To Jeff Rath

[clankchris]

I went on your "bass sounds" page a while back, and absolutely love the tone of that Red "Van Halen" bass - that clip where you are playing a walking blues line(the one where you're tapping, I'm pretty sure - awesome playing, man ) - I think it's a 2030 bass or something.

Here it is:

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/pink-s.mp3 - nice and edgy, and those low mids sound so mean and boorish, ala Wetton - that tone has "hair" on it, haha..

Well anyway, I have heard you(and others) mention something along the lines of "A ****** off precision" for its' tone, and I have really been wanting to build a Rock-Maple bodied P bass from Warmoth, ala Wetton(with only a control cover on the front). I'm thinking the maple body(vs the alder or ash offerings from Fender) will sound a bit more aggressive, and land me somewhere in between a Ric's brightness and the low-mid heft of a Precision....that clip has inspired me to build this instrument(and yes, I will try to get one of those rare Rics 2000 series eventually too).

Oh yeah, I probably will be getting a 4 inch strap to hold the damn beast up, too - I'm aware that a P bass body made of that stuff will be a heavyweight for sure.

P.S. - I hope this thread is ok in "Rickenbacker Basses"

[jwr2]

I suggest you try a Seymour Duncan 1/4 pound p-bass pickup for your bass and maybe add a jazz pickup for versatility. In the Fender community the all maple bodies are not as common or sought after as the ash, or alder bodies ... But maple will make a perfectly good p-bass body. It will be a little heavier and a little brighter. With a p-bass you should probably use a 250k ohm volume pot and a 250 or 500k ohm tone pot depending on how bright you want it to sound. And you have to decide if you want maple or rosewood for the fretboard. I also reccommend you get a good quality bridge.

Warmoth has some good info about wood here ... http://www.warmoth.com/bass/options/opt ... ywoods.cfm

The bass in the clip is a Ric 2020 that has been converted 4-2-5 and rewired v, v, t with 1000k ohm pots then run into a bass pod and recorded with an analog 4 track recorder and an Alesis drum machine keeping time. The original track goes on for awhile and eventually I went into a version of Mancini's "Pink Panther"

[jwr2]

This bass here has a maple body ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/cherry-pbass5.htm

[ilan]

The only non-Ric all-maple bass I have played was a Gibson G3, and it didn't sound bright at all. In fact it had an old-school Fender sound (which I liked a lot). So I'm not sure that the maple body is responsible for the clank.

[jwr2]

the total sound of a bass has many factors ... one is the type of wood used in the body ... there are many others ... Maple is one of the brightest sounding woods used in basses.

[VRICKY63]

I would think the "clank" is from single coil pickups .

[clankchris]

No, I agree with you guys that the whole picture matters, from the body to the strings...I think the maple is not always brighter, but it has a harder midrange, say...compared to Swamp ash or Alder - I have heard it myself, in Rics, RD basses, and GIbson RIppers..

I can definitely see a Precision having a lot more edge with a Dimarzio Model P(what's currently in my Squier - more aggressive midrange than a Quarter Pounder) and a maple body - I'm just looking for a little more grind, and I think hard maple would be the way to go.

Hard Ash body(similar to hard maple, tonally, but a little less bright), lots of edge, on a humbucking Precision(the 2nd song is my fave, and really shows what that bass is capable of(along with a HiWatt, and an excellent player, of course).:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYvbdFv_IjA

BTW - thanks Jeff, that bass(and you) sound awesome!

[teb]

Speaking of Warmoth maple bodies for Fenders, I've been watching this J-Bass body for over a year. I doubt I'll ever pull the trigger on it as I'm pretty well set with four basses considering I'm playing more twelve-string than bass these days, but what a lovely hunk of very expensive wood!

http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guit ... enuItem2=0

[qwezirider]

Gads! That is a gorgeous piece.

[jwr2]

This is the Warmoth body that gets my attention ... http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guit ... enuItem2=0