Talk me out of a hollowbody

#61
As a long time owner of a JC, I can tell you that everything everybody says about them are true, well, at least all the good things! But to your point, I would certainly recommend a semi-hollow body to you (as long as it's the JC...), and advise you to give it a while to 'grow' on you. As your experience will tell you, it takes time - a 'learning curve' if you will, to really appreciate any new (to you) instrument. I know it took me a solid year to 'bond' with my JC, now it's my #1 go to bass! I like semi-hollow bodies so much, I will be taking delivery of a second very soon - an Epiphone Zenith bass!
 
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#62
Biggbass said:
Hey he asked for us to talk him out of it... :) I'm doing my best to accommodate.
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Oh. Right. (oops!)

Um...hollowbodies are believed to have been a major factor in what caused the last zombie apocalypse!!! Got that off Reddit - so it's gotta be true.

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#66
Most hollow body basses have a pickup right up against the neck. If you are not used to that (most solid body basses have either a P, J, or soapbar in a mid position, and MM and MM-inspired basses' pickups are even closer to the bridge), you have to be careful about setup and tailoring strings and amp settings, or you can end up like a John Lee Hooker song: "Boom, boom, boom, boom...."
 
#67
First let me say I own a Jack Casady in Alpine White that I really like. Epiphone quality is very impressive. Mine has great tone and action is super easy on the left hand. I love the sound of mine, I usually run it direct using a quality DI. There is some neck dive, and the edge of the top sholder does cut into my right forearm.

Having said all that and having played 50+ years myself, I can't honestly say go and buy another bass. My main group is a bluegrass/acoustic/Americana Gospel group and I have used a Smorgasbord on basses with success. (sold body fretless, fretted, acoustic fretted and fretless, passive, active, semi-acoustic fretted and fretless) -you name it. Even uprights.

Bottom line, one can make any of these work if they are quality instruments. Style, technique, and proper EQ settings.

Right now in my acoustic type settings, I am using either a Music Man Sterling 4H or a Fender Deluxe Precision (both Active) through a Mesa D800 as a DI and getting excellent results.
 
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#70
I've had a "love/not quite love" thing with various HB basses for decades.
I've owned the Beetle,4005,Lakland HB,EPi JC,Ibanez artcore,Italia Rimini,and a pair of Carvin AC basses. Most of them had a cool sound component you didn't get with solidbody bass guitars,but the oversized,usually slab sided bodies made them something i couldn't wait to put down. Or in the case of the beetle bass,just didn't like the size,floating bridge, or the ss neck.
The Lakland was the best of the bunch,both in terms of having a great defined sound and being very comfortable for its size.
If i liked bound or short scale necks,i'd be looking at the newer Lakland 30". But at this point i'm happy with not having any hobos in my little collection.
 
#75
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40Hz said:
I'd go for a semi-hollowbody before I went for a full hollowbody.

Depending on your budget, a Willcox Saber VL might be something you'd like to try if you can find one. I got a crack at a fretless 4 and I fell in love. Unfortunately you could hear a booming echo in my checking account when I had a chance to buy one, so I had to pass. Stellar bass. They run about $1700.

Slightly less expensive are Guild Starfires. Another nice choice IMO.
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I confess that I've always wanted a Dean Cabbie.
 
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#76
YosemiteSam said:
I've been playing for 45+ years and have owned a lot of gear. I'm currently playing 2 slabs, an ABG, and an upright. The styles I play are all over the map; my last band was hard rock, metal, & originals. I'm currently doing an acoustic blues (Hot Tuna-type) thing, I jammed with classic rockers over the weekend, I'm backing up a uke band tomorrow night at a holiday show, and have an acoustic originals show Friday, among other things.

GAS and bass thoughts for a Monday morning.
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I won't talk you out of it. I favor the classic/vintage models (Guild, Burns, Gibson, Gretsch).
I *love* my holllowbodies and have more on the way.
 
#78
YosemiteSam said:
I've been playing for 45+ years and have owned a lot of gear. I'm currently playing 2 slabs, an ABG, and an upright. The styles I play are all over the map; my last band was hard rock, metal, & originals. I'm currently doing an acoustic blues (Hot Tuna-type) thing, I jammed with classic rockers over the weekend, I'm backing up a uke band tomorrow night at a holiday show, and have an acoustic originals show Friday, among other things.

I had a somewhat unfulfilling experience with my URB yesterday. Couldn't get a good sound, wouldn't punch through, the decay on the notes is so quick I might as well be playing drums, etc. I'm thinking that as much as I like playing it, it doesn't really fit with a lot of the music I play.

My ABG (Samick AB-2) is not a professional quality instrument, and has a funky truss rod. It's tight, but still makes a clunky sound that gets set buzzing on G harmonics. Can only use the piezo pickup, if I so much as crack open the mic pickup it feeds back. And it plays like a cheap-ish acoustic guitar, and has lots of fret noise even with flatwounds.

I woke up this morning thinking alternately of a Epiphone Jack Casady model, and a Breedlove Solo Bass FL. The first most know, the second is a decent quality fretless ABG, which a local dealer says is a very good/"best" ABG for the money. OK, the lesser "Pursuit" bass gets the "for the money" comment, but they're a known maker, and it represents a price point if nothing else.

The thing is, no one is complaining about my current axes (eg, "you can't play that slab electric bass in this acoustic blues act"), though I wonder about the overall vibe presented to the audience. So I'm probably just experiencing GAS, but I've been thinking about it for a while.

I've also been thinking about picking up a passive bass, since both my slabs (Schecter, Lakland) are active. I'm a bit of a traditionalist at times, and fear ripping battery wires out at inopportune times (I've come close once or twice).

I've owned a semi-hollow bass before, a cheap Ibanez Artcore AB2, that lasted for about a year until I flipped it for something else. It wasn't a terrible guitar, but one thing that did bug me was the way the sharp edges dug into my ribs and arm when I played. Are the Casaday models any more comfortable?

So, I guess the question comes down to, what is the TB community thought on this? Believe it or not many here obsess about equipment far more than I do :), so I'm wondering, if you were in my shoes would you be looking to make a change? Should I ditch the current ABG and one of the slabs and get something nice, focus on that? The ABG is nice for grabbing quick while sitting on the couch, if nothing else.

And yes, I have thought about selling all my current gear including the URB to fund a Marleux Diva, which I think is about the sexiest thing ever, but isn't hollow nor acoustic, and is a whole different can of worms...

GAS and bass thoughts for a Monday morning.
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Several years ago,i was very interested in a hybrid,narrow upright hollowbody with a bolt-on bass guitar neck made by a forum member luthier in Bend,(i believe) Oregon. Came very close to buying a used one,but the deal fell through. i believe it was a Barker bass....i never actualy got to check one out.
 
#79
Wow, thanks for all the responses! There sure are a lot worth checking out. Geez, now I have my work cut out for me.

It turns out I had the model wrong on my old Ibanez semi-hollow. It was the Artcore ABS-140. And that's similar to the JC, though the JC has a custom pickup and special tone circuit.

I like the EUB idea, and had thought of that, too. That would solve the transportation angle with the URB. I have wanted to use the URB in more stuff, maybe this is a good line of thought.

And I'm thinking that with the funky trussrod in my current ABG I might think about dumping that and replacing it with something nicer. Maybe, maybe not. I don't use it a lot, but a fretless ABG would be pretty cool.

For now I'm going to continue playing out my current gigs on what I have, see if I can reach some sort of internal cohesion on what I want to do: I can't afford to buy everything I want. And I do this to myself whenever a new gig arrives; My last band was a hard rock/metal thing, and I found myself looking at Thunderbirds, BC Rich, and odd body shaped solidbodies.
 
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