NBD: Vintage acoustic

[FinnDave]

Saw this for sale here this morning, it is now my latest acquisition, and very nice it is too. Sounds good acoustically, and surprisingly good through an amp as well. Quite a lot of bass for not a lot of money, I can see this one getting quite a bit of use in its new home.

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by FinnDave

[josie]

Nice! Vintage make reliably good value for money guitars. My first acoustic bass was a Vintage - dirt cheap on ebay for good reason, but still good vfm including the cost of a guitar tech fixing it up. I only moved on because I wanted a 5.

Enjoy! You look pretty good together :-)

Edited April 29, 2018 by josie

[FinnDave]

Thank you, Josie, I've often thought of getting an acoustic, but couldn't see myself using it enough to justify spending a few hundred on one, but this was under 100 and only 25 mins drive away. It has a quite different character to my Jazz and Precision basses, makes a good change.

[Cat Burrito]

Nice. I was hovering over that but space at home was a factor.

[FinnDave]

Strangely, I hadn't spotted the ad until yesterday, and it was the words 'near Oxford' that caught my eye, by mid afternoon I was having an enjoyable chat with the seller (top bloke, by the way), and by half four me & the bass were back at home. I've been asked to take it to a blues jam this afternoon, I'll take a Fender in case the acoustic isn't suitable, but it is very playable, and goes up to a high F if you can reach it!

[Happy Jack]

Try running it though a Fishman Pro Plat ... you'll be amazed.

[FinnDave]

10 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Try running it though a Fishman Pro Plat ... you'll be amazed.

There's a toy I'd never heard of, but uncle Google reveals all. Not quite ready to drop 3 times what I paid for the bass on a pre-amp just now, I'll try it through my SansAmp and see how that goes. 

My main reason for buying the acoustic is so I can just sit here on the sofa and learn songs from iTunes playlists without having to get any gear out. Pure laziness!

[Len_derby]

Not laziness, just using your time more efficiently. Anything that takes away barriers to picking up your bass is a good move. 

Shame you won't make it to the Midlands Bass Bash. Another time, hopefully.

[FinnDave]

'More efficient use of time' - I like that!

I am up in Leicester about once a month at the moment, but we cram as much as we can into each rehearsal, so if I do make a BB in the area, it will be a short stop at the end of the day. Hopefully, that will work out some time though.

[josie]

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Try running it though a Fishman Pro Plat ... you'll be amazed.

Yes - the top range Michael Kelly acoustics have Fishman pre-amps and the difference in sound quality is striking. So is the difference in price.

[Lozz196]

Nice one Dave, I`ve just picked up a Vintage instrument myself - Tony Butler Precision. Am amazed at the quality of the instrument, seems Vintage punch way above their weight.

[Geek99]

11 hours ago, FinnDave said:

There's a toy I'd never heard of, but uncle Google reveals all. Not quite ready to drop 3 times what I paid for the bass on a pre-amp just now, I'll try it through my SansAmp and see how that goes. 

My main reason for buying the acoustic is so I can just sit here on the sofa and learn songs from iTunes playlists without having to get any gear out. Pure laziness!

That’s what pulled me in 

 

bear in mind that with a preamp you can get a conjoined tuner and that’s quite handy 

[FinnDave]

Took it along to an 'acoustic' blues jam this afternoon and it sounded great - so long as I played the A, D, and G strings, The E string was virtually inaudible. I tried a fresh battery in the pre-amp, but it made no difference. I have no idea whether mine is faulty or if they're all like that, and if faulty, how expensive the fix is. I bought it to use at home simply because it sounds a lot better than an unplugged solid electric, so I'm not bothered. But any suggestions about the problem, and especially the cure, would be welcomed.

[FinnDave]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Nice one Dave, I`ve just picked up a Vintage instrument myself - Tony Butler Precision. Am amazed at the quality of the instrument, seems Vintage punch way above their weight.

Not a make I'd come across before, but I will certainly pay more attention to them in the future.

[Geek99]

4 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Took it along to an 'acoustic' blues jam this afternoon and it sounded great - so long as I played the A, D, and G strings, The E string was virtually inaudible. I tried a fresh battery in the pre-amp, but it made no difference. I have no idea whether mine is faulty or if they're all like that, and if faulty, how expensive the fix is. I bought it to use at home simply because it sounds a lot better than an unplugged solid electric, so I'm not bothered. But any suggestions about the problem, and especially the cure, would be welcomed.

My “spider” branded one was exactly the same. Duff saddle pickup , or poor pre amp would be my bet. Look on eBay for a fishman clone preamp would be my recommendation - I put one in a twelve string and low E sounded mighty. It may suit a bass too, it only cost £20 delivered so not a bank breaker to try. Artec do decent bass under saddle pickups so maybe try swapping that first 

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Nice one Dave, I`ve just picked up a Vintage instrument myself - Tony Butler Precision. Am amazed at the quality of the instrument, seems Vintage punch way above their weight.

I’ve got the vintage stingray clone and it’s really good

[FinnDave]

3 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

My “spider” branded one was exactly the same. Duff saddle pickup , or poor pre amp would be my bet. Look on eBay for a fishman clone preamp would be my recommendation - I put one in a twelve string and low E sounded mighty. It may suit a bass too, it only cost £20 delivered so not a bank breaker to try. Artec do decent bass under saddle pickups so maybe try swapping that first 

Cheers, I'll check that out.

 

[Maude]

Before you buy a new saddle pick up or anything try fiddle around with the existing one. I've had this issue on a few acoustics at the 'value' end of the market, one even had Fishman pre and pick up. Loosen strings and remove saddle. Lightly sand the saddle base flat with the fine sandpaper, emery cloth, whatever you've got on a sheet of glass to get it dead flat. Reassemble and try all string volumes. If not fixed try slipping a piece of paper or two under one end of the pick up strip, even in the middle. It's all about getting the same pressure across the pick up from all strings. The most trouble I've had from this problem is with uke basses as they have very low tension strings which the piezo strips don't seem to like. 

It might not fix it but it's free to try

[Maude]

Also make sure the groove the pick up sits in hasn't got any rogue bits of wood in it. 

[FinnDave]

8 hours ago, Maude said:

Before you buy a new saddle pick up or anything try fiddle around with the existing one. I've had this issue on a few acoustics at the 'value' end of the market, one even had Fishman pre and pick up. Loosen strings and remove saddle. Lightly sand the saddle base flat with the fine sandpaper, emery cloth, whatever you've got on a sheet of glass to get it dead flat. Reassemble and try all string volumes. If not fixed try slipping a piece of paper or two under one end of the pick up strip, even in the middle. It's all about getting the same pressure across the pick up from all strings. The most trouble I've had from this problem is with uke basses as they have very low tension strings which the piezo strips don't seem to like. 

It might not fix it but it's free to try

Cheers, I'll try that, and your other tip.

[FinnDave]

Well, I took the strings off it this evening (been away or a few days, hence the delay) and shimmed the bridge with 30 thou of plastic (cut from an ex credit card) so the bridge insert is now upright instead of ;eating forwards at about 15 degrees. Instant success, good sound from all four strings!