Lunch Report Monday May 30, 2011- MEMORIAL DAY in the USA

Today we remember those service members who paid the ultimate price for our country.
Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day. It started in the southern states of the US after our Civil war as a day when relatives decorated the gravesites of their soldiers.
It encompassed soldiers lost in all wars after the end of World War I.

It was held on different days in different states but it was generally held sometime during the month of May, usually May 30.
Its name was gradually changed to Memorial Day after World War II. It was changed to the fourth Monday in May in 1968 when the US Congress passed an act that moved four holidays to coincide with their closest Mondays to create three day weekends.

Lunch –Burgers and dogs on the grill! It’s the first weekend of summer.
Do you have any big vacation plans for this year?

Bass Week: Its Official- This is the week I show you some of my bass projects. There will be plenty of guitar discussion mixed in.

G&L questions:
What is the most major repair or modification that you have done to one of your G&Ls?

Saddle lock bridges: Have you ever thought a different saddle design would be a nice option? Graphite maybe?

Here is my L-2500 getting the ground redone:


I added a piece of aluminum tape to improve the ground:


Everybody have a great weekend!
bassman

G&L questions:
What is the most major repair or modification that you have done to one of your G&Ls?

I've done heavy mods to other instruments (like converting a Dean Martini guitar from a 6 string to 4 string) but I leave the G&Ls alone!

That said, your ground mod looks very reasonable to me.

-Brock

Either my custom cut pickguard or battling fret sprout is my most major repair/mod to my G&L.

Some different saddles might be nice, I find the screws like to back off a bit then rattle to hell. By graphite do you mean products produced by Graphtech (as in their string saver saddles, nuts etc?), as those products do not contain graphite, they are a hard teflon impregnated polymer (comprised of Boron iirc), so when it wears it self lubricates. Some folks like what the graphtech saddles do for sound, others don't. They seem to alter the harmonic content by most accounts (for better or worse, I don't know, but different is all we hear). My build that should be done in a few months will have their floyd piezo saddles on it though, that should at least be a close comparison to my other OFR.

If you mean actually graphite saddles, I would be curious to try them out, where do you find them?

Nice 2500 there. I played one of those this weekend (which had the unfortunate affliction of being green burst). First time I played a G&L bass, and it was pretyt good, the neck was thinner than I am used to. Overall, however, I was not overly impressed, but was not disappointed. Not sure how to place it really, their guitars had wowed me. It could either be a yes, it is a good bass, as I expected (due to familiarity) or yes it is about on par with my other bass. Can't say for sure which, it was definitely adequate, and I don't have anything negative to pull away from the experience.

That's a cool looking guitar. I never touch my G&Ls partly because - for me, they are fine out of the box and partly because I dont know what I doing to make any alterations. I'm always open to suggestions - but at the moment I'm fine.

I am thinking of getting a gun-oil vintage type tint & high gloss finsih done on my Tribute Asat maple neck....but I'm too skint at the moment....

Howdy bassman,

No grilling for me yet. Summer in the Pacific Northwest tends to start only July 5th Just a ham and cheese sandwich for me today.

Haven't had to do anything to any of my G&L's myself. But just after I got my L-2500, one of the pups turned out to be dead which was fixed by Tony at G&L. Great service! Sent of my bass and had it back within a week and a couple of days. Always good to know there is a company standing firmly behind their products.

For all here state side, enjoy your day off!

- Jos

Hiya Bassman.

Lunch today will be a ham and cheese sandwich with basil pesto.

I haven't done anything major to any of my G&L's. I like them pretty much as I bought them. I've installed a Graph Tech nut and Legacy pickups on my S-500 and shielded it with aluminium foil to kill the annoying hum. I've tried a ton of strat style pickups and the Legacy single coils hold their own with the boutique brands.

I've put some better quality pots on both my Tribby's, but that's about it. The Tribby's feel just as solid as my USA S-500 and need very little attention. The nuts look a bit cheap, but they're cut correctly and are the right height which is all that really matters.

Anyone interested in military history on Memorial Day might enjoy these photos from WWI. They were unearthed in a French barn in a town called Vignacourt by an Australian TV crew and show allied servicemen (mainly British, Canadian, Australian and US) on leave from the front. The fear and loss etched on some of the very young faces speaks volumes for what these men must have endured for their countries. Sadly, most of the photos remain in the barn waiting for a public or private buyer.

Collection 1
Collection 2
Collection 3

How I wish that it was warm enough for outdoor cooking here...

Mods - I've swapped the pickups in all my G&L's. Nothing major there. I've done some drilling in all of them too - two of them have had locking tuners installed which required an extra hole, and my Bluesboy has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. I've managed to break two drill bits off in it, and had a screw snap off in it too, which had to be drilled out. I've added a Hipshot b-bender to it so there are now a couple of extra holes in the end of the guitar to secure it. One of those holes has a broken drill bit in it still. Can't be bothered getting it out. The bender required a different bridge too, so it has a three saddle one in there which I've drilled holes in in order for the strings to pass through to the bender. It still sounds and looks fantastic

I played one of those this weekend (which had the unfortunate affliction of being green burst).

Ugliest. Finish. Ever.

I played one of those this weekend (which had the unfortunate affliction of being green burst).

Ugliest. Finish. Ever.

A good thing we literally have the diameter of the world between us, otherwise we might be snagging axes the other is eye far too often . Could not agree more, green is for grass, trees, and plants. Not guitars. (I also have an aversion to black painted bursts)

Bassman, welcome back as LR and we had a brunch on the grill today and are back in town this evening.

Major mods?? The Bigsby addition to my Bluesboy was a major as it involved routing and a lot of fitting.

Thanks for the history on Memorial Day. We all have to be thank full for our veterans or things may be a lot different.

Beautiful Blue Quilt on the L-2500. I have an EB MM Stingray 5 but am keeping an eye out for an L-2500.

I have not played with any high profile musicians but am happy to play with the group that we have. They are all pros and can stand on their own and have in their professional careers.

Keep it up Bassman and looking forward to the rest of the week!-- Darwin

Do you have any big vacation plans for this year?

Missed that question first time around. My girlfriend and I are going to Singapore in 18 days. I can't wait to get out of this cold house. Water-slides here I come!! The holiday has eaten emptied my '2011 G&L purchase' account

Hey Bassman,

Lunch, the usually sandwich....

Mods - I have done two small things to my blue s-500. 1. Blocked the DF. Very low tech, i used a sanded down piece of drumstick. Works like a charm. 2. I was having this problem when i would strum a G chord and immediatly stop it i would here this high pitched ghost note (which was also a G note). It would sometimes happen with a C chord. At first i thought it was a tube in the DR Z, then i thought maybe a pickup was starting to go on me. I was talking to the tech at the G&L shop about it and he handed me a small piece of foam from a pickup container It turned out the springs in the back cavity of the s-500 were acting like a reverb tank! They happened to be at a tension that would cause them to vibrate on G notes. I put the piece of foam in the back and smooth sailing form there on out. I felt pretty stupid about the whole thing, this happen to anyone else?

My one little summer getaway looks like it may not happen this year I usually drive a few hours down to Cortland NY to go to the New York Jets training camp. (American Football Team) With the lock out, i really don't think that road trip is gonna happen..... The rest of the summer will be full of boating so all is not lost!

Looking forward to this week,
Scott

Bass Week: Its Official- This is the week I show you some of my bass projects. There will be plenty of guitar discussion mixed in.

I'll try to pay attention.

G&L questions:
What is the most major repair or modification that you have done to one of your G&Ls?

Oh... well... There's this. Scroll to the bottom of the page.

And this.

Image link. The board doesn't like my images.
http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/l2500/body_in_the_weeds.jpg

So, yeah. I've modded one. I also did a tone pot mod to my SB-2 but ended up changing ti back to stock.

Another image link.
http://www.bassesbyleo.com/images/g&l_tech/sb-2/controls.jpg

Saddle lock bridges: Have you ever thought a different saddle design would be a nice option? Graphite maybe?

I'd be fascinated to see a piezo option. It wouldn't be an inexpensive option, but it would be hellishly cool if done well. I had this on my Bongo. EBMM got it damn-near right.

Ken...