Leaderboard

if you're driving a BMW, I'd hazard a guess that most other drivers think you're a douchebag no matter what badge is on the bootlid.

Nothing wrong with an old bass that's got itself worn after years of gigging. What I don't like about "relicing" is that it falsely conveys the impression that the player has worn it out themselves via years of gigging, and that it's a much-loved but slightly abused instrument being played by a similarly seasoned "road warrior". What other possible reason is there for chiselling away at a perfectly good bass to make it look "road-worn"? It's fake news, is what it is.

Ah, the Lightglass. I'd like to say that I am paid by neither every other bass manufacturer than Fender, or, as part of a double bluff, by Fender. I am, however, currently sponsored by the DWP.

Went in to buy a few things to upgrade the Sei Jazz bass, surrounded by some of the most expensive beautiful basses.Anyway, I wanted a pair of Nordy NJ5's but they didn't fit. So my second choice was the Bartolini B Axis, Ive heard great things about these pups. There a lot brighter than the regular classic Bart sound. So they came home with me. . Also I got some USA Lollypop Ultralight Hipshot tuners. I also wanted to try some new strings being a die hard DR man, but these have been in my mind for quite a while. Labella RX stainless steels.Talked for a while to the always knowledgable strong opinioned Mark who is a real gent. Anyway im fitting everything tomorrow so will give a review. And yes I do look like a redneck at a gun show.

Here is clear evidence that relic-ing can never look quite like the real thing!

In February 2008 I was getting frustrated with never having played an actual gig, despite being in two (so-called) bands for six months. I signed up for Weekend Warriors with ICMP in Kilburn but it turned out I'd missed the deadline. I took the family off for a long weekend in Istanbul in March, and we were strolling between Ayia Sofia and the Blue Mosque when my phone rang ... they were desperately short of bass players and would I join anyway. It was like the line-up from The Usual Suspects. I was put with four (yes, four) guitarists and - since they'd also run out of drummers - we were assigned one of the ICMP's students as our drummer. The four were: 40s Australian computer programmer with a bad back, into Guns 'n'Roses, could play pretty well, sang pretty well. 40s American project manager with a very bad back (following a life-threatening car crash the previous year) and industrial-strength painkillers, into Aerosmith, could play pretty well when he could think straight but could never remember the words. 50s Brit who spent his life as an ex-pat engineer servicing weapons systems in the Middle East and Far East, liked the blues, reasonable guitarist. 60s Brit who spent his life as a deep-sea diver on off-shore oil-rigs, possibly the worst guitarist in history, but incredibly nice and as enthusiastic as a new puppy. The drummer was, of course, in his early 20s and was by far the best musician in the room. They supplied an excellent, really high-class rehearsal space, PA and backline, and we brought our instruments. For the very first session one of their guys helped us set up the PA - the real basics like setting the gain and EQ. Then we were on our own, and the first thing we had to do was work out what "a sound check" was and how to do it. As a crash course in how to be in a band it was bloody wonderful, seriously. No way could I have learned so much, so quickly, by doing endless rehearsals in someone's garage. We all chucked ideas for songs into the middle and argued about them (we probably went to the pub once or twice) and we ended up with a thoroughly motley selection that no covers band with an ounce of sanity would choose but hey - that's what we wanted to do. Three of us could sing a bit so we split the songs between us to share the load, no actual lead singer as such. After four rehearsals it was obvious that the diver was a dead weight on the band, utterly clueless, strumming away timelessly in the wrong key on an acoustic guitar, but he was so transparently in love with the project, and such a lovely guy, that the rest of us all felt that we could afford to carry him. Then the weapons engineer had a heart attack and the Yank upped his meds. I'm not making any of this up, really I'm not. Suddenly the band became the Aussie and me with a student drummer, plus a stoned lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist who had no rhythm and couldn't play guitar. Oops. We played our showcase on 29th May 2008 at The Luminaire in Kilburn High Road. Before the gig, we had a quiet word with the sound guy and explained the problem, and he obligingly turned down the sound on the diver's guitar as soon as we started our set. The remaining 4-piece band actually acquitted itself pretty damn well, and at least as well as any of the other Weekend Warrior bands on the bill. I had a truly excellent time, learned a helluva lot about music, about bands, about band politics. Even now, nearly 11 years later, that remains my first-ever live gig. I also learned why you should never let the rest of the band spend time together without you. We hooked up for our first big discussion at The Horniman pub in The Galleria on the South Bank. When the time came to choose a name, it was pretty much inevitable that we'd choose The Hornimen. After I left, the band continued drinking. For some time apparently. The next day I took a very embarrassed phone call from the Aussie. The band had decided to choose another name and we were now ... The Squishy Fish. You couldn't make it up. Only they did.

I could actually believe that was a real Guardian article. Check your PMs.

The difference between the finish on my 1970 precision (medium wear and tear) and my 2015 mustang (absolutely pristine) is 45 years of gigging. That's the way it should be. I don't really get artificial ageing. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't pay for it either.

I read somewhere that most Fender custom shop stuff is ordered with relicing. Sandberg still make loads. But anyway - it's just another finish. It amuses me to see so many people with their knickers in a twist over it. When you look at a bass catalogue you might well just go past the sunburst, or the neon yellow to get to the ones you like. Why does relicing make you stop and need to whinge? It's bizarre. (I've copied this comment so I can use it next week on the next relic thread)

Or knackered. Or phuqed.

Can I declare a commercial disinterest?

Above all, ensure that whatever bass you buy is the 2013 model. That avoids having to buy a YOB bass later ...

Well I don't own a bass worth more than £300 so if I recommend something it's either because I like it or I've got the sh1ttest sponsorship deal in history.

I can't stand the grotty hardware on the heavy relic basses, I wouldn't want to touch it to play it. I've seen many pre cbs fenders that have clearly had a working life yet none have had a fully rusty bridge like that.

Here's a relic Jazz I recently put together! Loads of fun spraying this, getting a perfect finish then hitting with things ! haha Oh the wood underneath will eventually be a coffee table!

For the record, I don’t look like a Shuker Uberhorn.

Yep, it’s still a thing. I like it, and they are around. Its just a finish, not sure why there is so much ire about it especially whilst turdburst still lives on, it’s not pretending to be anything, unless we also think burst is deliberately trying to look like the Bristol Stool Chart

It can only be a good thing in my view. A genuine patina of use is one thing. Taking a sander to a perfectly good bass almost smacks of sharp practice....

Lovely stuff! https://www.loudersound.com/news/last-flight-to-pluto-release-video-for-coverland

I was once in an advert for a Yamaha guitar amp. Or at least, my arm was. 🤟

OK thanks DAve Had a few more goes and I think that it has worked even though the transaction was a bit lumpy and seemed to not round off. Anyway I have a PayPal receipt email and the payment is showing on my account so fingers crossed that it reached the seller OK.

It's been said before. "Reliced" as a word puts me in mind of something that has had fresh lice added. Like pubes... The proper word of course is "abused".

You are dead right. This is the nub of it. You can NOT buy soul unless you are the devil incarnate. Heeheehee

The volume of response to this thread suggests that relic-ing is still very much a thing for generating opinions about whether relic-ing is a good thing. It is a matter of conjecture whether the actual practice of relic-ing is still a thing.

Giving my daughter a lift today. We agreed Gorillaz holograms were good but Dio/Tupac hologram tours make us both a bit queasy. While on 'faking it' I sought her view of relickinginging. She agreed it was often well OTT and that ripped jeans fall into the same category. But she syas she likes ripped jeans because they have more character. As for us lot... she says it''s pathetic to get worked up over someone else's choice when it does you no harm at all. So that's put us all in our place!

I think relicked is probably more correct than reliced, which sounds as if you're putting parasites back on that you took off during the process of abusing the instrument. I bought a very tatty P decades ago - a sunburst with the lacquer seriously chipped and knackered. I took the lacquer off and stained it consistently dark. I suppose that now I'd be considered a criminal in the BC Fender purists' eyes.

You beat me to it! And it's surprising how infrequently you are wrong

Nice, Aaron is a bit of a genius isn't he! All my ACG basses have Aaron's pickups in them, wound to ACG specs, although I have had them fine tuned a little, usually just overwound for a bit more guts and a little less treble. Eude

Life getting in the way of the important stuff again. Next couple of days should see a bit more progress, though. And things have moved on to an extent: The pickup cover has arrived back from Armstrong's complete with pickup! Lovely job This is what I sent to Aaron: And this is what he sent me back: The body will end up lighter than this - this is just the sealing coats I'm currently using to fill voids and fissues (eg the centres of the 'whirlpools') and to show up any missed chisel marks, etc.. I use tru-oil for this bit...but that will be then sanded off and the final finishing will use the RAW version of Osmo oil that keeps the walnut a touch lighter. Tru-oil is great for slurrying and preparing the surface but does add a tint to certain woods, which is why often I use a different product for the final finishing. Nevertheless, the shot shows how the pickup will sit: The eventual colour of the walnut should be pretty close to @scrumpymike 's Rascal. I think that will contrast beautifully with the purpleheart:

My avatar is my great grand pa in 1919 - I'm in colour

Back in the room. I do understand Beedster’s perspective on this, but personally don’t see it as a big problem. Fairly easy to spot if some members are always a bit over enthusiastic about certain brands. As for me, yes Ashdown did give me T shirt once, but I still think their cabs are too heavy.

Still have this guy. Bought in 1993 when it was a year old. Incredible volume and punch. Also have an early Mk4 150w Must say though that my favourite model was the MKV tonewise. Beautiful. A bit more middy but really cuts through.

A blue bass or a red bass or even a natural bass isn't trying to be something it isn't to convey a story it can't tell.

I actually think 6 year olds should be banned from playing bass. Purely because I'm sick of seeing 7 year olds that are better than me.

It ain’t us Meerkats though. Just to be clear.

I hope this fad for fake aged basses and guitars takes a dive and never comes back. Same goes for the off the peg ripped jeans look. Both look utter c@k. I make every effort to keep my gear as new and shiny looking as the day I bought them by playing them as little as possible

The problem I have with artificial ageing on an instrument is that somebody at the manufacturing plant has been paid to do it, and that consequently you the buyer will most likely have been charged for it. We're all free to waste our hard-earned as we see fit of course (and if you like this stuff then by all means knock yourself out), but it makes no sense to me when the money could have been either saved or spent to make it, oh I dunno, a better bass perhaps? It's very similar to my take on personal number plates on cars. Some like them; I'd sooner spend the money on kit that actually has a function beyond perceived visual appeal.

Surely fretting is rather the idea.... ....coat.

I think you'd need to look at the serial number the Korean Pros should (I think, and someone may correct me...) start "WPS". There's a Thumb fretless on eBay at the moment: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-Pro-Series-Thumb-BO-4-String-fretless-Bass-Guitar-2011/113415570013 and there's a picture of the back of the headstock that shows the serial number format. The 11 at the end is year of manufacture, so for a Korean Pro Series you'd be looking for 11, 12 or 13. (That one is more than twice what I paid for mine... so not sure if I just got an absolutely amazing deal, or that one is seriously over-priced...) The original Rockbass series had some good basses but the looks weren't all that and they had one piece bridges. My Corvette was active but ate batteries and had other issues so was returned for an ESP LTD 5-string (this was back in 2010). I had a modern Rockbass Corvette passive 4-string a little while back and it was very very good, and I'm not sure why I sold it really. On Thomann you can buy Warwick hardware and you can but a cheap bridge which is of un-specified material and a brass bridge which costs about three times the price. At a guess the Rockbasses will use the cheap bridges and the German Warwicks will probably use brass bridges - though whether that would be Master Built & Team Built... I read somewhere (sorry, no link...) too that whilst all Warwicks use MEC pickups (which were developed in-house by Warwick after things fell through with EMG, related to the history of the Streamer, Spector and certain lawsuits), the preamps vary on the active basses. So, Rockbasses get generic, no-name preamps whilst Pro Series and German Warwicks all get MEC preamps. The modern (post-2013) Pro Series looks pretty nice. Andertons have a GPS BO Thumb currently at £1,300 (https://www.andertons.co.uk/warwick-bass/warwick-gps-thumb-bo-4-in-solid-creme-white) which looks rather nice - completely out of my range but it has Ovangkol for both body and neck, but hard to tell from the picture whether it has the bell brass frets you get on older German Warwicks. And yeah... Warwick seems to love making things complicated to follow. After I got my Thumb I spent quite a bit of time trying to work out exactly where it "fits" in the Warwick line-up And I still can't quite work out if I got an amazing deal, or just paid an average, reasonable price for it. (Very happy with what I got for the money either way!)

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Make another neck! Make another neck! Make another neck! Prrrrrrretty pleeeeeeeeaaaaassssseeee!

Never been a fan. A proper time-served, well gigged bass maybe. I've always tried to look after my kit and mostly it is in decent condition. The odd knock is inevitable, and something that has been played for hundreds of hours may show some signs of wear. However something that looks like it's been run over by a tractor is just "fake news" and trying too hard. All imho of course

Transmission by joy division. Remember getting excited cos it sounded like the record and that was enough to fall in love with playing bass.

The sad thing is, it’s my rig 😂

While it's tough to distil Jamerson's genius into a list, here are some things that I love about his line on 'What's Going On' (which is, as an aside, I think one of the greatest recorded parts of all time). Jamerson had complete mastery over the following areas: 1. Chord tones 2. Chromatic approaches (aka 'enclosures'). It's jazz, but not as we know it. 3. 16th-note syncopation 4. Being so drunk during tracking that he had to lie down on the floor (if the legend is to be believed) Out of all of these, I find myself most inclined towards working on number 4 when practice time allows.