Can I get a little help from my friends?

[rickenbrother]

CJ, you're making Tony dizzy and indecisive now

[winston]

Tony has new middle initials I see. Tony JG Cabibe. Congrats Tony on succumbing to the dark side. I think.

[cjj]

CJ, you're making Tony dizzy and indecisive now

Huh? What? Uh, oh wow! It looks like my avatar has a subtle virus that somehow corrects misspellings...

[ajish4]

You guys are killing me!

The noobs must be wondering what the heck is going on!

[rickenbrother]

CJ, you're making Tony dizzy and indecisive now

Huh? What? Uh, oh wow! It looks like my avatar has a subtle virus that somehow corrects misspellings...

What? The bottom word isn't even and centered!

[jps]

CJ, you're making Tony dizzy and indecisive now

Huh? What? Uh, oh wow! It looks like my avatar has a subtle virus that somehow corrects misspellings...

What? The bottom word isn't even and centered!

CJ! What's gotten into you??????? Must be that move to the big city, huh?

[ajish4]

Tony has new middle initials I see. Tony JG Cabibe. Congrats Tony on succumbing to the dark side. I think.

BAH! HUMBUG!

As Rodney Dangerfield once said "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER"!

[jps]

Tony has new middle initials I see. Tony JG Cabibe. Congrats Tony on succumbing to the dark side. I think.

BAH! HUMBUG!

As Rodney Dangerfield once said "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER"!

But JG could stand for Janey's Guy. Nah, that probably wouldn't fly, Jetglo it is.

[ajish4]

CJ, you're making Tony dizzy and indecisive now

NOW?

I'm almost ALWAYS indecisive! Nothing new there!

[rickenbrother]

But JG could stand for Janey's Guy. Nah, that probably wouldn't fly, Jetglo it is.

...or Joey's Gumba!!

[ajish4]

OK,

Kind of a very cool update....

Both Steve Lawson & Michael Manring responded to my post over on TB.

I can't post the links, but here are their responses....

STEVE LAWSON:

"Having attempted to play Michael's basses in the past, it's true that most of the sound is in his hands.. but certain things do help, for sure. A super-hard fingerboard (phenolic/lacquer/ebony) will 'zing' more than a softer wood, and lighter guage strings with a low action, may get closer to the mid-range and fretlessness that you'd be looking for.

Set-up makes all the difference - if you're confident to experiment with it, try adjusting the string height/truss rod to get the neck straighter and the strings lower...

But technique is also a big part of it, and I've found that the angle you strike the string at has a huge impact, as well as the position along the string - definitely worth messing around with and seeing what happens..

good luck!

Steve"

And Michael Manring:

"Thanks so much for your interest in this tune. Boy that's an old one!

I'm sorry to say I don't remember all the details about how I recorded this. I played several basses and piano. It sounds to me like two tracks of my Hyperbass, my fretless Legacy and my Larrivee acoustic fretless 5 string. I'm sure I recorded with very little processing, so I think Steve's right -- the tone is largely a function of the design and setup of the instruments."



I thought it was very cool of them to respond.

Anyway, I'm STILL working on this....looks like ti will be the RIC 4003FL on Christmas EVE. I STILL can't get THAT tone, but it's close enough....

[FretlessOnly]

Yeah, it's cool that they pitched in. Certainly you can get your neck dead flat and action so low on your 4003FL that you can play it just by looking at it. Maybe add a touch of chorus and see where it gets you.

[jps]

Michael's basses have Bartolini pickups in them, so get a set to put in you 4003FL. Brian Crisman may have a set. Back in those days Michael was also using SWR amps, primarily an Electric Blue head going direct from it to his recording mixer, so something like an early SWR Grand Prix preamp into your PA system can't hurt, either.

You should have just bought this from me!

[FretlessOnly]

Really, I should have bought it.

[cjj]

Yeah, there are a lot of us who should have bought it...