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The Bass Whisperer Reports:
Roscoe LG-3005 Quilt Maple Top/Ash Body & Birdseye Maple Fingerboard 5-String Bass Guitar
by Ed Friedland
While many of us can find beauty in the worn patina of a beat up old Fender, the artful luthiery of Keith Roscoe has an undeniable appeal. His unique designs, choice of high-grade materials, flawless construction, and perfectly applied finishes create instruments that are both visually stunning and sonically magnificent. Roscoe (and company) hand-build each instrument at their North Carolina factory, never outsourcing a single step of the process. This in-house approach keeps the standard of quality and consistency high, but still gives each bass an individual character. In fact, many of the online "Roscoe-heads" at Talkbass.com refer to their instruments by serial number.
A FINE SPECIMEN
I had the difficult task of choosing a bass for review from the 8 Roscoes currently on the floor at the Bass Emporium. They were all a treat to play, but ultimately I chose a fretted LG-3005 5-string with an amber-stained, exhibition grade, bookmatched quilted maple top over a swamp ash body, mated with a birdseye maple fingerboard.
The LG series is one of four models Roscoe offers, and while you might think "LG" stands for "large", it is actually the smallest body size in the lineup. While the body is smaller than the SKB and both Century models, the LG does not seem diminutive; it has a sleek profile that feels very comfortable hanging from a strap.
BODY AND NECK
The first thing I noticed about the Roscoe is the fine woodworking—every inch of this beauty is sculpted with architectural details that are subtle to the eye, and pleasing to the touch. The carved top varies in thickness, and has swoops and lines that give the bass an almost aerodynamic vibe. Even a normally mundane feature like the input jack is surrounded with unique chiseled angles that look cool, and guide your hand to the right spot. Even the headstock overlay is carved to let a hint of the neck's three-piece construction stick out, a purely cosmetic touch that enhances the LG's high-end appeal.
The depth and dimension of the exhibition-grade quilted maple top is spectacular—the bass looks alive, and the amber stain brings to mind a fine orchestral stringed instrument—in fact, it's a dead match for my 1950s Juzek upright bass.
Swamp Ash is a great choice for the body wood—it's light and resonant, with great low frequency response. The grain on this piece is particularly well pronounced under the stain.
The bolt-on neck is a stripe of purpleheart sandwiched between two pieces of maple with accent veneers between the woods. Purpleheart is known for it's high strength, straight grain and esthetic beauty—a perfect combination for a stable and attractive neck, (Roscoe also reinforces their necks with graphite rods and single action truss-rods). The 24-fret fingerboard has a subtle birdseye pattern with a solitary abalone inlay at the 12th fret, with dot position markers along the top edge. The asymmetrical neck pocket is routed deep into the body on the bass side and shallower on the treble side—giving more body/neck contact under the lower strings, and great access to the upper frets on the higher strings. Four counter-sunk hex bolts are strategically placed to assure a strong link with the body. A hand-carved Graph-Tech graphite nut completes the neck.
ELECTRONICS
The review bass came equipped with Bartolini pickups and 3-band eq system, though Roscoe also offers Nordstrand pickups and Aguilar or Audere preamps as options. Bartolinis are pretty common these days, it seems as if every high-end builder is using them—with good reason; they sound great. But Roscoe worked directly with Bartolini to create a quad-coil pickup specifically for their instruments. The LG series places the pickups at an angle—General Manager Gard Lewis says: "We positioned the pickups partly to make up for any low end you might miss from the downsized body, and partly for cosmetics." The pickup positioning sets the bass up for a detailed top end and punchy bottom, and the angle does compliment the forward leaning design of the instrument. The 18-volt, Bartolini NTMB preamp is configured with a concentric bass/treble pot and a separate mid-range control with a push/pull pot that shifts the center frequency from 800Hz to 250Hz. Master volume and blend knobs complete the control panel.
While the effect of electronics on tone is unarguably significant, the combination of woods, construction, and pickup placement also play major roles in the overall sound. Over the years I have been able to determine that there is indeed a "Roscoe sound", and certainly this ax has it. I would characterize the tone as clear and direct, with a sweet sibilant high end, fast mids and rounded bottom. While the Roscoe has the modern sheen that seduces players with a sexy, glassy top-end, the flexible eq can temper the instrument's presence and bring out the wolf when needed. Rolling off to the neck pickup, adding some bass, bringing up some low mids, and pulling back on the treble produced a warm, chunky tone that would easily satisfy die-hard P-Bass fans.
HARDWARE
Hipshot lightweight tuners in brushed chrome give the headstock a clean look, function flawlessly and help minimize neck dive. Roscoe worked with Hipshot to develop one of the more interesting bridge design concepts I've seen. At first glance it looks like a standard Hipshot bridge, but examining it closely reveals the height of the individual string saddle channels are radiused to match the fingerboard. Gard comments: "Keith (Roscoe) feels the bass sounds better with the string saddles bottomed out and touching the bridge's base plate. Radiusing the saddle channels allows the action to be ideal without having to raise the saddle adjustment screws too high." The chrome precision milled bridge has a solid look and feel, and no doubt contributes to the sustain and clarity of the LG's tone.
TONE TEST
I recorded four samples with the Roscoe LG3005 using a Radial Engineering PRO DI, direct into ProTools.
· Sample 1 - Both pickups up full with a small boost in the lows, and low mids (250Hz), gives you a detailed fingerstyle tone that is dark, but well-defined.
· Sample 2 - Rolling off to the neck pickup makes the Roscoe bark like a P-Bass, but with a more open texture. Slightly boosting the lows and low mids while backing off the treble give this modern axe an old-school tone that fits many styles of music.
· Sample 3 - The bridge pickup gives you that classic, burpy tone associated with Jaco. For fast, technical soloing, staccato finger-funk or anything where you want the bass to step up front, this is the tone. I added a touch of lows to beef it up, and dialed in a smidge of mids (set to 800Hz) to give it some presence.
· Sample 4 - A slight boost on the highs, and a touch of lows, and the Roscoe dishes out a killer slap tone.
BOTTOM LINE
The Roscoe LG3005 is decidedly boutique in its appeal and price tag, but its well-formed voice and versatile tone options make it as practical as it is beautiful.
Ed Friedland is a renowned Bassist, Educator and Author. He has authored over 15 books and DVDs and has played with the likes of Joe Beck, Larry Coryell, Robben Ford, Paul Horn, Clay Jenkins, Mike Metheny, Bud Shank, Lew Tabackin & Michal Urbaniak to name just a few. Ed is also currently teaching at Bass Emporium in Austin, Texas. Check out the Ed Friedland website for full information about him at http://www.edfriedland.com/.
This article used with the permission of Bass Emporium.
