Minnesota in July

[Russkull]

It's a little early yet - but time always goes by faster than you think! I'm headed to the Minneapolis area (St. Cloud, to be specific) in late July for a work conference and will probably have a little downtime.

 

Any Lowdowners around there? Other than visiting Planet Bass in Maple Grove (thanks, previous issue of BP!), anything else I should be sure to see/do?

[Skinny]

Stop by Matt's Bar in south Minneapolis for a "Jucy Lucy" burger.

[kenfxj]

Hottest week I've ever spent was a week in St. Paul in July. It got under 95 degrees once and that was in the middle of the night. This was back in 1975 and nobody had air conditioning.

 

Of course the heat only lasts three or four weeks.

[Russkull]

Reporting back from my trip to MN (great weather and nice people, by the way):

 

It turns out that Planet Bass was appointment only, so I didn't make it there. But I did find a great shop in St. Paul called Willie's American Guitars, with an eclectic selection of used and new basses. You can see the basses I tried on their website.

 

First was a new Godin Shifter 4. It sounded good and had a wide range of tones available. A couple of weird things for me - the end of the neck tapers in to almost be flush with the body so I couldn't anchor there as easily as I usually do, and the pickup covers seemed loose and pressed deeper into the cavity if you put pressure on them (i.e. resting your thumb there). Probably crossing that one off my list.

 

Next, a used Fender Jaco Fretless. It was easy to play, with a fast neck. I'm not sure what particularly sets it apart as the Jaco version and establishes the higher price tag. Musician's Friend says the unique feature is "special shape neck".

 

Last but not least, a 1971 Fender P fretless (info here). I didn't know at the time, but their website says it's on consignment from Husker Du's bass player. Anyway this was a pretty cool bass, despite having no fret lines available (I had a heck of a time playing it). The most interesting revelation to me, however, was the old thumb rest positioned just at the bass of the neck. It felt very comfortable and natural, and I am thinking of adding one to my Jazz.