El Fender le Beast & Roscoe SKB3006

[reynoldbot]

Hey guys. I'm pretty new to this forum, so I thought I would post some pics of my numero uno bass, "El Fender." I've had it about ten years now, and it's been through some pretty crazy times (it's even been run over by a car). Pretty much the only original parts left on it is the body and the knobs. The bridge and tuners are hipshot, the pickups are bartolini, and the neck and pickguard are warmoth. This thing is a beast!
















And for good measure, here are some of my Roscoe SKB3006. I've noticed that a lot of people on this forum have Roscoes.









Hope you guys like em!

[andrew]

Beautiful Roscoe bass!

And a whammy bar on your jazz! That is not something you see often. Wasn't someone here asking about who makes a lefty tremelo bass bridge?

[pjmuck]

Nice couple of winners there. I especially like your tremoloed Jazz. I've often wondered about the practicalities of a tremolo on a bass. My Guild Pilot came with a Kahler tremolo bridge, but it doesn't stay in tune for shite when you do some bending. Your tremolo bridge is Warmoth? I didn't know they made lefty tremolo bridges. I know you can still get lefty readily through Kahler, but they're not cheap.

[reynoldbot]

Nice couple of winners there. I especially like your tremoloed Jazz. I've often wondered about the practicalities of a tremolo on a bass. My Guild Pilot came with a Kahler tremolo bridge, but it doesn't stay in tune for shite when you do some bending. Your tremolo bridge is Warmoth? I didn't know they made lefty tremolo bridges. I know you can still get lefty readily through Kahler, but they're not cheap.

Thanks! The tremolo bridge is by Hipshot, which deals through Warmoth. You can even buy bass bodies with cavities cut for a Hipshot trem bridge. As you can see in the pics, the bridge has shafts for the whammy bar on both sides, so only the bar has to be made lefty. It's a full-floating tremolo with five springs. It stays in tune very well, just as well as any regular bridge, provided you make sure there's a proper tension between the strings and springs. The whammy bar simply slides into place instead of having to be threaded, and there's an allen screw in place which determines how tight the fit is. It was a real string eater when I first bought it, but now I can keep strings on there as long as I want.

Price-wise, you can find it on Warmoth for $200. They also sell a five-string version. So yeah it's about as reliable as a trem bridge gets.

[bhunt1]

Your Fender was run over - that must be quite a story! Your Roscoe is beautiful - can you give us the details - woods, pickups, etc?

[reynoldbot]

Your Fender was run over - that must be quite a story! Your Roscoe is beautiful - can you give us the details - woods, pickups, etc?

It sure is a good story! It was the first time I ever recorded in a studio. Me and a friend of mine who played drums put together this strange album full of weird improvised songs interspersed with goofy little skits (like the first ever audio only fireworks show and a fake fight after screwing up the ending to what we had repeatedly claimed to be the greatest song ever conceived). After we had finished and made a cd, we began to load our equipment up into his car. As I was putting my amp in the car, he put the cd in, and in my excitement I ran into the car to listen to it. He started backing out of the parking spot and we felt a large bump. We got out to see what it was and found my bass underneath his car. I freaked out, but when I picked my bass up it was totally fine. Barely a scratch on it!

The Roscoe is made from swamp ash with a quilted maple top. The neck is maple with a purpleheart stripe, and the fretboard is spalted purpleheart. The bridge and tuners are Hipshot, and the pickups are Bartolini. This bass is a little different than other roscoes I've seen for two reasons. One is the figure on the quilted maple. Instead of being uniform like most Roscoes, the quilted figure is inconsistent, with large patches showing more gnarled grain. The other is the spalted purpleheart fretboard. It shows as more of a muted fuschia or even a rust color than the bright purple of most Roscoes. Even though they could be seen as flaws or anomalies, I quite like them. They make my bass more unique and interesting.