The Latest

[SoulSurgeon]

Hello Folks,
I hope all is well! I am bored at work and thought I'd have a peek on Kijij for gear and up popped an E Degas bass that I used to own.

Reminded me of you guys and thought I'd drop in to say hello.

The latest. Well...I sold some of my El Degas gear. I still have my red P Bass (brother is borrowing it). I have my El Degas EB3 still as well as my El Degas Strat. I sold the El Degas Hofner and the Black 80's El Degas Rock bass. Truth is, I never play them any more, and I play a lot. I go out 2-3 weekends a month gear shopping. I've tried a lot of guitars and basses. No matter how may times and different ways I set up the El Degas instruments, they just weren't as easy/comfortable to play.

Red P Bass. I played 1000 shows with this one. Didn't realize until I switched off it how hard it was to play. I like neck, and the pick-ups are gorgeous and creamy. It's quite heavy and the strings are way too far apart. It's in good shape and looks nice...I just don't have the same dexterity on it...I'm a worse player on it.

Strat: Wonky 3-way switch on it. And the neck is REALLY convex. That is the curve is to steep and I find I have to bend my wrist around to play the nots that I want to. It's much heavier than a real strat...not sure what kind its made out of...but it feels "like" oak. I can't get it to sound good either...so I never play it.

EB3. Definitely the coolest looking Bass that I own. Fits nice on my body...low weight, and short scale neck...feels like I am holding a guitar. Its hard to play though..unforgiving. Tone wise...I have to really play around with it to get it decent sounding. It sounds very thin. I EQ my amp much differently on this bass than any other bass I own.

Would I buy another El Degas? No...but I'd probably buy one over Squire or Epiphone.

I've switched almost entirely over to GODIN guitars. My regular gigging guitar is the Richmond Dorchester...check it out (Godin owned Richmond). Lace Alumitone pick-ups...sooo warm and smooth. Nice weight, sounds amazing, and easy to play. I paid $650 for this thing on clearance many years ago when they were worth $1100 MSRP. My most special guitar is the Godin Montreal Limited which is like a Gretsch meets a Gibson 339. It has TV Jones pick-ups in it. Retails for about $2500. Basswise, after my El Degss P Bass I went to a Godin shifter 4 bass. Medium quality...I paid $900 for it and I sold it for $650 a couple years back. I traded a Traynor guitar amp around the same time for a Godin A4 bass. Unique sound...long neck with long frets...interesting tones for jazz. My gigging bass however is the Godin Passion RG4 bass which retails for $1800. Its essentially a P-Bass with a Swamp Ash top, and Cedar Bottom and tone cavities. Pick-ups are Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder P+J. Light, comfortable, lots of tones options (although I mostly live in the Humbucker tone world on bass) and a jazz style neck so its super forgiving and easy to play. Love it. The best Bass I've ever played.

LOL, sry I didn't meant to Hi-Jack the thread with Godin...just giving you an update is all.

El Degas played an important role in my music career and helped elevate me to become a working musician. They are still great price versus quality. When I made my first post in these forums in 2012, I was playing with one of the worst working bands in my area. I got noticed..and eventually the best band asked me to join them. When I got to that level around 4 years ago, I made the jump off El Degas. I''m not ashamed of the badge. I am proud of it...I love it. There is a warm spot in my heart for El Degas.

All the best lads.

Cheers,

SoulSurgeon

P.S. While I feel you need to spend good money to get good gear...I don't spend money on brand names for the sake of the brand name. I don't own any Fenders (my strat is decent Epiphone) and I only own 1 Gibson (Les Paul). I feel that Godin gets me the quality I need without the $4000-5000+ pricetag of USA custom shops, Gretsch, Suhr etc. I like Godin gear, but I don't like the company. Their customer service sucks...and they don't seem to like you if you live outside out Quebec.

[charles]

Thanks for checking in! I hope you are doing well.

In my time I've probably owned about 50-60 different El Degas instruments, and I now have it whittled down to about 35 (and really ought to whittle it down further) - I also sold as many of them that I could that did just not feel right to me no matter what I did. Out of the 35 I do have a handful that I tend to always reach for because they just feel as good as the best instruments I pick up in a music store.