Shedua511

I have an Alusonic bass, a J-5 special. I never tried this hybrid series, but my bass is all aluminum for the body and wood for the neck (painted in gloss black). Besides looking really cool on stage, it's a great sounding jazz bass, with a very nice low B. Despite being metal, it doesn't sound metallic at all, rather warm and punchy in fact. I've used it a lot, both on stage and in the studio, it never failed to get positive comments. Polly, the owner/builder, is a nice guy and he is very cool with custom options. Check out the web page for some good offers right now, up to 40% off. http://www.alusonic.com/home.html Just to clarify: I'm not an endorser of Alusonic, just a satisfied customer Here's my bass:

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1398616946' post='2435766'] Well as if yesterday, this amazing instrument is now mine 😊 [/quote]Wow!!! Congratulations, that's a wonderful instrument!!! [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1398628013' post='2436005'] Tony Levin actually uses a custom tuning, not standard. I was talking to him about it at a Stickmen concert last year. [/quote] Very interesting, I was sure of the opposite. Live and learn as always Did he explain what he uses?

I've been to LA a few times to visit Emmett and Yuta Chapman: I picked up three instruments directly from them. That was great, but I really didn't like the place otherwise. I was almost arrested once because I was walking (nobody does that! Got to have wheels). In another occasion I took a bus (again, nobody does that! Unless you're exceedingly poor, you have wheels) in the wrong direction and found out that I was in the very wrong side of town... waiting at the bus stop to get back on track I got to see one of the nicest tourist attractions, a shoot out. Now I know wht I'd do in face of death: I'll freeze.! I also know what a bullet zipping by very close sounds like, which I guess is a good thing, much better than knowing what a bullet hitting you sounds. The bass centre was nice, but I don't think it still exists... or does it? I never met the Dude unfortunately, but I did meet a lot of truly strange people, and some very nice people too. And a few gangsters of course, thank god my Spanish is pretty good. San Diego is much nicer, San Francisco rules! And that comes from a straight guy

No real 100% Status basses yet, but 50% times four for me! Warmoth/Status fretted Jazz, Warmoth/Status fretless Jazz, Costanzo/Status fretless Stingray/Jzz hybrid, Grove/Status fretted Stingray.

At the moment I'm not looking to sell, but I will keep it in mind. If I can offer some advice, I wouldn't worry about the lack of the metal bridge: unless you intend to tune it differently, you'll be fine. After all, 5ths/4ths tuning is the standard (pretty much all instructional material is in that tuning) and light gauge strings + Stickup are the Stick sound we all refer too. To be perfectly honest, I use medium gauge on my main Stick and I tune it one whole tone lower, but the Tony Levin/Bob Culbertson/Nick Beggs sound is light gauge, standard tuning, Stickup. What you really need is an adjustable truss rod, that would be a deal breaker for me. Very low action and straight neck are essential. It an be retrofit on old ironwood and polycarbonate Sticks, but hen you would have to ship it to Emmett and back... a modern Stick would probably cost about the same. Make sure you also check out the new Railboard, model: it's cheaper that wooden and graphite Sticks and is really nice. Emmett himself only plays a Railboard nowadays. If you need some advice on a specific instrument, feel free to PM me.

Angel, I would love it if you could put some photos of the SIM mod up. I've been playing the Stick since 1990, though lately it isn't getting ugh playtime: hopefully that will change soon, with a new musical project on the horizon! In the years, I've put together quite a collection... I also have an old ironwood, but it was on holiday when I took the photo! Here they are for the Stick-o-philes Graphite 36" grand, shedua grand, purpleheart grand 1/4 fretless, bubinga 10, polycarbonate 10 and polycarbonate Grid (MIDI only)

I really love the Stingray! I have a '77, a well worn '78, a fretless '79 and a Classic 5 string. I like the sound so much that I also have two custom basses with Status necks MM pickups and aftermarket preamps. Still, when I hear "Jazz with more bass", I immediately think of a John East preamp... I have a Jazz bass like that, and the definition and assertive tone is somewhat similar to the Stingray. I would very much disagree that the Stingray is a one trick pony: that myth is founded in players that are only able to play when they anchor the picking hand on the pickup! Move your hand along the strings and the tone changes enormously. My favourite sweet spot is halfway between the pickup and the end of the neck. I prefer the 2-band eq though, the 3-way sounds a bit too harsh to my ears...

I too have traveled extensively with my bass and Chapman Stick. Had a couple of close calls (once in Paris I was almost in tears, they were adamant that my one of a kind 1/4 fretless Chapman Stick was going in the vault... when I threatened suicide they let me carry it on board), but I've always been able to bring the instrument with me in a gig bag. After 9/11 I've booked an extra seat whenever at all possible. A few months ago I had a bass custom built by Grove Guitars in Cincinnati, Ohio. My brother lives there, so I took the occasion to visit him and his family (I reckon it should have been the other way around, but let's be honest among kindred souls ). On the way there I noticed that the overhead compartments were way to small and I asked the crew if there was any place I could store a bass: no dice! So I bit the bullet and decoupled the neck and body, brought the neck with me in the cabin and sent the body in the luggage. No problems whatsoever, even with the truly inquisitive US customs. So, not ideal, but it works fine! I'm glad it wasn't a neck through... Here's the bass incidentally, you can see more photos of Scott Smail's fine works at www.groveguitars.com. My bass has a UK imprint too, the neck being Status and electronics John East.