therealting

£70 off because of this one chip, otherwise brand new. This bass is ASTONISHINGLY good. Wow.

While we’re talking about DT, anyone who hasn’t checked out Sons of Apollo is missing a treat. I actually think their version of ‘Lines in the Sand’ is better than the DT original. Myung is a monster player, but I prefer Sheehan’s tone here... as well as Bumblefoot’s to Petrucci’s and Sherinian’s to Rudess’ (of course, Sherinian and Portnoy played on this one when in DT, and both sound really relaxed here). And Soto sounds way better than LaBrie, IMO.

That’s a pretty good one too, I liked it enough that I bought the live DVD. I actually quite like A Change of Seasons too, but just the track - not crazy about the live covers. Images and Words with modern production would be pretty sick.

Images and Words is by far their best work.

@donkelley It’s more critical the thicker the strings get. With a guitar, the strings are so skinny it makes very little different. If you have someone playing a seven string bass with a low F# or even a low C#, those strings are thick and the gap becomes pretty close if you choose centre spacing.

Just snagged one on eBay for £230. Excited.

But most nuts are cut to space evenly between windings, just look at must Fenders and see where the dot marker are in relation to the A and D strings, and you’ll see they’re lopsided. The strings also look more evenly spaced that way, and we’ve all gotten used to it.

There are a bunch of these available with a discount now on Gear4Music’s eBay page with small flaws.

I’m guessing they will relent in time.

@petecarlton Horses for courses I guess - the Mayones ones look a little bass ukulele to me and would probably look cartoonish on my corpulent frame!

It is optimised for a very particular style of playing: very fast fingerstyle with virtually no slap. Given the popularity of instruments like Strandbergs in the prog / djent world, I wouldn’t be surprised if bassists from those genres find this an interesting proposition... as well as people who like the idea of six string range but find six string boards a little much.

@Misdee I guess waiting for one of those secondhand BFRs to come along and then having it refinished might be the ticket. I kind of feel your pain in that Sadowsky won’t make six strings. Lots of people would buy one, but Roger has just said it’s not something he’s interested in. Such is life with artistic / creative people I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

Fender Rascal

Interesting!

Was it not heavier than the ACG before the rehearsal? Was it finger dirt in the string windings and sweat everywhere that lent it the extra gravitas? 🙃

I’m disappointed when Aston Martin brings out another car that costs several hundred grand, but not everything is for me. You don’t have to care what the artist wants, but that’s kind of EBMM’s job if they’re producing a signature model. It’s SUPPOSED to represent what the artist wants. Both John Myung and John Petrucci moved from their previous endorsement deals because they weren’t getting what they wanted out of their signature instruments (Yamaha and Ibanez respectively). They both have fairly esoteric tastes that thuse more conservative companies weren’t willing to indulge. EBMM invited them to spec their instruments exactly the way they wanted. Petrucci drew a lot of ire and criticism from his fans at the time for moving from Ibanez, but he states that the carte blanche he was offered at EBMM was too much to resist. His EBMM JP models represented a relatively novel departure from the superstrats at the time, with the scooped forearm bevel, the new non-locking vibrato bridge design (with piezo option) and control / switching layout. He later went to them with the pretty radical Majesty design concept, which is now one of their most popular guitars including among players outside the prog / metal genre. Myung has played Bongos for a very long time now, playing one-off models from their custom shop, and has waited this long to figure out exactly what he wants and to agree to put his name to something. His fans and those playing in a similar way have waited a long time to try out his narrow spaced six string option, and now they have their chance. EBMM is a commercial company, and a signature instrument obviously has the triple roles of satisfying a known player, putting the company’s instruments in that player’s hands and on stages, and putting that instrument in the hands of fans and players in order to make the company money. With all due respect, why should their signature model for John Myung pay any deference to your wishes? Also, serious question, if you want a finish they don’t offer, why not just get one refinished? A secondhand one will be substantially cheaper than a new one, and you could put the savings towards a custom paint job which will make it like new and to your liking.

On that bass I’d just get an ebony ramp made. Double sided tape behind it, done. Had them on several basses.

This one is different to the one you already have...?!

It’s almost as if the signature model is based on what the artist wants, rather than what you want It’s such a shame they don’t make a conventional Bongo to cater to those who want a conventional Bongo

Well that’s why I was saying it needs a bigger discount - but I know there are a few people on the forum who know how to do headstock repairs, and if they managed to beat them down to £100 then might be worth the experiment.

There’s a five string on eBay with fairly big headstock cracks in it... probably needs a bigger discount than it currently has, but may of interest to someone who knows how to do these repairs. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353170698395

I’m just not a fan of the Sereks’ looks, but I know others who like them. I prefer the Wilcock styling.

Tried one at the LBGS last year. Absolutely excellent, and priced very well for a hand built custom instrument.