LeftyBassist.com

Here's the whole enchilada: http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d14/mrberger/NAMM%202012/. In it's infinite wisdom, Photobucket loaded the pics in the reverse order of when I took them.

When I get time, i'll post some of my faves with comments. As always - apart from Rod's booth - there was a dearth of lefty basses.

Wyn had a stunner spalted maple lefty bass on display, but his booth was so busy I did not get a chance to take a pic of it. Otherwise ... MEH!

EDIT: fixed the link

Linky no worky.

I was going to say

try it now folks

Much Betta

Despite the lack of lefty basses there are some real stunners there. It's amazing how many CS pieces Fender hauls out to that show you'd think they'd throw us sinister folk a bone.

Anyway, I noticed a couple photos of the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 SL and some 112 SL cabs. Did you get a chance to play/hear them? I'm interested in what you might have thought. I'm looking for something more portable than my big Mesa rig (M-Pulse 600 and Powerhouse 4x12 cab) for smaller venues. I have an Orange Terror Bass 500 and SP212 cab but it ain't cuttin' it. It's portable enough and loud enough but it doesn't offer a very wide range of tonal possibility. The Aguilar stuff looks like it might be the fix.

If anyone has an opinion let me know.

Thanks!

This was a good one- Steve Bailey, Lee Sklar and Hadrien Feraud on jamming together at the PreSonus booth...

If people y'all want to look at the pics in order, click on Slideshow, then click the Pause Button. After that, keep clicking the Scroll button/bottom right 'til you get to the end. Click on the last picture, then start clicking on the back arrow on the left side of the picture. Now doesn't that sound easy?! Works though......

That Aguilar rig sounded absolutely killer with the Ken Smith 6 string that the bassis from 'The Ali Brothers' was using, which is why I took those pics. I am sorely tempted to go on a hunt for that rig and match it up with my Smith. If I was gigging right now, I'd be scouring around trying to scare one up. But alas, I am band-free at the moment.

Many of the CS bases and quite a few of the CS Tele's w/Bigsby were on loan from dealer stock! Kinda blew me away when I saw "On loan from xxx" on a placquard jammed in between the strings.

And, I just got that camera and while it's a great point and shoot tool, I hadn't had time to master aperture/ISO/filters settings. Consequently, a lot of the bursts on the acoustic guitars are completly washed out by the glare of the convention center's lighting.

The Sandburg I played (I swear I took pics of it, but they have disappeared) was a little disappointing to me. It was a 3TS burst w/split coil MM and Jazz pups. Pretty sure it was the Basic TM. They were selling it for $2100. Whilst it was a nice piece of wood and looked fab, It wasn't set up properly, I couldn't dial in a good tone thru the Orange amp in the booth (don't ask me which one, I do not remember!). And worst of all the pickup blend switch was wired backwards! Try to figure that one out when there are 300 other bassists with 20 feet of you all jamming away.

this was another bass surprise for me: TEC amps. Apparently he's been at NAMM for like 10 years and I've never seen him before. I really dug his all tube head. And to top it of Jens Ritter had one of his SS heads in the Ritter booth. Jens gave him a hearty endorsement, so I guess that counts for something, eh?

Here's the head. No clue what it sells for but I do remember it uses a toroidal tranny (which seems to becoming more common on high output tube amps) which reduces weight. The head weighed about 55 lbs and puts out 300+ watts. Sounded really good to me, very old school SVT like.

Here we have an 11 year old young man who could be destined for greatness. The kid has some serious chops and technique. Sorry, but I never got his name. He was there with his mom and two other pre-teen brothers, so she had her hands full and didn't have much time for talking. Naturally, dad was nowhere to be found

The bass he was using was a sweet MM SR. NOT the Ray series, one o' the real ones.

That's Justin Bieber.

Ha! And Bieber IS a lefty too.

Great photos Marc. I'm actually pleased with the number of lefties you spotted, even if there were few basses, at least there's some interesting guitars. Kudos to Fender for not only introducing some new lefty guitars, but unique finishes for us too. Those Competition Mustangs look sweet, and I like the FSR Seafoam Green Strat too. Did you get a chance to try either, or the Cobain Jaguar and Squier Tele? Bill at Hipshot had set me up with a great B-Bender unit for my main Tele, but I'm considering getting another cheap to possibly throw a Bigsby on.

Did you get to try that Gretsch with the P90s? What did you think of the Trussart Tele? I can't decide if I think those Trussarts are super cool or super gaudy. And speaking gaudy, who'da thought that a company as classy as Collings could make tacky looking painted electrics too? Yuck.

What else? Basswise:

- Spector makes Jazz copies now?!
- What's the deal with those new Smith Burners? NT or BO? Some look NT but others I can't tell. Are they at a lower price point? They're gorgeous.
- Rod's basses look amazing, especially the M-Series 5 string.
- Someday I WILL own a Marleaux.

I like that 'Ray alot!

He kinda does look like the Beeb doesn't he? You should see pics of my nephew when he was a pre-teen. He was a dead ringer for Beiber. My nephew has absolutely no musical talent whatsoever tho.

I picked up all the FSR's but there were no amps to play thru, as they were in the Fender Dealer/Sales Rep room. That's where they go to do business, it's in a separate room from the main showroom. There's something about those necks that remind me of a previous Fender model from way back in the day, but I can't put my finger on it. I keep thinking early 70's type of neck. I'm talking about the edges of the fretboard, not the profile or radius. Maybe it'll come to me .... I do like them tho, and I don't think they are selling all that well as you can seem to find them everywhere. Which is too bad in a way as they are limited run guitars.

Picked up the Mustang. It felt like a Mustang. Tiny and wimpy LOL. The Cobain Jag was a lot heavier than I antcipated, it definitely has some heft to it. Didn't plug it in. But I'd buy one. I think Mexi production has come up a notch or two in recent years. In fact, I think all of Fender's instruments has gone up in quality in the last few years.

I really liked the butterscotch Squire Tele I photoraphed. Did not realize there were 3 levels of Squier quality in the line. The depicted one runs for about $550 street and felt great. You can really see the difference in the wood and hardware.

Picked up the Gretsch, but again there was no amp handy to plug in into. It was also heavier than I expected. Heavier than a regular 6120 by about a pound or maybe two. Have no clue why, unless it has tressle bracing. A 6120-1959 is hih on my gas list, but I really balk at shelling out $3.2K for a Japanese guitar.

Now, those Trussarts, they are the cat's ass IMO. Everyone I've ever played sounded great. Through the right amp with a touch of overdrive they do Delta blues to a T regardless of pickup configuration. Marvellous for slide work too. And the craftsmanship is top top top shelf. Which is why you pay $7K+ for one. There are a lot of hours that go into those guitars. Could be he a had a price hike this year, I seem to remember those guitars being under $6K two years ago.

There's a story behind those Collings of course. A close friend of Bill Collings races motorcycles (stock cars maybe?). He bugged Bill for two guitars that he could custom paint and take to the racing trade shows. Bill obliged. All in the name of cross-branding of course! LOL

The Smith Burners were all bolt ons. AAARRRGGGHHH what a waste of fine wood! He had one neck-thru, that was the one on the stand n the floor. Didn't ask about price, Ken wasn't there, and neither was the rep anytime I toodled by. The interesting thing I noted tho was that on 3 of them, I would swear that the finish was applied AFTER the neck was put on. I know that does not make sense at all, but I could not see any separation between neck and body. And believe me, I looked good and hard. Maybe they are show pieces only?

The Marleaux are sweet, they get their hands on some good wood. I think they are overpriced for what they are tho. But you know me, I'm a cheap S.O.B. I'd rather spend that kind of $$$ on a Zon, or 2 of Rod's bases. Rod's Tele was awesome btw. Sounded great thru that ole Deluxe Reverb in his booth. My camera did not do his basses justice. That $%^%&& mercury-vapor lighting they use at the Convention Center just kills off reds, oranges, and sunburst finishes unless you have a filter.

Did you see this?



Came across this pic on the Facebook page of a bass store here in the Netherlands. Some of these are coming to that store, but I doubt he ordered the lefty too

Frick no! They were restting the booth when I walked by on Thurs, and that was the only time I cruised by. They make some great bases, especially if you like vintage-tone boatanchors LOL. (j/k of course about boat anchors)