Lunch Report: 2012-06-21 + Kodor LR nomination for next week

[Brock]

Hello and welcome to the June 21 Lunch Report!

Business:
Kodor has been nominated to Lunch Report, and notification has been sent. If he can't fill it, per rules, he needs to nominate someone.

Lunch:
No idea. Well, some idea. I'll be in Twin Falls, Idaho. So, I'll figure it out. Probably won't be eating bierocks.

Question: Anyone else make an extra avoidance for greasy food before a road trip figuring it'll show up on the road in a disproportionally high percentage while on the road?

Instrument builds and/or hacks:

My friend Bob and I hacked this Bass Banjo together from a Bass Guitar and a 16" floor tom. It works:
[youtube]z-Ok9HeMJNs[/youtube]

The earlier video has lots more info on construction, particularly in the "Description" section. Here it is:
[youtube]hgypOPLkKu4[/youtube]

Question: Got any builds you've done? Share 'em!

YouTube:
Here's my favorite online "user contributed" music video. I love the obnoxiousness and potato percentage.
[youtube]nyTJVcRbwXI[/youtube]
Potato! (guitar)

G&L
Got any random crazy awesomeness? We might have an SB-1 prototype owner on the GbL As for me, I have a single coil L-series humbucker:
http://www.steamroller.com/oldstuff/lr/mystery/
Demand: Share your low volume but awesome YouTube video here.
Question: Got favorite under 50,000 view YouTube videos? Share them here.

Question:What freak show G&L whatever do you have out there?

[yowhatsshakin]

Morning brock,

Cannot contribute much today but to tell you that when I saw the Tedeschi-Trucks band last Friday, bass player Oteil Burbridge played his bass solo on a bass banjo like contraption. Here a vid (fast forward to the 3:01 mark if you just want to see the solo which ends around the 7:16 mark):
[youtube]uHQjBbwTzdk[/youtube]

- Jos

[bassman]

Hey Brock- That Bass banjo is cool. I notice that the Oteil Burbage bass solo banjo has probably 40 lugs around its rim and he gets more of an Upright/String bass sound out of his. Obviously, some of that tone is coming from whatever pickup and amp combination he is using.
I like the Buick wheel cover on your bass banjo. I wonder if you used more lugs and a wooden resonator if the bass would be more bassy? Maybe I am not hearing the true resonance of the instrument through my PC speakers.

Also- Would a pickup from an Ashbory bass work on the banjo?

I really like that G&L single coil bass pickup. It is very different than the pickups on my early SB-2. I would like to hear it in a bass.

I need Super Spud to save my day!

[westsideduck]

Great reports Brock.

First off, If I were the other guy I would protest that coin flip as it was not a true flip but more of a spin

Love the nail song, very punkish, I just wrote a song last week with only one line, very similar to your nail song called I hate banks!

I have a few builds in progress, been so busy they have been in progress for a couple of years, The 82 S-500 "special" total refinish with blades installed and an old harmony rocket that I can't find parts for anywhere.

Don't have time to you tube much so nothing there.

Freak show G&L

[louis cyfer]

duck, you are right, that was not a coin toss, the coin was spinning but not actually changing sides. stayed the same as he released it. it needs to be contested, and the idiot made to watch some actual coin tosses so he can learn.

[Brock]

bass player Oteil Burbridge played his bass solo on a bass banjo like contraption.

That is almost certainly a Gold Tone he has. The one I played was best up the neck, and the poor E was just crappy. It was also really expensive. We learned a lot of what not to do from the Gold Tone when building mine, and sound-wise mine, despite the crap build, kicks that Gold Tone's ass. Why?
1. We didn't put a thumb rail on the head.
2. We didn't press a magnetic pickup up against the head.
3. Full 34" scale neck (not a 32")
4. 16" drum (not a 13")

The Gold Tone sure didn't sell me on Bass Banjo, but it works when done reasonably well. Building it out to scale and not muting the hell out of the head is a good idea, though.

Here's a much better recording of mine while open backed, just playing an F note on the E string (actually, ALL the notes on "F" are an F). I have it double tracked here, and it's mic'd from the back:

"F" from Natural

-Brock

[Brock]

On the cost end, I can't have more than $80 in the Bass Banjo. The floor tom was $15 and the bass guitar was $25. One of the threaded rods was actually used as a leg for the floor tom. The hub cab was $5 I think. Nothing like walking around the auto salvage with a bass banjo, looking for that special hub cap...

[louis cyfer]

bass player Oteil Burbridge played his bass solo on a bass banjo like contraption.

That is almost certainly a Gold Tone he has. The one I played was best up the neck, and the poor E was just crappy. It was also really expensive. We learned a lot of what not to do from the Gold Tone when building mine, and sound-wise mine, despite the crap build, kicks that Gold Tone's ass. Why?
1. We didn't put a thumb rail on the head.
2. We didn't press a magnetic pickup up against the head.
3. Full 34" scale neck (not a 32")
4. 16" drum (not a 13")

The Gold Tone sure didn't sell me on Bass Banjo, but it works when done reasonably well. Building it out to scale and not muting the hell out of the head is a good idea, though.

Here's a much better recording of mine while open backed, just playing an F note on the E string (actually, ALL the notes on "F" are an F). I have it double tracked here, and it's mic'd from the back:

"F" from Natural

-Brock

that gold tone on the video sounds a lot better than the tone in the f natural. also the drums and the bass banjo are really out of synch on that one.