Jimmy "Flim" Johnson

[keith_h]

With that seismic pattern on the live bass it doesn't surprise me that it has the stronger B string.
 
Keith

[David Houck]

The big visual differences I'm seeing are first, the bridge block on the studio bass is much larger, and second, it appears to my tired old eyes that there may be pickup spacing differences, relative to the neck, bridge, and each other.  Also, the practice bass doesn't have a tightness control knob at the 14th fret like the live bass does.

[oddmetersam]

These are all unreal. This is still the quintessential Alembic body shape. And given their age (and who's been playing them!), the amount of mojo represented in this one picture is off the scale.

[bigredbass]

Yeah, Dave, I'm really floored he plays like that with that knob sticking out of the fingerboard !
 
Thanks, Jimmy.
 
J o e y

[JimmyJ]

Ha.  You guys.  That's the key for the short 6th banjo string.
 
Yes Dave spotted the double size bridge block on the recording bass.  Tell him what he's won Bob!  The blocks are also aluminum, which I can explain later if I haven't already done so somewhere in this lengthy thread.  Slightly different versions of my quick change tailpiece too.
 
Interesting observation about the varying pickup placement, yet another thing I never realized.  But this is the nature of these hand made axes.  
 
Also ? I may recall having a conversation with Susan years ago about string spacing.  It's possible I requested equal center to center spacing on the live bass.  Makes no dang sense to me now but as I said it seems our hands can adjust to almost anything.
 
In addition to being a bass player my dad was a piano technician.  He once explained to me that Steinway pianos varied quite a bit.  There were good ones and there were absolutely GREAT ones.  This is why the solo piano Artists always went to the Steinway factory and played all the pianos available before choosing their favorite.  (Horowitz took his own on the road with him).  Yamaha also makes fine pianos, extremely reliable and consistent.  In fact they're all exactly the same.  
 
I think of Alembic as the Steinway of basses (or maybe now the Fazioli).  The main difference is Alembic's customers get to choose wood, dimensions, electronics, essentially every aspect of the instrument.  Sometimes it takes some experimenting to find the exact combination of ingredients that work perfectly for YOU.  But when you find it, no other instrument comes close.
 
Thanks,
Jimmy J

[jacko]

Beautiful trio Jimmy. Did you ever get the finish 'checking' problem sorted out?
 
graeme

[FC Bass]

Awesome trio indeed, thanx for sharing!

[rustyg61]

What a fine family you have there Jimmy! Thanks for sharing! I see what you mean about the string spacing on your live bass. With equal center to center spacing the width of the strings affects the spacing between the strings. You are right though, our fingers can indeed adapt to the different spacing over time. I'm sure it's similar to the way you can hit the exact notes on a fretless without having a fret marker. Your fingers instictively know where to go.
 
I notice your knob layout is different than most Series II's, is the knob closest to the bridge with the markers on the body your master volume, or is that a pan? I thought with the markers maybe it was a pan & those were the 2 settings you use to favor the neck or bridge pickup for either a fatter or more midrange tone.
 
How do your strings attach on the tailpiece? Is it slotted like most Alembics? It almost looks like the ball of the string is on top of the tailpiece instead of inside a slot.
 
What brand & guage of strings do you use?
 
I know it's been said before, but I want to thank you again for taking the time to answer our questions & share your knowledge & experience with us! We REALLY appreciate it! You entertain, inspire, & educate us & we are better players by knowing you!
 
Rusty
 
(Message edited by rustyg61 on October 25, 2013)

[bigredbass]

Jogging memories from all those years I played pianos (and occasionally I got to play some great big Steinways, Yamahas, and even a Bosendorfer or two) I find a parallel with Alembics:
 
As well as they were built, I could never stand Baldwins.  They were just too tame sounding, as if the hammer felts never hardened, they just sounded very evenly dull to me.  I always preferred a Steinway or Yamaha as they always had some snarkiness to them if you pushed them, yet if you backed down, they'd smooth out.  I could do this with my hands.  But no amount of beating them like Jerry Lee on a meth binge would 'wake up' a Baldwin.  
 
Ron's genius with the filters (and it is a different tone than conventional tone pots turned downed to zero) is that you can go from a thumpy, almost organ pedal tone to in-your-face just that fast.
 
And now Yamaha owns Bosendorfer !  I know several samples I WISH they'd load into their next round of digital pianos . . . .  I got to hear Horowitz twice, and Rubinstein three times, just scary awesome, what giants they were.  I still look up on YouTube the excerpt from the Mike Wallace interview from 60 MINUTES where he interviewed Horowitz at home in Manhattan and he persuaded (with his wife coaxing him!) to play 'Stars and Stripes' forever, what a hoot !
 
Geez these threads run all over the map, sorry !
 
J o e y

[JimmyJ]

Let's see how many questions I can answer with one pic:
 

 
Yes Graeme, the bass was refinished at the end of last year and we added these little triangular inlays as preset level marks for (Rusty) the master volume control.  
 
I set the preamp output levels high on my basses and warn the engineer that it's coming at them around line level.  If they say oh, I wanted to run you through this preamp then I'll set the master to the lower mark and send them mic level.  As we know adjusting the output level of our basses doesn't effect the tone as it would on a passive instrument.  My high mark is also not at the top of the pot's travel.  I like having a bit of extra headroom in case for example I need to swell a note at the end of a song.  This lets me go past 0 - to eleven if you will!
 
As you see my tailpiece is a series of pins which pass through the ball-ends of the ghs Boomers.  Makes for a really simple string change.  This also is based on me never changing string companies or ghs never using a smaller ball.  Ha!  So far so good.  Standard 5-string medium set; 45, 65, 85, 105, 130.
 
J o e y, all good, I'm enjoying the thread's twists.  I remember that Horowitz interview too.  Turns out the guy could jam.  Ha!  Yes, it's as if Yamaha knew that their concert grands could never go beyond a certain point and they decided to buy Bosendorfer to achieve it.  Interesting.  I hope we don't get to the point where we ONLY talk about samples of these instruments?.
 
Cheers,
Jimmy J

[rustyg61]

Thanks for the quick reply Jimmy! The markers are a great idea! I have asked Susan about getting CVQ controls for my new Europa with a center indent like their pan controls have so I can have a point of reference other than full on & full off, but I had also thought of having an inlay on the body at the mid point if they can't make the center indent control to serve the same purpose. I love the idea of having a bass that goes to 11!! Good call!
 
Thanks for the close up of the pins & for removing the G string for clarification. I've never seen a setup like that!
 
Rusty

[edwin]

Interesting idea with the pins. Do you ever find out that you have to be careful not to have the string twist while you load it on to the bass? I've discovered weird sounding strings that have the oddness go away when I loosen them up, and then let the ball end untwist. Apparently the strings sometimes twist while winding them on.

[JimmyJ]

Rusty,
If you use a center indent pot then your bass would go to 20!  Oh, not for volume, never mind.  Actually, a center indent in the Q boost control would act like a Series-I's 3-way toggle.  A Series-1.5?
 
Edwin,
I change strings a lot.  Here is my method:  
One at a time I remove the old string.  Align the tuning peg's slot parallel to the strings.  Hook the new string on the tailpiece pin, pull it taught, wind it by hand 1-1/2 times around the tuning peg, bend it down through the slot and bend the excess in the opposite direction.  
 
Then before I pull it up to pitch it has been my habit to put a twist into the string from the ball-end side.  I slip it off the pin, turn it 1/2 turn or so and put it back.  Another reference to my dad - when he restrung pianos he would always put a twist in the bass strings in the direction of the winding.  I don't know if this was taught to him or he just made it up, but the idea was to keep the winding tight.
 
But piano strings are simply one winding around a core and our strings are multiple windings.  So generally I twist G, D and A in the direction as their outer windings, the low-B I relieve and then turn slightly the same way to get it on the pin, and the E usually gets a turn in the opposite direction.  And it doesn't always work?  But if you have an E that rattles on its own - not a fret rattle but a built in rattle in the string - you can often get it to stop by putting a twist in one way or the other.
 
I would imagine that too much twist would cause the string to act squirrelly so relieving them as Edwin does is probably smart.
 
Oh, once the strings are up to pitch I either trim off the excess or bend it around so the sharp end doesn't get me.
 
That's tonight's tale.
Jimmy J

[rustyg61]

Hey Jimmy, that is exactly my reason for wanting the CVQ with a center indent. I couldn't decide if I wanted a Series I or II so I thought if I get a II with the center indent it would be the best of both worlds! My SCSD has Q switches set at +8dB so if I can get the center indent set at +8dB it will be what I'm used to hearing, then I can fine tune up or down to get the sound I want.
 
That is interesting about twisting your strings. I have never heard that but it makes sense!
 
Rusty

[jacko]

looking forward to seeing which alembic Jimmy is playing when James Taylor brings his band across to Glasgow next September. We've scored seats in the first couple of rows (actual seat allocations will arrive by email soon) WooHoo!
 
Graeme