Mon: 1-8

Tue: 11-8

Wed: 11-6

Thu: 11-8

Fri: 11-8

Sat: 12-5

Sun: 1-5

hurrah,  now memorize that.

We are proud to announce that we are now a dealer for Delano Pickups and Nordstrand Pickups!

We’ve been doing a lot of work for bassists lately, and have frequently heard complaints that there isn’t much available for them in Portland besides the usual– Gallien Kreuger, Ampeg, SWR… and when it comes to pickups, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan, and in the hand-built realm, Fralin and Lollar

Both Lollar and Fralin make excellent traditional passive pickups for Fender basses. What makes Delano and Nordstrand so cool are their innovations and offerings for bassists seeking something unique. In short: they make great traditional pickups, but also ask, why stop there?

Both companies offer active electronics; Nordstrand offers custom preamp configurations. If you’re considering moving beyond standard passive tone-shaping abilities to get more control and extended range from your bass, definitely consider these options– a great alternative to Alembic, Lane-Poor, Aguilar, Bartolini, and others.

Even more exciting to some might be some of the more unusual configurations that could fit a Music Man or Gibson EB series humbucker route– for one example, check out this Delano pickup that combines P and J bass-style pickups in one:

for another cool option in a more standard footprint, check out these Nordstrand hum-cancelling jazz bass pickups– a side-by-side dual coil!

Regardless of whether you’re looking for something specialized or adventurous, however, these pickups sound great, and are a really outstanding tonal improvement for most basses with stock electronics. I recently got to check out a set of the passive Delano JC 4 alnico jazz bass pickups, and they were simply awesome. Extremely detailed, remarkably balanced, and perfectly voiced for bass. Huge lows, crisp highs, and excellent string-to-string clarity. Full chords were rich and pianistic. They mated really well with a set of DR Jonas Hellborg signature strings, which use a single nickel wrap wire for a more even harmonic content. Both the pickups and the strings are most definitely worth checking out. If you have the chance, you can hear them in action by catching local rockers Sleepwalk Kid live– Nick also plays the only Soursound all tube bass amp currently out in the world.

One last thing I’ll mention that I’m excited about: DR’s new DDT “drop-down tuning” string sets. With players bringing me guitars and basses for low tuning setups on a weekly basis, I know these are going to be a really helpful addition in the shop. There are a handful of “drop-tuning” sets already available on the market (GHS, Ernie Ball,) and all leave something to be desired, as they are standard strings on hex cores in heightened gauges. The DR’s are hand-wound, and built using a unique process to stabilize the string at lower tunings. Not just a standard guitar string, but a string formulated from the core wire, to the wraps, with stable tuning and responsive feel at lower pitch in mind. I’ve already got several sets on the way, and if you play in lowered tunings, you should definitely plan to try them out. They might finally change all the compromises you’ve had to make to your setup to get a tight feel from your hybrid tuning setup!

Stop in or drop us a line to give some of this great new stuff a try! We’re always looking for ways to take your playing and tone to the next level, so be in touch.

]]> http://www.portlandcustomshop.com/content/shop/new-bass-and-guitar-pickups-available-for-order/feed/ 0 http://www.portlandcustomshop.com/content/shop/sumo-page-updated/ http://www.portlandcustomshop.com/content/shop/sumo-page-updated/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:56:31 +0000 sickstring http://www.portlandcustomshop.com/content/?p=120 Jeremy’s been a busy man this week– lots of cabinets and speakers in  the works, AND Sumo logos are finally on the way, for that swell, professional look. Listen to him explain a bit in his own words:

jeremy explains a bit of his building process

Q: My friend found this quote online and asked about it: “I have been using Dean Markley strings for over 20 years now. I’ve gone through all the popular brands like DR, Rotosound, GHS and Fender. I started with the Superwound series. I played those for years. I thought those strings were the best until I tried the Blue Steel series. I was completely blow away by these strings. They were very consistent from box to box. They kept their brightness and tone for a much longer period than the other brands. The thing I really like about them is their feel. Very soft. Other strings use a thicker core and that tended to be hard on my hands since I play so much and the fact that I play a lot of slap bass. Another benefit of these strings is that they come back great when you boil them. Well, I should say that I use to boil them, now I just run them through the dish washer. I have many vintage Fender Jazz basses and it is important to me to have a consistent feel from bass to bass. That is why I don’t mix and match. The only strings I use are Blue Steel – Light Gauge. Remember to only take one string off at a time when you change your strings. If you take them all off at once or if you put on a different gauge set of strings, the neck will check and throw off your action. Find the set of strings you like and stick with them. Your bass will be glad.”

Brian,

Is that right? You should take the strings off one at a time — the above quote is from Anthony Vitti – Berklee Bass Guru – so I don’t doubt him but have never heard that before….

A: I’m suspicious of people that propagate the “boil your strings” BS; at the temp that water boils i don’t believe you’re doing much at all to the metal. Some metallurgist, feel free to explain the effect. I’m sure there are answers to this all over the internet already, but if you want to temper your strings, why not bake them? If you’re convinced it improves your tone, why throw your steel strings in water that WILL rust them if you take the plating off? (To propagate another rumor,)

I heard van halen started that whole business in interviews as a hoax, but there are PLENTY of people that have taken it seriously. I definitely know people who tried it and swore by it, i’m just pretty convinced that it’s placebo effect. Some people boil them THEN put them on the guitar and claim it makes them feel “broken in,” some boil them to rejuvenate them and claim it makes their old strings new. To both camps, I say

“What-EV-rrr!

If you want a simple good reason not to boil your strings and put them back on your guitar, even if it does clean them up, it’s that as you play your strings, the frets wear dents into the bottoms of the strings. Over time, as you tune the guitar, those dents move up and down the neck by small amounts. Eventually you have large enough dents in your strings that you will start getting rattles and buzzes, fretting out, and general nastiness. Take the strings off, put them back on, and wind up a different amount of slack, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to cause yourself some buzzing you don’t want. Sometimes people think they need a fret dress because their strings are buzzing, when a new set of strings cures the problem. (This is also a good reason to change your strings frequently– if you want a “broken in” sound, try coated strings, flatwounds, or a different string alloy for a warmer tone and no buzzing!)

Back to the question– it is not true that if you take all your strings off at once you’re going to damage the neck of your bass or instantly check the finish. You’d have to have an incredibly hyperactive truss rod to make changes that significant. The truss rod is in the neck to resist the upward tension of the strings on the neck and keep the neck straight. The truss rod pulls back against the upward force of the strings. Even when there is no tension at all on the rod, with strings tuned to pitch, most necks will only bow upward at most by 1/8″ or so– a lot in terms of high action, but it’s not going to shatter the finish on your guitar or ruin the neck.

When you hear people tell you you’re going to hurt your guitar by taking the strings off all at once, ask them whether they think the same thing will happen if you change string gauges, or go to a lower or higher tuning. Basically that’s doing the same thing in terms of changing the tension/force on the neck.  Even if you have a really over-tightened truss rod, you’re likely to see less backward bow when you take the strings off the guitar than you would see upward bow, with heavy strings and NO tension on the truss rod. If the theory were correct, you’d be doing more damage by playing heavy strings without the truss rod adjusted correctly, than by taking the strings off.

It IS true that the tension on a neck can have an effect on the way the wood changes over time, just because of the way the competing stresses of the strings and the truss rod compress the wood, but I’d say those effects are subtle to most people. The best advice I can give if you’re going to store an instrument for a long time is to leave it as neutral as possible– loosen the truss rod so the neck is straight and take the strings off if you  know you’re not playing it for a long while.

Generally speaking, if your guitar is set up correctly, the changes that happen when you change strings will be minimal, and if you use the same type of strings and same tuning when you string up again, you should be right back where you started.

I think the rumor that taking all the strings off hurts the neck stems from people who are afraid to admit that they need some help with basic setup– which is totally OK! Especially on guitars with floating tremolos like the Floyd Rose or Fender American Standard, simply tuning the guitar can be somewhat tricky, especially with new strings, because the bridge is set to balance against the string tension, and if you change that all at once, it can take a while to reset the balance. On guitars like these, it IS good practice to change one string at a time, because you have to make fewer adjustments when tuning up. Maybe people heard that information along the way somewhere, and thought it applied to EVERY guitar.

One thing’s for sure– a good setup really makes all the difference in being able to balance the guitar and keep it in tune, whether your strings are new or old, all on or all off– so don’t hesitate to stop by and invest in a quick setup!

Hope that helps.

Brian

We’re primarily a music repair shop in Portland at 1115 SE Morrison St. housing an alliance of 4 businesses —

Soursound custom amps and repair for amps, effects, and audio
Sumo custom cabs, cab repair, and pedal boards
Synapse Audio Systems recording gear, vintage and modern synths, hifi, solid state, effects
Sick String guitar repair

Scroll down for our latest blog entry, check out our individual pages for different areas of the shop, or click below to learn a bit more about us!

After years working separately around portland and around the world this opportunity emerged for us to put our collective experience together to provide the most complete musical service available.

Our group has done everything from studio installs and audio engineering to vintage amp and cab restoration, toured the world teching guitars and backline, to designing and building custom effects, switching, and power rigs. We thrive on new challenges and love to find simple solutions to complex problems.

Our main goal is to combine the talents of ourselves and our friends to create a truly exceptional, locally-based music center– why pour money into the same old channels when you could have instruments and accessories made locally, by hand, through the creativity of artisans and musicians that you’ll actually see at your shows, who care about participating in YOUR community? We will be offering cables, straps, effects, and as much else as possible made completely locally by small businesses and crafty folks.

We believe the work we do, from guitar repair to pedal mods to amp biasing to re-tolexing, is both excellent and affordable.  Most importantly, you can honestly trust our input– we’re in this business because we love music and musicians, not to get rich at your expense. We want to make your experience when you come into the shop about more than just business.

Stop in to say hello, peruse some goodies & play some music, and keep music vital and real in Portland!