What's under the hood, Mister?

[Aussie Mark]

The competition can buy a musicman and pop the hood any time they want.

Or, their girlfriend can walk into GC with a camera and screwdriver.

[shakinbacon]

The competition can buy a musicman and pop the hood any time they want. I'm sure this has been done many, many times.

Anyway, I understand where you are coming from Grand Wazoo.

And this goes both ways. If I recall correctly the Bongo was tested against a famed Precision Bass. This is not to say anything was copied or that anything malicious was going on - but that tests were done comparing to a reference.

This is very different than blatantly copying a preamp circuit, but the intent is still to get a good tone by using a respected reference for comparison.

I wouldn't be surprised if the preamp circuit is patented, so there may be protection there.

Advancements in musical instruments come about just like in any other field - studying the state of the art as well as what works and what doesn't.

If I was the competition I would want to know why Musicman instruments sound so good too. Many companies have tried to replicate the sound but have missed the mark. It isn't the pickups, the preamps, the wood or the bridge alone imho... its the whole package.

I don't know what the hell came over me... I'll shut up now.

[Grand Wazoo]

Or, their girlfriend can walk into GC with a camera and screwdriver.

Why Mark? A bit below the belt that one.

We should leave gf's and wives out of these jokes.

[Big Poppa]

WHo said we used the P bass in the deveolpment fo the Bongo....urban legend and untrue

ii know I didnt and it was my project.

The competition has seen everything we do. go ahead and post the pics.

[Grand Wazoo]

WHo said we used the P bass in the deveolpment fo the Bongo....urban legend and untrue

ii know I didnt and it was my project.

The competition has seen everything we do. go ahead and post the pics.

Thanks Boss, here are the pics

[shakinbacon]

WHo said we used the P bass in the deveolpment fo the Bongo....urban legend and untrue

ii know I didnt and it was my project.

The competition has seen everything we do. go ahead and post the pics.

My apologies for spreading an urban legend BP, no offense intended. You know I love the Bongo - I don't play my Precision anymore due to it.

However, to be fair I got my information from here, (perhaps Bovinehost can update if incorrect): ernie ball musicman bongo history information page

If you search for "Phil Chen" you will find the following...

"The 4 band preamp was designed by Dudley Gimpel, with a lot of input from Cliff Hugo and other Musicman artists to help dial in the tone and the functionality. Dudley built a preamp with sweepable mids to find the best center frequencies, and then let the bassists play around with it to find the best points. Phil Chenn brought in the Precision bass that he played on Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow", which still had the original strings, and used that as a reference. "

P.S. I like your attitude of showing the pics... its kinda like saying to the competition "go ahead and try to find the secret sauce... we're always one step ahead of you"

[bassmonkeee]

I remember that story about Phil Chen, too.

[keko]

GW, thank you very much!

What to say, beautiful electronic work, everything is so clear and orderly!

Great job EBMM crew, with all regards!

Music Man rules, love Ya guys, that's really make my day!

[Big Poppa]

Phil Chen was involved not nearly as much as cliff hugo and he did bring in a precision but it was for him not us

[DaddyFlip]

Since we're talking urban legends relative to the innards of this model, I have one I would like confirmed or denied:

Since the knobs on Bongos, ALs and 25ths are connected directly to the PCBs and not supported by a body mounted jack plate (e.g. Stingray) or by threaded posts and nuts directly on the body (e.g. Sterling), special care must be taken not to break off the knobs.

Is there really no support? I see a black plate on the inside between the PCBs and the backside of the body. Are the knobs supported by this?

Thanks!

[DTG]

eh.....i heard somewhere that they can break off !


cool pic's fran,but i might aswell be looking into a field of helicopters.so going by my usual form i will leave mine alone

[shakinbacon]

Phil Chen was involved not nearly as much as cliff hugo and he did bring in a precision but it was for him not us

I had misinterpretted the quote to think EBMM had used the Precision as a reference, and not that Phil Chenn had instead.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Grand Wazoo]

Since we're talking urban legends relative to the innards of this model, I have one I would like confirmed or denied:

Since the knobs on Bongos, ALs and 25ths are connected directly to the PCBs and not supported by a body mounted jack plate (e.g. Stingray) or by threaded posts and nuts directly on the body (e.g. Sterling), special care must be taken not to break off the knobs.

Is there really no support? I see a black plate on the inside between the PCBs and the backside of the body. Are the knobs supported by this?

Thanks!

DaddyFlip look at the pics carefully,


look at the base of all the controls and you'll see a coarse metal plate where all the controls are mounted on in a very sturdy way. That metal plates is of the same strength as the actual cover plate. plus every single pot is bolted on to the body through their shaft and secured with an hex nut under the knob, you really need to wack it hard to break it. Ask DGT he knows how

[Powman]

This is all very interesting. But in the end, if there was a shrunken miniature Monkey inside controlling everything, I could care less. All I know is I played one, got blown away by the rich low tones and knew I wanted one. I think mine might arrive in 2 weeks now (ordered Dec 12)!

ps...don't you all have work to do. What are you doing peaking around where you shouldn't?

[DaddyFlip]

DaddyFlip look at the pics carefully,


look at the base of all the controls and you'll see a coarse metal plate where all the controls are mounted on in a very sturdy way. That metal plates is of the same strength as the actual cover plate. plus every single pot is bolted on to the body through their shaft and secured with an hex nut under the knob, you really need to wack it hard to break it. Ask DGT he knows how

That's what I thought I saw. Another urban legend demystified and debunked. Thanks GW! BTW... I'm lovin' my 25th!