Kalamazoo isn't the name of a strange bird. It's a town in Michigan where Gibson was founded. While the brand is very present among six-string colleagues─ to the point of fanatism sometimes ─ it never really did, after its creation, stir the bass guitar world.
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Ricardo X
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Member 11 years ago
2Posted on 10/05/2013 at 18:49:55
I'm certain the new Gibson bass is beautiful and has utility. But at what price? Over a couple decades I played professionally a Thunderbird IV. It sounded marvelous, but the heavy headstock was an impediment. I really liked the way that Thunderbird sang, and I'm sure Gibson still makes a good powerful double-coil bass pickup. I need to look at one of these; I'm certain it won't be tubby like the old EB-3 series. A new MIA Fender Jazz bass will put you back around $1.2K after the dust clears, and there is no arguing with the tone. Personally I prefer the Precision neck geometry. Gibson has made some iconic basses over the years, so I look forward to auditioning one of these. The audio sample with the bridge pickup sounds so good to me. With HalfRounds you could get a faux upright attack. Of course Gibson figured out many decades ago the intonation fret-to-fret is based on the twelfth root of 1/2. See this number in action by reading George Martin's All You Need Is Ears.
I'd like to mention that in 1972 I took my Thunderbird IV up to Kalamazoo from Columbus, Ohio. The Gibson luthier installed a new nut while I waited and didn't charge me a cent. Even though I am a Hotrod PJ guy these past 25 years, I have deep loyalty to the Gibson brand.
Well, you are quite right, life gets more and more expensive...
But as a professional, if you consider your instrument as a tool to work with, and if you are satisfied about it, 2000 $ should not be a a problem. If you are a constant user of Gibson basses, just try this one and tell us what you think about it. As an old customer of this brand, you might have a good point of view on their actual work.
As far as I am concerned, this bass is just marvelous and spreads so many tones... I gave it back some weeks ago and I can still fell the vibes from it. A real pleasure to play, and so efficient !