So who knows their Celinders?

[molan]

I've just picked up Alan's lovely Celinder J Update 4 in trans red and thought I'd try and find some more info about Celinders in general.

I'm sure there are some people here who know their stuff on Celinders (CK - are you my man, lol) and i can't get anything from Celinder.com as it's been down for ages.

So questions are:

1) What are the differences between the J Updates and a Vintage?
The Gallery are listing the Daphne blue one as Vintage but it looks very similar to my Update!
N.B. Is this the same ex Me'Shell bass mentioned in the Celinder factory tour?

2) Do most Celinders have their own brand pickups fitted?
Mine has these but I have heard that some have Barts so maybe there are lots of pickup options available?

3) Mine has a 2 band active tone circuit - I'd like to know a a bit more about this?
Bass has a centre detent but treble rolls freely - is this standard? Are there internal adjustments (I haven't looked yet, lol). How dooes the pre work - the tone controls don't feel like they work in a 'conventional' manner?

4) I've seen some Celinders with an additional flick switch - what does this do?
Again, I spotted this on the Me'Shell bass.

Ok - that's about it for now, more stuff may come to me as I play the bass more!

Really enjoying it by the way

Edited January 7, 2010 by molan

[Bigwan]

I'm not an authority, but living where I do there's no chance to play decent basses in shops so shopping time is spent researching!

1). Not a clue
2). Recent Celinders seem to have celinder pickups as standard, but I believe there was the option (when the website was up) to spec alternatives
3). Preamp questions answered here: www.greengrove.dk/ Older Celinders (like the Basschat bass) didn't use the green grove pre. The basschat/Skarbee Celinder had Fralin pickups and an Aggie OBP1 (a blinding bass).
4). I believe the Me'Shell bass was a one off, electronics wise. Someone here (think it was eubassix) had it for a while and seem to remember there being a thread that described the electronics mods (here it is [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=30287&hl=Me'Shell)"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...l=Me'Shell)[/url].

Edited January 7, 2010 by Bigwan

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']The Gallery are listing the Daphne blue one as Vintage but it looks very similar to my Update!
N.B. Is this the same ex Me'Shell bass mentioned in the Celinder factory tour?

I've seen some Celinders with an additional flick switch - what does this do?
Again, I spotted this on the Me'Shell bass.[/quote]

It might be worth contacting Dave 'eubassix' re. the Meshell bass (or Celinders in general) as he owned it and iirc he was having it restored to original.

Other than that... nice to see you buying proper basses again (i.e. with the correct number of strings ).

[Kiwi]

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']1) What are the differences between the J Updates and a Vintage?
The Gallery are listing the Daphne blue one as Vintage but it looks very similar to my Update!
N.B. Is this the same ex Me'Shell bass mentioned in the Celinder factory tour?[/quote]
I get confused myself sometimes, but I thought Chris offered Classic and Update. Not sure what a vintage is but the main difference between a Classic and an Update is an active eq.

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']2) Do most Celinders have their own brand pickups fitted?
Mine has these but I have heard that some have Barts so maybe there are lots of pickup options available?[/quote]
Whatever you want if you're paying the money...apart from probably EMGs because Chris isn't fond of the sound of them!

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']3) Mine has a 2 band active tone circuit - I'd like to know a a bit more about this?
Bass has a centre detent but treble rolls freely - is this standard? Are there internal adjustments (I haven't looked yet, lol). How dooes the pre work - the tone controls don't feel like they work in a 'conventional' manner?[/quote]
There wasn't a standard eq in the earlier instruments. He'd install anything a customer wanted but many have Aguilar preamps. Later off-the-shelf basses have had a Greengrove pre though as standard.

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']4) I've seen some Celinders with an additional flick switch - what does this do?
Again, I spotted this on the Me'Shell bass.[/quote]
Usually switches between active and passive. My old black one that Bigwan refers to had the same function but as a push/pull pot.

I had a go on the Meshell bass in Chris's workshop and it was gorgeous (for a jazz). Didn't seem to be anything particularly unusual about the electronics, just a standard 2 band with active/passive switch, vol and pan.

Also, Badass bridges were standard on earlier basses until he went to his own branded hardware.

[molan]

Thanks for all this guys.

I'll need to have a 'play' with the Greengrove now I know it has dipswitches to fiddle with!

My one looks exactly like this:










In fact - judging by the grain this might actually be my one!

Looks a little deeper red in the flesh

Edited January 7, 2010 by molan

[SpinalTap]

The Fenderish models are: (P and J versions)

1) Update: Ash/Maple (70ies position J pickups): Active electronics
2)Vintage: Alder/ Rosewood, Active electronics
3 Classic: Passive electronics. Usually Alder/Rosewood for J, Alder/Maple for P*

These are just the standard specs. I've seen J Classics with active electronics, Update's with rosewood board etc.
You just pick a model, and start customizing.
For example I have a J Vintage fretless on order, with mahogany body, and cocobolo top.

Standard are his own pickups, but you can still order them with SD, Fralins, Nordstrand, EMG, or a Aguilar preamo instead of the greengrove.

[molan]

Thanks for that ST.

I think I've now established that mine has:

Northern ash body
Maple neck
Maple fingerboard
Celinder/Green Grove preamp
Celinder pickups
Chrome Hipshot hardware

As I see you've listed the Update having 70's spacing does that mean the Classic & Vintage generally have '60's spacing?

The other question was whether all the J bodies are the same - non-one's mentioned a difference between them so I'm assuming they are?

[birdy]

I owned that bass Barrie, congrats its a great one! I imported it from the States (it was second hand then) and sold it to Alan via the Gallery!!

Sure there is a thread on here listing the differences somewhere....

Steve

[molan]

[quote name='birdy' post='705282' date='Jan 8 2010, 11:08 AM']I owned that bass Barrie, congrats its a great one! I imported it from the States (it was second hand then) and sold it to Alan via the Gallery!!

Sure there is a thread on here listing the differences somewhere....

Steve[/quote]

Usual small world of BC eh Steve, lol.

Did you get it from Miko's then?

[lozbass]

The preamp in Celinders is generally 'bass boost and cut' - hence the centre detent, and the treble is roll-off (cut) only I think. As you've found, there are dip-switches to "to modify the amount and frequency of the treble response and bass EQ frequency curve" (quote from KJung on Talkbass)