Lunch Report - Monday September 9th

For those who don't know me, I'm Ken. I live near Annapolis Maryland. I'm mainly a bassist (electric and upright), but I also enjoy playing guitar. I lurked and occasionally posted on the "old" G&LDP back around 2000, but lost track of it for about ten years. I've been back for almost three years now.

Jos is a very hard act to follow as Lunch Reporter. Last week he treated us to some great discussions and gorgeous recent G&Ls. This week I'll stick with older instruments. My collection is at 25 G&Ls now, with all but three of them being from the 1980s. I'll also show off a couple of recent additions to the household that didn't come from Fullerton.

I'll be working from home today, so lunch will be whatever I can scrounge from the refrigerator and pantry. Odds are that I'll end up with a sandwich - probably unsweetened peanut butter on wheat bread, with either some unprocessed local honey or Nutella. The sides will be whatever else I find during the scrounging. Lunch tends to be a productive time for me, so I will usually prepare something quickly and eat it while I work.

Today's G&L is one of my three BBE-era instruments: an L-1500 bass. I haven't checked the dates on this one, but the serial number places is around '99 or '00.





These don't seem to get a lot of attention on the discussion boards and don't show up for sale very often. IMO, these basses are very underappreciated. This bass covers a lot more ground than I was expecting it would. I can vary the tone quite a bit just by changing my right hand position. With my thumb on the neck I can get a reasonable fullness for reggae or dub, but this bass really shines when it's played fingerstyle over the pickup or between the pickup and the bridge. When I go active, I can easily overdrive my B-15 with light fingerstyle playing. The series/parallel switch also makes a huge difference in sound.

G&L topic: What's your most recent G&L find? What are your impressions of it? Did it meet your expectations?

Non-G&L topic: My family attended an end-of-season party for my sons' rugby club yesterday. It was our first year with the club, my sons' first exposure to the sport, and my first experience as a youth rugby coach. My last match was 15 years ago, and I had forgotten just how much I loved it. We played from May through early August. My team of 6-8 year olds had a great season, and everybody who showed up regularly managed to score at least once during the season. The highlights of the summer for me were seeing my seven year old run past every member of the opposing team to score his first try, and watching my ten year old finish his last game of the season by scoring a try in the state tournament (for those unfamiliar with rugby, a try is similar to a rushing touchdown in American football but with absolutely nobody blocking for you). What was your peak moment of the past season?

I'll check in if I take a break this afternoon, and again in the evening.

Ken

G&Ls and rugby, two of my favourite things! You gotta come hang out if you're ever in Melbourne, Ken! I decided last week that I'm going to start playing again next season - the local grand final is this coming weekend, so there's some time for me to get back some degree of fitness, I've started with the stuff I hated most at training - hill runs, crunches and pushups... It's been about 15 years since I last played too, so any skills I had are now long gone. In those years I've only had the wind knocked out of me maybe twice, so I'll need some adjustment time there too

Here's a highlight reel from one of the best teams in the Super Rugby competition, the Canberra Brumbies. The Super Rubgy competition is comprised of teams from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Exciting stuff. IMO, its the best game in the world.
[youtube]xL248rn5PPw[/youtube]

My most recent G&L is the LB100, which I'm very, very happy with. It probably doesn't have as many tones as other basses, but the ones it does have is perfect for my needs. Being a beginner it also makes me focus more on playing rather than tone chasing, which can only be a good thing.

I've been back for almost three years now.

Jos is a very hard act to follow as Lunch Reporter.

It's been good to have you around for sure , and thanks Jos for some entertaining LRs last week.

Odds are that I'll end up with a sandwich - probably unsweetened peanut butter on wheat bread

The PCC in town started making sunflower seed butter , mmmmm.

G&L topic: What's your most recent G&L find? What are your impressions of it? Did it meet your expectations?

That'd be my L-2000 . I don't play the fretless enough and I think I had forgot how HiFi the sound with the bridge pup in the mix is.
The L-1000 I was playing was huge sounding ,but didn't have those higher harmonics available like the L-2000 does.

Today's G&L is one of my three BBE-era instruments: an L-1500 bass

That simplicity is awesome . Are the pickups wound the same ?

What was your peak moment of the past season?

Hard to say , it's been a tragic season for me .
I've been playing alot of guitar and I'm thrilled at the prospect of reaching
a few goals . I swear sometimes what I hear from the speaker is exactly what I am feeling and in a language others can understand. That's a peak moment I guess, and they are getting more frequent. wooohoo : )

elwood

Ken, the wood on the L1000 is spectacular. I am blown away by the color of Elwoods L 2000 headstock. What a beautiful tint. I have always wondered about the L1000 single pickup. I can relate to MM Stingray 5's. I have a single pickup model (Pink Lady) and bought a twin humbucker model and can honestly say I didn't notice a difference. I no longer have the 2 h model. A single H with parallel/series will do most things that I do.

My most recent is the Savannah Asat Bass and it is the 2nd G&L that I have ordered. It exceeded my expectations by far. It will get its first test drive tomorrow. I just got my first 3 bolt a couple of weeks ago so all of mine are recent. You are more knowledgeable on the vintage ones than anyone that I know.

We have been watching the 2 granddaughters, 10 and 13 do competition waterskiing this summer. They both did very well in the regional competition. They have both played soccer for several years and the oldest is also on a traveling team. In the winter they are competitive downhill snow skiers. It is a blast to watch them at this young age. I am looking forward to the rest of the week. Jos is a hard act to follow, but you are up to the challenge.-- Darwin

Ken,

25 G&L's ? What's up with that? You must save some for the rest of us. Please post a bunch of pictures this week of the old ones.

We have a professional baseball team here and we also have the Cubs. Both teams have been very bad again and I am not a fan. We do have great hockey team here and this season was awesome. I do not have a fancy cable package and was happy to find most of the Hawk's playoff games being covered on our local NBC. I find hockey playoffs to be the best hockey. They don't fight during the playoff's for the most part and the true finess and speed of the sport is very impressive. I have five older Irish brothers that loved playing hockey as kids but I think it was mainly for the fighting. What a surprise.

Nice bass!

Y2kc

sweet bass Ken !!


I bought two at the same time , the 1984 Cavalier and 96 S-500 , both 3 bolt neck and thats about the only simularity ....

1996 S-500 meets expectations , I new it was mint before hand and it was , frets and raduis are the same as my newer G & l's and feels very close to the new ones .... totally happy

1984 Cavalier .... blows away expectations , Bob described it rougher than it came in , the vintage frets , the feel and the sounds are like no other in my collection and it plays so easy .... I really like it a bunch !!


we have the Reds and the Bengals within 35 miles , just close enough that the game has to sell out before it gets on TV or as we call it a "black out" ....... but we also have three drag strips within a 45 mile radius from the house , even though I didn't race this year thats usually what we do in the summer

. I am blown away by the color of Elwoods L 2000 headstock. What a beautiful tint.

That pic is pretty accurate color wise, it is a perfect aged butterscotch. This is a 89-90 three bolt, so the color is the result of just the wood , clearcoat , and 25 years . My Skyhawk , same era, is still a lighter shade of pale .
I'll take some cool headstock pics for comparison.


Looking forward to the Savannah tone report and what settings you prefer ( although I'd rather just hear you play it !)
With both pickups on the L-2000 the subtle right hand finger noises that make the Bass sound so intimate really come through, and of course a light touch and a loud amp really makes everything just right . "Laidback" and "in your face" at the same time.

elwood

Last edited by Elwood on Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:14 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Thanks for the replies, everybody. Lunch ended up being a slice of leftover pizza and a glass of water at 2:00. I had just a moment before a conference call, so I muted the phone and gulped it all down. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Jamie - I would love to get down your way. If I ever do, I will definitely look you up. Please do the same if you're ever near DC! Speaking of rugby, what position did you play? Will you be going back to the same one?

Elwood - That second pickup on the L-2K does make quite a difference compared to the L-1K. I wouldn't say one is better than the other - they both cover a slightly different bit of ground and do it really well. I'm glad to hear that things are starting to look up a bit. It's a wonderful feeling when the notes or chords come out of the instrument without having to think about them. I wish it happened for me more often.

Tim - It must be wonderful to have watched your daughter progress over the years. It's even harder finding rugby on TV than professional soccer. Rugby Sevens will be in the next summer Olympics, so we will definitely be glued to the TV for that.

Darwin - I can't get a picture of that bass that I'm really satisfied with. The grain is very tight, much like the swamp ash used on the very first F-100s and L-1000s. There is also some subtle figuring that I just can't catch with the camera. I will need to try some outdoor shots to see if the sun brings it out more. I'm looking forward to the tone report on the Savannah!

y2kc - It would be a lot less than 25 if there weren't so many collections being downsized last year! I'm still loving the SC-1. It plays like butter. I have it stashed in the bedroom, so every night while the kids are getting showered and ready for bed I can get in fifteen minutes of playing.

Eric - I'm glad your first Leo-era guitar experience was so good. I realized during my nine years in Cincinnati that Bengals fans get to see at least a dozen teams have big wins every season. Not every football fan gets that kind of opportunity!

Elwood and Darwin - As far as I can tell the L-1500 has the same pickup as the L-2000 and ASAT Bass. The slight difference in placement makes a big difference in sound, though. It's a lot fuller to my ears than an L-2K/ASAT running solo on the bridge pup, and has a bit less fullness and a lot more growl than an L-series or ASAT neck pup.

Ken

Thanks Ken for taking over! Beautiful L-1500 and nice you discuss the subtle differences between the L-1000 vs L-1500 vs L-2000 on bridge pickup.

G&L topic: What's your most recent G&L find? What are your impressions of it? Did it meet your expectations?

The latest is a top-bound ASAT Classic Solamente that arrived at work today 1 day early. Haven't taken it home yet for a sound exam because I went to a sportsbar to see the 2 opening games for Monday Night Football. But after watching the vid Jamie put up, I think all these American Football players are sissies with all their protection These Brumbies are pretty darn good.

What was your peak moment of the past season?

Ken ... Some things we keep private

- Jos

Speaking of rugby, what position did you play? Will you be going back to the same one?

I played in second row or at number 8. I have no idea if I'll go back to that position, but I've never been able to side-step so will certainly be a forward of some description. How about you?

Lost track of it for 10 years. Yes sometimes life gets in the way of G&L.
My last G&L Parts guitar exceeded expectations. I love the flat Maple neck and the Body is beautifully balanced.
I played Rugby when I was a skinny 13 year old. I didn't make a front on tack all year but I was fast enough to score more tries than I let in.
Jos had a spectacular week but you'll be awesome too
Anthony

Speaking of rugby, what position did you play? Will you be going back to the same one?

I played in second row or at number 8. I have no idea if I'll go back to that position, but I've never been able to side-step so will certainly be a forward of some description. How about you?

I played wing my first season (I was a skinny 16 y/o), but moved up to hooker the next year and stayed there through the rest of my playing days.

But after watching the vid Jamie put up, I think all these American Football players are sissies with all their protection These Brumbies are pretty darn good.

Last night my youngest son told me that he wanted to try American football. His reasoning: "It would be nice to get a rest break every five seconds."

Ken

Last night my youngest son told me that he wanted to try American football. His reasoning: "It would be nice to get a rest break every five seconds."

Ken

Exactly!

- Jos