Picture Gallery

[LisaIs]

Hey Truss, what would the clear PG reveal? I will know soon when I put my rainbow pearl PG on. How many times am I gonna bring up the rainbow pearl?

Nice gold Bongo. What are the benefits of a pink ivorywood playing ramp? I have never seen that done. Is it for looks, feel or sound? Fill my ignorant brain in.

Pink paisley? Oh yea, that was my first choice until I saw the rainbow. That pink paisley is very Fender but would look nice on a MM.

[LisaIs]

Moondog, your avatar looks like a dancing capsule. He is really cute.

[shamus63]

Originally Posted by LisaIs

Nah Mr Trussbroken, that isn't exciting. I do however like black on black but the black on black bass at the shop had a maple neck and that was not the sound I was looking for at all. Rosewood is the sound!!!!

I agree on the Rosewood fretboard; nice, warm tone! I couldn't get into the black-on-black theme on my Stealth Bongo; I felt it needed more of a contrast that would still compliment the overall aesthetics of the bass.

Hence, White Ice PG on the way! Will accent the white lettering and inlays just fine.

[Moondog]

Originally Posted by LisaIs

Moondog, your avatar looks like a dancing capsule. He is really cute.

Now you're making my avatar blush
that's Temazepam 15mg (he fixes insomnia)

<I'm in the pharma business>

[LisaIs]

Now wait a minute bucko. I'm a nurse and our temazepam capsules are orange. I think this guy is prozac or vistaril.

[Moondog]

Originally Posted by LisaIs

Now wait a minute bucko. I'm a nurse and our temazepam capsules are orange. I think this guy is prozac or vistaril.

Not too fast Lisa! different manufacturers use different colors.
check a PDR . . .I work for a generic company and we use opaque
white/dark green capsugels
I think our 30mg may be orange tho . .

Sorry Gav - I think I may be contributing to another one of your
clean-ups .. .

[LisaIs]

You called it right my man. Any pill in various strengths and manufacters can be different colors. I stand corrected.

[Bill]

I haven't posted my 'Ray since I changed the pickguard...

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by LisaIs

Nice gold Bongo. What are the benefits of a pink ivorywood playing ramp? I have never seen that done. Is it for looks, feel or sound? Fill my ignorant brain in.

It doesn't have to be pink ivorywood- that just happens to be the wood that the ramp on my Bongo is made of. A ramp basically reduces the space your fingers can go below the strings when plucking, so you can recover quicker after plucking, rather than plucking through the strings and your fingers dipping far below them. It allows you to play faster with a lighter touch, and makes playing with three or four fingers much easier (for me at least).

The top of a ramp is usually radiused to follow the radius of your strings (which should be radiused to match your fretboard); this way, the distance between the bottom of each string and the ramp is equal. Playing with an unradiused ramp (i.e. flat) would result in the distance between the middle strings and the ramp being greater than the end strings, which would result in an uneven attack. You can attach them to your bass with either screws or double stick tape (which is my preference, as it's easily removable and doesn't marr the surface of your bass at all).

Gary Willis has been using them for forever now, and guys like Matthew Garrison and Dominique DiPiazza have been making them more and more popular. I find it difficult to play a bass without a ramp now- I won't go without one. I have them on all four of my basses:

[LisaIs]

Thanks for that detailed explanation. It really sounds like a useful mod that I will consider for my Ray.

Your basses are amazing works of art and I imagine the sound is just as stunning. What brand are they?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Thanks for the kind words. They're Elricks- they're made by a luthier in Chicago named Rob Elrick. He's a fantastic luthier- he handbuilds them all from start to finish on his own. The Bongo is technically my "beater" bass of the bunch, but it gives me some sounds and a feel that's different from the Elricks....it's a great bass to have around!

I had Rob build my ramps for me, but any local woodworker could probably do it. You could probably do it yourself if you wanted- you just need a bandsaw, some radiusing blocks that match your radius, and a little bit of skill.

To get a feel of how a ramp feels under your fingers, you can pick up a fretless bass with low action and play right at the end of the fingerboard- a ramp will feel like that but with the regular tension that you have in your normal fingerstyle positions (it's obviously going to be floppier up on the fretboard). I keep mine with about the thickness of a credit card or two between the bottom of the strings and the ramp- it makes for a really fast recovery.

[LisaIs]

Thanks for the info Bryan. Much appreciated.

What kind of burl wood are those basses and what are the fretboards? That is a hell of a luthier.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

The first one (the fretless) has a maple burl top and a pink ivorywood fretboard. The second one has a buckeye burl top and a wenge fingerboard. The third one has a maple burl top, although it looks almost like myrtle burl, with a cocobolo fretboard. That photo really doesn't do any of them justice- I have more pics of better quality in my link in my signature if you're interested.

The two basses I'd really like to add to my collection are a Valenti Jazz five-string with Nordstrand pickups and a transparent green Stingray five-string with a maple board, matching headstock and white pickup cover and pickguard. Bass Central still has some, but I don't know if I'll ever get one before they sell out. That's my favorite color for a stained/painted bass...maybe someday EB will bring it back. Not likely though

[LisaIs]

Bryan you certainly have refined taste in basses. Very nice choices.

Last night I took my StingRay to it's first practice. The sound is the most amazing thing ever but it got heavy and felt overall bulky compared to the 80's Ibanez I had been playing. Looking back I wonder if I should have waited until I tested out a Sterling with a rosewood fretboard. I hate to say that but I am only a 100lbs and I was feeling it.

Does the Sterling have a similar sound to the SR or is it a different animal completely? I just love the SR sound so much for slap.

[Rod Trussbroken]

LisaIs...you got my private Email?