Happy Birthday Phil !

Indeed, Happy Birthday +1... 

I've developed an appreciation (however belated) for his playing from hanging around you guys here. I can't remember which show it is... obviously sometime in the late 70's, where he goes on a 5 minute bass ride on "Dancin' in the Streets"... (the Harwell-Grice guys have piles of tapes in the band van) but that one just blows me away every time.   

And even if I didn't care for his playing, the guy has really good taste in bass guitars. 

Happy Birthday Mr Lesh!

Does anyone know how his 6 string bass was tuned? Was it guitar tuning, one octave lower? I saw that Musicman made a 6 string guitar/bass awhile back, and I have a 6 string Modulus bass from the 80's, with a very narrow neck, and wondered if it should also be tuned like that. The previous owner mentioned it was Phil Lesh inspired, but had it set up like a regular 6er. All that heavy metal on the low end seems a bit crowded and does not feel right. The graphite neck does not seem to happy about it either. Since I know Modulus and Alembic collaborated in the past, just wondering. Thanks!

Joe

AFAIK it's tuned like most 6 string basses, with a low B and a high C added to the regular 4 string set. The first of his new Alembics is a medium scaale (32") and the next one, which he appears to favour, is a short scale (30.75") - that's the one with the black hardware.

I suspect the spacing is a little tighter on these two than on mine, but doesn't he play with a pick most of the time? (Jimmy Johnson has been playing fingerstyle with mucho narrow spacing for aeons, so there you go.)

Happy birthday from me too!

Happy, HAPPY! Phil
     and as someone who was inspired to pick up a bass by your playing - thanks
     and as someone who discovered Alembic through your's "back in the day" - THANKS
Ed

Happy Philday !

Happy 77th Birthday, Phil! May you have many more!
From a longtime fan...

Rob 

Happy birthday, indeed! Dad will catch up in a few days

Quote from: tx196059 on March 15, 2017, 11:08:41 AM
Happy Birthday Mr Lesh!

Does anyone know how his 6 string bass was tuned? Was it guitar tuning, one octave lower? I saw that Musicman made a 6 string guitar/bass awhile back, and I have a 6 string Modulus bass from the 80's, with a very narrow neck, and wondered if it should also be tuned like that. The previous owner mentioned it was Phil Lesh inspired, but had it set up like a regular 6er. All that heavy metal on the low end seems a bit crowded and does not feel right. The graphite neck does not seem to happy about it either. Since I know Modulus and Alembic collaborated in the past, just wondering. Thanks!

Joe

It's tuned like a standard 6 string bass. Low B and high C. I also have an early 80s super tight spacing Modulus that is now sporting Alembic pickups and sounds all the better for it!

Oh, yeah, happy birthday, Phil!

Putting in Alembic pickups and filters is the plan, but I need three. Mica, what do you have for me? The string spacing is only 12mm! Geof Gould recommended lighter gauge for this bass, and I got some open core strings to lower them. The previous heavy gauge tended to bow the neck a bit. Pictured is with the heavy gauge. Cheers!

Quote from: tx196059 on March 16, 2017, 08:59:55 PM
Putting in Alembic pickups and filters is the plan, but I need three. Mica, what do you have for me? The string spacing is only 12mm! Geof Gould recommended lighter gauge for this bass, and I got some open core strings to lower them. The previous heavy gauge tended to bow the neck a bit. Pictured is with the heavy gauge. Cheers!

Is this the one that was for sale in Texas? I was thinking about pulling the trigger on that. I have a somewhat similar version with two pickups that now has Alembic pickups and one filter. Sounds very nice.

We got to go to the songs and stories at Terrapin Crossroads this weekend. It was a lot of fun! Phil's looking good.

I have another 6 string Modulus that looks similar that I am selling in Texas. I am keeping the through neck, because the spacing is tighter.

There is a nice documentary on the Grateful Dead that Netflix just came out with.

Quote from: edwin on March 20, 2017, 01:02:42 PM
We got to go to the songs and stories at Terrapin Crossroads this weekend. It was a lot of fun! Phil's looking good.

I would look good also if I was holding that bass!