LeftyJ

I'm quite happy with both bands I'm currently in: great people, great music, and lots of fun. And most importantly, very diverse! I like listening to lots of musical styles and tend to play a lot of different stuff too, but I mostly lean towards the darker, melancholic styles. So I'm in a dark popband with folkrock (and, mildly, postrock) influences, and in a female fronted melodic metalband.

I could never settle for just one band, I love playing metal but would never play ONLY metal. The same goes for any of the styles of music I listen to and like to play. I don't want to be confined to just one genre. Then again, I also don't want to play in a band that's too versatile as it's more difficult to maintain a sound of your own. With my current bands, I have all those bases covered in my opinion, so I'm a happy man!

[quote name='jdstrings' post='600683' date='Sep 16 2009, 09:24 PM']Liking the table legs! What are they tuned to? I made a similar 2 stringer for a collegue who wanted it for a solo version of Big Noise From Winnetka for a cabaret act:

[attachment=32971:slap_good.jpg]

It had a piezo pickup under the (wooden) bridge and inbuilt volume and tone controls. In the picture it has bass guitar strings, but these proved not to be up to the job and were replaced with double bass strings.
The main design problem was that it had to be played upright and had to be self supporting at about waist height. In the end it had an attachment (which just about worked!) to secure to a snare drum stand![/quote]

They're tuned EA. They're just square 2x2's of maple (the newer ones are flamed maple) with no separate fingerboard and no radius at all, contrary to yours (which looks great, by the way! Very cool). The only control is a volume knob. Here are some more pics of my first one, the one on the right in that first picture I posted (and yes, that is a rifle bag. Works very well and fits perfectly ):

[url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=09.jpg"][/url] [url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=04.jpg"][/url] [url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=07.jpg"][/url] [url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=05.jpg"][/url] [url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=06.jpg"][/url] [url="http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/Longbow/?action=view&current=02.jpg"][/url]

I got an email from Arni yesterday asking if I could raise some attention for the Lefty Bass Day he's organising. It's this saturday at CMS Music Store in Duisburg, Germany. I'm not sure if there are many members from the Western-European mainland on this board, but it's always worth a try:
[url="http://www.leftybass.com/1_Lefty_BassDay/Lefty_BassDay_E.htm"]http://www.leftybass.com/1_Lefty_BassDay/Lefty_BassDay_E.htm[/url]

The program is in German, but I think the general message will come across . Below is a section in English.

The main goal will be to provide a meeting place for lefthanded bass players, and to gather a large amount of lefthanded basses to provide lefties with an opportunity they'll rarely get (and definitely not in music stores): being able to play an enormous variety of lefthanded basses! Some German and Polish luthiers will also present their instruments, and bring along some lefty models. There will be basses from Clover, Börjes, BassLine, ESH, Maruszcyk, Spector, Squire, Ibanez, MusicMan, Waja-Bass, Schwalbe, Alembic, Rickenbacker, Hamer, Carvin, Fender, Italia, Marleaux, Rössel, Sandberg, Wal and Phantom, and possibly even more!

I'll be there, I'm very curious to meet Arni after browsing on his site A LOT, buying and selling basses through his site and emailing back and forth with him and it's 'only' about a 2,5 hour drive from where I live. I hope to meet many lefties there and play some basses I otherwise would never be able to play anywhere.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='599855' date='Sep 16 2009, 09:09 AM']added a strap button to the bottom horn (or should that be bottom bulge) and it balanced beautifully, although looked a bit odd at first.[/quote]

Didn't that make the bass lean forward, requiring more pressure from your right arm to hold the body upright?

I'm curious about the modification of the TS. Could you post some pics?




Here's my topheavy bass:



I'm the guy on the left, the instruments pictured are Longbows (but in my bands they're more often referred to as [i]tafelpoot[/i], the Dutch word for tabe leg, and I'm often asked if I bought it at IKEA ). Longbow is (or was, their site has been taken down) an American company that built these cute instruments. One huge log of maple, two beautifully recessed Hipshot monorail bridge parts, strings through body, single string stacked humbuckers, and an amazing lot of fun to play. I used to own the one on the right but it was actually a righthanded instrument (I can feel a lot of pun coming my way, but yes, there is indeed a difference) and balanced very poorly on a strap because of the positioning of the strap buttons. When I got the chance, I ordered a new one lefthanded (and had them add 2" of extra scale length on top of the regular 30").

The strapbuttons are on the bottom and on the back of the... uh... well, 'neck', I guess, at the 5th position. As there is no body whatsoever, the bass tends to hang exactly horizontal on a strap, whereas I prefer to play it in a more or less upright position. Maybe I'll try to make a strap system like that of an NS Design EUB or bass cello one day.

Why did that have to be local pickup only?

Yes, they have a secondhand lefty in stock as we speak, all black with black pickguard and rosewood fingerboard. Very pretty. But they ask 90,000 Yen + 16,000 Yen shipping costs. That's only 13,000 Yen below buying a brand new one from guitarshogun.com, including shipping. It's not worth that to me, I'd go for the new one for a slight bit more.

[quote name='EdwardMarlowe' post='596606' date='Sep 12 2009, 04:30 PM']Nice, but from what I can establish they only do rosewood boards on the lefty, which is a firm dealbreaker for me. I presume rosewood must be cheaper to produce (I suppose as it doesn't need the same level of finishing) as it has become such a default option.[/quote]

Yes, that was a no-go for me as well. I'm a sucker for maple fingerboards. They also only come in black (with a white pickguard) and sunburst (with a tortoise pickguard). Too bad! Wish they still made the Hot Rodded American Precision. The lefty version came in a mindboggling 5 (FIVE!) colours, which is fairly unique for a lefthanded Fender USA product (sunset orange transparent, black, natural, white blonde and 3-tone sunburst). But only with a rosewood board though...

My name is Jeroen, and I currently own 11 basses and 7 guitars, and have had 7 more basses and 10 more guitars in the past few years. My arsenal is constantly changing, although there are a few constant factors now that are very unlikely to get sold anywhere in the near future. I'm a total addict, I'll happily admit

Has anyone noticed the DJ is no longer on the Lakland site?

[quote name='Beedster' post='586836' date='Sep 1 2009, 09:12 PM']Many thanks to Colin Beswick at Soundmeout for his patience and helpfulness during the whole process, and for getting it to me so quickly.[/quote]

Yes, he's a great guy to deal with. He's had some bad luck this year though, but luckily it didn't get the best of him. He suffered a series of strokes last april and has been out for a while. I had bought two sets of strings and a Rickenbacker trussrod adjustment tool of him just at that time, and it took a month to get them to me and I couldn't reach Colin. Turned out he was in the hospital recovering. But even after that he replied very kindly and politely and got the items to me in no time.

My collection is very diverse, but I mainly tend to lean towards Fender-type instruments (especially the Jazz). I also love my Ibanez ATK's (MM-style), my Italia (big hollowbody with a Sidewinder and a humbucker) and my Rickenbacker though, and play all of them frequently. If I were to choose one specific style of bass though, it would be a Jazz.

My lefty Ibanez MC924 was originally advertised for 100 Euros a few months ago. Bidding immediately went over, and because I wanted it really badly I emailed the seller right away I was willing to offer him 400. He immediately agreed and I picked it up. So not quite the bargain it originally seemed, but still a very good price. It was in perfect condition, with the original case (like new), and the seller was the original owner who even included the original receipt. The bass had been laying around in its case in the attic for over 10 years.

Brilliant bass, and very rare to come by lefthanded. Less than 350 were made, most of which are of the latter model with the split-coil and J-style pickups in large casings. Mine is an '81 with the big bakelite singlecoils with large polepieces. I'm a happy man!

Interesting, they claim on their website they can get the Sterling and Stingray dual pickup-models lefthanded, but I don't think Ernie Ball make those in lefty versions. There is only one Sterling HS around (a Dargie Delight, owned by a lefthanded friend of Sterling Ball who's on the leftybassist.com forum). They don't have a mirrorred version of the required preamp and so far have refused to have one manufactured, except for that one-time-only bass.

[quote name='Gust0o' post='591902' date='Sep 7 2009, 09:43 AM']I was wondering if they'd broken some unwritten rule, as if Fender had redesigned the Jazz or somesuch![/quote]

They once attempted to

What kind of amp are you using? Any solid state bass amp I've played would have clipped beyond belief with the gain full and a powerful bass like that SRX plugged in. Or did you mean it's the volume on the bass itself you're keeping way low?

Hei baswâht!

Have you emailed Chris himself? Might well be worth a try

[quote name='walbassist' post='588664' date='Sep 3 2009, 03:31 PM']Ah, that bass was made for me. Should never have sold it - how many times have I said that to myself about different basses over the years! - but at least I replaced it with another Wal....

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That's insane! I love the detail too - the wood pickup casings, the wood bindings around the pickup cavities, the laminates beneath the top. Just gorgeous. I like the beech top better, but the spalted maple is very pretty too. What gorgeous basses!

[quote name='rasher80' post='588595' date='Sep 3 2009, 02:33 PM']is that £820 delivered or before customs charges and tax?[/quote]

Probably before duties and tax, as Jeff sells straight from Japan.

GuitarEmporium.co.uk currently charges £999 as a final selling price including duties and tax. £820 + 19% Dutch VAT is £975, still excluding 4% import tax. I'm not really tempted yet...

So...where are the lefties?
How much for a lefty JB75-US?

I used to own a Hartke VXL Bass Attack that I really liked, especially for its added simulated tube grit, even though it sounded a bit cold. I replaced it with an EBS MicroBass II and love it, although I tend to think of it more as an integrated preamp and DI to plug straight into a mixer or PA than a preamp pedal to put in front of an amp. It works really well though.

They are great amps indeed. I bought a HD350 and Proline 410 last saturday and it is an amazing amp. If I were to get an endorsement deal and I could make a pick, it would be Lakland and EBS

I keep enjoying looking at my very own MIJ Fender JB75-US. I love the classic (and classy) look of that bass.

I have a cover on my MIJ '75 Jazz Bass reissue and it doesn't really get in my way. I use it as a thumbrest when playing near the neck pickup, and can use it to rest my wrist when I play with a pick near the neck or when I slap. It didn't require much adapting from my regular playing position and style, I'm comfortable with it. With slapping though, it required some getting used to because I couldn't mute the strings with the palm of my hand as easily as before when required. But that's been a great practice routine for muting with my fretting hand

A lightweight all-tube head that doesn't require huge transformers but uses those small transformers used in class D amplifiers and still produces that big tube growl, unlike that new Markbass all-tube head that just sounds really clean no matter what you throw at it...