Long awaited NGD

[CheshireFrog]

After mulling and shopping and inspecting and delaying I finally pulled the trigger on a Rumblekat. I've wanted a short scale for a while, and a Rumblekat for almost as long.

 

[Biddlin]

Very nice, indeed!

 

[Davis Sharp]

HNBD! Beautiful finish and hardware.

 

[Paruwi]

Now you're 'Ready to Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble'

Congrats

 

[grayn]

Great buy!
I had one of these and was so impressed with the quality.
If it had one of the pickups, a lot closer to the bridge, I'd still have it.
Enjoy the Kat.

 

[CheshireFrog]

HNBD! Beautiful finish and hardware.

For now, yes, and thanks. However, I'm not a huge fan of gold hardware, partly because it looks a bit gaudy (a personal opinion) but mostly because it's prone to oxidizing and wearing off. I'm also not a fan of replacing hardware when there's nothing wrong with it, so I'm unlikely to do anything about it right now. When the gold wears off the machine heads and/or the p'ups to the point that I can't ignore it anymore I'll probably revisit the issue. The only other color offered, Blue, has chrome hardware and looks great.

Also, these three-point bridges are notorious for pulling out on Epiphone basses, especially on semi-hollow models. The Hipshot SuperTone is a drop-in replacement and has individual string height adjustments, but at $110 it's hardly cheap. Again, I'll wait until something needs to be done before taking any action.

I have a set of LaBella black tapewound strings ready to put on it, but it came with flats, and I want to listen to those for at least a couple of days before changing anything. Today will be for adjusting the action and setting the intonation and getting to know it.

 

[CheshireFrog]

If it had one of the pickups, a lot closer to the bridge, I'd still have it.

That does seem an odd choice when compared to most basses, doesn't it? Reportedly Allen was going for a particular sound, one close to the Hofner 500/1. It's kind of a moot point, since even though he coordinated with Epiphone on the design he died before it was produced.

By the way, if you're interested in Allen Woody I can highly recommend "Rising Low" a documentary and tribute to his work with the likes of Chris Squire, Jack Casady, John Entwhistle, Flea and Bootsy Collins sitting in Allen's place. It's on Youtube, posted in two parts, and well worth seeing.

 

[grayn]

Thanks for the heads u.p on the video.
I looked at a few vids of Allen Woody, with Govt Mule, when I had my Rumblekat.

I often thought about adding a 3rd pickup, near the bridge.
But it would have been pricey and involved too much routing.

I think the wine red model looks a lot nicer than the blue, even with gold hardware,

 

[StringmanK]

Happy NGD! I hope you enjoy it. For a while I had an Epi Viola bass, also a short scale with the mini hums. It had flats on it. I wish I still had it. I sold it to buy a Sheraton, which I ended up not liking, and sold it too. The Viola was really fun to play, and seeing that Rubblekat has got me thinking/gassing...

 

[Scootermuppet]

HNGD! That's a beauty

I used to own a bass years ago, surprised I haven't got another now I'm able... Who knows, plenty of time for that

Enjoy playing yours

 

[Raiyn]

Also, these three-point bridges are notorious for pulling out on Epiphone basses, especially on semi-hollow models. The Hipshot SuperTone is a drop-in replacement and has individual string height adjustments, but at $110 it's hardly cheap. Again, I'll wait until something needs to be done before taking any action.

I've been impressed with Hipshot products, I particularly like their locking tuners. Have you seen their Tone a matic bridge?
http://www.projectguitar.com/produc...pshot-tone-a-matic-guitar-bridgestoptail-r24/

If I wasn't planning on going the B5 Bigsby route eventually, I'd have that.

 

[CheshireFrog]

Swapped out the strings for a set of RotoSound short scale tapewounds, reaffirming my hate for the Gibson/Epiphone 3 point bridge. Since it's a known issue and I had the strings off anyway I gorilla glued the bridge posts in before restringing.

Hollow and semi-hollow basses exaggerate the sound of frets and fingers on roundwound strings, so flats are typical on this instrument. Tapewounds damp this effect even more, and have an even smoother tone to my ear. After stringing with these if I play near the neck it has a woody, resonant almost upright bass sound. It makes me think they should have produced a fretless model of this.

The gold on the hardware is in surprisingly good shape. I'm not a fan of buying things I already have or replacing hardware when there's nothing wrong with the existing hardware, so I'm unlikely to change anything else for a while. The Hipshot bridge is about $100, and the open machine heads are $80, so that's a consideration. I'm so torn about this, on the one hand the existing machine heads are just a little sloppy, and as stated, I hate the bridge (but only when changing strings, really). I'm not going to replace these with gold hardware when my goal is to switch to chrome, and if I replace them with chrome i need to scrub the gold off the pickups with some 0000 steel wool. Facing those choices I'll probably do what I do best, which is nothing, for a while.

Of course, this is all just idle grumbling, which I'm prone to do. Once the strings are on the bridge ceases to be a pain, and once the guitar is in tune the machine heads hold it in tune respectably well. The important thing is it plays like a dream, and has exactly the sound I was looking for. The short scale gives me the reach I never had with a long scale bass, and the neck is almost frighteningly fast. It's chambered, so it looks like a slab but is surprisingly light. When I close my eyes and just let it take me it feels less like a guitar and more like an extension of my hands. I waited a while for this, and it was certainly worth waiting for.

 

[CheshireFrog]

I've been impressed with Hipshot products, I particularly like their locking tuners. Have you seen their Tone a matic bridge?

I replaced the crap tuners on my Telecoustic with Hipshot locking tuners, and the quality is amazing.

This bridge is a drop-in replacement for the 3 point bridge that comes with this bass:



String height is individually adjustable, the intonation adjustment screws are on the back of the bridge and there are set screws to lock the saddles when the intonation has been set. How smart is that? At $109 it's not free, or even cheap, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Raiyn]

I replaced the crap tuners on my Telecoustic with Hipshot locking tuners, and the quality is amazing.

This bridge is a drop-in replacement for the 3 point bridge that comes with this bass:

View attachment 4503

String height is individually adjustable, the intonation adjustment screws are on the back of the bridge and there are set screws to lock the saddles when the intonation has been set. How smart is that? At $109 it's not free, or even cheap, but you get what you pay for.

I figured that was the bridge you were talking about.

Almost all of my experience is on the six string side so I tend to take more note of that sort of stuff.

You're absolutely right about the Hipshot lockers, I've got the open gear lockers on my G400 and I freaking love them.
I will put them (or the closed version) on any of my future axes.

 

[CheshireFrog]

Just a quick update for anyone interested:

I couldn't live with the machine heads that came on this bass any longer and found a set of Hipshot open backs on eBay for $56 delivered. They arrived today and I swapped them out. As I suspected, when I removed the sleeve from the existing tuners the shafts wobbled like rotten teeth, and since they have closed backs there's no way to tighten them up. In contrast, the Hipshots feel like they have tolerances that only a micrometer could accurately gauge.

On a side note, I have (temporarily made my peace with the Gibson 3 point bridge. Protip: never remove all the strings at once. I will eventually swap it out for a Hipshot, but for now the strings are on and the intonation is set, so that can wait. With new Supertones going for $116 to $130 I can afford to wait for a used bargain to pop up.

And finally, if anyone has a project going on and would like these old (admittedly sloppy) machine heads, you can have them, just message me.

 

[Raiyn]

 

[NoBucks]

How did I miss this? HNGD! Love the mods!

 

[Jay Bones]

Now you're 'Ready to Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble'

Congrats

Careful, you almost had to pay Michael Buffer to use that. If you hadn't rolled the beginning R and lengthened the U, you would have!

OP, that's the exact bass I'm thinking of getting. Thanks for the tip about the bridge and tuners.

How's it play??

 

[CheshireFrog]

OP, that's the exact bass I'm thinking of getting. Thanks for the tip about the bridge and tuners.

How's it play??

With the proper setup after wrestling with that 3 point bridge it plays beautifully. The action is low and the sound is punchy. This bass is a different beast than most. It is a short scale, which means the neck is more accessible to people with shorter arms and smaller hands, but also means there's less tension on the strings giving it a different sound than a long scale note for note. It doesn't have a bridge pickup, more like a neck and mid, and the pickups are not switch selectable, the only way to turn one off is to drop the volume to zero. I'm not listing problems, just stating facts here.

It's a semi-hollow body, despite the lack of F holes, and strung with tapewounds it has a warm, resonant sound reminiscent of an upright bass. In fact, if they made a fretless model I'm sure that with a little tweaking it could be made to sound just like one. The way I have it set up it would be right at home in a jazz or bluegrass band, but with bronze roundwounds I'm sure it would sound entirely different.

Some people online have complained about it being a neck diver, but I haven't found that to be true. I use a Levy's strap with a leather backing, which might help mitigate that but really I think it's pretty well balanced. Mostly I think those complaints come from P-Bass players who are for some reason offended by the idea that Gibson/Epiphone make basses at all., or based on spending 3 minutes playing one without a strap at Guitar Center.

I'll admit this bass isn't for everyone, the fact that it's semi-hollow and short scale will turn some people off right off the bat. But it's not a niche bass, either, it has a versatile sound that can be tweaked to fit in with most bands. I love it, and it's a perfect fit for what I do, so much so I'm thinking of selling my LP bass.

 

[Scootermuppet]

Nice machine heads! And a nice guitar