LeftyBassist.com

I've been playing my Stagg EUB for several months now, after having it converted to a lefty by my guitar tech. I bought the Stagg stand, and use it to play upright, and less as a bass stand. I've come up with several playing options, which will be shown in the pictures below....

When I use the stand, I use a ball-loop bungee strap to transport it like so....


but I usually carry it like this, with legs out....


Here's a picture of the bag...


and a pic of the bottom. This happened very quickly; the material just isn't tough enough, but what I'll do is cut a circle out of 1/2-inch ply, and put it in the bottom. For now I've put a plastic lid from a 32oz spackle tub in the bottom. I'll post a pic of my fix later...


OK, this is just an artistic shot, with the bass on the stand...


This is a side-view of the bass on the stand.... notice the "latch" snapped in place. The latch-end broke off, but it is still functional...


And a close-up of the bass with the neck support holding the neck just below the bass-boost knob. Notice that I swing the neck latch in-between the body and neck....


One last shot in the stand with the peg dropped down. I'm 6'0", so the peg is out eleven notches....


Next post will be playing option #2.....

OK, so this is my second playing option, and this works quite well when there's not much stage space, or I'm doing a small gig, where I don't have to play very loud. Although, The cab is a Euphonic Audio Wizzy 4ohm-12 inch speaker, with an aftermarket ceramic, and can get quite loud for it's size... perfect for small clubs/coffee shops/garden parties etc.....

This is my rig, ready to set up - Folding bar stool, EA 12" speaker cab, and my Walter Woods amp...


This is how it looks setup, with the stool over the top of the amp and cab. Not taking up much real estate with this!


Because I'm sitting, I put the floor peg out to eight rings....


And a side-view of the body-wing, which I had installed on the left side, because of I'm a lefty! Notice the dots in the side of the neck. Stock dots are painted on - I had my G-tech put in Mother-of-Pearl dots, and a new nut made of ebony...


This pic is to show how the body-wing, cable, and tuner go into the outside pocket. It's a very long pocket, so it helps to put the wing in first, so you don't have to dig the small stuff out of the bottom. Putting the tuner inside of the wound cable keeps it up at the top. The hand lotion helps my fingers glide over the flatwounds....


And last, just a pic to show that I only use a dab of the lotion, and rub it in my hands. It really helps, and doesn't leave much behind on the strings, which I wipe down when I'm done playing.


Hope this helps, and gives you some ideas on how to handle this col beast! Next up - trying to play it with a guitar strap, and see how that feels. Will let you know how it works out....

This from TB:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Barsic:
"These fingerboards are a resin coated wood, so a re-planing may not work very well."

After I getting my Stagg back from my guitar-tech, I have lowered the bridge, with it being slightly higher on the E side. I also adjusted the truss-rod several times, and have the action down as low as I can get it, without too much buzz in the first-fret area. I'm still working on it, and in talking to my tech, he had noticed a slight hump in the 3rd-4th fret area, and have been meaning to have him look at, and try to straighten the neck so I can get a lower action. I'll let him know about the resin coating, and see how much work, and dollars, it would take to make it more true.

But at this point, it plays well enough as a learning instrument, so if it's a couple hundred $$ to make it better, I'll do it. If it's a lot more, then I'll just start saving up to buy a better built instrument. With that in mind, the Eminence bass I saw on Bob Goliher's website looks promising, and is offered in a left hand model. In case you're interested it's here - http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product_de ... rodID=1430 - although it ain't cheap! (@ $3200)

My problem is finding ANY basses built for let handers.... But the Stagg will be just fine for now....

These photos and your descriptions are really terrific, thanks.

I bought one of these from Adirondack converted lefty almost a year ago. Mine's yellow. I had toyed with it on and off over the year but just recently started playing it more frequently and feel I've found a happy sweet spot with the onboard EQ and my Eden Navigator's parametric EQ/compression to give it just the right blend of fat low end and string/fret noise to approximate a real upright. I'm loving it! I did follow this guy's Flickr photos/instructions for how to better the instrument, and I can concur the instrument improved:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52673786@N ... 77/detail/

My next step is to add side markers, though I don't intend to have anything installed. I may just do it myself and paint them on or get white marker stickers (or maybe hole punch out white circles from some Avery labels I have). There's a guy on ebay that sells various inlay/markers.

What kind of stand did you go with?

Interesting that you're using a hand cream. I've been using baby powder, basing my opinion only on the similar needs of an Ashbory bass, which needs powder in order to make easier, smoother movement around the fretboard.

In "Electronics hum alleviation procedure fig. 1" he mentions ... Belcat .....
I remember checking out their booth at NAMM last year and kinda snorted at their products. But, I must recant ... I think. It looks like more of their products are turning up on our shores and being sold by some respectable dealers.

... and there I was giving them the best 'rip-off name' award because my 1st impression is they were cloning BadCat designs ...

Thanks for the outstanding and comprehensive review fivebass52 !

pjmuck, thanks for the link to the mods page. Will definitely do that at some point soon. I bought an actual Stagg EUB stand, but I like the idea of using an old snare stand, although it looks like it could tip over without too much effort. Still, a lot easier to haul and set up than the Stagg stand, which is fairly large and heavy.

As an idea for side-dot markers, a white, or sparkle-based nail polish would work, and be quite permanent I would think. I use the hand cream because here in Hawaii it gets too muggy at times, and the talcum powder seems to cake up after awhile. When my hands start to dry out, I just rub them together for a few seconds, which draws the cream/oils back out, so I don't have to continue using more and more hand cream. The strings aren't getting gooey, so it's working for me...

I didn't get in to how I EQ the bass, but between the onboard controls, and the EQ on my WW amp, I can get a wide range of settings, depending on the room, and the song I'm playing at the time, although I'm always trying for an upright sound.

Here's a video from last Sunday that a friend took of my band with his Flip video recorder. The bass is a bit quiet, so you may need to use headphones to hear it well enough, but the upright sound does come through. Nothing fancy, just an uptempo blues song called "Act Like You Love Me"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8i80Tr ... ture=share

I have a bit of buzz if I hit the strings hard in the first-to-third fret areas, but after playing it a bit last night, I'm thinking it just might be the truss-rod buzzing inside the body. Doesn't appear to be rattling tuners...

At times I will also play it standing up with just the body wing against my chest, but it's not very stable that way, so I'm still learning how to keep it "controlled" while I play. Still, it's a great learning experience, and I'm have fun playing it, and it attracts a lot of attention when I play it at gigs. Even the ladies come up and ask about it! Good enough for me!

Nice video clip. And damn, your singer/harmonica player can wail!

Are you sure it's the truss rod and not the end pin rattling? I had a bad rattle with mine and did the simple poor man's solution he mentions on the Flickr page by wrapping the end of the end pin in bubble wrap and duct tape. Problem solved! Mine's dead quiet now.

Yeah pj, he sure can! He' one of the best around. Feel privileged to play with him.

I saw that same end-pin fix on the mods page, and am going to look at doing that tomorrow. As you know, it's all a process of elimination, and the end-pin is going to be a lot easier to deal with than a truss-rod! Hope it's an easy fix, like yours was. I'm lucky that the electronics in my Stagg are literally dead quiet. Didn't know about the pots/volume adjustment on the board, but don't think I need to mess with that at the moment.

Just so you know, I spent $200 to have my guitar-tech convert mine over to lefty, which included a new ebony nut, the pearl side dots, and drilling the holes for the body wing. I feel it was worth it, and he does a great job on anything he works on.

Process of elimination indeed! One other thought: I continued to have rattling until I realized the bridge's thumb wheels weren't completely tightened and flush to the bridge. Check those too, as they will loosen over time and need to be tightened again every now and then.

I checked out the the end-pin, and there's not a lot of room in the hole to put something around it, as it slides into the body and out of sight, depending on the setting. I don't think that's my problem though. Will let you know what I discover.

For any and all Stagg owners, TB has a huge thread here: (last page link)
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f101/stag ... st11409653