Sunday, November 23, 2008

Hard Puncher


A few weeks ago, Nao's Gibson Explorer went kaput in the first 20 min of our 3 hour practice. We opened it up and dug around, and found a wire that had come loose. Didn't have our souldering gear with us, so we borrowed the rehearsal studio's bass. It was a Tokai Hard Puncher (which is their copy version of a Fender Precission Bass). Ran through our set, and when we finished, we were all mystified by how smooth and solid all our songs had suddenly become. Just felt easier to play all around. Thus being said, Nao took a sudden interest into the Tokai bass.
Since they are made here in Japan, and relatively cheap, we thought we could get one in no time.
So, we set out searching- online, and at all the local music shops......but no go....With a show creeping up around the corner, time was running out, so I decided to take a shot in the dark, and called up the rehearsal studio. I knew that the bass in question was the studio manager's bass, and told him how we were searching all over town for one. I asked him if he would be interested in a trade.....a Fender Jazz bass (Nao had lying around for 10+ years) for the Hard Puncher. He agreed to take a look, and we brought it in the next day. His eyes lit up when he saw the Jazz bass....and after checking it out, agreed to the trade.So, here is a pic of the new axe.....Hard Puncher!
Btw....through all of this, I found out that Nao's long running bread and butter bass, the Gibson Explorer, was originally a piezzo bass (a bass without pickups, but rather contact mics on the bridge). Nao had installed regular pickups soon after she bought it, so i never knew about this. I am a BIG fan of contact mics (have been building and experimenting with them for several years now), but had never seen a bass with piezzos built into the bridge!
So, now I am curious to know if the big difference in the sounds between the Tokai and the Explorer was due to the fact that the Explorer was this different type of bass to begin with.Just goes to show.....u learn something new everyday.....