Product: Yancey Custom Basses Ryan Parker Signature Bass
Price Paid: US $prices vary with individual requests
Submitted
03/28/2000
at
11:19am
by
Ryan Parker
Email: dropquad at aol<dot>com
Features
:
10
This bass was custom made winter 1999 - summer 2000. Greg Yancey is a new luthier out of Ormond Beach, Florida. 24-fret, 4-string. Solidbody electric bass with a custom Lane Poor dual-voice pickup. Active Bartolini electronics. ABM piezo bridge, Bartolini piezo buffer. Controls are master volume, voice blend for the magnetic pickup, magnetic/piezo blend, bass, treble, mid, 3-way mid boost switch. All black hardware. The top is figured, Spalted Myrtle from Oregon. It has a 7-piece wenge/purpleheart neck. Figured Bubinga heel block on the neck through the body. The body is ash with walnut and black accent veneers. Hipshot on the lowest string. Oil finish idea taken from Michael Tobias.
Sound
:
10
This bass is unbeliveable. In an ideal world, everyone would have Greg make them a bass. It is the perfect compliment to the rest of my system. I use a Hartke amp ran through a BBE sonic maximizer and an Alesis MidiVerb4. Ampeg PRO cabinets.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
The action is super-low, but well-set. Greg is an electrical engineer, and does repair work at his family's retail music store in Ormond Beach. (Yancey Music Center.) This bass sits very well and is quite light. The piezo bridge adds a fair amount of weight, but the body and neck are very light. Reminds me a lot of my Tobias Growler 4-string, except more comfortable. Greg made this bass sleeker and a bit more contoured than is previous four. The oil finish brings the figured Spalted Myrtle to life. Deeper flames seen at all angles thanks to the oil finish.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
This bass is ready to go anywhere and be played by anyone with any set of standards. This is now my main bass. I leave it in standard tuning. I tune my Tobias Growler A-D-G-C, and my MusicMan Stingray fretless is strung B-E-A-D.
Customer Support
:
10
Greg is a great guy and has become a good friend of mine, so he is always available to help with any questions or suggestions I have. He knows his stuff backwards and forwards, so it's a lot of fun to work with him on these projects. I will definately have him make all of my basses from now on. In fact, we've already begun planning for my second...it looks like it's going to be a 100% Birdseye Maple 8-string (4-string with octaves).
Overall Rating
:
10
I have been playing for 7 years. I was fortunate to catch Greg's 3rd bass as it was on consignment in a local shop. It was only in the shop for 3 days, so I was lucky to actually play it. Mind you, this was the 3rd bass he had ever made! I played it for about 5 minutes and immediately contacted him to make future plans for construction. I have played many high-priced basses, none of which rival the playability of Greg's basses. He is an amazing new talent, and I encourage everyone to visit his personal webpage to see his basses. Please feel free to contact either Greg or myself with any comments or questions you may have. If you email Greg, please make sure you tell him about this review so that he knows how you heard of him.
http://grove.ufl.edu/~gerg/main.html
