Gibson "Money" bass

[bob_atherton]

Slight rush of blood to the head yesterday... I bought a Gibson "money" bass from the USA. The exchange rates are so tempting at the moment. It is in Midnight Manhatten, looks a bit like a Blueburst.

Never played one, never owned a Gibson, will report back in about two weeks.

[jps]

Good luck with it! What does the body look like? This: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ?

[phlemmy]

Money Bass.

[bob_atherton]

This is it Jeff...

[rictified]

I didn't see what the body was made of but if it is mahogany like the Gibson T-Birds it will be very smooth sounding. I have a Gibson T-Bird and it is a very nice playing and sounding bass, very well made, very even response all the way up the neck. Gibsons are nice basses deep and smooth sounding.

[teeder]

Mahogany with a maple cap.

[jps]

Nice looking bass! Sort of a cross between a JC and a DC.

[blueflamerick]

So Bob, how do you like it?

[bob_atherton]

Erik, I like it a lot and hate it a lot! It came with rounds which I thought were good but thought I would see how flats would sound on it so I put on a set of TI's, I liked them even more but then thought I would give it another chance with the rounds so they went back on. At each change of stings I had to tweek the truss rod, this was no problem untill the last time when it started to buzz inside the neck!

It worked just fine but the bass became almost unplayable with the buzzing. By this time time I had rehearsed with my band once and the bass went down a storm. It has a very fast and slim neck. It was a gas to be going beyond the 20th fret and I really liked the ballance and feel of the bass.

At the moment the bass is spending Christmas with my bass tech. He is going to drill out the top fret marker, around the 21st fret I think. Fill the truss cavity with a rubber solution glue till it shows at the TRC end, then replace the dot with a new fret maker. So I'm not too thrilled at the moment but the bass could be just great one day.

I will keep you posted. Bob

[cheyenne]

Will you still be able to adjust the rod????

[ilan]

Congrats Bob!

In my experience, some times a truss rod will rattle inside its cavity just because it's loose (if you installed TI flats I can see why you had to loosen the rod). Try tightening it a bit, just before it actually moves the neck. If this doesn't help try changing to a heavier gauge strings and tighten the rod. I'd try this before doing something irreversible like what your tech suggested.

That's a great looking bass. I have loved trans blue over flamed maple since the first time I saw a PRS guitar. Some of those basses had a Dollar sign on the TRC which I thought was a bit tasteless but can easily be swapped with a blank TRC.

I was thinking about getting a Gibson bass myself, I haven't owned one in about 7 years since I sold my '68 EB2C. I was looking at some EB-O's since I always loved the SG shape, but ended up doing what I always end up doing: I bought another old P bass (this time a sunburst '76).

What does this bass weigh?

[loendmaestro]

I had some trouble with a Gibson Thunderbird I bought brand new (direct from the Gibson factory no less!).

BAD buzz -- so bad the A string was absolutely unplayable, it also had a horrible setup & was missing two screws from the pickguard.
Gibson quality control is a joke. But once I had a new nut cut for it & a good set up it was/is a great bass.
Fat sound coming from those ceramic TB p/ups & an ultra fast neck. Gibson prices are a bit steep for the actual quality you receive, but on the other hand there's nothing quite like 'em....

Hope it all works out for you. Happy holidays!

[bob_atherton]

Thanks for the advice guys. I must say you have me a bit concerned now. As I understand things from by tech, pumping some rubber glue into the truss cavity will stop the rattle of the rod but not cause any problems with future adjustment of the neck. He says he has done this with a few Strats that have a rattle in the rods without any problems. Is this a 'normal' sort of fix or do you think he might be getting a bit wreckless at my expense?

[rickenbrother]

Seems like a nice bass, Bob. Sorry you're had this trouble with it. Hopefully your tech can get the buzzing to stop and you have a great playing Money Bass.
I was also wondering how much it weighs . Sort of looks like it would be heavy like a Les Paul guitar.

[lowendbob]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :middle:us

I'm very tempted.