New Epiphone Newport reissue

[Jonesy]

7 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

 

You beat me to it 😃

 

I think the bass looks better with a more vintage styled tuner, but would look even better if those shafts weren't quite so long

 

[msb]

I recently ordered a 3 point bridge from the Hipshot EBay store , and the service was stellar. They state that they only ship to the continental US , but will make exceptions. 

.

[NikNik]

19 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

I saw one of these in PMT Cardiff this afternoon and had a go. The action was high for my taste and definitely seemed high at the nut, but I was looking out for it after watching Lobster's review. It wasn't awful though and I'm sure could've been sorted without too much effort. 
 

The pickups definitely lose volume and definition when the blend is in the middle. Turn the blend slightly one way or the other and the problem seemed to go away. There are some really nice sounds from both of the pickups though (blended and individually) and it made me think a bit of a Ric with the fizzy warm sound. 
 

Finish was very good and overall the bass wasn't half as bad as I expected/feared. It didn't leave the store with me but it was a close run thing. 

How much of a volume drop? Out of phase volume drop?

[ezbass]

Is anyone, who has one, going to try rewiring their's in phase?

[JohnDaBass]

32 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Is anyone, who has one, going to try rewiring their's in phase?

I did the rewire of the TB Pro Pup and the difference was amazing.

Not a great deal of difference when the bridge Pup is soloed but a much warmer fuller sound at the mid setting on the blend control. There was no suck out of volume or Mids.

I also fitted a set of Short Scale D'Addario XL Chromes Flats which only juuuust fitted and need the headend silks trimmed back not to hang over the nut.

I have a Gibson SG bass and I do feel that the V/V/T arrangement on that appears to offer better control than the V/Blend/T of the Newport.

I will probably wait to see & hear how Lowend Lobster's changes work out ( 3-way switch).

I read on TB that a Guy there planned to replace the pots with 500K and wire V/V/T, seems a good plan but I will wait awhile until there's some reviews of the upgrades.

Edited February 24, 2023 by JohnDaBass
error

[Old Horse Murphy]

34 minutes ago, NikNik said:

How much of a volume drop? Out of phase volume drop?

It was quite noticeable, like a Jazz bass when both Pups are on full 

[Old Horse Murphy]

Well I decided to take a punt and ordered an orange one from Peach Guitars that weighs in at 7lb 9oz. If it's no good I'll send it back but if it's not too far off the quality and set up one I tried in PMT Cardiff I'm sure it'll be fine. 

[three]

1 hour ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

Well I decided to take a punt and ordered an orange one from Peach Guitars that weighs in at 7lb 9oz. If it's no good I'll send it back but if it's not too far off the quality and set up one I tried in PMT Cardiff I'm sure it'll be fine. 

I have the orange (coral officially) and the colour is wonderful - very close to Fender Capri Orange, one of my favourite colours on any bass. Hoever, maybe a bit more pink/red in the mix on the Epiphone.  Really good fun little basses, I hope you’re satisfied and enjoy it. 

[Old Horse Murphy]

First impressions are that it's very orange. Very orange, but I like it. Fit and finish is very good and while I need to set it up to my liking the action is not too bad. 

There's definitely an out of phase when the pickup blend is in the middle but a bit either side of middle is fine. 
 

I can't work out whether someone hasn't had a go at filing the nut a bit as although it's a nice height (for me) there was mere filings still attached to the slots but it soon easily cleaned up. 
 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Old Horse Murphy

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

 

 

 

That looks like burrs from string it up to me. The nut material might be quite soft if that turns out to be the case.

[JohnDaBass]

3 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

 

I need to buy some more suitable strings to me taste and need to get the set up right so we'll see how it goes. 

 

When selecting your strings check the nut to bridge and tail piece dimensions because some " short scale "strings may not fit. You may need medium scale . I've just fitted a Hipshot 2 point bridge and the Short scale D'Addario Chromes fit much better.  I previously had to trim back the silks at the headend to avoid the silks hanging over the nut when fitting to the stock bridge & tail piece.

Edited February 28, 2023 by JohnDaBass
Error

[bnt]

Looking at that nut, I realised that I've never owned a bass (or guitar) that didn't have a straight string pull across the nut to the strings. I don't think I want one, either. If I get a Newport, I know that would annoy me to the point where I'd install some kind of string tree. The cheap plastic isn't helping, but maybe it's less brittle? Hmmm.

[uncle psychosis]

I went to a gig a few weeks ago and the support band's bass player was playing one of these. 

 

The plus points - it looked ace and sounded great. I really enjoyed the tone that it produced.

 

The downside - the bassist had stuck gaffa tape over the bass side of the bridge pickup, which I couldn't work out. However the singer made reference to "so and so on bass, doing great work despite having a broken instrument". 

 

Seems to me like if you get a good one you're laughing, but disappointing to see so many issues with the QC. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

26 minutes ago, uncle psychosis said:

I went to a gig a few weeks ago and the support band's bass player was playing one of these. 

 

The plus points - it looked ace and sounded great. I really enjoyed the tone that it produced.

 

The downside - the bassist had stuck gaffa tape over the bass side of the bridge pickup, which I couldn't work out. However the singer made reference to "so and so on bass, doing great work despite having a broken instrument". 

 

Seems to me like if you get a good one you're laughing, but disappointing to see so many issues with the QC. 

Perhaps he broke it himself in a rage. You know what these bass players are like.

[JohnDaBass]

I need to confess that I have fallen deeply in love with this bass.

Back in the day I owned a 1964(3?) Epiphone Newport bass (single Pup not the Batwing headstock) and I traded it for a 1969 Gibson slot head EB3 in walnut, which I still own.

Ever since Epiphone reissued the Embassy bass, I have waited patiently for the reissue of the Newport bass.

So as soon as they were available, I bought one from Guitarguitar.

Yes, it had a few QC issues but nothing that could not be sorted.

So I did the following: -

·         Installed a Hipshot Supertone 2-point bridge.

·         Adjusted the nut to my preferred height.

·         Fitted a 1.5mm thick piece of hard card under the neck Pup cover to lower the Ceramic 8 magnets and reduce the string pull.

·         Fitted a set of short scale D’Addario Chrome flat wounds.

·         Replaced the Pickard with a superb Brian Pillans Blk/Wh/Blk

·         Rewired the bridge Pup to switch the phase.

·         Added a 0.2uF cap to the stock 0.2uF creating a 0.4uF

·         Dunlop straplocks.

 

 

The Newport is now mine ALL mine!!

It plays superbly, lovely smooth neck with a great feel, it hugs my rounded beer belly, sits perfectly balanced ( for me) and sounds sublime if you are a Gibson/ Epiphone kinda guy. Deep warm lows, T’Bird highs and sparkle , and very typical EB3 tones in-between.   

The pickguard was made by Brian Pillans of https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/earlpilanz

An absolute perfect fit and adds a bit of vintage vibe reminiscent of my ’69 EB3 and SG basses.

The Hipshot Supertone bridge is great, I have previously fitted a 3-point gold one to my Epiphone Rumbly Kat, so I knew what to expect BUT I did not expect the fixing bolts to have an Imperial thread. The 3-point bridge is shipped with both M8 Metric and SAE Imperial threaded fixing bolts but since Hipshot’s target market for the 2-point bridge is old Epiphone and Gibson basses they only include the SAE fixing bolts. Marcus at Bass Direct sorted the problem and it now appears that in future Hipshot will be shipping both types on the 2-point Supertone bridges. ( got an email from Oscar Yuan at Hipshot confirming it).

Happy days 😄

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by JohnDaBass
error

[Paul S]

41 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

I need to confess that I have fallen deeply in love with this bass.

Back in the day I owned a 1964(3?) Epiphone Newport bass (single Pup not the Batwing headstock) and I traded it for a 1969 Gibson slot head EB3 in walnut, which I still own.

Ever since Epiphone reissued the Embassy bass, I have waited patiently for the reissue of the Newport bass.

So as soon as they were available, I bought one from Guitarguitar.

Yes, it had a few QC issues but nothing that could not be sorted.

So I did the following: -

·         Installed a Hipshot Supertone 2-point bridge.

·         Adjusted the nut to my preferred height.

·         Fitted a 1.5mm thick piece of hard card under the neck Pup cover to lower the Ceramic 8 magnets and reduce the string pull.

·         Fitted a set of short scale D’Addario Chrome flat wounds.

·         Replaced the Pickard with a superb Brian Pillans Blk/Wh/Blk

·         Rewired the bridge Pup to switch the phase.

·         Added a 0.2uF cap to the stock 0.2uF creating a 0.4uF

·         Dunlop straplocks.

 

 

The Newport is now mine ALL mine!!

It plays superbly, lovely smooth neck with a great feel, it hugs my rounded beer belly, sits perfectly balanced ( for me) and sounds sublime if you are a Gibson/ Epiphone kinda guy. Deep warm lows, T’Bird highs and sparkle , and very typical EB3 tones in-between.   

The pickguard was made by Brian Pillans of https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/earlpilanz

An absolute perfect fit and adds a bit of vintage vibe reminiscent of my ’69 EB3 and SG.

The Hipshot Supertone bridge is great, I have previously fitted a 3-point gold one to my Epiphone Rumbly Kat, so I knew what to expect BUT I did not expect the fixing bolts to have an Imperial thread. The 3-point bridge is shipped with both M8 Metric and SAE Imperial threaded fixing bolts but since Hipshot’s target market for the 2-point bridge is old Epiphone and Gibson basses they only include the SAE fixing bolts. Marcus at Bass Direct sorted the problem and it now appears that in future Epiphone will be shipping both types on the 2-point Supertone bridges. ( got an email from Oscar Yuan at Hipshot confirming it).

Happy days 😄

 

 

I bet that is the business now.  The pickguard and bridge have change the look quite dramatically.  For the better, I should add.  

[JohnDaBass]

1 minute ago, Paul S said:

 

I bet that is the business now.  The pickguard and bridge have change the look quite dramatically.  For the better, I should add.  

From what I remember, back in 1969, it is so, so close to the original REAL THING!! 

Absolutely loving it. When I think how much this cost me and how much I enjoy it I am now seriously considering thinning the herd.

My Kids & grand Kids would have no idea of what to sell my Toys for after my days.

 

[msb]

That looks good. 
Real good.

[AndyTravis]

Ooft. EVERYONE’S at it…

[Grahambythesea]

How long before Gibson/Epiphone try and stop Atelierz from making those. They certainly look better for the clover leaf machine heads. The smaller bridge pickup is definitely more authentic looking. 👍🏼

[msb]

They went after Dean. And won. I would not be at all surprised.

I’m really not a fan of companies that rip off older designs , and yet , that said , one of my current favourites to play is an early 70’s UniVox copy of a Mosrite.

…. guilty 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

They're looking out!

[grayn]

I wonder if Gibson/Epi would be upset by this Rivertone?

[bnt]

Gibson didn’t go after Serek for the Midwestern or others. If anything, that might have helped push Gibson in to bringing back the Newport.

[JohnDaBass]

58 minutes ago, grayn said:

I wonder if Gibson/Epi would be upset by this Rivertone?

Now that is lovely.