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This came in the post today!! I posted a wanted advert here a few weeks ago asking for a Jazz Bass with 70s spacing. I had lots of messages and offers of all sorts of basses from vintage Fenders to modern super jazzes. I ended up going for this one for a few reasons, mostly from good experiences with Atelier-Z in the past, and the fact the bass exhibits none of the weight associated with 70s examples (certainly those that I tried). The body is chambered and a sandwich of alder and ash. It sounds superb; full of that 'breathy' quality of the best jazz basses I have tried. Slap is pure Marcus Miller territory when you want it to be, but I especially like the way it sounds with finger style and the occasional pop accent. The pickups feel great - very powerful and a muscular gritty detail when you dig in. Here's a pic of the chambering ...and here are some pics of the bass in my garden shortly before I walk Sybil and no doubt cause a rainstorm I'll do some sound samples once I have played with it. Cheers ped

Can I just say that I believe in Yes today.

Hmm. I was always told if you’ve nothing good to say...

I’m guessing they’re an acquired taste?

And she's arrived two days earlier than promised. No manual and in the wrong box but completely unblemished - not a mark. Had a quick blast and oh my - roll on the return of live gigs. Still can't quite believe I've scored an all tube giggable amp new for less than 400 notes!

I know the book has been mentioned here on Basschat in the past. I have finally read it (twice!), and written a review, in case anyone's interested. STEINBERGER by Jim Reilly NOTE: I'm sharing this here and on some of my social media because I love the book. I have no vested interest in it. I met Jim and Ned at NAMM, had a chat, took a photo of them together, and gave the photo to Jim, who published in the book. I did not request any payment, and received a copy as a thank you gesture.

I've experimented with some cheap white Strat knobs and I reckon white is definitely the way to go. Need to find some decent ones now. The only square ones I can find are dice.

I would certainly use them as a first port of call - the neck as you know is a split coil housed in that housing and the bridge a Humbucker, of course if you can get the metal housing off, or get one the same size you could put whatever you want underneath it. Sandberg are pretty good at looking after you. If it’s a no go, a decent pick up person I am sure will be able to help, but I cannot see Sandberg not helping out

Obliged. Arriving Monday 😎😎

So... The Claro Walnut turned up and it doesn't really look like what it does in that photo... the frog is barely visible... so... I have some walnut for something else... like the bin. Updates! Got the body blank glued up, picked up some Wenge with beautiful grain, decided to sandwich in a slice of swamp ash to help keep the weight down and mix up the visual a bit. Routed out the body shape and marked up the pickup cavity / cover section ready for drilling and routing. That neck on the right of the photo ended up being 3mm too thin... bummer... I'll use it for something else. Routed the cavities, I absolutely hated this job, I hate routers at the best of times but this job tested my resolve by the end of it I was absolutely sick. I've also started knocking the edges of the timber here to start shaping the curves. I have some felt lining to put in the pickup cavity... perhaps weird, but it looks lovely, the pickups will be mounted as normal with screws and springs but I think the felt just sets the whole thing off... Belly scoop popped in, got a cut in for my arm and scallops for my knee, super comfy so far. I 3D printed my pickup cavity blank with the pickup positions in so installing the pickups can be an easier job, I'll also use this print to route my pickup cover which I have gluing up now... but I really want that to be finished before I reveal it for thoughts... Next! I want to carry on working on the body before I start a new neck, this is the best bit of doing a bolt on bass you can work on every element individually. I'm going to get the electronics cavity started and I'm hoping to get the pickup cover finished while the weather is pants tomorrow. Body needs more shaping and sanding but it's coming along nicely. Thanks!

Imagine this scenario. Bassist joins band approx 8 years ago. Perhaps longer. Bassist leaves band and leaves his combo with the guitarist. Approx 7 years ago Guitarist takes combo to the singers rehearsal room as he doesn't want to store it. Afore mentioned bassists father then joins the same band as the bassist. Approx 7 years ago Father uses the combo for rehearsals and gigs. The father leaves the band 2 years ago and leaves his sons combo. A few months later, the guitarist who the combo was originally left with also leaves the band and forms a band with the bassist who had left shortly before him. He also leaves the combo. Are you following? 2 years ago, I join the band and the combo is still there. I used it a couple of times in rehearsals only before taking my gear there. Last week, the original bassist sends a message via his father that he wants his combo back 🙄 His father goes to collect it with the same guitarist who the combo was originally left with. Next thing, posted on Facebook is a load of insults about the singer and he was "going to pay" for damage to the tolex on the combo? They didn't mention this whilst picking it up? Tonight a tirade of threatening text messages are sent to the singer! Honestly, you couldn't write it. All this over a decade old Behringer combo that wouldn't fetch £40 if it was mint! 😂😂😂😂 Personally I think they were lucky that the combo still exists, never mind a little bit of damage to the carpet covering!

Yessongs, the triple album, is still my favourite musical performance after all these years. The epitome of what 5 different musicians can bring together. This is not an opinion, this is fact 😁

Maybe he should stop using Brian May sixpences for picks..?

Hah, that’s funny as I kind of view it the opposite way round! Thing is, if you don’t like them does it matter?

Felt a bit like Rush but without the active ingredient, kinda like alcohol free beer?

Just saw this in today’s Mirror

+1 to all the advice here. As a guitarist by training I'd say there's definitely a problem with the guitar. In truth I'm struggling to see how detuning a semitone would cure it. Might be worth mentioning that in most styles the B string (along with the G) generally sees most of the string bends. As @Dad3353 suggests, the bridge saddle would be the first place I'd be looking.

Yeh, the singer was in the wrong. He should have thrown it out 7 years ago!

More by luck than anything, no, never been in a band with a guitarist that was better than me on bass. Sure most could play the instrument but what they all fell down on was both knowing what to play/what not to play (I’m the same in guitar I should add) and timing, very loose in all cases - take away a guitarists overdrive and it exposes timing issues.

Neck is starting to look like it should..... still need to radius the fretboard, but the glue up was fine and trimming the sides didn’t cause issues. Also did the headstock scallop. Still loads to do, but we are moving forward at least...

I found a nice 2 piece body blank in my workshop that I totally forgot about! so decided to make myself a 24 fret five string. I’m kinda modelling the look after an Ibanez Adam Nitti 5 string, red with maple neck and black blocks. I cut the body and made all routs. Applied sealer and grain filler. Red pigment was added to the clear coat and I finally got the red I wanted. Now shooting clear coats.

Also famous for being the bass Mo Foster used on the ‘Minder’ Theme

Now with added SIMS red LED-ness

Been chatting to a couple of BC mates and it turns out all three of us either still are or previously have been in bands where the guitarist was the better bass player. Any of you been in a similar set up and, if so, how did that work out? In my case, I'd only been playing bass for a couple of years and had just started a 50s/60s rock n roll band. The guitarist was a seriously good musician and with respect to my current and previous crews, the best guitarist I've worked with. In the end he had a major crush on the singer who didn't feel the same way and ended up leaving. I did occasionally find it annoying at rehearsals when he picked up my bass without asking!

I asked a question on the repair section and among my friends about replacing the truss rod in a Fender neck (previous owner had snapped the nut off), too much hassle was the cry, especially as it`s a bound neck.....bugger! So here I am with a Fender Vintera 70`s Jazz bass in Inca Silver, the body is truly immaculate, anyway I tried several reputable websites including Fenders own and no new Fender neck of the same spec are available. I turned my attention to Northwest Guitars, they did a very similar bound and block neck but with rosewood rather than pau ferro and a bone nut rather than synthetic, get in my basket! These necks are now also out of stock as it happens so i bought mine just in time. I contacted a mate of mine who does refinishes and set ups and got him to refinish the neck in the correct tint and also apply the decals (yes I know its not a genuine Fender neck but the rest of the bass is so thats my argument) anyway I picked the bass up from him yesterday and oh my what a pretty thing she is, I think it`s a keeper despite the relatively low output of the pickups (im used to either humbuckers or active or both) the neck feels every bit as nice as the original in the hand and it just looks lovely, all this for a swap for a cheapy bitsa, definitely my score of 2020!

I'm a carpenter and think routers are wonderful tools 🙂 They are also the tool I'm the most careful with when using 👍

Ah, you’ll need to come off at junction 12 then.

In these challenging times its good to receive great service, especially when retailers are facing pressure on so many fronts. As a first time buyer from this company I purchased Bart pups and pre amp from Mark at Bass Direct.Unfortunately the preamp displayed a fault. Mark spoke to Bartolini to see if it could have been an easy fix. I received an email that night from the US who were equally efficient in there response to resolve the issue.Mark contacted me today to say that there was a replacement pre amp on the way. This is the standard of service we all hope for and ensures my future purchases with Bass Direct. Hopefully we can all ride this covid storm return to playing live and get to realise our GAS in stores such as Bass Direct. Thanks again Mark.

Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn makes more sense. Teacher 😀

Bass player says 'No'.

I thought I had posted in this thread but it looks like I didn't. Here goes, then.

Top of my head – And You and I, Heart of the Sunrise, Yours Is No Disgrace, Roundabout, Starship Trooper, Soon oh Soon, Long Distance Runaround and quite a few more (as you may notice, all of these are from the earlier versions of the band which shows when my prog phase took place).

For me Percy is one of the true greats. Monster creative force on bass!

Also discovered today that Kraftwerk have a live album, go figure. Somewhat disappointed it didn’t start with the usual ‘Hey Düsseldorf, how you doing? Tonight we’re going to raaawk. Any ladies in the house with any German in them......?’ Perhaps I’m in a generally unpleasable mood today?

Do you need to detune? The one band I’ve played in the had a detuned guitar, I kept my bass in standard tuning. It meant the bass lines I was coming up with for the songs were more interesting. of course if you need to do loads of octave/unison riffing with open strings then detuning might be the only way.

No, seriously, he should try upping the string gauge (is he using 10's..?), and have a look at his technique. It's not the guitar, it's him (or inappropriate strings...).

I’m listening to Kraftwerk to restore homeostasis, The Fahn Fahn Fahn of the Autobahn seems to make more sense?

Joined a pro band years ago - the guitarist was a better vocalist than the vocalist, and a better drummer than the drummer. He had amazing natural rhythm and at any break in rehearsals would lay down great improvised funk lines on my bass, which made me a little embarrassed at the time ! But being a guitarist, he just didn't know when to stop - he could play an amazing bass line but it would have little to do with the song, or play an amazing drum fill but it would sound more like a short drum solo. Mercifully, he was more disciplined when on guitar and would play to suit the song. A modest but very clever and talented guy, and I learnt a lot from him. Always useful if you're lucky enough to get to play with someone really talented like this.

I didn’t, but then again I am a bad man

No, but the guitarist might be. I don't see this as good reason to down-tune. Down-tuning should be done for musical reasons, not to work around gear issues.

In my first band...the guitarist started off “better” than me. I’d only taken up the bass to join the band. He had a really strong ear and could translate what he’d heard to the fingerboard really quickly. Hated him for it. Turns out he’d just been playing longer and I caught up quickly. Since then, I’ve been more likely to be a better guitarist than some of the guitarists I’ve worked with. Andy my current guitarist is a bass player too. He’s a better Guitarist than me and I’m a better bass player than him...so that’s working well 😂

I don’t really play ska but it might be worth having a look at a few of Andrew fords videos, and Greg has a very good thread here, hope that helps hooky 🙂 and Greg

That's the perk of my job I'm afraid... Need a lot of 3D printing in my line of work and now we're working from home... The printer came with me 😉

The BC community can riff endlessly on Quo song titles. And I can not only recognise but can hum a solid 90% of them. Respect is due to Status Quo.

If you could get white squares on the knobs it might be better than just round white knobs. If you can get square knobs that might be cool too. But it looks very good as it is 👍

Kramer 650b I think

A couple of people asked for pics, these are as recent as I have, the blurrier one was taken around the time when I first got her.