It’s back from the dead! The TB Mega Thread.

[My name is Mudd]

I've thought that also...you rarely see a Ritter in a blues club. OTOH, I went to a clinic with Anthony Wellington (Victor Wooten's band) a couple of weeks ago, and he had his personal Foderas with him.

[warwick.hoy]

Players that are making a decent living and buy a high dollar bass are the rare exception.

[behndy]

However...I'm not a fan (HUR HUR HUR) of coffee table basses, and the two go hand in hand.

that's mah baybay. i'm with you. fucking exotic tops and shit. i like the dark ass wood with a bit of grain, but shit that looks like it's not even s'posed to be played? fuck that. Sheldon was cool enough to ebonise the walnut neck for me 'cause i don't like light colored necks.

I'd like to try one sometime.

you had a VERY good reason last time, but we were talking about trying to set up another Oakland GTG. shits was fun last time. no douchers showed up, just fucking cool nerds. you can beat up my Dinger and marvel at Jean's 94 stringed BASTARDS.

Fanned frets look awesome. The only thing that worries me would be bends... since some of the frets would cause the string to move further back as you bend. I seem to have read that's not an issue.

YOU are an interesting guy. i never even thought about that. neh. i notice no difference. and takes about 5 minutes to get used to fannedererers below the 14th fret. i'm still a bit wobbly 14 and up though.

[theavondon]

Are you guys talking about those basses with the more than four strings? I don't....like...those...much...

[My name is Mudd]

that's mah baybay.

That's NICE! Three knobs = passive?

trying to set up another Oakland GTG.

Awright! Keep me posted...I SO wanted to get to the last one.

The only thing that worries me would be bends... since some of the frets would cause the string to move further back as you bend.

I'd think that it would help the bend-tone some...

[bigchiefbc]

Are you guys talking about those basses with the more than four strings? I don't....like...those...much...

I needz teh low B.

[behndy]

that's mah baybay.

That's NICE! Three knobs = passive?

yahp yahp. the next step up is an Afterburner TWO, which gives you more wood and design options, a different body, and active electronics. couldn't really afford it, and i'm not a big fan of active. knobs are interesting - Volume, Tone and 4-way rotary switch for pickups - Neck, Neck&Bridge Serial, Neck&Bridge Parralel, Bridge.

the switch is a kill switch i had my bass tech guy put in. i like killswitches. they're NEAT.

[Achtane]

I'm down.

EVEN THOUGH it has 6 strings.

[SmallEQ]

I'd love a fanned 4banger!

I had a Super J that played awesomely. I ordered one based on playing a buddy's pair a bunch of times. They sounded awesome. For some reason though, I didn't like the sound of mine. I found the bridge pickup to be pretty week sounding...not what I was wanting from a JBass. Also, I ordered Burgundy Mist and got purple. While it was actually a pretty cool finish, it wasn't what I was wanting so I think it may have colored (no pun intended) my overall perception of the bass. This was my first high dollar purchase and while I was disappointed I turned it into something good.

Of course about a year later it turns out that Dingwall changed the bridge pickup to make it fatter and more aggressive, sounds like my main issues would have been fixed.

[warwick.hoy]

I've played one of the import Dinguses and wasn't impressed.

I'm sure the high dollar ones are better,....but for the import,....it just seemed soulless and I had a hard time justifying the additional cost over something more traditional (it was ~$900 used).

But as always,...if it works for you it works for you.

I never had a gripe concerning the B String on my Warwhack.

Posting for Narcissism sake.

From Last Night 2011.06.21, Mootsy's, Spokane WA.

[SmallEQ]

It seems like the high dollar basses are less aimed at players and more aimed at doctors, lawyers and other rich fucks. Sure you might have a lucky guy with a comfortable job who saved up and had an awesome wife or whatever,...but I feel like a lot of the people that buy Foderas, Laklands, Ritters, Sadowskys ETC buy em as collector or as investment pieces. They aren't players. I'm not gonna say that you aren't allowed to do that; spend your money however you like....but what floats mah boat are workingman's instruments. I like finishes not flamboyant burls. I like understated, not covered in gaudy tinsel. I like a bass I can play in a smokey dive bar and not worry about it attracting attention,....or some drunk spilling beer on $8000 worth of one of a kind burl, coco bola (it's pretty but really hard to work with), wenge (splinteriffic), or whatever the flavor of the month is.

For sure there is definitely that aspect of "collector", but some of the most comfortable and easy playing basses are coming from the high end guys. Raw ergonomics of some of the high end basses are really, really great and the guys like Sadowsky, Dingwall, Skjold, Nordstrand who develop their own electronics are really bringing nice things to the table. The crazy woods and special inlays are what is geared for the collectors.

[SmallEQ]

I've thought that also...you rarely see a Ritter in a blues club. OTOH, I went to a clinic with Anthony Wellington (Victor Wooten's band) a couple of weeks ago, and he had his personal Foderas with him.

Of course this is as much to do with raw numbers as any other factor. Fender/Squier likely make more basses per year than every boutique builder combined several times over. This is one of those things that gets skewed when visiting forums. One can get the impression that one out of every three or four people own a high end boutique when its simply not the case.

Pedals are similar...rarely run into a guitarist on one of our bills who has anything other than MXR/Boss/Digitech pedals on their board but based on this forum you would think everybody has at least one piece of awesome gear on their board.

[Joe Gress]

The only working band (as in one that tours pretty much non-stop and is making new albums regularly) that I've seen that the bassist uses a Ritter is moe. Rob's had his for a bunch of years now if I'm correct, and it's pretty used looking from all the tours.

But the good news is there is a new Primus album out in September. Can't fucking wait!!!

[warwick.hoy]

I've thought that also...you rarely see a Ritter in a blues club. OTOH, I went to a clinic with Anthony Wellington (Victor Wooten's band) a couple of weeks ago, and he had his personal Foderas with him.

Of course this is as much to do with raw numbers as any other factor. Fender/Squier likely make more basses per year than every boutique builder combined several times over. This is one of those things that gets skewed when visiting forums. One can get the impression that one out of every three or four people own a high end boutique when its simply not the case.

Pedals are similar...rarely run into a guitarist on one of our bills who has anything other than MXR/Boss/Digitech pedals on their board but based on this forum you would think everybody has at least one piece of awesome gear on their board.

I agree with this assessment. There are still a ton of musicians that don't care to frequent the message boards and just aren't aware or are unimpressed with boutique anything.

As for the boutique basses,....I agree that the higher end stuff are improved over the standard fair that you get from Guitar Center and to be fair it's not like I play a Squier or MIM Fender myself,...but I feel like I got a great deal on my Warwick and I worked hard to pay it off. It was in the $1500 range over 10 years ago which to me is the same range as MIA Fender, EBMM, etc etc.

Don't get me wrong I'd love to own a Sadowsky or a USA Lakland, and I love the Aesthetics of Carls and Jerzey Drozds but those basses are far beyond my reach and for the crusty gigs I play I can't see me ever taking one of those to a show. It'd be different if I were making a good living with music and playing nicer venues with green rooms and backstages to secure gear.

[My name is Mudd]

Don't get me wrong I'd love to own a Sadowsky or a USA Lakland...

Same here. I believe that, up to a point anyway, you really do get a better instrument for the higher price(s) asked and I'd rather pay more for something once and take good care of it and have it for years (like warwick's Warwick).

Dingwall side note, sorta relating to what I just said...I'd LOVE to have a 4-string version of this one -