fretless M-85

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The Guilds of Grot said:
mgod said:
My god, the Pennsauken mart.
The pretzel place!
Yep. I remember when they got in a truckload of vhs porn and teddies of one style but various colors. Every store had both items and it didn't matter what your booth was. Even the hardware store had red teddies hanging from the ceiling. :roll:
They tore it down so rich kids could play ice hockey. :evil:
 

hieronymous

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Got a strap pin for the bottom from my buddy chromium, so now I can finally play it standing up! Keeping the old strings on for now, since I oiled the fretboard, but pretty soon want to put on new strings - LaBella flats - and then I'll take some new pics. But here's another I took before:

fretlessguildfull2.jpg
 

hieronymous

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Since my last post, a lot has happened. I didn't play the bass much - for some reason, I was really bummed out about the selector switch tip & truss rod cover - shallow, I know. So I put it away. At one point, an earlier owner of the bass contacted me - he thinks he owned it back in the '70s! He recognized some of the wear marks. If I ever decide to sell it, he gets first dibs.

I finally did get a cheap replacement for the selector switch - a Gibson Les Paul tip fits. I sent an email to someone who makes custom wooden knobs and parts, hoping to get a switch tip and truss rod cover in a dark rosewood, though he hasn't gotten back to me (I figure because of the holidays).

And finally, most importantly, I've been playing it again. In fact, I went so far as to make a sound clip - I call it:

the sapphire stomp

The only effect I used was a Demeter Opto-Compulator for a little bit of compression on both bass tracks. The regular bass that starts off the piece is the neck pickup alone - the lead bass part is the bridge pickup, with some delay courtesy of a moogerfooger analog delay. Both tracks played with fingers. There are multiple takes, especially of the lead bass - I can still hear parts that I would fix, but my fingers were getting tired! Anyway, this track is just to give an idea of the sound of the bass. The drums were played by Greg DeGuglielmo and recorded at Robot Envy studios in Berkeley.

Named after one of two new cats I have taken guardianship of - here's a shot of him with the M-85 II in the background:

sapphirem85ii.jpg


I am having some grounding/buzzing problems with the bass - going to have to have a friend look at it. Also still considering replacing the humbuckers (or sludgebuckers as they're being called at the Last Bass Outpost - do a search for some interesting reading) with Dark Stars, if I can find some. But I do kind of like how they sound here - this is without any EQ, my next experiment might be to run the bass through my Alembic F-2B preamp & SF-2 Superfilter to see what kind of variations I can get. Also want to try recording both pickups together. I also plan on writing a review for the reviews section.
 

fronobulax

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Thanks for the update.

Closest pic I have of cat and bass is posted in this thread, although I think some of the other posters believe it is a picture of my dog :wink:
 

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Frono, love the pix of your cats! I like the "pets & instrument" threads.

I finally put together a review. I changed the form a little bit more, including scale length & pickups. Might seem obvious to some people, but for someone unfamiliar with the intricacies of Guild changes over the years I thought it might be useful.

I already have an idea for my next soundclip - just finished my first beer of the evening, this could happen soon...
 

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hieronymous said:
Since my last post, a lot has happened. I didn't play the bass much - for some reason, I was really bummed out about the selector switch tip & truss rod cover - shallow, I know. So I put it away. At one point, an earlier owner of the bass contacted me - he thinks he owned it back in the '70s! He recognized some of the wear marks. If I ever decide to sell it, he gets first dibs.

I finally did get a cheap replacement for the selector switch - a Gibson Les Paul tip fits. I sent an email to someone who makes custom wooden knobs and parts, hoping to get a switch tip and truss rod cover in a dark rosewood, though he hasn't gotten back to me (I figure because of the holidays).

And finally, most importantly, I've been playing it again. In fact, I went so far as to make a sound clip - I call it:

the sapphire stomp

The only effect I used was a Demeter Opto-Compulator for a little bit of compression on both bass tracks. The regular bass that starts off the piece is the neck pickup alone - the lead bass part is the bridge pickup, with some delay courtesy of a moogerfooger analog delay. Both tracks played with fingers. There are multiple takes, especially of the lead bass - I can still hear parts that I would fix, but my fingers were getting tired! Anyway, this track is just to give an idea of the sound of the bass. The drums were played by Greg DeGuglielmo and recorded at Robot Envy studios in Berkeley.

Named after one of two new cats I have taken guardianship of - here's a shot of him with the M-85 II in the background:

sapphirem85ii.jpg


I am having some grounding/buzzing problems with the bass - going to have to have a friend look at it. Also still considering replacing the humbuckers (or sludgebuckers as they're being called at the Last Bass Outpost - do a search for some interesting reading) with Dark Stars, if I can find some. But I do kind of like how they sound here - this is without any EQ, my next experiment might be to run the bass through my Alembic F-2B preamp & SF-2 Superfilter to see what kind of variations I can get. Also want to try recording both pickups together. I also plan on writing a review for the reviews section.

Just lucked onto this. Nice track/soundclip. I was hoping to hear what that next track that first beer inspired...
 

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I'm back! I haven't posted much until today because I switched browsers and had trouble with my password, but I'm finally back in action.

Also, finally had the electronics on this bass sorted out by a friend, plus pulled the trigger on a NOS Guild/DeArmond truss rod cover from eBay - not necessarily the proper one for this bass but it works:

m85headstock.jpg


I also picked up a new practice amp - the new GK MB112 II 200 watt combo. I've been practicing on this bass acoustically for a while, it's so nice to play it plugged in, even if at low volume:

gkguild.jpg


Now I just need to find a soul jazz combo to play with!
 

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Another shot of the M-85 II fretless - sorry I don't have anything more exciting, though I can say that I am still enjoying playing it!

m85outside.jpg
 

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So I finally found a soul jazz combo to play with! Guitar, drums, and me on bass. We had our first rehearsal tonight. I was given a list of tunes, some of which I know, like Meters songs like "Cissy Strut" and "Ease Back" - actually, that was the Grant Green version, another Grant Green tune being "Ain't It Funky Now" - also stuff brand new to me, like "Sugar" and "Sunshine Alley" by Stanley Turrentine, "Back at the Chicken Shack" by Jimmy Smith, "Moanin'" by Art Blakey, "Cold Duck Time" & "Listen Here" by Eddie Harris, and "Orange Peel" by Reuben Wilson.

I mainly used my new (to me) Fender Donald "Duck" Dunn Signature Bass. I used the fretless M-85 on the 2nd & 3rd tunes we played, but at the end the bottom strap pin pulled out! When I bought it the pin was missing - I was surprised to see that there were no threads, it was just a big hole. Was fortunate to have a friend that modded his JS II and didn't want the pin - he sent it to me and I jammed it in there no problem - until now!

The bass sounded pretty good - wish I could have used it a bit more - tried to take the DI out from the amp but it was messed up - not sure if it was the amp, cable, or what. Next time I will bring my DI box! The recording came out ok, but maybe not representative - just one mic in the room - will wait for next time to post a soundclip - trying not to get too excited about the band but I think we sounded pretty good!
 

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Sounds good.

Glad the strap button failure did not cause damage.

Somewhere I got the idea that the strap buttons on the hollow bodies were friction fitted unless someone added some aftermarket glue so I'm always a little wary....
 

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Pull the damn thing out, plug it with a dowel and put in a straplock. Unless you want to enjoy watching the bass tumble to the ground with a lovely crunch.
 

hieronymous

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Thought I would update this thread with a few pics of the bass, newly Alembicized this year.

First, here is a shot taken at Alembic on the famous rug:

39525631885_8425ac44df_z.jpg


Here it is at my house - it is now wearing these new strings:

38833535450_bac5ecf0cb_z.jpg


This is from the other day - finally used it with a band! Still haven't used it with a drummer, hoping to tomorrow night at rehearsal and then Saturday for a gig:

42407603332_1e5dae735b_z.jpg


This time around I recorded it direct and also with the amp mic'd (Shure BETA52A, as seen in the last picture) - I like the way the mic track came out! Here's a sound clip: http://hieronymous.us/music/2instrumental37.mp3
 

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Thanks! There's not a lot of high frequency information, so it gets lost on computer speakers, but with good speakers I think it sounds pretty good! It's a combination of the bass, the pickups & electronics, my CAJ V-Comp tube compressor, the GK amp (which I had set relatively flat), and the BETA52A mic - not sure of exactly the effect of the mic, but I believe it has a distinct frequency curve for low frequency sounds like kick and bass guitar.

It's kind of a pain, but I am hoping to record our rehearsal and maybe even the gig, even if I just record the bass direct and the rest of the band with a pair of stereo room mics (using the Zoom H6) - my next step is to take the direct signal and put it through my F-2B preamp. Sorry to go on and on - I think about this a lot! I think I might experiment with some overdrive too, but we'll see.
 
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hieronymous

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Pull the damn thing out, plug it with a dowel and put in a straplock. Unless you want to enjoy watching the bass tumble to the ground with a lovely crunch.

By the way, the strap pin pulled out again - I have to remember not to run the cable through my strap (actually, putting it through the strap higher up so it doesn't come in contact with the body/strap pin - I used a rubber hammer to jam the pin back in, maybe someday will do something about it, but it's kind of cool to have it be original - maybe it will affect the sound if I change it?
 

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Sounds super fat and natural. Really nice. Great, precise playing too! Made a killer soundtrack for my coffee and reading the news this morning
 

hieronymous

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Thanks for listening everyone!

Finally played the bass on a small gig - didn't get to use my own amp, no soundcheck limited monitors, couldn't hear the lead guitarist, but otherwise it went fine!

42539503971_1faffec296_z.jpg


Before we started I heard someone in the audience ask someone else, "What kind of bass is that?" The answer I heard? "Gibson" - Oh well, didn't get a chance to correct them but I thought it was funny! Hopefully they could read the headstock during the show!
 
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