Guitars... what you've got / what you want

How did the person who did the conversion to 5 string even think it was going to work? The outer strings wouldn't even have been playable past the 5th fret and the sound from the pickups would have been garbage.

Well, it worked fine in mechanical terms - five slot nut, five saddle bridge, thick string tuned to low B. Spacing between the strings would have been 3/4 the P bass spacing, so just a little tighter than a J bass, altho the strings were sitting pretty close to the edge. I bet the pickup wouldn't have been great but it would have been OK - I mean Musicmaster basses used a 6-pole pickup for 4 strings, and this was 8 poles for 5 strings. It had been played a lot so I'm sure it was perfectly functional.

I am 100% supportive of the standard for 4-string bass being BEAD

If you’re playing the G string, why aren’t you just playing guitar? (Actual heroes like Mike Watt exempt from this)

i don't understand that at all tbh

For me a low B is unplayably floppy unless it's on a very well-thought-out instrument - scale length, string gauge, bridge, saddles, string spacing, etc. It is not something to trifle with. Only the gods of bass should be messing about with those frequencies. It is not an area for dabblers and DIYers.

The lowest note on your instrument is the strongest possible statement. If it's not a really focused and intentional statement, you will struggle to be coherent in that register. imo.

But because I don't really have anything below the low E in my musical vocabulary, I'm probably the wrong person to opine on this.

i think it would be intriguing to try it out, but i have 35 years of accumulated muscle memory and reflexes i'm not going to take the time to unlearn them now. like there are 12 notes in a scale and I know where to find them on regular tuning.

also my current band is a lot of improv and it's helpful to be able to look at the guitarists' hands if they are sudden switching to a new root and just know that that same note is in the same place on my bass, i think using an alt tuning would make that really hard.

drop D i find useful in some cases but i've never really gotten a handle on low B when i've tried five strings, have thought about getting one of those hipshot drop d lever tuners on the E.

ums, hah, I had this exact experience (trying to read hands, failing because of an unexpected tuning) just last week.

It was something that we hadn't rehearsed and I was all like, "nah, you'll be fine, it's just a blues," bla y bla. When the tune started I could tell that something was wrong, couldn't tell what. So I just got out of the situation as quickly as possible and went on to something that we both knew.

Later, it turned out to be shared fuckuppery: I had been too confident that he'd pick it up. He had forgotten to retune after the previous song. Hence, trainwreck.

Fortunately it was just our normal bar where we play all the time and it was forgiven.

“you are witnesses to the birth … of a new Spinal Tap”

some cool guitars in this thread, pity they are all obsolete now

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXEfClYMXtO/?utm_medium=share_sheet

I've always admired his Ibanez JEMs (the ones with the splatter-paint or flower designs and "monkey grip"). This is depressing. I do like the weird fretwork though.

xp Steve Vai looking like a cross between Tiger King and John McAfee.

my daughter (11) has expressed some interest in playing guitar so i ordered her a stratocaster mini, gets pretty good reviews, i'll have my buddy's shop set it up, hope she gets into it :)

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/squier-mini-stratocaster-maple-fingerboard-limited-edition-electric-guitar/l70498000001000?cntry=US&cur=USD&utm_content=L70498000001000--Squier+Mini+Stratocaster+Maple+Fingerboard+Limited+Edition+Electric+Guitar+Olympic+White&source=3WWRWXGS&gclid=CjwKCAiA78aNBhAlEiwA7B76p6rOIKpzOa4DkoP49e0XIYOqV_PHSAletP3w8rj_S07nF-uciImTEhoCCK0QAvD_BwE

(there was local one on craigslist but she doesn't like pink)

not guitars but I just bought my 7 year old a set of electronic drums for christmas which honestly I'm pretty excited about playing with at some point

those are such a godsend for parents

those squier minis are super fun. hopefully she digs it and sticks with it.

she's been taking violin for a couple years so that should help in terms of picking it up, she's been messing around with my guitars more lately, kids love tremolo bars

so fun! i really hope she likes it.

Heck yes! Rivolta just announced a line without those stupid edge-to-edge fingerboard inlays. Now I can start saving up for one.

https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/rivolta-mondo-combinata

May be trading my strat toward a really nice 84 MIJ tele tomorrow. Friend's shop is selling it.

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--tUcJyKd7--/f_auto,t_supersize/v1639339458/dh32gsez7z83bzv8n7xh.jpg

xp wow the rivolta with dots looks a million times better

btw anyone want to talk me into or out of buying an early 80s ibanez artist?

Ooh but it's weird to see the controls flipped xps

I just picked up a 1978 Greco Mercury Bass (PB600, P bass clone) with a maple neck. It's lived a life! Feels and sounds amazing, and the thing is almost as old as I am.

Oops — 1979, not '78.

Ooh but it's weird to see the controls flipped xps

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, December 20, 2021 12:00 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I really don't play guitar anymore, but I was always smashing that pickup collector while strumming. If I ever start back up again, I plan to do this mod.

pickup selector

xps wait *I* just bought a 70s Greco bass! Mine’s a jazz and rosewood but I don’t have it in hand yet. You literally can’t go wrong with 70s Greco unless time has exposed e.g. a warp in the neck.

also man alive that is a rare bird, I have been collecting MIJ Fender for 10 years and I’ve never seen an 84 Custom Tele in person or online. I actually thought they started about 1986. Stores and trustworthy folks alike make errors with 80s MIJ dating, so I hope you get to see a neck date - Tele bridges with an A serial number (often claimed to be 84 / 85) were used from 84 to 2010 at least. I’m happy to help if you need!

xps wait *I* just bought a 70s Greco bass! Mine’s a jazz and rosewood but I don’t have it in hand yet. You literally can’t go wrong with 70s Greco unless time has exposed e.g. a warp in the neck.

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, December 20, 2021 1:36 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I didn't mean to buy it — I wanted a P bass and thought I wanted Fender on the headstock. I tried about a dozen different basses (MIJ, MIM, MIA, some Squiers, a Yamaha) and the Greco just felt and sounded better, more soulful or something. It's only when I got home and read up on it that I discovered that Grecos from the late '70s have a stellar reputation. So good, in fact, that Fender bought them out to build MIJ Fenders in their factory.

bound Telecasters are generally pretty attractive, that one is pretty striking

but

I would not trade my favorite Stratocaster for even the nicest Tele

like

If I allow myself two electrics (and I generally do), a Strat will be primary and a Tele will be the backup

boo, Teles rule

btw anyone want to talk me into or out of buying an early 80s ibanez artist?

― call all destroyer, Monday, December 20, 2021 12:00 PM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

to be more specific, this guy has really struck my fancy: https://reverb.com/item/48138361-1982-ibanez-artist-ar-300-antique-violin-sunburst-100-original-w-case-paperwork

I’ve only heard good thing/ about those late 70s-early80s Ibanez but never had a chance to play one. They look incredible tho.

yeah, they really strike the balance between classic les paul design and those weird 70s garcia-style guitars that have become trendy again. i'm trying to decide what to add to the collection and this seems more appealing than just a solid MIJ les paul copy

xp wow the rivolta with dots looks a million times better

Yeah, I'm hoping they continue the range with further releases, but right now they're all humbuckers :(

I picked up my stratocaster the other day for the first time in ages (every string was flat EXCEPT the G which is the total opposite of every other guitar). I appreciated it's unique sound and all but the ergonomics just feel really uncomfortable and awkward to me. Telecaster is big and blunt and square and dumb and I love it.

As someone who always plays while seated, I really appreciate the way the upper-body contour on the Stratocaster's back allows me to lean in towards the strings.

The Jazzmaster ruined me for all other guitars (Jag aside) on that front.

You might like to check out the Mustang/Musicmaster too - I have a 78 MM which is a perfect couch guitar, small contour body and great neck.

Otm re mustang. Could prob add the bullet to the list too

SGs are also very good on the not-making-my-shoulder-and-elbow-mad front but I'm clumsy and the possibility of snapping a headstock would worry me.

Even though it's a relic this is a gorgeous looking guitar
https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/gibson-custom-shop-murphy-lab-1964-sg-standard-reissue-1109924

i had kind of gotten off the squier venus train as prices went up but one went on sale right before christmas for a price resembling reasonable and i grabbed it. not enough guitar stands so it lives on my chair for now:

https://i.imgur.com/Mk6MKNS.jpg

all in all, fun guitar! comfortable, nice neck, easy to play. weighs absolutely nothing. i'm trying to figure out what to do about the pickups. the stock pickups seem ok though i need to mess around more, but they do get splattery with higher gain. neck single coil/bridge humbucker is such a weird combo which is admittedly part of the appeal, but courtney love's fender custom shop version had only a neck pickup which apparently was a strat-sized humbucker. my inclination is to eventually just do upgrades to a good strat neck pickup and a good low-output humbucker in place but there's so much interesting potential in this setup.

some very interesting posts about the Venus and its origins here:
https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50431&start=30

yeah i've read through that thread before. it's funny that those guys just admitted they were trying to make a more functional rickenbacker (i wonder how successful ric would have been suing them if it went that far)

also man alive that is a rare bird, I have been collecting MIJ Fender for 10 years and I’ve never seen an 84 Custom Tele in person or online. I actually thought they started about 1986. Stores and trustworthy folks alike make errors with 80s MIJ dating, so I hope you get to see a neck date - Tele bridges with an A serial number (often claimed to be 84 / 85) were used from 84 to 2010 at least. I’m happy to help if you need!

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, December 20, 2021 1:43 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

I bought the tele fwiw. It's beautiful and nice to play, and yes it's an '84, the guy who sold it to me is a good and trusted friend and very knowledgeable and dated it based on the neck stamp.

Unfortunately I'm not 100% happy with the combo of the pickups and my amp. I just replaced the speaker in my amp (something I'd been meaning to do anyway) -- I had a stock celestion 10 30 and changed it to a creamback, and that was definitely an improvement. But I still feel like there's something about the bridge pickup especially that isn't all the way there for me. Also thinking about doing a four-way switch mod.

As someone who usually plays with the tone controls wide open, I can say that the Tele bridge is one pickup that benefits from a slight roll off!

Glad you're happy, the necks on those 80s MIJs are heavenly.

Currently having my own infatuation with this (from the same factory 10 years before!):
https://i.imgur.com/LIDHLYd.jpg