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Lodekka

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  1. I see this post is from a good while ago, but is the Bartlett still for sale?
  2. Many thanks for the reply. I have had no luck with Finlay-Gage or Strunal so far, so nothing further to report. I think I'll ask a seamstress or sailmaker to disassemble the Mooradian cover, clean out all the foam debris and dust, and then reline it. The outside of the cover is in very good condition (it is a Mooradian after all), so it should last a good while once resurrected.
  3. I would second this wholeheartedly. The Full Circle sounds good, but that fixed wire coming out of the adjuster is very vulnerable. The Yamahiko has a screw-in removable wire and outputs on each of the knurls on the adjuster wheel. You adjust the height, then screw in the cable at the appropriate output socket. The unused sockets all have covers on them. It's a superb design that's beautifully thought through. If playing acoustically or into a microphone, my preference is to have no electronics showing on the instrument. The cable can be removed and the pickup just looks like a height adjuster. On a mic only gig, there's no problem fending off over-keen sound engineers who'd like to take a feed off the pick-up, "just in case the mic isn't enough". The bicycle inner tube pick-up mentioned was next to useless on any of my basses, so I returned it. This is an aside, but a colleague insists on using the violin version, which although more successful than the bass version, is still pretty ropey-sounding to my ears. Kind of 'boxy' with an overly pronounced treble range. Feedback resistance seems poor as well. A preamp definitely helps, but a DPA mic takes longer to feedback and has a vastly superior sound (of course the source has to be good in the first place). Violins are super easy to amplify compared to double basses, so I see no excuse for using one of these horrible looking things.
  4. Hi folks. I have a S1 CzechEase bass that has its original Mooradian soft cover. Unfortunately the cover's foam padding has disintegrated and is unusable. The bass is covered (and filled) with fine black granules if the cover is put on it, and even our carpets are suffering from all the black dust. It's now been consigned to a black bin bag and stored away! Anyway, I assumed that I'd be able to replace the cover with another by Mooradian, or perhaps the standard item that's presumably supplied by Strunal (the makers of the CzechEase), but it seems that David Gage is no longer selling the CE and Mooradian don't seem interested in my plight. I haven't found a way of contacting Strunal yet. I wonder if any of you have suggestions, or know of a cover for sale (maybe an original cover that's been superceded by a Mooradian?).
  5. Yes, I've still got the Citroën and still thumping away on the Swing and Hot Club scene. I'm on the train to the airport from Hilversum in The Netherlands, having just finished a few days work with Tim Kliphuis (violinist) and Nigel Clark (guitarist). Things are getting back to normal, it seems. Hope the bass sale goes well. I remember liking that bass a lot when I tried it. Not sure you'd had work done to it at that point, or if it was still fairly new to you at the time?
  6. Hi Clarky, I think I played this bass when I was at your house to buy the Kolstein Busetto travel bass from you a good few years ago. I remember it as being a very nice sounding bass that was easy to play.
  7. That's a fine looking BB4 you've got there. Puts mine to shame, for sure!
  8. That ivory coloured one is very reminiscent of my baby bass, albeit in much better condition than mine. I'm not quite sure what to do with this instrument. It doesn't get played enough to warrant my restoring it, and yet it has some areas that could be improved. I'd really like to know what it actually is before starting any work or alterations. There's a serial number stamped into the tailpiece assembly, so I should start by checking that out. There must be an online resource for Ampeg gear. That will give me a date of some sort, but probably won't relate to the body if it's a Zorko --- which seems likely given the lack of foam inside the bass and no seam visible on the inside or outside of the body. I believe the first Ampeg BBs used the Zorko bodies that were part of the inventory when the Dobro company sold the 'whole shooting match' to Ampeg. But they abandoned the double bridge setup and used a completely different tailpiece arrangement, as well as developing an improved version of the pickup unit. I'm not sure I'd want to do a full Zorko replica or just improve what's already there.
  9. Happy Jack, thanks for replying. It does have a smell inside the body that I don't notice other than when the pickup assembly is removed. You have to get your nose in close to pick up on it. The aroma is only slightly unpleasant and not one I've experienced before, I don't think. Somewhere between glass fibre resin and pear drop sweets (almost an esterification smell, but not quite). It was difficult to photograph, but there is a sort of webbed/meshed effect to the inside of the body, reminiscent of the inside cavities of a glass fibre dinghy. Light shows through it when you are looking from the inside. And it's definitely hollow apart from the fibreboard type material built up around the pickup area (like three sides of an open cardboard box), and there's the wooden block towards the endpin assembly. I always assumed that the white colour had been painted on by the previous owner, but I can't see any evidence of other colours underneath. I have a feeling that some BBs were white from factory, but perhaps I'm wrong about that? I've seen signal red ones and all sorts, but not sure about their originality.
  10. I own what I always thought was an Ampeg Baby Bass, but I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't, in fact, a hybrid. The fixed metal tailpiece says 'Ampeg' on it, but the body is hollow and not foam filled. Also, the body's sides don't have a seam and is completely smooth (any Ampeg Baby Bass I've seen has a raised seam where the two halves of the body are joined together). From the inside, the body looks to me like it's made from built-up layers of glass fibre, reminding me of the inside of a fibreglass dinghy's hull. The pickup looks Ampeg to me, and there's a single metal bridge. Could it be that my bass is a Zorko body with Ampeg fittings on it? I seem to have uploaded the entire file of photos onto this thread, which was not my intention. Sorry if it's overkill. I bought this bass in 1998 in Sacramento, California, from its first owner. I'm afraid I didn't ask much about it at the time, as he was actually lending it to me for the Jazz Jubilee and I wasn't thinking about buying it initially. It's in ok condition, but, as you can see, there's some warping on the front around the pickup hole. It was white when I bought it. The neck has been stripped and re-dressed by a luthier here in Edinburgh, UK. Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might have here?
  11. I've played the actual instrument that's for sale here, and maybe it would be interesting and/or helpful if I give my thoughts on it. The bass is even more attractive-looking 'in the flesh' than the photos posted by the vendor would suggest. I like a darker stain finish on my basses, generally speaking, but this NS Cleveland looks very good in the lighter shade, and has matured nicely over the last 13 years or so since arriving in the UK. The overall condition is exceptionally good by any standards, but particularly so since this instrument has a generous sized body (not huge, but bigger than a standard 3/4, for instance) and has actually been out gigging rather than sitting in the house as a display item. The tuners keys have mellowed slightly and there are a few insignificant cosmetic marks here and there on the body. I saw no cracks, dings or scrapes, however, and the edges are all intact and undamaged. The fingerboard is like new (looks like ebony, and of good quality), and tailpiece, nut and saddle are in excellent condition. The bridge was well fitted and properly shaped for the fingerboard. It has height adjusters and there is a Fishman Full Circle pickup fitted. I did not try the bass plugged in, but apparently all is working as it should be. As far as I could see, there was absolutely no luthier work required on this bass. My personal preference would perhaps to have the fingerboard scooped out a little more to accommodate my slapping requirements (to avoid string rattle), but this probably wouldn't have been a problem if I'd raised the action using the bridge adjusters to the height I usually use. I should point out that although I use slap technique as part of my playing style, I'm not a Rockabilly musician, or similar. I am an old school Swing and New Orleans player. I use gut strings (since 1987-ish) and like a high action, but not silly high like some of the guys! I mostly play straight ahead pizzicato. I use the bow a little, but not enough to harm anyone. And, as a point of reference, I don't like thuddy basses that don't really produce a discernible note but are handy to jump on.....! That's not my thing. This is a very comfortable bass to play, even considering its wide shoulders. The reason for this is to be seen round the back of the instrument. The neck joint is deliberately short which means the back has a fairly extreme curvature towards the button. The upper bout, where it meets the neck, tapers down to something like 6.5 inches (I didn't measure this, but it looked about right). This means that the player's arm is unhindered when approaching the upper reaches of the instrument. You might say to yourself ''Oh, ok. But I never go up high on my fingerboard. No thumb position for me. I'm not that kind of player", but I don't mean that. A bass with really broad shoulders and deep upper bouts can make life hard anywhere above Eb on the G string. I had a cello-shouldered bass (an old 'church bass' as they are sometimes known) that was beautiful and sounded great, but was quite unmanageable above half way up the neck. It was hilarious! Anyway, this is not the case with the NSC. It's really nicely thought out. The neck is fairly big, but nicely shaped. I have medium sized hands and would perhaps consider having the bass neck made slightly shallower, for full comfort. Lots of other players probably wouldn't feel the need. The scale felt very manageable at 42", and I didn't have to make any discernable adjustments to my technique to play this bass. The neck overstand is also very generous, as befits a modern instrument, so no problem with bowing access etc. The bass is beautifully put together and doesn't weigh a great deal considering its overall size. This is a strong instrument that should last a lifetime or two and will put up with all sorts of road travel and humidity changes etc. The strings fitted suited the bass quite well. Spiro Weichs for E and A, and Gut-A-Like D and G on top. The Gut-A-Like strings are not my favourite and were typically dull sounding on the Cleveland. However, things really brightened up when I tried a Lenzner gut G string on this bass. I think a full set of guts with wound E and A would be very good indeed. I think the original set up, as ordered from new, was Lenzner gut G and D, with Pirastro Pirazzi A and E, which I reckon would have suited this bass very well. The sound was very well balanced across the whole range of the instrument (as you'd expect from a good quality plywood bass), making it an excellent bass for studio or live recording situations. [My carved bass sounds lovely, but is a real pain in the studio compared to my plywood with regard to mic choice and placement. Similarly, in live gig settings, my plywood basses amplify nicely without any imbalance, regardless of which pickup system I use. The carved bass is very fickle and usually slightly unbalanced-sounding.] This NS Cleveland has typical plywood 'punch' to it, but with added 'puffiness' and, most significantly, a much more complex sound than any plywood bass I've played (plys, although useful beasts, can be very one-dimensional in their sound, hence my comments in the previous paragraph). I was hearing a very pleasing harmonic overtone that made me want to play the bass a bit more. I played it over a 3 hour period, so this gives you an idea of how I felt about it. Cutting through a band when playing acoustically with this bass will not be a problem, but it's not some sort of blunt instrument either. Best of both worlds, I'd say. I'd say this instrument has a very pleasant voice which is unmistakably old Americana. With the Thomastik weich strings, I could hear the potential for a more sustaining sound, but not one that would ever be considered very modern. For those of you concerned with such things, vibrato was quickly reproduced and the subtle nuances were conveyed very nicely. I've played a few basses that 'do the rounds' (some at prices similar to this particular NSC) and there's just no comparison between any of those basses and this one in my opinion. My summing up of many of those other basses would be 'Heavy, unresponsive and dead-sounding'. This bass isn't that. Not even a bit. If you're looking for a top quality bass that will long outlive even the youngest amongst us, will require very little maintenance, looks fantastic and sounds equally so, I'd look no further than htb's New Standard Cleveland. And, by the way, the price is a bargain.
  12. Thanks --- yes, it's quite striking. I'm in Edinburgh. I know! For so many folks that's a long way away, but we are well served by air and rail and I'm happy to collect from the airport or station. I sold the Kolstein yesterday, and that's what the buyer did. He flew up from Stansted in the morning and was home again that afternoon.
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