.
I haven't heard the Ultra through a bass amp yet, so I'm reserving my final opinion, but so far I'd say the Duncan Designed minibuckers sound surprisingly good.
I've been surprised by DDs before: I have a Squier Jag Bass with DDs, and I was fully prepared to replace them with something better... but I don't need to. They sound good. Now, it's possible that it'd sound better with better pickups, but would it sound hundreds of dollars worth of better? I doubt it.
I've certainly experienced terrible pickups before; muddy overwound mudbuckers with cheap ceramic magnets. Which is kind of what I expected from Duncan Designed pickups. And they probably DO have ceramic magnets and WOULD sound nicer with AlNiCo magnets. But they do not suck. If what I'm hearing through my guitar amp on low volume translates to a bass amp at loudish volumes, then the minibuckers are perfectly usable as is.
Of course they sound terrible split; splitting a humbucker doesn't give you a rod-magnet polepiece single-coil sound, it gives you half a bar-magnet humbucker. If you don't understand the difference between magnetic rods and bar magnets, you shouldn't be talking about pickups.
Really the worst thing about the internet is that people read someone else's opinion and take it as fact. And the worst thing about guitar/bass forums is that people repeat the same factoids to each other endlessly without any attempt at critical analysis. So there's another opinion for you, if you're considering buying an Ultra: the pickups don't suck, are usable, and may in fact be pretty good.
I haven't heard the Ultra through a bass amp yet, so I'm reserving my final opinion, but so far I'd say the Duncan Designed minibuckers sound surprisingly good.
I've been surprised by DDs before: I have a Squier Jag Bass with DDs, and I was fully prepared to replace them with something better... but I don't need to. They sound good. Now, it's possible that it'd sound better with better pickups, but would it sound hundreds of dollars worth of better? I doubt it.
I've certainly experienced terrible pickups before; muddy overwound mudbuckers with cheap ceramic magnets. Which is kind of what I expected from Duncan Designed pickups. And they probably DO have ceramic magnets and WOULD sound nicer with AlNiCo magnets. But they do not suck. If what I'm hearing through my guitar amp on low volume translates to a bass amp at loudish volumes, then the minibuckers are perfectly usable as is.
Of course they sound terrible split; splitting a humbucker doesn't give you a rod-magnet polepiece single-coil sound, it gives you half a bar-magnet humbucker. If you don't understand the difference between magnetic rods and bar magnets, you shouldn't be talking about pickups.
Really the worst thing about the internet is that people read someone else's opinion and take it as fact. And the worst thing about guitar/bass forums is that people repeat the same factoids to each other endlessly without any attempt at critical analysis. So there's another opinion for you, if you're considering buying an Ultra: the pickups don't suck, are usable, and may in fact be pretty good.
Great point. That caveat goes for ALL opinions, yours, mine, etc..............
With instruments hearing is believing. Nothing is better than hearing any instrument through your own rig in your playing space, home, etc. at your leisure.
We should share opinions BUT readers should take and interpret them for what they are...opinions. Nothing more and nothing less.
BTW: I happen to disagree with your opinion about the DD pups. To my ears the sound (at least on my first generation HCVI) is muddy, underpowered and not at all well-defined. It was one of the major reasons I upgraded to the new HCVI model with the genuine Duncan single-coil Jag pups. Has the sound I was looking for. But, that's all that it is. My personal opinion. YMMV...
Agreed. And I might still end up wanting to replace the DDs when I've had a chance to fully evaluate them.
My only point was that I'm all-too-familiar with terrible pickups, and the DDs are not terrible. The may be unsuitable for some users and some tastes, but they're not rubbish.
EDIT: The DDs on the Ultra are different to the ones on the older Hellcats, so it's possible that the ones you tried really do suck, and the ones I'm trying really don't.
bongomania
Commercial User
Did you have this bass FS on Ebay not so long ago? I think I recall seeing a Dano neck on a Coral body there recently. Unless maybe that was the auction where you bought the Coral body, and it was just pictured there with a Dano neck or similar?
Anyway, it looked cool. Can you post pics of yours?
So I bought the first one of these that showed up on ebay. It sounds fantastic. The P-90s are incredibly dynamic and touch sensitive. It can sound clear and ringing or nice and grinding depending on your attack. It sounds like a bass too. It's not thin and whimpy in any way. It has much more low end authority than the Jerry Jones Longhorn VI I previously owned. The fit and finish, for the most part, is very good. Nice smooth fret job. I say for the most part because mine came with a badly cut nut. I just dropped it off to have it replaced and yes Eastwood is covering all my costs. But the tone is great, really great, full strong and punchy. For reference I am playing it through a WalkAbout and Berg AE210.
It came with rounds. I don't know the gauge though. They seemed beefier than I remember the D'addario Jerry Jones set being. They had red silk ends. They sound and felt very good. They felt like bass strings not baritone guitar strings. I sent an email to Eastwood asking what they are. I'll post it after they get back to me.
