Author Topic: Rouge reach & balance? (Read 356 times)

echo008 · « **on:** August 23, 2009, 09:46:09 AM »

Hey Guys looking for advice from Rouge owners....

when strapped have any you had trouble with left hand reach? how comfy is it to get around on when strapped?

also would you consider the body large at all?

thanks
- Tom

briant · « **Reply #1 on:** August 23, 2009, 11:37:45 AM »

My Rogue is 35 scale and a 5 string. It's very comfortable and I have no reach issues. The body is what I'd call average in size.

echo008 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 23, 2009, 11:43:38 AM »

Thanks.
Im looking at the Rouge 5 at Bass Northwest right now
http://www.bassnw.com/Used%20Basses/alembic_rogue_5_st_spalted_english_beech.htm

34 inch scale.

the reason I ask is Im on the short side at 5'6 and dont want the hassle of sending the bass back or trying to trade or resell after I get it. If I get it that is.

mike1762 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 23, 2009, 02:02:10 PM »

Nice Spalted Maple... I would think that the long horn would make it balance very well.

I'm 5'8 and I have trouble with my long scale Std Point SI. The 1st positions are a real reach for me. I've considered trying to trade it for a medium scale. My Spoiler is my most comfortable bass.

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #4 on:** August 23, 2009, 04:15:04 PM »

I don't have any trouble reaching positions along the Neck and we have the same height. In fact, sometimes my hand go beyond it should and my thumb gets too near the Headstokck and touches the joint, but this is a personal issue (since I let my thumb gets behind first finger instead of the middle, sometimes).

I think playing confortable has more to do with how you adjust your strap and balances the Bass than how tall you are. Many of us begun playing Bass when teenagers and no one is very tall when kid. We may got trouble when we play cheap or bad adjusted Instruments, playing the Rogue will be a joy.

I'm shure you will love it...

(Message edited by Mario Farufyno on August 23, 2009)

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #5 on:** August 23, 2009, 04:30:25 PM »

Uh... Forgot mentioning that I felt the Bass a little bit heavy when first took it to a long Gig, but my Strap was too narrow and I was a bit out of shape (besides I had the bad habit of playing bending my back).

May be this is something you'll need sometime to get used to, but now I learned how to pick it up properly and this never bothered me again.

bsee · « **Reply #6 on:** August 23, 2009, 04:44:22 PM »

The Rogue shape has an extra long upper horn which positions that end of the strap closer to the nut. This will give you a shorter reach to the nut than would be the case for a Europa or Series instrument of the same scale length. The other side is how much more body there is below the bridge. The more body, the longer the reach to the nut because it also moves the overall position at which the bass hangs. A Rogue has almost no extra body there, so, again, the shape lends itself to the shortest possible reach.

The other side of this coin is that the bridge will be further to the right than on a typical instrument (for a righty). This could affect your right hand technique and the position of the upper frets if you tend to solo in the upper registers. Better or worse depends upon the player and preferred hanging angle.

Your profile also has a pic of you playing an Elan 6. The Rogue should be pretty similar in reach and body size to that. If you look at the position of the upper strap peg, it's around the 14th fret on an Elan and the 12th on a Rogue. That should move the nut about an inch closer, making up for the extra inch of scale length.

echo008 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 23, 2009, 05:39:19 PM »

Thanks guys for your input

bsee I hear you about the reach, I traded that Elan 6 shortly after I got it with Danno. Do you think a 5 string Rouge is really the same body size? the Elan seems wider....

Still on the fence about this one.

echo008 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 23, 2009, 06:19:17 PM »

Does anyone happen to have a pic of themself playing a Rouge?

I already saw the ones in the Rouge pic gallery, there are only a couple and its hard to tell from them.

(Message edited by echo008 on August 23, 2009)

bsee · « **Reply #9 on:** August 23, 2009, 07:08:58 PM »

Well, body width tends to increase with every additional string. I believe Alembic uses the same body wings no matter the string count, but the width of the neck can increase significantly. The difference is magnified on a comfort taper neck as the string spacing at the bridge is wider.

One thing you need to consider is if it is just reach that is an issue for you, or if the width of the fretboard is also something you need to manage. If you play up the neck and have issues with too much space between strings, a stock Rogue might not be the best choice. On the other hand, if you like that space for chording or tapping access, it may be just right.

In any case, take a look at the specs for both neck tapers. I would suspect that the comfort taper bridge on a five string is at least half an inch wider than a standard taper neck.

echo008 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 23, 2009, 07:21:51 PM »

I used to have a 5 string Essence with what was called wide spacing and it felt normal to me. I also have had a couple of 5 string excels and have had no trouble with string spacing.... my main concern is that the body will just feel too large to me. I have only held a Rogue (very briefly) once and it was so long ago I cannot remember what it felt like.

Im fine with just about any standard (34 in.) 5 string neck (I have played alot), I dont think the neck would be an issue.

jet_powers · « **Reply #11 on:** August 23, 2009, 07:32:24 PM »

Being a techno-tard I don't know how to make a link to the pic of Me and My 98 Rogue 5 in the showcase section. If you check out the pics there you will see a good example of the right hand issue Bob mentions, but you can also see how the reach is very comfortable.

-JP

bsee · « **Reply #12 on:** August 23, 2009, 07:37:41 PM »

Well, Tom, there's this page here:

http://www.alembic.com/info/bodyshapes.html

If it is any way near to scale, the Rogue shape looks pretty sleek in the dimension that interests you.

echo008 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 23, 2009, 07:44:34 PM »

Thanks guys... jet I see the pic you are talking about I see how the bass hanging could be a bit off I usually wear my basses pretty high I have a nice wide strap as well.
also bsee
I was looking for that body shape page before, it seems like the excel is wider at the bottom (rounder). the Rogue is sleeker but similar in size I guess it would not be a problem, I had no issues with the Excels I had .... Hmm.

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #14 on:** August 24, 2009, 04:04:48 AM »

You can see me with the Rogue at a brazilian late night kind of TV show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDRGuxsyPRU

I actualy don't play it so low today, but look how close my hand can get to the headstock that way at 01:11 (remember, we have the same height). I changed it because that height made playing way up the neck more dificult and although I don't slap much with this guys, it made me unconfortable when I had to skip technics (since I use my thumb up).