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Translucent Bass, Dan Armstrong style?

S

somesmerized

Aug 22, 2006
17
0
#1
I am dreaming about getting myself, or building a Bass Guitar, with a Translucent body. I would love a Jazz Bass style translucent body with a beautiful Idian Rosewood neck...:hyper: But I don't even know if Translucent JB bodies exist... Plus I'm left-handed. Anyone heard or owns a Translucent bass guitar?

Please share your experience, ideas, opinions, etc...
 
#6
somesmerized said:
I am dreaming about getting myself, or building a Bass Guitar, with a Translucent body. I would love a Jazz Bass style translucent body with a beautiful Idian Rosewood neck...:hyper: But I don't even know if Translucent JB bodies exist... Plus I'm left-handed. Anyone heard or owns a Translucent bass guitar?

Please share your experience, ideas, opinions, etc...
Click to expand...

I think I saw something like that listed on:
www.bassalone.com
 
#8
Here's a previous thread on plastic/acrylic bodies:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46831

The Dan Armstrong basses were made from Polymethyl Methacrylate (aka Acrylic glass, Acrylite, Plexiglass, Perspex, Lucite). Ampeg marketed it as Lucite. It's very dense and accordingly, very heavy. Some people like the Dan Armstrong's enough to use one as their main bass. I've played an old one and a new one and I was quite surprised at how good they sounded. The older one definitely had a mojo about it and the new one wasn't bad either for being brand new and right out of the box.

To have a luthier make you a J-shaped body from acrylic is probably not going to be cheap. There are many hobbyists who have attempted to make the body themselves, too. Ampeg could make many units at a time while many luthier's and subcontractors often don't even have the capabilities to make one. I suppose one of the reasons why they're not very popular is because of their low consumer demand. Not many people are rushing to their local GC to get a J-style acrylic bass! :D

Perhaps the most well-known of all acrylic instruments are Ludwig's Vistalite kits. The material has since become wildly successful in the drum world. It's highly regarded for its stability and tone.
 
#11
there are plenty of them on US ebay at any given time also, they all appear to be made in the same factory, with a different name on the headstock (galveston, grand, etc)...just search on "Link Removed" or similar, probably even turn up a lefty version if you are lucky
 
#12
somesmerized said:
I am dreaming about getting myself, or building a Bass Guitar, with a Translucent body. I would love a Jazz Bass style translucent body with a beautiful Idian Rosewood neck...:hyper: But I don't even know if Translucent JB bodies exist... Plus I'm left-handed. Anyone heard or owns a Translucent bass guitar?

Please share your experience, ideas, opinions, etc...
Click to expand...

Mesm ...

Search this forum under "acrylic" as I have started and responded to a couple of threads abour clear bases. What I've learned is that there are some which do STAY IN TUNE:) and some which are relatively LIGHT:) . Ebay seemingly always has a few for less than $175.

chuckee:bassist:
 
#13
VintageBT6Lover said:
Perhaps the most well-known of all acrylic instruments are Ludwig's Vistalite kits. The material has since become wildly successful in the drum world. It's highly regarded for its stability and tone.
Click to expand...
As a drummer, my impression was that the only things they are highly regarded for are loudness, kool looks, and association with John Bonham. They crack and scratch easily, and are less temperature-stable than multi-ply wood. And the material is far from "wildly successful"; only a tiny fraction of the specialty market buys/sells acrylic drums. But that doesn't mean I would kick a nice acrylic set out of bed...
 
#14
Re: acrylic drum kits:

Actually they were popular back in the day, but then they disappeared for a long time. It's only very recently that some makers have brought back acrylic kits.

I played one in my drum gigging days half a lifetime ago. Good kits, but not great, and prone to cracking.
 
#15
bongomania said:
As a drummer, my impression was that the only things they are highly regarded for are loudness, kool looks, and association with John Bonham. They crack and scratch easily, and are less temperature-stable than multi-ply wood. And the material is far from "wildly successful"; only a tiny fraction of the specialty market buys/sells acrylic drums. But that doesn't mean I would kick a nice acrylic set out of bed...
Click to expand...
Well acrylic drums being regarded for their loudness, kool looks and their association with Bonham I think USED to be the case. Ludwig used to be the only maker of acrylic drums and I said that acrylics were becoming "wildy successful" only because now there's more than a dozen makers who specialize in them. There are perhaps another half dozen that offer acrylics in addition to their normal wooden shells. This is definitely not the trend with stringed instruments.

IME, there is a larger percentage of players using acrylic kits now. In the Lawrence, KS and KC area, I know about ten guys that have Zickos kits. Again, that's just my observation. You're right, though. They still make up only a small fraction of the overall market and they ARE prone to scratching and cracking. My comment on stability was directed more towards the fact that it can be successfully used as a shell material and less about the long-term environmental effects.
 
#20
Do you mean "transparent" or translucent. Transparent is totally clear, and translucent is not clear, but will allow light to pass through. I purchased a transparent 5 string from ebay. The manufacturer is Grand. The bass arrived in a box with gig bag, strap, cable, and other goodies for $199.00 SHIPPED!! The bass has 2 J style pickups. One of them was garbage and kept cutting out. I purchased a set of Bartolini's and installed them. I am very pleased now, for a cheap bass. I keep this one at practice so I can ride my motorcycle to band practice. The weight and balance of mine is just fine. I really like the tone of it too. The acrylic body is very dense and seems to have wonderful tonal characteristics. These basses are a lot of bang for the buck.
 

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