I just spent a few hours getting my brother-in-law’s Gecko fretless 5-string bass back into shape. It was a rewarding effort, since we solved some issues that had been bothering him for some time. Continue for more details.
Adjustments
May 5th, 2010Carvin pickups
April 24th, 2010I’m pleased (and a bit surprised, actually) to report that Carvin’s newest “H50AS” stacked-coil humbucking soapbar-shaped pickup works amazingly well in the traditional “neck” position, at least on a Gecko 5-string fretless bass. I tried one today and I was very happy with its upper-midrange and treble detail. I had tried these pickups previously in the “bridge” position and found them to be overly aggressive and brash, but those qualities seem to work well in the “neck” position. (Perhaps this would be a great candidate for a single-pickup “P” style bass?)
Egads! (part deux)
April 21st, 2010Let’s see now. Where were we? Oh yes, I was recounting all I had done in the past two weeks. I shall continue.
Egads!
April 19th, 2010It’s been a busy 2 weeks since I last posted anything. Here’s what’s been happening:
Neck pickups (part 2)
April 5th, 2010This is an update from my previous post. Read the rest of this entry »
New Gecko neck, maple with wenge
April 3rd, 2010My latest fretless Gecko neck arrived this week. It is made of Maple (yes, that’s right, I ordered a Maple neck!) with a beautiful Wenge fingerboard. Read the rest of this entry »
Neck pickups (part 1)
March 16th, 2010The more I use the traditional “neck” pickup location on a fretless bass, the less I like the sound. It just isn’t working for me. As I’ve been trying several brands of pickups over the past few years, I’ve learned that they all have different sounds, but the “neck” pickup location just doesn’t have enough of the rich midrange that I’ve come to expect on a fretless bass.
I’m finding the tone of the new “sweet spot” location to be far better for my tastes. However, I’ve now got at least 5 fretless Gecko basses which have a neck pickup (among others) and I’m not sure than I’m happy with them.
What to do? Should I sell some of these Gecko bodies and replace them with new ones with better pickup locations for my needs?
One more project completed…
March 13th, 2010As of now, the all-Purpleheart neck is now attached to the Black Korina body, with two P2 pickups in custom locations. (Refer to earlier posts for more details.) It sounds wonderful. Nice punchy midrange, warm fundamentals, and lots of upper-mid details. Moving the neck pickup to the “sweet spot” does wonders for a fretless bass. Read the rest of this entry »
Guitar Center
March 11th, 2010In an uncharacteristic move (for me) I visited the local Guitar Center this past weekend, just out of curiosity, to see what they had in the bass section.
It was really pitiful. Most of the basses there were cheap Squier 4-string models, and everything else was way overpriced (Music Man) or just plain bad-looking (Ibanez).
The amp selection was pretty paltry too. In years past they had several stacks of SWR rigs, but now all they seemed to have was some cheaper MarkBass models and a few other things here and there.
Maybe all the “good stuff” was hidden in a secret “bass room” that I didn’t see, but what I did see was pretty pathetic.
Meh.
Fortress
February 24th, 2010Check out this Warwick Fortress “Masterman” fretless bass.
I’m not usually interested in 4-string basses, but this one is an exception.