Here’s Doug Wimbish playing one.
Pretty nifty . . .
1 Like
Try playing the 24th note of a G-String on a short scale bass then…
Sure, it’s not a big deal as most songs won’t delve into, but it is an accurate statement.
1 Like
The statement was (as far as I understood it)
‘Can’t play all songs all them as tend to have less notes/frets’
and one can in fact play all songs, as all the notes in the musical alphabet do in fact occur in several places on the fretboard, so it is not an accurate statement.
Personally, I tend to play the note rather than the exact geographical location - so the note that would occur on the G string at the 24th fret (also a G) would be substituted by another occurence of the note ‘G’ at another geographical location on the fretboard.
Obviously the note G that would occur at the 24th fret on the G string would be higher in pitch than any of the notes available on this particular instrument, but that was not your original statement. Your original statement was that not all songs can be played on this instrument because there are less notes/frets.
Again, my statement is factually correct. Also, it is not always realistic to shift notes around if it is a fast song and the movements become too extreme. Sure, you are probably fine on 99% of songs, but not all. This is just a fact…
Which page of the FUKIN’ BIG BOOK OF FACTS is that on then?
I can’t find it in my copy.
It’s perfectly fine to disagree with another member Mark, but surely you can express yourself more tactfully than that? . . . 
9 Likes
I’m gunna echo @Jazzbass19 here, @Mark_D.
It’s tough, because if you’re a sarcastic joker, we can’t always hear the tone through text. Comes off a bit rough.
And while everything you say about having all the notes on a short scale bass is absolutely correct, I completely agree with @JT on the idea of you really can’t play some things without those higher frets.
Some pieces are very much range dependent - doesn’t matter if you take the same notes and drop them an octave - the way we hear the line is dependent on those notes being up high.
I’ve been working on Classical Thump with a student who plays a Fender J-bass, and he just can’t play certain parts because the high melody line isn’t accessible on his bass.
There aren’t a lot of meat and potatoes bass lines that are affected by not having the extreme upper register, but it makes a huge difference for people who like to play up there.
Certainly not trying to fuel any fires here.
Hope we can all high five, and work it out at the Bass Club Bar and Coffee House (which, @JoshFossgreen, BassBuzz should be launching as an international franchise. Please.)
13 Likes
Back to Ochanomizu today to try out a couple basses I am interested in. First, I hit Kurosawa’s bass specialty shop because I knew they had what I was looking for.
First I wanted to get the feel of the Ibanez SR2400 and they still had the one I want:
Man, this thing is dangerous. It is very similar in feel to my TRBX604. It felt familiar and smooth as butter. It’s basically like a nicer, lighter, and better version of my 604 so it’s no surprise I liked it as much as I thought. Then again, it also costs twice as much as a 604 and it’s too new and limited edition scarce to be on the used market yet. Still, if I saw a used one for a decent price I would be sorely tempted. If I eventually replace my 604, it’s probably going to be with one of these. But not new for that price.
What I was really wanting to try out was Warwick Streamers because I am considering a Rockbass for a BEAD bass. Kurosawa has Warwicks in droves, though they didn’t have a Rockbass, just MIGs. But they handed me a Streamer LX anyway and it felt pretty damn good. I didn’t know they were so light. Not looking to spend $1500-$2k on one but it was a good sign anyway.
They did have one used MIG Streamer that was interesting:
Only two problems: first, black basses aren’t my thing. Second, broken truss rod. Still, it makes me want to see how much a replacement neck runs because $600 is a decent deal on a MIG Streamer here.
Next up, I tried another Streamer down the block at Shimokura and played it a bit. Warwick necks still feel weird to me, narrow but deeper than I expected. Still, it played pretty nicely, despite taking a little getting used to.
Went to the ESP Custom Shop next, expecting to ogle ESPs but in reality I was surprised they had a beautiful used and third party bass selection. All the same I got a shot of some nice ESP Edwards there:
They had a couple Rockbasses but not the ones I wanted. So they called their other store a couple blocks away (they have three in the neighborhood) and they had them, so I went there and tried them out.
And you know, I think I liked the Rockbass Streamer I tried better than one or two of the MIGs I looked at. It seemed to be very high quality, was light, sounded great, and the neck felt at least as good as the MIGs. No doubt the MIGs are “better”, and had higher quality/more expensive tonewoods and so on, but the Rockbass seemed just fine to me.
Which is good because they are actually affordable
12 Likes
Nice!
That red ESP looks gorgeous - but that transparent pickguard might require some getting used to (I mean the look of it).
2 Likes
I agree! I hadn’t seen one before and I was surprised how good they look. Very nice looking basses:
But what a weird pickguard choice. I’d probably want to take it off. Or, you know, since it is hanging literally inside their custom workshop, just ask them to customize it 
3 Likes
Same here, but then you’d end up with some ugly screwholes…
There you go 
2 Likes
my experience is that the limited edition gear is sometimes very very hard to get used.
2 Likes
Yeah I’m not hopeful one will turn up any time soon. Potentially they are changing the model out at NAMM for those new ones @JT posted in the NAMM thread, so the numbers might be pretty small.
1 Like
If you are talking about the new limited edition Warwick’s, there will only be 25 Masterbuilts and 100 Teambuilts made worldwide.
1 Like
No, we were talking about the Ibanez SR2400. There are hundreds or maybe thousands, but it is a premium limited edition, which might be being swapped out for the new Ibanez high end models you posted in the NAMM thread.
It may be sacrilege but the new Warwicks you posted there didn’t really float my boat. I think their normal custom shop ones actually look better. I mean dayum:
thats just gorgeous.
9 Likes
Yeah, I prefer that one too. Not a fan of gold hardware personally. The slanted pickup on that one looks weird to me though, even though I know it is that way on purpose. Just used to straight ones I guess.
2 Likes
Oh, yeah, they look nice indeed… price point??
2 Likes
“Price on request.”
Probably $6-8k.
3 Likes
Haha, OK, thanks 
2 Likes
