Hi Guys!

So, it seems a little dead in here, but I joined up anyway.  

I am a mediocre bass player(for going on 6 years now  ), but I may finally have enough stability in my life to actually practice and get better.  I have been hotrodding guitars and basses for most of that six years, and I now have a fair idea of how to do most things to a guitar-type instrument.  

I have always loved the idea of a bass tremolo, ever since I found out about it.  I will have an actual one someday....  Most of my stuff tends toward the odd side.  I have converted a few guitars to basses through different means, and I actually had a franken-strat that I redrilled the stock bridge on to fit four bass strings through.  It was fun....

Current projects include making a Peavey Retrofire guitar into a 34" scale bass with three pickups, fixing my vintage Kent 24" scale that the tuner head snapped off of two days ago, finishing up staining my late 60`s Aria violin bass, and building me a piccolo bass/tenor guitar/four string guitar.  It is an 80`s samick neck, an unknown LP copy body that has some fender-esque sculpting to it, blade hum buckers, and an old Kahler Flyer copy that is getting redrilled to correct four string spacing.  It will be tuned EADG, same as a guitar`s low strings.  I am super excited about this one since I have been hoarding parts for something like this for awhile.   

Thanks for having me, I am sure I will find questions for you guys now that I know you are here.
-Jake

Hey Jake!
Welcome!

Hi Al. I saw the whole story of you getting your trem on your green bass. Part of why I decided to join. You have got some nice instruments there!

Thank you!
If I had some small part in your joining I'm honored!
You won't find a better collection of wealth regarding bass tremolos anywhere else on the internet.
Its been quite a experience getting a tremolo put on my bass, and its still on going.
Its opened up alot of new things for me playing wise and I feel like I'm starting to get closer to where I want to be as a bass player. (If you can call me a bass player since I got a bass tremolo and a pitch shifter but that is a whole other story)
If you have any questions regarding putting a tremolo on your bass, the awesome people here will help you immensely!

You are definitely still a bass player. You can run it through effects, divebomb the crap out of it, etc, but you are still making music with a bass guitar. I think people put too much effort into distinguishing bass from regular six string. They are very similar, ours are just lower(and better, IMHO  )

I mostly want a trem on a bass for the extra expressive qualities you get. I started out in music playing trombone, which is a bit like playing a fretless bass. A whole bunch of chances to be intonated wrong, and the ability to play very expressively. I like a fretted bass for ease of playing quickly, but I want to have that feeling imbedded into my sound. I`m probably a ways out on it though, mostly because of money.

A tremolo definitely can add alot of nuances to your playing, from small to large.
I love using it for clean parts, you can really hear what it adds then.

I got mine for 201 shipped then it was 100 bucks to get it installed which I felt like I got a pretty good deal on.
Not cheap but not horrible either.

That seems to be pretty good pricing.  I just have so much going on right now.  I have a few things I need for my car, plus my fiance and I are shooting for a wedding next July, so if I want a trem soon I will need to find somewhere I can squeeze some cash from.  Not sure if I am up for selling too much bass stuff off just yet.  I definitely want a Kahler rather than a hipshot or equivalent.  I think the higher sale price for the Kahler will be offset by easier installation anyway.

When I was younger (and alot dumber) I had a Hipshot tremolo put on a Rickenbacker which I consider one of my biggest bass regrets since I played one show with it, got my first Yamaha Attitude afterwards and never touched it again. I could never make a Rickenbacker sound good in my hands. ALOT of wood had to be taken out for that Hipshot. The electronics on it aren't working so I can't really get a GREAT feel for it but unplugged compared with my Kahler Attitude, the Kahler feels way better for way less wood removed plus more people here have Kahlers (Does anyone here have a Hipshot?) so there is way more knowledge and help if you need it if you decide to get one!

I love Ric`s. I`ve played a few and I love how they feel, I haven`t played them long enough to know if I really dig the sound. Can`t say I would put a hipshot in one though.... Got any pictures of it?

I would say that from what I have seen the Hipshot isn`t a bad tremolo. I just never liked that start-style, springs in the back of the body thing too much. I much prefer the self contained design of the Kahler.

Okay, here goes but don't judge me too harshly! As I said I was young and dumb.
The body actually had to be made thicker to fit the Hipshot on it.
Genius aren't I eh? *end sarcasm*

It doesn`t look too terrible. Certainly not the worst hackjob I have seen on a ric. I don`t think I would have gone as far as adding thickness to the body though. Was it refinished to black, or factory? It may be the pictures but it looks almost like flat paint. My dream ric is fireglow, with black binding, pickguard, and truss rod cover.

Its not that its a hack job that I regret doing it, the luthier who I got to do it was extremely skilled and great at what he does it was that I had it done in the first place that I regret considering how I never ended up using it very much.
The back side where it has the added thickness is a flat black while the front is the factory.

I can certainly see that as a shame, especially considering how cheap those basses are  

And I didn`t mean to come off as your bass is a hack job, just that I have seen some pretty bad looking ric`s out there.  I saw one for sale a couple years ago that had been "routed" for new pickups, that were crooked, and it was spray painted some awful shade of red-pink type color(and I have nothing against red or pink, this particular color just looked horrible).  Those ones make me a bit sad.

Welcome Jake.

I build guitars and basses too. I started learning how to do it here. A kahler installation is a great excercise with intonation, scale, action and string physics. Installing a kahler properly isn't that difficult once all the issues and elments are understood and addressed. I can have one routed and installed usually in a day.

If you get a kahler, we will walk you thru an install.

Yes, it has been a bit slow around here ... but we are here to help.

My last kahler build .......

Nice. I think I want to do my kahler build as a P bass. I have always liked a P bass with a Jazz neck(or one of the old A width necks) and a DiMarzio model P. I played one set up like this in high school when I played bass in Jazz band(it was one of the kid`s dad`s, all vintage parts assembled in the 80`s).

Might be a ways out though, I have been missing the hollowbody sound and 30" scale of my Aria. I need to get it finished up and back together soon.

Indeed! Welcome to BTF, Jake!  

Yes, this place usually flows and ebbs like the tides. But as long as the information gets out there, that's the main point of it all. Everything else is gravy.  

You have definitely done that Eric. I learned more from this site before I even joined than I found elsewhere put together. Nice job keeping it going!

RBS_Johnson wrote:

You have definitely done that Eric.  I learned more from this site before I even joined than I found elsewhere put together.  Nice job keeping it going!

Thanks! It's been a labor of love, for certain. As long as players such as yourself are helped, then it's more than worth it to me.  

@ Atomic Al:

the ric looks gorgeous with the hipshot on it!!!
aside from the fact that a kahler would have been fit better on it.... 

but anyway.... do you still own that ric bass? i wonder how it sounds with that thickered body....
i noticed that you´ve modded the wiring on it...
how´s the action/haptic with the hipshot compared to a kahler?

i´ve got that old ibanez btb 5er bass....with that shitty monorails on it.
and after all my unaware measurements....that thing seems to need a kahler trem with forward saddles too, which isn´t avaiable with a broad housing.....
and so the body is thick enuff for all that carving/routing.

I'm glad someone appreciates it Basszupfer!
The pick ups are original but the tone pots were removed and replaced with kill switches.
I'm not sure why... probably was listening to too much Manowar at the time and wanted to emulate Joeys old Rickenbacker.
I have it wired stereo so that instead of using the Rick-o-Sound jack, each pick ups goes to a output independently.
I still have it, it just sits in the case. Has been for years now.
The action on my Kahler is way better, when I took it to my luthier he took all the measurements of my action before putting in the Kahler.
The Hipshot isn't horrible but it could be alot better. I'm not sure if its a simple as lowering the saddles or the trem being sunk abit further into the body.

While I had the camera out taking pictures of my Peavey bass conversion(black one with the pearloid pick guard) I thought I would snag a group shop of my current stable of guitars.  Missing from the picture is another project that will likely never get done, a beat to hell OLP musicman 5er that is still at mom`s.



Left to right: Luna Pheonix, Ancient Aria hollow body, LP piccolo project, Peavey bass conversion, Funky Kent 24" scale.

-Jake

Your Kent bass takes me back quite a few years.  

I can`t say the same, since it is almost twice as old as I am.  It is still fun to play though.  The gray is where somebody epoxied an Ozzy thing to it, not sure how to get that off....  The Aria is even older, 68 or 69 I think.

-Jake