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Double Bass What EUB is Kevin Axt playing in this picture?

#10
I saw this post and thought I should weigh in. It’s actually a custom made instrument by Randy Landas, a fine local bassist here in LA. That thing has been through a lot. I cracked the peg box off the neck about 20 minutes before a gig at Dizzy’s in NYC when someone accidentally knocked it out of my hand. I did an emergency fix with long wood screws and some glue and somehow it held together for 90 minutes. It has/had piezo pickups and used to have an active preamp with 3 band EQ but after a Swissair flight to who knows where (I don’t remember) it came off the flight with the controls caved in and the circuit board in pieces. A good friend and bassist helped me out by wiring the piezos directly to the output jack and it’s been a passive bass ever since. Here’s where you guys might help me out! The piezos gradually died due to the rigors of travel and I rigged up a conventional bass bridge with a Fishman Full Circle installed in it (and the Fishman Platinum EQ in the chain) as a temporary fix but I miss the piezos. Anyone out there who could recommend a good source for those little square wafer style piezos? Thanks!
 
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#11
Kevin Axt said:
I saw this post and thought I should weigh in. It’s actually a custom made instrument by Randy Landas, a fine local bassist here in LA. That thing has been through a lot. I cracked the peg box off the neck about 20 minutes before a gig at Dizzy’s in NYC when someone accidentally knocked it out of my hand. I did an emergency fix with long wood screws and some glue and somehow it held together for 90 minutes. It has/had piezo pickups and used to have an active preamp with 3 band EQ but after a Swissair flight to who knows where (I don’t remember) it came off the flight with the controls caved in and the circuit board in pieces. A good friend and bassist helped me out by wiring the piezos directly to the output jack and it’s been a passive bass ever since. Here’s where you guys might help me out! The piezos gradually died due to the rigors of travel and I rigged up a conventional bass bridge with a Fishman Full Circle installed in it (and the Fishman Platinum EQ in the chain) as a temporary fix but I miss the piezos. Anyone out there who could recommend a good source for those little square wafer style piezos? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the Fishman piezo that you clip to the front of the bridge or the Underwood that you kind of force-fit into the bridge wings?
 
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#12
BobDeRosa said:
Are you talking about the Underwood-style pickups that you clip to the front of the bridge?
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No, these were hand-wound piezos. They were maybe maybe 1/2” square and 1/8th” thick, roughly. They were installed parallel to each string at the top of the bridge into a diagonal slot. Kind of like little 1/2 size Underwood pickups, but there are 4 of them next to the strings as described, rather than the legs of the bridge.
 
#13
Greetings from Chico CA Kevin…your old stomping grounds! I still have the vinyl lp you did with Charlie Robinson and Lew Langworthy when you were here. Charlie celebrated his 88th bday last week. I hope all is well and you’re playing your ass off!

just another Chico bassist.
 
#14
Kevin Axt said:
No, these were hand-wound piezos. They were maybe maybe 1/2” square and 1/8th” thick, roughly. They were installed parallel to each string at the top of the bridge into a diagonal slot. Kind of like little 1/2 size Underwood pickups, but there are 4 of them next to the strings as described, rather than the legs of the bridge.
Click to expand...

Hi Kevin, I apologize that I can't answer your question specifically but I can suggest that you contact Rufus Reid who has a similar setup on his bridge, with individual sensors under or very near each string. I'm sorry that I don't know what the sensors are, but know for certain that they were made custom and sound very good in performance.
Best of luck to you and love your playing!
 
#15
Hey Tom, thanks for the suggestion and thanks for the kind words! Yes, I know it’s kind of tricky trying to find these things. The obvious solution would be to have Randy Landas, the builder track some new ones down, but the guy who custom-made these for him up in the Bay Area hasn’t made them for years. I’m new to this forum but I’m sure impressed by how quick and helpful the members here seem to be! Hope I can offer something to y’all in return.
 
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#16
bassjack51 said:
Greetings from Chico CA Kevin…your old stomping grounds! I still have the vinyl lp you did with Charlie Robinson and Lew Langworthy when you were here. Charlie celebrated his 88th bday last week. I hope all is well and you’re playing your ass off!

just another Chico bassist.
Click to expand...
You gotta have a name other than “just another Chico bassist!” ;-) My Chico years were just about the best of my life. I loved it up there and playing with Charlie and Llew was the best crash course I could have had in learning to be a musician. Believe it or not, we were also the rhythm section for Stew Stewart’s country western club on the north side of town and we played there 5 nights a week! Those guys could play anything and they played it the way it should be played (and made sure that I did too!) Great to hear from you. I sure hope I get to come back up there some day.
 
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#17
Kevin Axt said:
No, these were hand-wound piezos. They were maybe maybe 1/2” square and 1/8th” thick, roughly. They were installed parallel to each string at the top of the bridge into a diagonal slot. Kind of like little 1/2 size Underwood pickups, but there are 4 of them next to the strings as described, rather than the legs of the bridge.
Click to expand...

Maybe Barbera? Someone in this thread mentioned Rufus Reid and he's listed as a user.
Upright bass pickups, acoustic bass pickups, double bass pickups and upright bass transducers by Barbera Transducer Systems
 
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