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12. This poll is closed
  • The Crackercaster 456 Bass

    4 33.33%
  • The Drake Jason's Bass

    8 66.67%
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Thread: Skin DEEP 2015 - Still The One

  1. #1

    Default Skin DEEP 2015 - Still The One

    With a final vote of 5 - 2, the Crackercaster 456 taught the latest challenger, the Jerzy Drozd Soul IV, that beauty isn't always about innovation and risk taking. Sometimes, the classic designs touch the heart more!

    http://www.thunderrow.com/showthread...ster-On-A-Roll

    So, as we leave the blue Jerzy Drozd behind, we introduce a new challenger to face off against the reigning champ.

    This is a beautiful bass from Drake Custom Basses. This model is called Jason's Bass, because it was custom made for a Customer named Jason. She's based on a Carvin design, per the Customer's request.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The body wings are made of Alder topped with Redwood.

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    Headstock is laminated with Redwood to match.

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    The neck is Rock Maple with Koa stringers (in case you aren't familiar, the stringers are the block of light coloured stabilizing strips that run from the tail to the neck block. The wings are the solid coloured add-ons attached to the sides of the stringers).

    Walnut stripes on the edges of the neck block.
    Hipshot A style bridge.
    Wood cavity cover/Rosewood truss rod cover.

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    Urethane gloss finish/no stain or added colour.

    She's a wood-lover's delight!!

    More pix of the Drake Jason's Bass HERE.

    Well, what do you think? Does Jason's Bass have the looks to unseat the champion Crackercaster 456 Bass?

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    More pix of the Crackercaster HERE.

    The polls are open, so cast your vote NOW!!


    - low life -

  2. #2

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    I have to go with the Drake Custom on this one. Who knew redwood could look so awesome on a bass guitar?

  3. #3

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    After visiting the Drake website and reading his much he stands behind his work. Then saying you may have fret problems the first year and to take it to your local shop to fix tends to make you think his stuff is inferior. Sorry won't be buying from you.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by harleyman888 View Post
    After visiting the Drake website and reading his much he stands behind his work. Then saying you may have fret problems the first year and to take it to your local shop to fix tends to make you think his stuff is inferior. Sorry won't be buying from you.
    I think this is the text from the Drake Custom Bass site you are referring to:

    "Your instrument has been crafted with top grade fret board woods that have been kiln dried, however, during the first cold/dry winter the fret ends that may stick out of the fret boards due to the shrinking of the wood. The ends can be very sharp and could result in an injury. If you find that your frets are sticking out, please have your local shop address the issue right away. Do not play the instrument if you find this has occurred. Once the fret ends have been dressed you should not have that issue again."

    I think what he describes could happen to any instrument made of wood, and is actually a refreshing bit of honesty from a builder in my opinion. The part about taking it to a local luthier is to protect the player from injury I believe. And, since changes like he describes are due to environmental differences, they would not be considered a warranty issue. That being said, I will be able to judge the quality of his builds in relatively short order. I have purchased his bass guitar named Iris, from an ebay seller, and should receive it in about a week. I just couldn't pass it up for only $599 shipped to my door. I will report my opinion of it's build quality here once I have had some time to analyze the guitar.

  5. #5

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    Sorry I disagree. Seeing the prices he charges and that he has not been in business that long. Tends to make me think that he does not have enough experience to make such a claim. He should fix it himself. Paying shipping both ways. He also does not have any resume' at all. Who did he learn from?, did he work for any company to get any experiance? I always research these things before spending a dime. You may be getting a great deal. You are paying about 1/4 the price that he normally charges.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by harleyman888 View Post
    Sorry I disagree. Seeing the prices he charges and that he has not been in business that long. Tends to make me think that he does not have enough experience to make such a claim. He should fix it himself. Paying shipping both ways. He also does not have any resume' at all. Who did he learn from?, did he work for any company to get any experiance? I always research these things before spending a dime. You may be getting a great deal. You are paying about 1/4 the price that he normally charges.
    The cheap price was definitely the driver behind my purchase. I figured even if I don't like the guitar, I can resell it and will not be likely to take a loss. I really like to check out different designs and features. This bass has a 35" scale and I am interested to see how that effects playability and tone. I try to keep an open mind when it comes to bass design. I have tried 30" and 32" scale basses and was looking forward to that shorter reach and closer frets, but when I actually played the shorter scale units, it was like no big thing. I had developed a pretty low opinion of Fender basses based on the models I had tried.........until I got my hands on the select precision model. It is now my favorite bass and I am considering other Fender models to try. Ya gotta try it to know if you like it, and the stores around here have a very limited selection on hand.

    And speaking of custom basses........how do you feel about your Crackercaster now that you have lived with it for a while? Also, what was the price on it, if you don't mind me asking? I have been considering ordering one and would like to hear your opinion.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    2,088

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    Sorry Harleyman

    Bass guitars are "normally" made of wood, which is an organic material that responds to the varying temperature/humidity conditions of its environment. The only way that I believe that it could be made to not respond in any way would be to totally seal the wood cells in the instrument from its environment. Then you'd basically be playing a piece of plastic, no wood tone/natural harmonics, nothing but vibrating plastic.

    I live in what is basically a very dry environment. I built a log home. Over the first 4-5 years, the 10' high walls settled approximately 4" as the logs adapted to the low humidity. I had to design the house with that shrinkage in mind or the doors adn windows would have been crushed. The logs don't really shrink longitudinally because the cellulose cells in the wood are long and thin, oriented along the grain of the wood. As moisture leaves the wood cells, they become thinner. and the overall diameter of the logs gets smaller. Over the seasons of the year my home, which has been here for over 18 years now, continues to move very slightly as the humidity goes up and down.

    In this environment, all of my basses, including my Fender which has a varnished fingerboard, have had to have the ends of the frets filed down a touch as the wood slowly shrinks from the lower humidity up here, allowing the ends of the brass frets to protrude a wee bit. That is the nature of wood and I do not see that as a "warranty" issue, unless the vendor expressly warrantied that the wood would never shrink. Unless they had soaked the wood in a penetrating epoxy or something similar - thereby removing the effect of wood on the instrument, that would be a bit misguided in my view.

    The very best, most expensive double bass instruments in the world all have to be periodically adjusted due to the way the wood moves when it adapts to the environment in which it finds itself and one does not ship those instruments back to Europe for that tweaking under warranty. Now that my basses have adjusted to this dry climate, if I moved them to south Florida, they would then readjust to the new environment, and I may have more tweaking to do.

    I think Peavey made some plastic basses a number of years ago. If you demand that your instrument to never change, buy one of them.

    I'm going for the Drake - shrinkage and all.
    ___________________________________
    Steinberger NXT5 EUB, MTD 535 Fretless, Tobias Killer B6, 72 Fender Precision
    Eden WT500, WTX1000N & WP100, QSC PL230
    Eden D410XLT, D410XST, 215, Fender Bassman 10

  8. #8

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    Well it seems that quality builders seem to disagree with this. Simonetti custom bass says that they will guarantee against this for 2 years. They said for the price of paying for a custom it should be covered.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    2,088

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    Quote from Simonetti's warranty page:

    Normal wear and tear, exposure to extremes of humidity, or temperature accidental damage or abuse is not covered in this warranty and is evaluated by Simonetti Basses. Unauthorised repair work or modifications void this warranty. Simonetti Basses will not assume any consequential damages or subsequent financial losses. Shipping to and from Simonetti Basses is the sole responsibility of the customer. (my italics).

    Yep, I guess that if you paid to ship your bass to and from Simonetti, they might dress the fret ends under "warranty" as long as they didn't deem that the shrinkage was due to extreme dryness (one of the extremes of humidity under the warranty). It also appears that the costs of shipping to and from for any warranty work is on the owner's dime.

    BTW, A typical fret end dressing costs about $30 to $50. Fret files, (a ubiquitous tool in any luthier's tool kit) so you could dress them yourself cost as little as $15.00. It also typically takes 3 - 5 years for the neck to shrink enough to require dressing the fret ends. If your bass happens to be in the same "happy humidity environment" in which it was built, it might not appear.

    YMMV
    ___________________________________
    Steinberger NXT5 EUB, MTD 535 Fretless, Tobias Killer B6, 72 Fender Precision
    Eden WT500, WTX1000N & WP100, QSC PL230
    Eden D410XLT, D410XST, 215, Fender Bassman 10

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by TobiasMan View Post
    Quote from Simonetti's warranty page:

    Normal wear and tear, exposure to extremes of humidity, or temperature accidental damage or abuse is not covered in this warranty and is evaluated by Simonetti Basses. Unauthorised repair work or modifications void this warranty. Simonetti Basses will not assume any consequential damages or subsequent financial losses. Shipping to and from Simonetti Basses is the sole responsibility of the customer. (my italics).

    Yep, I guess that if you paid to ship your bass to and from Simonetti, they might dress the fret ends under "warranty" as long as they didn't deem that the shrinkage was due to extreme dryness (one of the extremes of humidity under the warranty). It also appears that the costs of shipping to and from for any warranty work is on the owner's dime.

    BTW, A typical fret end dressing costs about $30 to $50. Fret files, (a ubiquitous tool in any luthier's tool kit) so you could dress them yourself cost as little as $15.00. It also typically takes 3 - 5 years for the neck to shrink enough to require dressing the fret ends. If your bass happens to be in the same "happy humidity environment" in which it was built, it might not appear.

    YMMV
    I actually talked to the rep there and he personally told me it was covered. They make a great bass with over 25 years building customs.

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