In reply to Antihero :
Soultone website lists their endorsers. The first name looks a lot like Chris to me, last name looks like it ends in a "g" They have a guy named Chris Tonning so maybe??
In reply to Antihero :
Soultone website lists their endorsers. The first name looks a lot like Chris to me, last name looks like it ends in a "g" They have a guy named Chris Tonning so maybe??
Dude is from Idaho. You're welcome. 
11GTCS said:Dude is from Idaho. You're welcome.
You are berkeleying awesome! It's the 19" china and I bought it in Couer d Alene lol
In reply to Antihero :
When I saw the picture of his set up and the Couer d Alene location I knew I had it. LOL. Enjoy, that's a funky little thing.
Edit, if you look at the picture of the china on the website you can see the signature. Missed that the first time through.
Edit to the edit: I can't find that exact cymbal on their site but one of their "Vintage" series 19" china cymbals retails for just under $400 bucks. I'm guessing you spent quite a bit under that and if so, well bought.
In reply to 11GTCS :
I spent just over $100 actually
Lately, I've had a SEVERE case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome, but I promised myself that I'd fix the projects I already have before bringing another one into my home. You may (or may not) recall I was given this thing a few years ago:
It's a Martin Stinger SBL-10 (Yes, THAT Martin). Martin Guitars, like everyone else, wanted a piece of that sweet, sweet import shredder guitar pie back in the late 80's, and they brought some Korean-made intermediate grade stuff over to sell under the Stinger brand. This is their take on the Fender Jazz Bass Special:
It's a P-Bass body with a P/J pickup configuration and a Jazz Bass neck, most famously played by Duff McKagan from Guns N Roses.
The neck on this Stinger is shaped like a banana, and there's no bringing it back,so it's been in my project backlog for a few years. Last night, I had a moment of weakness and ordered this:
It's a roasted maple Fender-style Jazz Bass neck from TWT Guitars. I've heard good things about these and I figured I'd roll the dice on one after not being able to find something locally. I wanted to keep the maple board it had, and the roasted look will compliment the aged white finish on the body. I know the pickups work, and I have tuners and a bridge for the thing, so this should hopefully come together fairly quickly.
Whoops. Again.
Craigslist isn't dead, despite what you may have heard. Also, it isn't blocked on my work computer. It should be.
About 50 years old. Made in Spain. And the guy delivered it to me at work. Not bad for $60. And I didn't even have a classical at home so I can totally justify it to Mrs. BFC5K.
Spent some time cleaning out my garage to prep for some work being done in there, and kinda forgot that I have an entire Alesis DM-10 electronic drum kit stashed in there. It was given to me by a friend who was doing a basement clean-out, and I never set it up. It's not in the best of shape, but the module works and I have all the pads. I was going to dump it off at the Music Go Round nearby, but they said I have to set it up in order to do that, so I'll be doing that this week. I am afraid that once I set it up, I'll want to keep it. But I value the space over having the thing, so it's gotta go.
Hoping to get enough on trade-in to snag another stringed thing or some new-to-me cymbals for my acoustic kit.
Still waiting on that neck I ordered to show up as well. It was stuck in Texas for a week, and now it's in NJ. Ugh.
Ahh yes, it's New Bass Neck Day.
My new neck from TWT Guitars arrived for my project Stinger bass. The new neck is on the left, with the old one on the right. I went with roasted maple for a couple reasons: I don't have any roasted maple necks on anything yet, and it appeared to look aged, which matches the patina the bass body already had. The funniest part is that it smells like maple syrup.
I vastly prefer the Fender style headstock over the Samick-style one on the original neck. I may have to get some custom decals made with something clever on them.
Hard to tell in the pic, but I ended up going for a Jazz Bass neck, both because I prefer them over P-Bass necks and because I'm making this a poor man's Fender Jazz Bass Special.
The new neck supposedly has a bone nut, which is definitely an upgrade. Looks like it's installed well, too.
There is one blemish: there's a scratch on the side of the headstock. Since it was still cheaper than finding a used, beat-up neck locally, I can live with this. It's only visible at certain angles, and besides, it goes with the rest of the patina look.
The back of the neck's skunk stripe is cool. Both the maple and the stripe have some figuring, and it looks awesome in person.
And here it is placed into the neck pocket. I will need to fire up the drill press to properly drill some pilot holes to mount it properly, but the neck seems to fit the pocket well. I am loving the look, and after some more servicing/cleanup on the body, I think this will work out well. Still not sure if I will try and change the bridge or return the original brass saddles to the stock one, or if I try and fix the stock tuners or use some new ones I have kicking around. All of the pots are locked up, so I'll need to free them up. I also have some chrome knurled knobs for it to complete the look. This is shaping up to be a killer bass.
Spent the better part of a week messing with this thing.
After trying THREE different Amazon power adapters, I finally got one that has the right voltage, amperage, current, and plug to get the thing to make sounds. And before I get comfortable with it, it has to get out of my house! As much as I'd like to have one of these, I think I'm more interested in having other gear, so off to Music Go Round it goes the next time I get a chance. I have a pile of other gear I might bring with me, including my Jackson JS22 guitar that I'm just not in love with anymore. That one needs a new nut and some electronics work. Never really liked the thing that much, so it can probably go too. Hoping a big enough pile of gear will be able to get me something nice.
I've kinda wanted to learn bass for a while. Since I'm not allowed to work out for at least a couple months until I'm cleared by the Dr., I figured this is a good time to start to keep from going stir crazy.
Went to Music Go Round and picked out my first bass guitar. This was the one I liked best within my $200-$400 price range. Sire Marcus Miller V3.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
I have no personal experience, but folks I trust tell me that those Sire units are super solid. +2 points for J-bass, and two more for gothic vibes. Have fun!
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Also, if you're just starting, remember to have fun. Bass is amazing in that there are a ton of really fun songs that are easy to learn. Almost anything AC/DC is fun to play along to, but my personal favs are Planet Caravan by Sabbath, Spider-Man by the Cure, and No More Tears by Ozzy.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Those Sire Marcus Miller basses are really nice and play well. Nice score! Love the black on black.
I had myself a day yesterday. After fighting with that E-kit for over an hour, I was able to get it in my car with a pile of other stuff I haven't used in years, drove it all to Music Go Round, set it all up in there, got it working, and even sliced the crap out of my finger in the process. After about an hour of them testing it, they gave me a fair trade-in number, and I got to shopping.
I ended up leaving with this:
From the top: Squier Sonic Esquire H (lots of mods, more on that in a bit), a Chibson USA More Paul/Less Paul toggle ring (MORE PAUL PLEASE), the Guitar Strap of Dark Ska (no, really, that's what the tag said), and a vintage late 80's/early 90's Zildjian 18" "China Boy High" cymbal. Not a bad haul!
More on this guitar:
I played a bunch of stuff looking for the right one. I sampled about 15 basses and guitars while waiting for them to work my trade, and the second I picked this up, I knew it was coming home. I heard about these budget Sonic Esquire guitars being really mod-friendly, and this one has seen a bunch of mods that make it freaking cool.
They are supposed to look like this:
They are simple, no-nonsense rock machines. One volume, one tone, a ceramic humbucker, string-through top loader bridge, and a c-shape maple neck. But as you can see, this one is different.
Someone swapped in a hotter Wilkinson chrome pickup, and although I typically prefer uncovered pickups, I really like the looks of this one with the chrome bridge. Also, it has a toggle switch: a 3 position unit. These aren't supposed to have those.
Oh, and there's a push-pull pot! Yep, this thing does coil splitting stuff, so it can get that single coil Tele bridge goodness when you want it. Not exactly sure what the toggle does yet, but man, this thing makes some cool sounds. It shreds AND it twangs.
Someone added this little gold roller string tree, and it just works.
Weird to see a non-string through Tele body, but that's what I have here.
I ran the numbers on it, and it's actually a 2024 limited edition color (Lime Green). The pickguard must have been swapped, and I like the black on it better than the white. Under that pickguard is a humbucker route, so I could expand it if I want to later, but I don't think I need to. This thing just screams as it is. I'm really digging it. It's easy to play, sounds great, and looks killer. Happy to add it to the arsenal!
Thanks all! I'm excited to get started. Planning to take a few lessons. There's a School of Rock just two blocks from work.
barefootcyborg5000 said:In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Also, if you're just starting, remember to have fun. Bass is amazing in that there are a ton of really fun songs that are easy to learn. Almost anything AC/DC is fun to play along to, but my personal favs are Planet Caravan by Sabbath, Spider-Man by the Cure, and No More Tears by Ozzy.
Fun is the plan. I'm starting in my 40's. No sort of rockstar aspirations. I just want to sit in the basement, put on my music, and start noodling along with songs.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Esquires are awesome, and I've almost bought one of those.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
How Many More Times is my favorite to play on bass, although it's not a super easy one to play.
Congrats on your first bass!
All the bass suggestions above are great. I will also heavily endorse listening to Black Sabbath and learning Geezer's stuff. When I was first starting out, the Paranoid album was where I started, particularly with Paranoid, Iron Man, and Planet Caravan. I eventually learned the whole album, then started my way through the rest of the catalog. Some other great songs to learn that taught me a TON about playing:
Lord of This World
Children of the Grave
Into the Void
N.I.B.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
A National Acrobat
Hole In The Sky
Neon Knights
Children of the Sea
Heaven and Hell
Lonely Is The Word
Mob Rules
Sign of the Southern Cross
Yeah, that's a lot, but all of those are good challenges and are tons of fun to play. Hope you like Sabbath!
When you learn a bit more, give some Iron Maiden a shot. Watching and learning what Steve Harris does blew my bass playing game wide open. He is an ANIMAL.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
In addition to all the aforementioned bass licks to learn, consider some of the older stuff as well. Monster Mash has a bass line that is an absolute riot to play, and a lot of Johnny Cash's songs are both easy to learn and hard enough to expand your horizons.
Also, Tony is right. Steve Harris is an insanely talented bassist. The interlude on Rime of the Ancient Mariner will make you pull your hair out in frustration...
In reply to Recon1342 :
Start off trying to learn The Trooper. It really is a microcosm of Steve Harris's style. Once you get the "gallop" down, you'll understand his playing more. I cheat and use more than two fingers, but I don't care. 
Beer Baron 🍺 said:I've kinda wanted to learn bass for a while. Since I'm not allowed to work out for at least a couple months until I'm cleared by the Dr., I figured this is a good time to start to keep from going stir crazy.
Went to Music Go Round and picked out my first bass guitar. This was the one I liked best within my $200-$400 price range. Sire Marcus Miller V3.
Awesome. You'll have a lot of fun and that looks like a solid bass to start with.
Geezer doesn't get the credit he deserves for the huge Sabbath tone and riffs.
He definitely did not just clone what Iommi was doing.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Man that little green Tele looks like a lot of fun. Curious about the wiring, maybe some series/parallel switching action with the toggle to go with the coil split on the push/pull pot?
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