LR 11-12-2012 Out with the old in with the new

[meowmix]

Thank you Louis for taking the LR duties last week. Well done indeed.
Here is my appreciation video for you Louis for being an active part of G&L discussions.
I enjoy reading your posts as it usually has some great input.
Thanks
Peter

Now to the video and some great music playing in the background.
[youtube]4PcL6-mjRNk[/youtube]

Today's Lunch: Wiener dogs.

Hello everyone, my name is Peter and I will be your LR host for the week.
This is my second time doing the LR duties, and just like the first, it is right after Louis.

Today's title Out with the Old in with the New.

My old G&L Climax bass has died. Took it to the shop only to find out the trust rod wasn't doing it's job.
Here are some pics.





I owned this bass since 98 and can only blame myself as I did not take good care of it.
Also, I do not blame the manufacturer either. It is impossible to tell what finally killed it since it was neglected over the years.
The luither said it was possible to send hot glue down the neck to see if that will fix it.
But the price of these used did not justify getting it working. I would rather spend my money elsewhere.
The major problem with the Climax Bass was the neck width. It is what they call a jazz neck. 1" 5/8, I think

Qustion: What do you do with dead guitars? I was thinking of stuffing the cavities with bacon and throwing it on Loius front yard. What do you think?


Do you have any pics of "dead/not working" any brand guitars you can post?


Now to the New.

My NEW Bass Guitar!












It says Spalted Alder. But is it really? The papers say it was a hardrock maple neck. Nothing about being quartersawn. Good for me because the price did not reflect that. Also, it is hard to find an ebony bass fret board. Why is that? All I wanted was an Ebony fretboard, USA L2000 G&L bass New. Only one result was found.

My thoughts on the L2000 is excellent. Much nicer feel to the neck width. Plays and sounds great.

Okay, now let's see your Bass. Any model/brand will be fine.


G&L question: What kind of mods would be a good on the L2000 Bass? What is a 'K' mod?

Thanks everyone. Look forward to see your Bass.

[y2kc]

Meow,

I agree Louis did a good job. Also his playing is very creative.

I have a G&L F-100 with a wacked truss rod. I currently have it set up in open G and play it all the time. About 10 years ago, with the help of Mr. Gabe, I stabilized it and and made it playable and for slide it works great. I also think the F-1oo's unique tone palette is ideal for certain open tunings. Great sounds!

We have more than our share of pre-bbe G&L's and this is the only bad truss rod I have come across. Good question Sir.

y2kc

[darwinohm]

Meow, I love the video. Is that your dog? The dog has it figured out.

Louis gave us a very interesting week. I enjoyed it very much.

Sorry about the neck on the Climax. Is the rod broken or is it possible that the adjustment nut has bottomed out on threads in which case, you could add washers and maybe salvage it.

The new bass is stunning. Also the neck has a very nice grain pattern and it looks quartersawn. Beautiful body wood.

I have an L-2500 which is just over a year old and is the best bass I have owned, having owned other brands including Stingray 5s and Fender American Deluxe Jazz bases. I love the neck shape of the L25 and everything about it. Here it is.


I would recommend a bridge mod which I found out about on Ken Bakers Basses By Leo Forum
http://www.bassesbyleo.com/forum/viewto ... 0&start=10

I did it to mine and it is a very worthwhile mod as others have suggested. Here is a picture after the mod.


And the back.


There are also some postings on the forum link to Kens forum about the K wiring. I could not find it but I know it is there somewhere.

As for a guitar that had a bad truss rod, I would be tempted to have a new truss rod installed, even trying to do the job myself. You have nothing to lose.
Thanks for LRing this week Meow.-- Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

Qustion: What do you do with dead guitars? I was thinking of stuffing the cavities with bacon and throwing it on Loius front yard. What do you think?

Thats a waste of bacon.

I've not had a guitar go bad on me, but if I did and it was one that I really liked I'd shell out to have it fixed. If I wasn't so keen on it I probably wouldn't have owned it long enough for it to develop any problems.

Closest thing I have to a bass is this longhorn Danelectro. It belongs to a friend, but we've done a temporary swap and he has my lap steel while I have this. It used to be a bass, but has been converted to a baritone guitar by adding a cut down tele bridge, a couple of tuners and a new nut. It actually needs a bit of work done as the bridge is coming loose from the body under the tension of the strings.

[louis cyfer]

thanks meow for the kind words, and the awesome video. love it. a bacon filled guitar in my yard would be a waste of good wood, the bacon would get eaten, i promise you that.

i have a few guitars that are in project mode, but no dead ones. i even plan to resurrect the blown up bluesboy body, gluing it back together, sanding it and finishing it a solid color. i have the pups and electronics already, just need a neck.

that l2000 looks beautiful. i think spalted alder is accurate. the neck does appear quartersawn. i have 2 basses. a steinberger and a mid 90 japanese fender p bass iin mint condition. i much prefer the p bass neck to the jazz neck. the steinberger feels more like a guitar. it's the jack, the one with the full body but no headstock.

[meowmix]

y2kc - that is great idea. Not sure it would work on the bass, but if I had a guitar problem, I would try that.

Darwin - the mod looks easy to do for the L2500. It is good to hear how well the G&L can stand up to the Stingray.
I will look into fixing the rod some day. Thanks for the idea. It is not my dog. From the youtube, it seems he passed away as the video is over 2 years old.

Blarg - the Danelectro looks like a harp. I bet it sounds like thunder. Thanks for the pics.

Louis - it is quartersawn, it just didn't say on the G&L paper. I do too like the wider necks on bass, it just feels right.

[Boogie Bill]

Yes, kudos to Louis for his LRs...we've had a run of good ones lately.

No pics, but I have a MIJ Fender Precision "Lyte" bass. I think I bought it around 1997. It has a basswood body, finished in this most delightful chocolate-to-amber sunburst, with a matching headstock. The neck is maple, rosewood board, with a J-style slim profile. It has a P-J pickup arrangement, active 9-volt electronics, with Volume, Treble, Bass and Blend control. It features gold hardware, so it does look very expensive and elegant. It is easy to play and very, very light...and it sounds good. Funny thing is, all the bass men who come over and play it always seem to denigrate the the P-Lyte, because "...it's not as good as my real Precision/Jazz/Rickenbacker/Music Man...", but then they pick it up and play it. And they always say the same thing, "Hey, can I use this for the gig on Saturday? My back has been killing me!"

NO!! (LOL!)

I think it is pretty cool, and there's a story behind it. I had been looking for a bass to have around the house for several years. Didn't want to spend a lot of money since I'm not a bass player. I didn't want something odd, or junky. I was kinda keeping my eye out for a deal, maybe a Japanese P-bass or Jazz, Ibanez, or one of the Peaveys, like the Unity bass. Never could seem to find the right thing at the right time (the right time being that I actually had some money in my pocket!)

So one day I happened to stop by Mike Lull's shop in Bellevue, WA. You should know that Mike is a great repairman, but he also offers a line of his own custom made guitars and basses, and they have been very well received. I saw this bass in the corner of his shop and took it for one of Mike's customs at first glance. Mike was with a customer, who had just bought one of Mike's basses, and was bringing in the P-Lyte as a partial trade. When I heard Mike say he was just going to blow it out for the value of the trade-in, not really wanting in his shop, I just had to go look.

It is the fastest I have ever bought any of my guitars, LOL!

The whole thing was done in less than five minutes, from the time I walked into the shop. I jumped into the conversation, and the three of us standing in a circle were passing money back and forth making change and laughing until everyone was happy. I got the bass for $250, and it came with a really nice SKB case with a Jackson logo that fit perfectly. I had an old leather guitar strap laying around that I wasn't using because it wasn't adjustable, and it fit perfectly. BAM!!!! Done!

Again, I'm not a bassist, but I do love my P-Lyte. It has really come in handy over the years. It's perfect for what I need.

I've never really thought about modding it, but I suppose that there is some super-duper pickup set that would "improve" it.

I think the Climax is really pretty. I would love to have that, and I've got a couple of pretty good luthiers. (And Mike!) If the price was right.....(hint, hint!)

I have a couple of projects that need my attention. The only one that I might consider "dead" would be the Hondo 935. It is a Japanese 335 clone made in the late Seventies, early Eighties. Back when Gibson 335s sold for $1200, this guitar sold for $1000. The body is a mahogany laminate, beautiful sunburst, ad finished in poly. It has a really great, warm tone; and the neck profile is simply fantastic. But, it needs new wiring, as the pots, jack and switch have all gotten impossiblly scratchy and unusable. It would probably only cost me $100 to $150 to have it rewired with Switchcraft and CTS parts, but now that I have the Gibsons and the Ibanez Artstar, it's probably just not worth it--from the standpoint that I would never get my money back. Heart wants to take care of it, but the brain says.....

Bill

[KenC]

Sorry to hear about the Climax. That's a gorgeous bass. I haven't had a chance to try one yet, but it is on my wish list mainly due to the 1.5" nut. The other G&Ls that used this profile as a standard are the ASAT Bass and L-1500 (basically a Climax with a different name). I learned to play on a Fender Jazz, so the narrow nut has always been a favorite. I can play better on a wider neck, but there just something about the way my hand fits around the narrow ones.

I just posted NBD photos of my "new" '84 El Toro in the G&L Porn board:



Here are some others, in chronological order:


Close up of large hex pole pieces on a pre-production '80 L-1000


Close up of an '81 L-2000 Series E, showing the second-generation MFDs with slotted pole pieces in a sunburst 'hog body


Close up of an '84 SB-2, showing sunburst over flamed maple


Photo taken by the previous owner of an '84 Interceptor Bass


An '86 Lynx in Bahama Blue


A '98 ASAT Bass in Gold Flake


A '00 L-2000 fretless

You asked to see basses...

Your new bass is definitely spalted, and it looks like it could be alder. I love the flamed quartersawn neck. Whenever I catch up with the 21st Century and buy a new G&L, it will definitely have a neck like this. I'm not sure what the rest of the instrument will be, but this kind of neck will be a must for me. What kind of finish does your bass's neck have?

I've had two bad truss rods out of two dozen older G&Ls I've bought. Both of them were ordered from Guitar Center, and both went right back. One was a '97 Legacy that just wouldn't adjust. The other was an '80 L-1000 with a frozen truss rod. Rather than risking it, I had them swap it out for another early L1K that had just come in (and turned out to be a pre-production 'hog). I believe the store's tech got the frozen truss rod working without any problems.

I don't have any dead guitars right now, but I do have a couple of rescues. One is an '82 L1K that I've posted photos of before. It was refinished from a spray can, and put back together wet. I haven't been able to put any time into the restoration, but I think it will end up being a sweet player. I also have a mid-90s MIM Duo Sonic that was hacked up in an attempt at modding/relicking. Both of these should have resulted in previous owners being banned for life from Home Depot. The MIM Duo Sonic was really intended as a practice piece before I tackle the L1K, but I think it will end up being a fun player (probably for my sons to learn on). I also have a '65 Duo Sonic body and neck, most likely from different guitars, that will be a restoration project down the road.

Ken

[meowmix]

Bill - great story on the Lyte Bass. I think we all would love to shave a few pounds off the instruments.
I think I will keep the climax and see what can be done. Nothing to lose if it isn't worth anything. Then again,
I don't want to spend a dime more and I can sure use the space.

Ken - I really admire the progress of G&L over the years. Watching how the PUs evolve makes me wonder what they found, and what made them decide to change.
The newest fretless is the prettiest. Dig the Ebony on that. My bass has the usual Satin finish. Thanks for the pictorial.

[Elwood]

Thank you Louis for taking the LR duties last week. Well done indeed.
+1
...I'm going to try and play catch up over the next day, thanks for a great week Louis .

Qustion: What do you do with dead guitars?

This bass body had a mediocre homemade neck (anyone want a tele style bass neck? ...free+shipping)

So I threw parts together to make a funky guitar and it has become my number one player,
it plays and sounds better than most guitar I have played. The next mod is a master volume .
I've been playing it for over a year now and she's really proven to be a great ax.
The addition of the '51 lap steel pickup at the bridge position sealed the deal sonically




Do you have any pics of "dead/not working" any brand guitars you can post?

No pics, but I have an Italia sitar that was so f**cked up from the factory scalewise that
I consider it dead. The idiots placed the bridge (one of those gotoh buzz bridges) more than an inch and a half
forward from where it needs to be for proper intonation. The octave harmonic occurs between the 14th and 15th fret ?!!?? I'll have to take the top off , add blocking, make a new top...reglue. It might be worth it someday but
I wouldn't mind passing that project along , Italia and the other related formica based companies won't ever get another dollar or kind word from me.

My NEW Bass Guitar!
Very very nice...top notch !!

Okay, now let's see your Bass. Any model/brand will be fine.

These early 90's SR1000's are ones to look out for, ebony fingerboard, lightwieght, and sound HUGE and HiFi .
The SR800's are pretty good too, my buddy just bought a '97 in Jewel blue that is a fine instrument for under $300.






Thanks everyone. Look forward to see your Bass.

Here's one for KenC ; an early PRS neck on a homemade body (can you tell what kinda bridge I had on it ? )

Now that I have some better tools I can really bring out it's potential .






Here's a future, slightly lighter L1000 spinoff I'm putting together .
I haven't decided on which neck to use. The SB-2 neck is stellar ....bicut with alot of flame to it.
The old L2000 neck had a ski jump that wouldn't quite disappear , it's been re-radiused should feel like an old friend
again soon with new frets. I'll probably use the L2000 neck on this one.

I had a hard time committing this slab to a right handed instrument, as you can see the back of it is really nice looking.

[meowmix]

Thanks Elwood for putting that together.
You sure have a knack working on wood. The quilt can be used as camouflage.
$300 for a bass is a steal. And the cat approves.
Does the lap steel PU great for slide guitar? Nice body shape on it.
I have no idea what type of bridge on the bird inlay guitar, it looks to be coming along nicely.