Lunch Report for Thursday September 9, 2010

[bassman]

Today's Lunch: I may go ahead and splurge on the calories of a Five Guys Burger and Fries. If you have never had a Five Guys burger, I highly recommend them. They use fresh ingredients and offer more toppings than I can easily list.

Today's topic: Truss rods, Tributes and Taking a bass solo:

The neck question yesterday inevitably led to the truss rod question: What lind of truss rod is G&L currently using in their instruments?
Answer; A dual rod that is not compressing the wood to create tension in the neck.
Some of you prefer the bi-cut neck and others like the new neck design.
I personally love the new rod/neck design because I can finally get a flat bass neck on a G&L bass as demonstrated in my Trubute L-2000.


I bought this bass about 4 months ago and I have used it on several gigs. It has performed as well as my USA L-2000 with the exception of the fact that I tend to hit the pickup selector switch accidentally because of the up/down orientation of the switch. Other than that, I think the quality of these Tribute instruments is excellent for the price.

Taking a bass solo: I just go for it!

Have a great Thursday!

-bassman

[sirmyghin]

Tributes use a different truss rod, referred to as 'active/passive' by David in the other thread. Not sure what that entails however, as long as the rod does what I need it to I don't care.

Bass Solos: I just rip to crap when necessary. I like to mix in some slap occasionally for dynamic difference, or tap, so it stands out more, over a boost/eq change to improve the reception. I also only 'map it' so it is never the same twice.

[Muleya]

+1 on Five Guys! Great burgers, and what a pile of fries you get...a single order of fries is always more than enough for my whole family. Great place!!

[Madcity Fats]

I had a US G&L with the newer neck but I can comment on the truss action because I never had reason to adjust it. I sure did like the rolled fretboard edges though!

[Boogie Bill]

Nice bass.

I can't call myself a bassist, even though I have a beautiful early 90's Fender Precision "Lyte" that lives at my house. I do like having someone who can do solos in the band.

I've seen some nice Tributes, for sure, but I doubt I'd buy another bass at this time--I just don't need another one. All of my G&L guitars are USA made, and I probably wouldn't get a Tribute guitar unless it was just to cheap to pass up. I've actually seen Guitar Center try to sell these for more than new MAP, with the explanation, "Well, that's what they're worth!"

Years ago, my band opened a show for Country Legend Johnny Paycheck. His bassist was about 6' 3" with long blonde hair streamining out the back of his cowboy hat, and he made his P-Bass look small. Nothing but 1s and 5s the whole set, until the end of the show, when the band starts in on their solos. From the pedal steel to the guitarists to the keyboards, all just top notch players, great solos--most of them with jazz influences. Then the big guy lights up his bass with just some incredible funky slap poppin' craziness. The audience was simply blown away. I talked to the guy afterwards, and he told me he was a BIT graduate from Hollywood.

Ya' can never judge a book by his cowboy hat, I guess!

Bill