Two bass “holy grails” that no longer matter to me

[Low Main]

I don't really have a Grail bass at this point, but there are two basses that still intrigue me.

1) An unlined fretless Tacoma Thunderchief. I played one in a store some years ago and really liked it acoustically. But plugged in, it was not good. The string to string balance was way off. I think it had the Fishman element and preamp. A fretless Chief with the Baggs system that I could optimize and get to sound good plugged in would be very interesting.

2) A first generation USA Lakland Decade with Darkstars. To this day, I can still remember the hair on the back of my neck standing up when I heard Ian Allison's Decade sound samples that used to be on the Lakland website way back when. I've never played a Decade and I'm not sure I would like the ergonomics of the Decade body. I should just get the pickup location specs from an original Darkstar Decade and do a build with Novak pickups.

 

[dustinymichaels]

I've always wanted a Rickenbacker but that sound, although I like it, doesn't cater to the way I play the bass at all. I love the way the Rics look. I've always liked the way they feel as well. I've often wondered why Ric themselves don't manufacture their basses with other pickup options. Seems like a lot of people would be lining up to get one stocked with j bass pickups or even MM style.

 

[logdrum]

IMO it’s the opposite of that. I rarely use the “extended range” on that instrument. But imagine an endless cascade of ii > V7s through all 12 keys without changing position at all… that’s what the 6 string (if you are using four finger technique instead of the 1 2 4 commonly used on upright) makes easy. 2+ octaves without moving your hand up/down the neck.

I don't mind shifting. I've been playing fretless since 1987-88. Upright since 1992 . I also have a 6 string fretted. My fingers are not long enough to things like thumbing the B on say an F and a double stop on your G and D. The intonation suffers on a fretless. If you are going to give me a 6 string I will play that all the way and that C string is just an off voice and needs some attention intonation wise. I enjoy my fretted 6 string but just could not bond with the 6 string fretless version. Even Steve Bailey who is the master of the 6 string fretless is not in tune in some places when he does chords specially. So I completely understand why the OP has to give it up.

 

[lordradish]

On mwah and holy grails... I'm still an old school mwah guy, in that I love it but I'm working on finding my own mwah if that makes any sense. I've been playing fretless for over 20 years, but it's only in the last 10 that I've had some really good ones. I recently got rid of my Stambaugh 5 fretless and got a fretless 5HH stingray that I can't seem to put down. It doesn't seem to mwah as easily as my Stammie or my Bordwell 6, which has kind of made me reevaluate few things, tonally. But yeah, unapologetic mwah lover, I just use it tastefully and not every damn note and phrase. Sometimes it doesn't always sound like I'm playing fretless, but I like to put a few reminders in there.

As to the holy grail, I have one... a Wal 5. But the damn thing is so heavy it's not getting nearly as much use as the other Stingray I bought this year, a Special 5HH that weighs about 3 pounds less. As to Ricks, even though I love Squire, Lee and Macca, I generally can't stand the tone in most contexts, nor do I think they're really all that versatile (apart from the ergonomics issues a lot of people seem to have).

 

[DionClassic]

Fir some reason my holy grail bass was always an early 60's slab precision. Mainly because I love Motown and I loved the "feel" of that C neck.

After playing for years and realizing that what I WANT to love playing is different from what I would actually love playing, I just let my hands decide what my grail was. It was no longer based on influence or a certain look, it was strictly based on sound a feel (what a concept). The C neck is actually just too big for my hands. It looks cool and probably supports a thicker pbass sound but it isn't actually practical for me.

So I ended up with a 75 precision body with a 77 jazz neck. Not the prettiest bass but it feels way better in my small hands than a traditional fender c neck, and I still get that fender sound. It's also not super desirable like a 60s so playing live doesn't make me nervous about theft or damage.

Anyway... Long way of saying, that the grail is a cool idea but if it isn't really a practical bass that fits your technique or hands, it doesn't really make much sense, and may be disappointing...

 

[tpa]

... I’ve not touched my Portamento 6-string fretless in a couple years due to having gotten into upright bass ...

Aren't these completely different instruments ?

 

[coyote1]

Aren't these completely different instruments ?

Yes they are. But no they are not.

All I know is that my path relative to this portion of bass playing has gone from
- 4 string Corvette fretless that I loved, but didn’t do the classic ‘mwah’ to
- 6 string Portamento, that does the sound (and on which the ability to play 2+ octaves without moving was a revelation) to
- Takamine TB10, in an effort to get close to upright sound (and I did, as much as could be without the big body) to
- upright.

The Takamine is gone, because I just was no longer playing it once I got the upright. And the Portamento is experiencing the same fate. It has somehow become irrelevant to my playing. My fretted Tobias 6, otoh, remains relevant.

 

[coyote1]

DAMMIT! DAMMIT!

I took the Portamento out of its case and started going over it, with the intention of trading it toward another piece of gear. But as I played, it struck me how comfortable this instrument is both sitting and standing. And then I marveled at how wonderful it feels to play, how easy it is to outline chords and good leading tones and to play melodies. And then I couldn’t get enough of that sound….

I guess the problem has been that it’s been sitting in its case. My idea of selling or trading it just vanished. It’s now on a stand, readily accessible in my studio.

 

[coyote1]

Ok. Sooo… after playing it again for awhile, yes it’s awesome.

And it’s gone. The momentary impulse to keep it passed, and I now have something more useful in its place.