Ya
Yes, sure the fanned fret system on a custom shop bass would be of interest to me!
I few years ago (2? 3? I think it was after summer NAMM) I spoke to Chris via phone and asked about higher spec hybrids and he seemed interested. I gather from your words that focus has tightened internally and that may not be possible any longer. I def understand the scientifically backed position you allude to. I've just really enjoyed the tonal palled the hybrid affords. I like the woody mixed with (stingrayish) growl I can get. However, when I'm providing studio work, man the Lightwave system alone (on my non-hybrids) is just killer!
I did check my current inventory and I have 4 Hybrids (two 5's and two 4's [one tuned BEAD]), and two VL's (5 & 4).
Btw you speak of the Custom Shop. When will that actually be open?
Glad to hear we're still holding down your fretless duties!! That Combustion sure is hard to beat tho! As far as a Fanned Fret Willcox.... we are currently exploring several possibilities, but nothing firm yet. Stay tuned!!
How about just Willcox Custom with the new V2 LightWave pickups and the Novax Fanned Fret System, built by our team in our California Custom shop? Hypothetically, of course. Years ago this was a Technology Company selling basses. Now we're a full-fledged boutique bass builder, offering extremely high-quality instruments in their own right... that also happen to come equipped with the cutting edge evolution in pickups.
While there were a bunch of LightWave / Magnetic Field Pickup "Hybrids" floating around for a time, these are definitely a thing of the past. We have refined Optical Pickup technology (in combination with ICEtone) to the point where the addition of Magnetic Field pickups in the same instrument would only harm the output signal... the only thing traditional pickups would ADD would be EMI & other noise, infrasonic distortion, amplitude limitation, general mud, and 30% less harmonic content.
LightWave Optical Pickups perform the same function as traditional Magnetic Field Pickups, they simply do a much better job of it. In the past people have faulted basses equipped with LightWave systems Optical Pickups for reasons like; it only senses string vibration at a single point, unlike the majority of 2-pickup instruments or, "I can't cop a J-Bass / P-Bass tone with it". Quite right. A Willcox Bass is NOT a J-Bass or a P-Bass, it never will be, and that makes us very happy
Many players who are looking for that "neck pickup sound" or that "P-Bass tone" realize that these sounds have as much or more to do with where on the string you position your right hand and play over as they do the placement of the transducer itself... they just mistakenly attribute it to the pickup itself because they're resting their thumb over it.
Obviously much of this is subjective. Optical pickups are a wide departure from what most players are used to... and like I said we're not for everyone.. just the cool kids ;-). Hhahah seriously though..... the stuff we're working on right now is so exciting It's all I can do to not spill the beans on all of it but suffice to say... we're going to be rewarding our acolytes with some very special stuff very very soon. We are adding new dealers every day so check our website for more info, and watch for the big unveiling of our new website and lots of other cool announcements coming in August!!
In the meantime think of it this way, and Chris Willcox said it best: In terms of amplification, sound reproduction and recording, we’re living in the glory days. Amplifiers have amazing new modeling & profiling capabilities, new topologies and they’re very low noise. Speaker enclosure design for bass is finally reaching maturity and can provide honest full-range / flat-response in a portable format and the world of recording is a whole universe of possibilities….The only thing that hasn’t evolved is the pickups!! They haven't changed one bit since they first put the "Electric" in Electric Basses. When you combine the cleaner, more powerful, more complete signal from Optical Pickups with these other advanced technologies, the possibilities are truly limitless!"
Yes, sure the fanned fret system on a custom shop bass would be of interest to me!
I few years ago (2? 3? I think it was after summer NAMM) I spoke to Chris via phone and asked about higher spec hybrids and he seemed interested. I gather from your words that focus has tightened internally and that may not be possible any longer. I def understand the scientifically backed position you allude to. I've just really enjoyed the tonal palled the hybrid affords. I like the woody mixed with (stingrayish) growl I can get. However, when I'm providing studio work, man the Lightwave system alone (on my non-hybrids) is just killer!
I did check my current inventory and I have 4 Hybrids (two 5's and two 4's [one tuned BEAD]), and two VL's (5 & 4).
Btw you speak of the Custom Shop. When will that actually be open?
