Halloween late Lunch Report

[KenC]

It's ten o'clock on the East Coast and still no LR, so I'll put one up before I turn into a pumpkin!

Lunch: It was a rough day at work, and I had no appetite for lunch. Things got better at the end of the day, and then we had some friends over for snacks before the kids went trick-or-treating. I made up for the lack of a lunch, and then some.

G&Ls and strings: I have been on a quest to find my ideal bass string. My L-1500 seemed to be one of those basses that just needed to have the ring and zing of a set of round wounds.





I'm usually not a fan of rounds on basses, and especially not new sets. I had been playing that L-1500 with the set that came on it for several months. A month ago I picked up a set of flats (D'Addario Chromes), with the intention of putting them on the SB-2. When I went to make the change, I realized that I had just put fresh tape wounds on the SB-2 a month or two earlier and put the new pack on the shelf. Last week I got tired of looking at that set of Chromes, and decided on a whim to try them on the L-1500. I really just wanted to see how the #8 neck would feel with flats, and figured they would end up back in the pack and eventually on another bass. All I can say is WOW. That bass was made for flats. It went from a really nice bass with a lot of growl, to an absolute monster. I will never put rounds on it again. For the low-enders out there, the L-1500 is a very sweet bass that can cover a surprising amount of ground. They are really undervalued in many cases too. When I do take the plunge and order a new G&L, it will probably be a fretless L-1500. Have you ever had an unexpectedly good experience with a string change on a G&L? Which model was it, and which brand of strings?

Halloween: I took my sons trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It wasn't as busy as the last two years, but we were right on the verge of getting rain. My oldest son dressed as Frankenstein's Monster, and my seven y/o did his take on the band Devo (complete with a red "energy dome" hat, protective coveralls and a pair of my vintage safety glasses). For anyone who wasn't around for 1980 or missed out on the spud boys, here's an idea of the look:



And no, I didn't loan him an SC-2. He had a blast, and sang bits of old Devo songs as we walked from house to house. We started out around 6:00, and were home and thoroughly worn out by 7:30. I think we covered about two miles on foot. Aside from Christmas, this is my kids' favorite holiday. I think they enjoy coming up with the costumes and being with friends more than the actual candy binge.

It's a neighborhood event where I live now. When I lived in rural Maine, we would get two trick-or-treaters every year. A friend of mine had two daughters, and would call me the night before to arrange a time she could drive them over. It was far enough out in the woods that you couldn't see one house from another, so the kids would have to be driven to the couple of houses that would have candy ready. Years earlier in Southern California, all of the festivites were in shopping malls, where kids would go from store to store to get candy. I guess it wasn't safe enough in many neighborhoods to knock on doors. What's Halloween like where you live? Is it celebrated?

Time for bed. I'll check in tomorrow morning.

Ken

[glvourot]

I didn't eat lunch today either, great minds think a like I suppose.

You have a really great collection of Leo era G&L's, and that L-1500 seems to be no exception. I own two basses and have never changed the strings on either of them. One is a 90's jazz bass that was was given to me by a friend . It sat in a closet for years. I bought new strings for it but have never got around to changing them. I think they are Rotosounds. The other one is a 2012 P-bass with one of the best feeling necks that I have tried so far. I go through phases of intense bass practice and then it's back to guitar most of the time. What makes you prefer flat wounds? Explain it like your talking to a 5 year old :-)I'm thinking I should try a set . I play the P-bass the most.

I use 9 's on my G&L guitars as that is the gauge I prefer . The only major difference I ever noticed with strings was on my Gibson acoustic , which is an Advanced jumbo. It is a true cannon with 13's but hard on the fingers when bending so I went down to a light gauge for better playability. The medium gauge were Gibson masterbilts. The light gauge were dadario , and I had some dadario bluegrass strings ( medium top, light bottom ). I just put some John Pearse strings on it that I am liking so far.

I always keep count of how many kids we get . We had 144 this year before I shut it down. I honestly don't know where they all come from. They must drive in from other neighbourhoods . I can still hear firecrackers as I post this. I used to love all that stuff when. I was a kid. Halloween was my favorite time of year for sure. I always ate my candy too fast.

[blargfromouterspace]

Best experience I've had with strings is going up to 11s across the board on all my guitars. They all sound bigger and better now. Putting a set of LaBella flats on the LB100 was a great change too!

Halloween isn't big here at all, we had 4 kids visit in total, 2 Spidermans, a pirate and an infant too young to know what was going on. It was pretty funny, I was getting ready for a gig and had my pump up music - Los Lobos' album La Pistola y El Corazón - blaring in the lounge room and two of the neighbors kids made their way in and started dancing up a storm

[Elwood]

This will be 25 halloweens for this old lefty Skyhawk body ,
I think it was a test mule kicked around the factory then forgotten.







It's now paired with this spooky F-100 neck to be reanimated into a cool FrankenHawk .


Must have been an employee who liked four bolts, it came from a yard sale in oregon.




Note the clear plastic markers ,


...and some nice subtle birdseyes


I have a 4 bolt plate (non G&L) that has a serial number #6032793 stamped into it ,
I might use that...just to baffle future GLDP'ers who will be sure it's a misread G .

No other halloween related things to report,
I do miss dressing up as a robot .

I'm addicted to TI powerbrights for guitar .Pyramid Flats for bass are something I need to experience. Some swear by them, there might be a reason .

hellwood

[darwinohm]

I had healthy snacks for lunch yesterday. Thanks for the late report Ken.

Now you have me rethinking bass strings. I used Fender flats for many years and then changed to D'Addario flats. About 5 years ago I tried some GHS taper wounds. I finally ended up with round wounds as they are brighter. I now use D'Addario nickle wounds and have tried the Prosteels. I should restring one of my basses to flats again to see what I think. The D'Addarios that came on the Savannah Asat really sound good. I will try a set of flats again. They are easier to play as you can slide on them with no noise. I can use the Pink Lady as a test mule!

Nice looking bass Ken. That L-1500 is a sweet bass. Yesterday I checked out a Tribute M-2500 and it was a well put together guitar. Fit and Finnish was perfect. If I could just find a light one!

We had very few Halloweeners last night. We used to get into it pretty good when the kids were young. The Grand daughters were out last night. The weather was a bit cold and rainy so that keeps them down. We had little packages of Cheese Balls so I will have to eat them now. Maybe lunch????? -- Darwin

[suave eddie]

I didn't eat lunch today either, great minds think a like I suppose.

You have a really great collection of Leo era G&L's, and that L-1500 seems to be no exception. I own two basses and have never changed the strings on either of them. One is a 90's jazz bass that was was given to me by a friend . It sat in a closet for years. I bought new strings for it but have never got around to changing them. I think they are Rotosounds. The other one is a 2012 P-bass with one of the best feeling necks that I have tried so far. I go through phases of intense bass practice and then it's back to guitar most of the time. What makes you prefer flat wounds? Explain it like your talking to a 5 year old :-)I'm thinking I should try a set . I play the P-bass the most.

I use 9 's on my G&L guitars as that is the gauge I prefer . The only major difference I ever noticed with strings was on my Gibson acoustic , which is an Advanced jumbo. It is a true cannon with 13's but hard on the fingers when bending so I went down to a light gauge for better playability. The medium gauge were Gibson masterbilts. The light gauge were dadario , and I had some dadario bluegrass strings ( medium top, light bottom ). I just put some John Pearse strings on it that I am liking so far.




I always keep count of how many kids we get . We had 144 this year before I shut it down. I honestly don't know where they all come from. They must drive in from other neighbourhoods . I can still hear firecrackers as I post this. I used to love all that stuff when. I was a kid. Halloween was my favorite time of year for sure. I always ate my candy too fast.

Which John Pearse strings are they? Are they the new Phosphor Bronze and Silk Wound? I just bought a couple of sets and haven't had a chance yet to try them. I have been using D'Addario 12 gauge on my Guild D-55. They sound great, but since I don't play the acoustic very often, the difference from the 10s on my electric is always quite a shock, and I don't want to go down to lighter strings since there will be a sacrifice in sound (I tried it when I first got the guitar).

The marketing copy for these new strings caught my attention:
"The exciting new SILKS sets mark a departure from orthodox acoustic string design. Formulated for the electric guitarist who doubles on acoustic, this set features a never before possible "playing ease" tension married with the warmth and projection for which our acoustic strings are famous. Our triple annealed mild steel is pulled through a draw plate to make an extra skinny core. Onto this is wound a silk multifilament which cushions a phospor bronze winding. This is NOT a silk and steel set. The natural edginess of the phosphor bronze winding is tempered by the silk cushion to produce a tone that studio players everywhere are likening to our 80/20 bronze sets after they have been played in. Steve Sheehan, lead guitarist with the Judds, asked us to make this set. Guitarists all over America are thanking him!"

They supposedly have less tension using the same gauge strings--If these are what you are using, can you give a review?

[NickHorne]

Please will one of us keep us posted re the Silk+Bronze strings? They seem very attractive indeed.

[suave eddie]

Please will one of us keep us posted re the Silk+Bronze strings? They seem very attractive indeed.

As soon as I get around to changing my strings I will post a review. When it comes to my acoustic I am pretty lazy as it doesn't leave the case that often.

When I first got the guitar I immediately put a set of lighter strings on it--Phosphor Bronze 11-52. There was a significant drop in volume and noticeable fret buzz so I immediately changed back to 12-53. The action seems like it can't get much lower and the guitar sounds like a "cannon" as they say in the vernacular. But.....since I play the electric with 10s most of the time it is always a shock when I do pull out the Guild. So if I can find a string that provides the same sound but plays easier I am excited.

[glvourot]

No , the John Pearse strings I just put on are plain old silvered steel, Phos. bronze wound 12-53's #600L. The ones you mentioned certainly sound interesting though. I will check them out . I noticed a little bit of volume change from the 13-56's when I switched but not enough to bug me. The EJ19's were a good compromise though, but I only used them the one time.

[Boogie Bill]

On my G&Ls I generally use Fender Super Bullets, 9-42. If I'm out of those, I'll grab D'Addario XLs in the same gauge. I like the bullet end on the Fenders, it works as advertized in the DF vibrato.

I generally use XLs on all my other electrics. My Gibsons usually wear 10-46, though a couple get 9-46.

D'Addarios again on my acoustics, either J-Series or EXPs. I also have some Martin strings. Phosphor bronze is what I prefer.

I have no idea what strings are on my Fender Precision Lyte bass. They are roundwound, and I think nickle, rather than stainless. I don't know what gauge; I don't know what brand. I bought the bass around 1996, and I don't play it enough to wear them out. When I get it out I just wipe them down with the Dunlop 65 String Cleaner and they are good to go.

I used to use stainless on my Music Man Sabres years ago. I can't say I was surprised to find they worked really well on my Comanches. I set the tones really dark on my amps with these guitars and the stainless gives a midrange focus that sounds really FAT.

Bill

[NickHorne]

I do agree with what Bill writes about his Comanches; I've been putting Daddario Pro Steels, which have similar output to stainless, or perhaps even more, on my Will Ray for a few years now, and the result is great for me. I'm playing this guitar fingerstyle, and the grand-piano tone of these strings via the Z-coils, moderated by fingertip picking, is really nice with lots of expression available in the fingers. It's also very well-balanced across all the strings and all over the board, probably the best I've had.

[KenC]

You have a really great collection of Leo era G&L's, and that L-1500 seems to be no exception.

Thanks! The L-1500 is actually one of my few BBE-era instruments, and it is a very sweet bass.

What makes you prefer flat wounds? Explain it like your talking to a 5 year old :-)I'm thinking I should try a set . I play the P-bass the most.

For me, it's a combination of tone and feel. For the tone, let's think of a bass's E string. I produces the fundamental note (the bass E), but also creates a whole series of higher pitches (harmonics) along with it. Some of the harmonics will be the note E from higher octaves, and others will be different notes of the scale. They will all be higher pitches than that fundamental low E, though. You can get an idea of what some of the harmonics sound like by touching the vibrating E string at the 5th, 7th, 9th or 12th frets. That will make the fundamental and some of the lower pitched harmonics go away, but leave higher ones sounding. When round wound bass strings are described as bright, it means that the harmonics are very loud compared to the fundamental note. Flats, on the other hand, don't have as much emphasis on the higher pitched harmonics, so the fundamental sounds much stronger. It's the opposite of what happens when you play a harmonic - instead of losing the lower pitches in the note, you lose the higher ones. I hope this makes sense. I tried for the 5 y/o description, but there's a reason I don't teach kindergarten. I realize now why my son never wanted me to help with homework until he reached 5th grade...

You can get some ideas of the difference in sound from classic recordings. Just about anything on the Motown label from the '60s or very early '70s feature James Jamerson playing flats on a P-bass. Some great examples for hearing his bass are the studio versions of Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of my Tears", Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", or the Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together" (which was played on a fretless rather than his P-bass). John Klingberg's bass playing on Van Morrison's "Moondance" album is a beautiful example of flats on a Jazz Bass. Contrast those tracks with just about anything John Entwistle ever recorded with The Who, which would have been played on Rotosound rounds.

The feel is easier to describe than the tone. I get a lot of finger noise when I play rounds, and on some sets I feel a distracting amount of friction between the string and my fingertips. Both of those problems go away with flats. I've tried half-rounds and quarter-rounds on a couple of my Leo-era basses, but found them to have more friction than rounds.

I hope this helps!

Ken

[Salmon]

Ken,

Sorry if it was mentioned, is the bass in the first post Honey or Clear Orange or something else?

Thanks

[KenC]

Ken,

Sorry if it was mentioned, is the bass in the first post Honey or Clear Orange or something else?

Thanks

I don't think I mentioned it. The bass is Clear Orange. The second photo (with the bass on a stand) is closer to how it looks in person than the first photo. The first photo (on my couch) does look a lot like Honey due to the flash. I haven't been able to get a really good shot showing the true shade yet.

Ken

[glvourot]

Thanks for the explanation Ken ! I definitely feel a little bit educated about flat wound bass strings now. I'll have to re-visit some of those motown recordings. Jamerson certainly was a great player. The the string noise reduction has me sold already. Figures your L-1500 is a BBE model...shows how much I know about G&L basses . Good info.