EMG456

Do the ROR instruments have split frets like the IR system or have they now found a way to sense string choice on an unbroken fret?

14 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

What are the minor annoyances you have with gear?

I'll start:

1 - Hipshot only selling nickel plated extenders which look out of place on a headstock with chrome plated tuners. Also the nickel plated stuff used to be described as chrome plated, but the website has since been updated. 

3 - Epiphone - fitting generic wilkinson tuners to the thunderbird vintage pro - I've upgraded both of mine to gotoh GB640s which have match the vintage aesthetic much better.

4 - Reverse tuners - why not fit tuners which look like the period correct vintage ones but turn the same way as all other tuners? Only Gotoh GB640s get this right.

8 - Straps. Most straps don't have enough adjustment to go long enough which limits the choice of suitable straps. You can't rock out with a thunderbird at nipple level.

9 - Not much can be done about this one, but its always struck me as odd that pedalboards have to be set up with the pedals right to left instead of the more logical left to right due top the placement of the input & output sockets on pedals.

10 - EMG don't make much noise about how their active bass pickups really need at least 18v to sound great. I'm sure people are put off using them when they don't sound particularly special with a single 9v battery. I use 24v from a pair of 12v A23 car plipper batteries in mine - which take up less room than a standard 9v.

I think maybe you're more prone to annoyance than I am. Looking at your list, here's my tuppence on the ones I'm bothered about.

1. A quick look at the Hipshot site shows quite a few extenders in chrome - are you saying that Hipshot are misrepresenting their product on the website? If so, that's not good.

3. Epiphone will fit whatever parts they can get away with to sell instruments at a particular price point. Everyone will know that it's not an old Thunderbird anyway because it says Epiphone on the truss rod cover so I don't really get your point here.

4. If they fitted tuners that looked like "period correct" tuners but operated in the (now) normal direction, they wouldn't be reverse tuners! I happen to like reverse tuners on old Fenders and indeed installed a set on an old Aria jazz bass that I was rescuing a couple of years back. Long live the reverse tuner!

8. Mmmm… I've got a couple of leather straps which won't go *short enough*. Only buy straps which suit you.

9. With slightly longer interconnects you can put them in any order you want.

10. No, I wouldn't expect a company to market their products as not sounding great as supplied. I'm sure they don't do that because it's not true - I and many others - have been using EMGs since the early 80s on 9v systems and oddly enough they do sound great. (if you like EMGs that is) Again, maybe I'm just not as fussy as you about my sound, although I doubt that.

Isn't it great that we all like different things. 😉

Play it using a false harmonic?

Basschat is a very friendly place- perhaps there is a Vigier owner who lives relatively close to you who could let you have a brief try of one. This would probably inform your next move better than anything other than playing the exact bass you are interested.
 

Incidentally, how far is it from you? I have occasionally travelled half the length of the UK to play a prospective purchase and the cost of travel can be offset against the cost of couriers. 

Having retired myself, I understand the risk of a misjudged expensive purchase is magnified so tread warily but it could also end up being the best thing you’ve bought.

good luck. 

That is a lovely thing.

On 05/01/2020 at 00:09, 4000 said:

Well I’ve done a search over there and I can’t find anything, so a link would be appreciated.

I did however find this:

https://www.sonicnuance.com/2017/10/02/rick-turner-interview-on-john-entwistles-instruments/?doing_wp_cron=1578176837.1030249595642089843750

Nice to confirm that John liked his necks dead straight, no relief. Ditto. 

That is a really interesting interview in which Rick Turner covers much more ground than just info re JE’s Alembics. Some great insight into pickups and electronics, the weird and wonderful uses ‘70s musicians had for Anvil flight cases and last but not least the revelation (for me anyway) that the bass John  McVie used for the end section of The Chain was an Alembic fretless fitted with a stainless steel fingerboard!

I used to do the bass pedal thing back in the 70s but if I was going to do it again now I’d be inclined to go for something like this https://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/12-step/

You can use it exactly like an old set of Taurus or whatever but should you wish to expand things, you could trigger chords or arpeggios or add touch sensitivity or expression to your sounds. Tough as old boots too. 

3 hours ago, FlatEric said:

Sorry I'm late to this party! Happy New Year. : )

WOW!!! Well done that man!! In standard form, a stunning bass - mine has a Piano like tone and almost every note sounds like it is trying to climb out of the instrument. Yours clearly has way more tonal options. Not sure I would find any use for the wammy but considering how hard these are to find, even globally, if you were looking for one, it had to be done.

I haven't played mine for AGES and it is one of quite a few that I have never photographed, perhaps now it the time to dig him out!

More Odyssey stuff here: Odyssey Basses and Guitars

Congratulations on an excellent find.

Cheers. : )

Cheers mate and yep, it did have to be done and urgently!

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

I sold it.

I felt like a prat turning up to a big band gig with that! It did sound fantastic though!

Is that what I think it is? And if so, did it have all the Hipshots?

44 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Same! The founder of Rickenbacker was mr Adolph Rickenbacker 😛

And to be really specific, the 4000 series basses were developed after Adolph sold his brand to mr Francis C. Hall (current owner John Hall's father I suppose). 

Yep but the 4000 series basses and 400 guitars were designed by one Roger Rosmeisl. I presume that is who the OP is referencing.

What a beauty that is. Also utterly iconic. Enjoy. 
Also, if you have gigs to play, it has to come out!

On 18/12/2019 at 19:05, fleabag said:

Got to be a pedant here and say that its a Vibrato unit, not a Tremolo unit

Haha, not been paying attention here- some other stuff on!!

Yes,  @fleabag, you are obviously correct but as you yourself point out,  these units are described by their manufacturers as Trems - both this Kahler one and the ‘TransTrem’ fitted to one of my Steinbergers.  Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. 

Ha - I accept your curse, in the spirit I think it was intended. Oh and yeah, sorry about that! 😀

18 hours ago, NikNik said:

That's where I bought mine in '79. There were a bunch of them,  around eight, including two guitars. There was even a B100 that had a 6-band graphic built into it. I paid c£600 for that bass back then, on HP. My first major bass purchase.

Nice one - I'm led to believe that the eq was an MXR unit integrated into the front of the bass.

I suspect that if you're looking for an Odyssey, Edinburgh or Vancouver will be the locations most likely to turn one up!

7 hours ago, NikNik said:

Well, I'm in Scotland. My old B100 was last seen in Edinburgh. 

Well, I bought this one from GuitarGuitar in Edinburgh but it came to them as part of a 50 instrument collection they purchased from a collector somewhere near Epsom. The collection included loads of interesting and unusual guitars and basses. It may well of course have gone to Epsom via Edinburgh - see below.

4 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Seem to remember reading somewhere that a Scottish dealer (might've been Grant's) was UK importer/distro for these - there does seem to be a disproportionate number of them north of the border.

Unfortunately none of them are mine - had GAS for one since @FlatEric posted pics of his on here ages ago. With any luck that'll summon him to this thread!

Anyway, time for me to trot out my favourite Odyssey anecdote - the one where I missed out on one being sold on Edinburgh Scumtree for £30. Admittedly it was only a guitar, but still...

I worked with Jimmy Grant in the mid '80s and this was where I originally came across the Odysseys. Jimmy liked the shop to have a selection of high-end instruments which were not readily available else where and he would often sell them on to other dealers, usually in England. He had brought Alembics in around that time also and always had a selection of Martin acoustics and the beautiful Gurian acoustics.

When I started with Jimmy, there were just two Odyssey basses and one guitar left. The one I liked best was identical to the bass I have just bought and the other one was a less expensive one without the body and headstock binding and with slightly plainer timbers. They were both sold within a few months and I missed out as I was fixated on buying my first Steinberger at the time and was selling other basses to fund it.

4 hours ago, NikNik said:

I want my old B100 back

Where are you based?

Well you can't have this one I'm afraid. I'm in Scotland.

1 hour ago, Shaggy said:

Nice, body shape reminds me of the old Hamer guitars (I think)

I put a Kahler vibrato in a P bitsa many years ago - great units!

Yep, seems rock solid even as a fixed bridge.

26 minutes ago, GuyR said:

It's surprising that only the 100% unmodified original-finish ones seem to come up for sale.

Mmmm… are you suggesting something fishy going on? 🤨

Sorry - I'm sure they're just as nice as they were before!

On 06/12/2019 at 22:34, Meddle said:

 Why so many weird mods?!

You see a lot of questionably modded guitars and basses in the old Beat Club videos. Stripped finishes, hacked up pickguards, horns lopped off or filed shorter, crude refinishes... you name it! I'm surprised any vintage guitars have been left unmodded. 

The unmodded ones were either the unloved ones or owned by players who had no interest in experimenting with different sounds etc. If you thought you were going to improve it in some way, you changed it. Everything was hacked!

Or was that just me...?

Well my Antoria Precision has the serial no B772796 on the neckplate and I bought it new in 1978.

It also has the mahogany blockboard body like your jazzes - you can tell by the black of the sunburst finish coming right down over the forearm cutaway so you don't see the body core.

Great basses and completely identical to their Ibanez equivalents.

47 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

Jings, I love that! How does it play and what tones can you get?

Well the Barts were perceived back in the day to be quite "dark" sounding pickups and they live up to that here. Passive, it's full, rounded and plummy. The neck pickup is indeed too much on its own for my personal tastes but both on together is a fantastic, tight sound. Bridge on its own is more Musicman than Jazz I would say - very usable.

Switch to active and the two band eq can add that bite at the top end, add huge lows or indeed, make it all much more middley when both are rolled off - again reminiscent of an old Stingray 2eq circuit. Out of phase is extremely thin and honky as to be expected.

Feel wise, there's a little bit too much relief on the neck at the moment for me- I'm just going to let it settle in for a few days before I start tweeking things- I've every confidence that it will fall into line when I do that. One thing I didn't recall from my previous Oddysey encounters was that the board is virtually flat- no radius. That's quite a trend now but not so much back then. Long sustain that you might expect from a well built, through-neck, maple bass.

1 hour ago, TheRev said:

What do the switches do?

That's a very good question to which I don't have the full answer yet.🙄

I was provided this helpful guide and I mostly concur except that the active treble (actually more like a high mid/ treble) is not broken but works fine. As per the guidance, the actual function of the mysterious switches 1 and 2 is as yet still unclear. 

It sounds great though, active or passive.

Good things come to those who wait - not much option if you're looking for one of these.

And yes, that's a Kahler Trem! 

The bass has been modded over the years with the Kahler and a strange active circuit but you can still play it Passive as well and the active and passive each have their own volume control presumably so you can balance the two different sounds.

All the work seems to have been done to a very high standard and the original wood working, timbers and finish are all excellent and surprisingly well preserved.

It sounds and feels great and (IMO) looks fantastic so well chuffed with this one. I've only been looking for about 25 years!

17 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

The EMG-licenced pickups were rather good but the pots were barely adequate. (On which point, is your user name a coincidence?) 

Well, I suppose the fact that emg named themselves with my initials is indeed a coincidence. 😉

Well I liked it so thanks for that!

And his other stuff's pretty good too. Maybe you need to listen to him with your eyes shut?