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96 cruise NBD


Punkavenger

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So I sold my two Cruise basses and my P bass to concentrate more on blues guitar. But I missed playing bass so when this showed up on craigslist (via the Hamer club on FB)  I thought I would contact the seller. Anyway .... pretty dang nice and weighs about as much as my strat ( 8lbs?)  Wow. 

DSC02346.jpg

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21 hours ago, Punkavenger said:

I think it is alder ... just more highly figured than normal

Congratulations. I have access to a Cruise bass and use one for every track I lay down.

If it doesn't have a knot on it's backside, I'd assume it's ash. To my eyes, it's too blonde to be alder and this would have been the era where there was a massive stock of swamp ash available. That said, obviously alder blanks can come in blonde, knot-free and nearly as light as swamp ash so it could be alder just as you surmise. The Lake Placid Blue Cruise basses are all heavier and are probably alder... all of the painted Cruise basses are probably alder IMO.

To me, ash is harder than alder and makes better basses. Plus, clear finished alder is sort of avoided as a rule of thumb but... again there are plenty of exceptions to that rule.

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55 minutes ago, zenmindbeginner said:

Congratulations. I have access to a Cruise bass and use one for every track I lay down.

If it doesn't have a knot on it's backside, I'd assume it's ash. To my eyes, it's too blonde to be alder and this would have been the era where there was a massive stock of swamp ash available. That said, obviously alder blanks can come in blonde, knot-free and nearly as light as swamp ash so it could be alder just as you surmise. The Lake Placid Blue Cruise basses are all heavier and are probably alder... all of the painted Cruise basses are probably alder IMO.

To me, ash is harder than alder and makes better basses. Plus, clear finished alder is sort of avoided as a rule of thumb but... again there are plenty of exceptions to that rule.

No knots and some sections on the back even look a little flamey. Maybe it's maple?   :)

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18 minutes ago, Punkavenger said:

DSC02347 (2).jpg

Oh shit.. this more neutral lower light picture shows the telltale red hue of alder... dangit, it's alder. 2 piece means that there could have been knots on the other side of the blank. Definitely AAA grade alder (hence the many open pores which gives it such beautiful texture).

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Hamer’s ‘94 and ‘95 Swamp Ash stock was actually pretty heavy.  Don’t recall exactly if that’s why they switched to Alder in ‘96 for most Cruise/Daytona/T-51 bodies, or not.

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I've never tried those gold ones but now I'm curious! La Bella makes my favorite strings ever and of their own offerings, if I were you I'd go for the 760FS set - .105 - .045. They make a slightly more flexible and melodious version of these branded for Sadowsky and these are my all-time favorites! Links:

Sadowsky Blue Flatwounds: https://www.sadowsky.com/product/blue-flatwound-bass-strings/

Or these La Bellas: http://www.labella.com/products/760fs-deep-talkin-bass-flats-standard-45-105/

 

 

 

 

 

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