"I've just today found that my "signature model" bass is out!
I may have mentioned long ago that an instrument company called OLP has been working with Ernie Ball/Music Man and with me, on making a licensed low cost version of the 5 string bass I play, and calling it a Tony Levin signature model. It was to have been ready for last January's NAMM show, but the protype then just wasn't up to par, so the release was delayed. A few weeks ago I got the 3rd prototype to check out and I was very happy with it - it's quite a cool bass. Well, I hadn't heard anything about it's release, but today I see, from letters in the guestbook section of the website, that the bass is indeed released. So I guess it's time for me to say a word or two about the bass, for bassists who may be curious about it.
The bass I play more often than any of my others is my peach colored Music Man Stingray 5 string. I got it in about 1989, when they made their first 5 strings. The color, which I've found pretty useful because it changes a lot when red stage lights go on, was discontinued about a year later, after somebody mentioned that it looked like Barbie flesh! Indeed it does, and once you had that in your head... well, they stopped making that color.
So, to start with, the new OLP is being made in just two color schemes - natural wood finish, or Don't-Call-It-Barbie-Peach. The Peach shade is a bit darker than the original was (or has my old one faded through the years?) and, in fact, doesn't look too Barbie-ish, but I will continue to think of it as that.
The other look is one I've favored on some of my Music Man basses - an antique natural finish with a quilt top and tortoise shell pick guard - it's actually the more vintage looking of the two.
The electronics of the OLP are similar to the Stingray, in that there are 3 tone controls, and active output on the one humbucking pickup. I prevailed on them to use the alnico pickups that my original has (the material of the pickups was later changed, and the newer Stingray 5 strings sound just as great, but different in a subtle way. I wanted this to have the sound of the original.)
The neck is rock maple with rosewood fingerboard, and the hardware is chrome.
But the biggest difference in this bass is it's price. Being made in China, coming without a case, it's a really low cost bass. (I'm guessing it lists at around $500, with the street price around $350.) So, of course it is not the instrument that an Ernie Ball / Music Man Stingray 5 is - but for the price I think it's an amazingly good bass, tonally versatile, cool sounding and... well, I like the idea of a Tony Levin signature model bass being reasonably priced!"
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Originally Posted by word
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