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Have built this over the last fortnight. Body from guitarbuilds who were brilliant throughout as it was a custom order, took nearly 6 weeks to get it but well worth the wait. The neck is an Allparts one I managed to buy from @Storky Frnder pickups and a set of Steve Harris flats I got from @kristo It sounds fantastic and has a really low action, making the Pickguard tomorrow which is going to be black. Jon

When I was but a lad, we used to lick the terminals of batteries for the magic of being able to 'taste' the electricity. The 9v cells were always the best because they gave the best tingle. So - the 11 year-old Andyjr1515 thought - the 12v Scalextric track runs should taste even better. Let's just say that sherbert didn't taste the same for about 5 years...

Thanks @Deedeefor the robust defence of my 'not trying to find offence'.. 😁 As it happens @Jakester, I know what protected characteristics are having spent the last 17 years working with people with a wide range of them. Just to be clear, I was jokingly responding to @Maude 's earlier comment about how long before '.. someone comes along and starts shouting discrimination'. But beyond that, I do think there's a serious point to be made here about musicians (and artists more broadly) having been treated very badly over the years on this country, not just now as a result of the fall-out from Brexit, impact of Covid:lockdowns etc, but way beyond that. I can remember when, as a young professional musician in the 80s, it was nigh on impossible to get car insurance for all sorts of stupid reasons thrown up by the insurance companies. And t wasn't until the Musicians Union fought quite a long battle for change that things started to improve, with General Accident eventually working with the MU to produce a specific car insurance policy for your average working muso. I was an MU Committee Member for about 3 years when I still lived in London and the number of cases we dealt with of musicians being ripped off and being treated like 2nd class citizens was unbelievable! Anyway, back on topic... That's kind of the point being made by this lady who's set up this cafe in Bristol - as I see it, she's responded quite brilliantly IMHO to that same kind of disregard and lack of understanding/appreciation of what artists/musicians bring to this country. As the actor David Schneider said recently: "Hard to believe that the government utterly screwed the £112bn creative industries for the sake of the £446m fishing industry. Which they also utterly screwed."

Lick it and see which end tingles?

I'm told that it was also put to Mythbusters to see if licking a Scalextric track would prevent you tasting sherbert for a number of years. It was apparently rejected because the show's producers considered it "ridiculous that anyone would be that stupid."

God, I hope not. I’ll have to put all mine in the bin 😄

I’ve never had a bass with a reverse P pickup but to me it makes so much sense, tighter more focused sound on the thicker bassier strings, more lows on the thinner twangier strings. Interestingly we did a blind Precision bass shootout a few years back at the Herts Bass Bash, with the overall and runaway winner being a Mark Hoppus Sig Precision with reverse P pickup. It was up against some seriously expensive instruments but with a room full of bassists voting with their ears only it trounced the others.

It's not standardised but it is possible to give an idea of what's going on which covers a substantial part of what different manufacturers are doing and remove much of the speculation. Personally, I find the reverse P more comfortable to play, for a start. There's also something very pleasing about that mixed PJ sound which isn't quite there with a traditionally positioned split P and J. But first, let's do some measuring. I don't have a Fender P, the closest I have is an old Japanese Yamaha BB1100S. Other traditional P types are a Bass Collection SB311 and an Ibanez SB900. Measuring the distance from the 19th fret to the leading edge of the pickup, we find: From what I could find digging around, it looks like the Fender P has the leading edge of the E-A coil positioned round 12.5cm from the 19th fret, which would put the D-G coil at around 15.5cm back. Someone be a dear and measure, if you have one. It would be interesting to see if Fender themselves are consistent across USA, Japanese and Mexican models. Anyway, looking at the reverse P types to hand we see this: The Charvel appears to be closest to the traditional Fender position but with the coils swapped around. The famous Warwick growl is coming from the pickups being much closer to the bridge than "standard" and the Warwick E string is read almost 5cm closer to the bridge than the Yamaha. It's a much greater difference than, for example, the 60's and 70's Jazz bridge pickup positions. If you think that makes a difference then surely there's more than snake oil? As for disco and funk, you can do a comparison by listening to the first Chic album, recorded on a P, and the subsequent albums recorded on a Stringray. The leading edge of the Stringray pickup is, what, a little over 17cm from the 19th fret, so the E and A string is being read from even closer to the bridge than a Warwick SS1. Which tone stands out more?

twelfty

Thought I'd introduce the new member of the family! My current first bass is an ACG 31.5" scale and I absolutely love it. It's an incredible instrument and the easiest bass I've ever played. So much so I've basically not touched my other bass in a year. However, it's only single pickup and had an urge to get something with a bridge pickup. I was open to anything really but the jazz was an obvious choice. I also really fancied trying a 33" scale but there's not a lot on the market- or at least not in the more budget market. I could only really find this model. It was going to cost £660 plus postage brand new, which was a bit more than i was hoping to spend so i sat on it for a week or two, then I saw one pop up on Ebay, so I pounced. And here it is. I've probably paid a bit much for it 2nd hand once the fee's etc are factored in, but should come in under £500. Good points: I love the 33" scale. light Finish on it is lovely Tuners seem extremely high quality, and the other bits seem good enough. once set up, plays fine. came with a good quality soft case Bad points: When i received it, the neck pickup was almost flush to the pick guard. When I brought it up to where it should be, it was really loose and hollow feeling. I've had to put sponge underneath to stop it from moving. I've not touched the bridge pickup yet but that's loose too so will probably need the same treatment. I think that's how they would have been out the factory because I don't see anything to suggest the previous owner had been dabbling about in there. The knobs are really stiff The pickups are ok but a bit uninspiring. That might be though because I'm spoiled with the active circuit in my ACG. But still, assuming they are standard size, it might be a future upgrade to be considered! Overall, I'm happy, but I still think I overpaid, and I'm very happy I didn't buy brand new. It's not a £660 bass in my view, but then again if you want a 33" scale there's not a whole lot out there to choose from! Not seen anyone else play one on here, so thought Id show it off to you all!

Yes! I did the continuity check as suggested by @Hellzero , I took the 'you can't do any damage' approach as muted by @Rich , plugged it in and tested it and then saw @Jabba_the_gut 's photo link and that is exactly where I'd plugged it Great team work And we have taps, folks So I can now fully assemble the body and then just have to wait for the neck bolts to start the set-up process Many thanks, folks, much appreciated

STOP THIS!!!!

Shall I try an experiment... I have a Warwick SSI that has what we are calling the 'reverse' P and I have the same model (a ltd 5th Anniversary bass) but with the standard non-reverse P pup (I'll measure the leading edge). Point of note is that for some reason Warwick decided to slightly angle the pups... maybe they knew it would through up debates in years to come. Only problem is that though the two models are Streamers they aren't the same bass nor will they have the same strings, hence all things aren't really equal in a test.

Yeah, one of the huge tragedies of the music business. So very, very sad. 'Come and Get It' was written and I think produced by McCartney - his fingerprints are all over it.

Hi, those of you who have followed my builds here and on guitarchat will know that I specialise in reclaimed materials. This will be no exception. I moved to Dorset last March and since then have been working in half of my mother's shed. During the first lockdown I build this summerhouse/shed pub almost exclusively from reclaimed materials (I bought some decking planks , roof felt, insulation and used about 3000 screws) but everything else was reclaimed and recycled. Now I'm building a workshop (no idea why this is underlined BTW) I've been hoarding materials during the winter and we've removed a clapped out shed and green house from the site . Today I put some bits of wood on the ground to get an idea of what I'm dealing with. I've laid out an 8'X12' rectangle but I may swing it out from the hedge and enlarge it a little. I won't do much more until the next batch of materials arrives but I wanted to make some sort of start.

Good afternoon fellow Basschatters, Have any of you seen this article.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-56115602 What do you think..? Seems like a great initiative to me and good on a bass player for coming up with the idea too! Nik

Was gonna answer 1,200 but then the rules kept changing. Now it suddenly must be on strings! OK then: 30.

Bass line for Saturday

I was not getting on with switching between my 35" fretted Roscoe and the 34" fretless Sire V7 and so have just received this today (px with the Sire). I am absolutely in love with the looks already. Fretless MTD Kingston Z5.

Does this help?? Found on Wal pro 1 e neck rebuild – Unicornbass

Here it is. Put lighter strings on it and got help yesterday to set it up to make it easier to play, as the action was really high. There are two battery compartments to use it as an active bass, I'll pick up some batteries today for this. I'm happy to see it also works in passive mode. Sounds good so far, still figuring out what all the knobs do. It came with a gig bag but no instruction manual, and the ones on the Fender website look like older models, so am a bit unsure about some of the basics. Playing-wise, it's very nice although I think it'll take me a while to get used to having the 5th string there as even the most basics tunes are taking some thought, but I'm enjoying playing it so far. Thanks again for all the help. One option which might be nice to try in future, if I've joined a cover band and have more of an idea of requirements, could be putting a higher string on it instead EADGC and using a drop D-tuner.

If I may say, that’s a rather unnecessary statement to make. The OP has posted a positive story and then commented that “it’s only a matter of time before someone comes along etc..” Clearly not trying to find offence.

Just Rice above it...

1st Prototype Ampeg B-100R Preamplifier: I used the factory schematics to draw a pcb, that fits into a 1590BB.

I was reading about a recent Jackson Dave Ellefson signature model. Mr E said this "I went back in time with the P/J setup. The very first Jackson basses that I got back in the day had that configuration, because I noticed that if you flipped the P pickup to the reverse position it got rid of an annoying low-mid frequency that just doesn’t work in a metal setting, because it gets the bass right down inside the kick drum." Which sounds very much like a good thing; when, then, would a reverse P not be wanted? From what he's saying I'm guessing that when a P is reversed, the two halves swap positions on the string. Is this always the case, or are there instances when one half stays in place and the other half gets moved to the other side of it? (True fact: Dave Ellefson was born and raised in a town called Jackson)

Sorry you Brits but semiquaver is the stupidest name. Sounds like bowing up for The William Tell Overture.

Sadly I very much doubt it. 🙁 I’d been asking him for quite a while but he didn’t have any. Then I sent the bass in to have the pots changed for proper ones with a shaft because the little splines on the knobs were getting old and fragile and breaking off. When I picked it up he said he’d got a little surprise and showed me. He’s found it in an old box and fitted it. He said it was a “thank you” for all the promotion from the blog. As it is, the DI’s not as good as the Custom Series one. It’s a lower output - fine but nothing special... but yeah, nice to have!

4

I think it looks unique without the pickguard

Exactly so. each to their own. Which is why I find it hard to understand when some folk react so negatively at the idea of taking a spare just because they don't. Like the very possibility of a spare makes their gonads wither, or something.

Ah, I see that I’m a little late to the game here but I’ve just taken a couple of snaps that I thought might have been useful. Still they’ll be a confirmation for you. Here’s a few snaps of the jack assembled on my Pro 2E which should confirm the wiring and that a standard TRS switching arrangement is fine. In fact, I was a little surprised that it was a standard TRS as the Custom series use this fabulously ingenious Switchcraft jack socket that completely isolates the power circuit from the signal path.... Instead of the TRS with the R and S connecting the power it is a TS socket but with a completely separate “make” switch incorporated activated by the jack pushing the little Teflon plastic cup. They also do a “break” version and a “make/break” one. Jolly clever.

OK. Bridge not fitted yet - I won't do that until the neck is bolted in place - but basically the body is finished with the scratchplate fitted and the pickup working as it should: @Fishman had asked me if I could do anything with the pick/nail scratches on the pickguard, so the above is after I've given that a bit of attention. You can see them clearly here on a 'before' shot: It's quite a delicate operation, because the surface is textured and slightly shiny, so you want to remove the main visual edges of the scratches without taking that bobbly surface or shine away. I did another 'wet & dry' approach but this time where the sanding medium was some pretty fine micro-web and the wet was good old beeswax balsam (this will be used for the final clean and polish up of the finished bass) and even so applied very, very lightly in stages of wipe off, buff up, look at the result, repeat. If you look very closely, you can see the lines, but they are very faint now and - as you can see in the photo - pretty invisible from normal distance So this is going to a safe storage place until those pesky unf bolts and cupped washers arrive

Musical talent was 1st class but to have that level of song writing excellence and still not have the success you deserve is so sad. Dave

Ok, long time since last post, but I’ve been doing a reasonable amount of experimenting. First thing to say, I definitely prefer a reversed bridge P pickup. It’s not quite as pretty as it was to start off with, but this set-up lets me flip the pickups back around should I wish to. So far, I don’t wish to. I contemplated shifting the bridge pickup up further towards the neck one, but it eats into the pickguard. I have had a lot of learnings from this project, and I will share them, so others do not make my mistakes. I ended up not liking the DiMarzios for this. I am still experimenting with pickups as I slowly accumulate secondhand stuff from the marketplace, but so far I really like the Seymour Duncan SPB-1 at the front, and a Kent Armstrong Hot Precision PBE-1 ceramic (enclosed) at the rear position. Similar pickup resistances and easy to balance outputs. I will see what else comes up in the marketplace and continue my footering, for now. Main takeaway is that the mid scoop/bass boost that comes with both pickups fully on, changes quite drastically with the pickups installed. Not surprising. It really it not terribly predictable, though, and it seems to me the best bet is to try and at least get pickups with similar resistances/outputs. Or look for people who report combinations that do well together for them already. Another lesson. A solderless loom has been absolutely invaluable. Worth paying for and no doubt about it. It just makes the process so much easier. However, I did make errors here. My mistakes here were two fold. One, the dual V/T setup is largely pointless. Either tone affects both pickups when the pickups are fully on, fun but not necessary. V/V/T is cheaper and simpler and would still give me exactly what I want. Two, having 4 x 250k pots in a passive circuit dulls the high end, absolutely no doubt, and you can’t EQ it back in. I would go for a V/V/T, possibly 500k, if I were to buy again, though one less potentiometer would brighten up the circuit and I could probably get away with 250k in that circumstance. Another thought. The series/parallel switch is nice but not essential. It’s a very fun ‘voice’ to play with on the bass though. I’m waiting to see if another Seymour Duncan SPB-1 comes up secondhand in the classifieds. Might snag it and experiment if it does. I’ll have to have a Precision bass pickup clear out in not too long. It is now clear to me why Precision basses with dual pickups (P-J, P-MM, P-P) often move the front pickup to another location. Yes, even a few mm seems to me to be a key change.....A single P pickup bass in the classic spot gives a really beautifully rounded and complete sound. It is really easy to subtract too much away from that sound with a second pickup and the midrange phase cancellation that goes with that. It’s really hard to get the dual P setup right, the results are just difficult to predict. Knowing what I know now, I’m not sure I would undertake this experiment again, although it has been fun and I am continuing it. I would probably just stick to a PJ bass, or any multi-pickup P bass where someone else had done the research and built it already. It’s a very tricky business to do it right.

I find it hard to believe that a manufacturer of, what many of us would consider to be, a quality instrument is not prepared to make good on defects with their products - irrespective of whether the defect was theirs or the client's. This is a very competitive market with many basses in a similar price bracket - surely reputation is everything - as a potential customer, if I knew that a particular brand was prone to problems I'd steer clear. Historically, Jaydee had some issues with necks but stood tall and addressed the problem so that subsequent basses did not have the same issues. I believe the major cost to Maruszczyk would be time - not expensive materials - however the possible cost in loss of sales/ damage to the reputation easily exceeds any costs. From what I've read here I would certainly think twice about buying one - and I like the design! Come on Adrian, do the right thing - make good on this whether it was the owner's negligence or not. I'm sure that many potential customers would find this level of customer service reassuring when placing an order. Surely the desired outcome is one where is everybody is happy.

Very interesting to read this topic as I’ve always been a jazz pup person. I recently made a single ‘P’ pickup bass guitar (not a ‘P’ bass replica) and reversing the pickups position was something that was proposed many years ago as I’d wondered why that pickup was placed where it is by Fender. I tend to think there was no real science back in the darker ages of bass guitar manufacture and that jazz and precision pickup placement was made simply because they sounded different to each other in those positions and looked good there ... possibly! So some tracks have a wonderful P bass sound and others not as good......maybe the player, the amp, the recording quality, the actual song or size of band trying to be recorded? My thoughts for a new bass focussed on best pickup placement for a single pickup bass for recording and live, giving a tighter note off the E and A and hopefully matching the ‘bass’ tone given off by the D and G. Sound pretty good too with it’s Bartolini offset poles ‘P’ pickup but I’m putting in a Nordstrand one (bought on Basschat) as the bar magnets will straddle under the strings better....the problem with moving the pickups is the pole pieces don’t quite line up under the strings, something I never thought of, you learn all the time, but they still sound great!

At the risk of overestimating any interest here, this is yet another track from last year's record immortalised as a video for those who are bored on a Saturday...

I played the single 'No Matter What' almost smooth when it was released 🙂

What's worth considering also is, if you play by anchoring your thumb on the pickup, like I do, where you strike the string can also change quite dramatically as a result of where the pickup is which will also affect the sound of what comes out of the speaker.

I've read they have great 'pudding' over there in Yorkshire.

Aloo Mick.

Starting to get ready for the assembly of the body components and electrics. I soldered the bridge earth wire so I didn't forget it and then turned my attention to the jack plate. First is the scarily large hole you have to bore to fit a standard-sized jack (the Wal is pre-wired with a connector and earth but it's still a standard switchcraft stereo jack): Then marked and drilled the screw fixing holes: Note the round nut. It isn't a rounded nut...it's a round nut with spanner flats machined - an 'everything is a going to be a bit different to the norm' step too far, perhaps? And this, of course, is how you would get your $8000 Les Paul Custom. But far, far too safe for Andyjr1515. So he's going to hit it with a chisel. 'Take that, you lump of wood!' : And then abuse it more with another couple of chisels: Still got to sand, stain and tru-oil the edges, but that's going to be better... Over the weekend, the plan is to get the scratchplate on and see if the 30+ year-old circuit still works