Leaderboard

So this came up, and having sold mine a few years back and regretted it, I took the plunge. The 5ers are very rare as I think they were about 50 units out of the total of 300 worldwide. I’d forgotten what a good “P Bass” sound you get from the front pickup, and also how user-friendly the 3 band MEC EQ is with active/passive switching and coil tap on the “twin-jazz” bridge pickup. More importantly for me, the bass, mid, treble sweeps make it easy to get what you want. Oh and like all Dirty Blondes it’s pretty light at 8lb 2oz with no chambering! Condition really good for a 17 year old bass, set up pretty good (only slight tweaks to the “just a nut” and 3d locking bridge needed. Frets and fretboard could do with a good clean but I’ve not done that before ?!?! Looking forward to getting it on stage! Downside is I’m going to have to let my recently acquired Squier P bass go! Look out for the ad soon!

So… I treated myself to this a couple of weeks ago. After an initial wobble where I was tempted to move it on I have decided it is likely a keeper. Super lightweight at just over 3 kg and just about the best neck I have ever had the pleasure of playing. It does quite a nice P bass impression with the neck pickup and a decent Stingray impression with a little bridge pickup rolled in… And as for the wood choices… ♥️♥️

This should help you

I have posted about this before but will repeat. An acoustic bass will not generally keep up with an acoustic guitar unless it has a large body and you play loud. I have a Tenson Jumbo which was easily the loudest instrument in the room in a folk outfit I was part of, but I am quite a heavy hitter. Also has more than held its own around campfires and the like. However... The OP hasn't mentioned anything but home practice, so most of the opinions espoused are pretty much irrelevant. Folks need to chill out a bit and read properly 👍

I have a 1972 bridge on which one of the saddles collapsed. I changed the bridge on the bass and so have a 3 string bridge spare. I would be inclined to keep the 3 remaining screws etc (as spares for one of my other old basses) but I can send you the bridge plate if you want one without the drill holes. I guess you could (with care) swap the screws etc and maintain the string length/height etc. The bass it came off is a bit of a hotch potch of bits (combo of 1968/1972 parts) so I'm not sacrificing a fortune in resale value. Drop me a message if you want me to send it to you.

I just purchased a mint condition Metro Express. Going by the serial number I think it's an early one. I'm a tinkerer and am totally out of control, so I've installed Dunlop straplocks, TI Jazz Flats, Hipshot USA Ultralite tuners including a Detuner, and I dressed the fret ends and rolled the edge of the fingerboard. It weighs 8.3 lbs and plays like a dream. I may install a VTC but don't seem to need it at the moment. I'll see after a few gigs.

Ok, so after some deliberation, I can join in here. To me they’re tools. I have no love for most of my basses…. I like them, but circumstances have always forced me to move them on in the past. I’ve had a bunch of regrets in terms of selling the ones I really loved…. a Kinal MK5, Overwater Progress 5, ‘78 P bass etc…. But this one is different. A recent gift from my ailing mum… AND it’s bloody perfect in all respects. For those reasons it’s the only one I can guarantee is going nowhere: 2013 Reverend Justice

Absolutely correct - apart from the tiny detail that no lawsuit ever took place. Gibson/Norlin issued their notification of intended legal action against Elger Hoshino in June 1977, presumably oblivious to the fact that Ibanez headstock shapes on their Gibson copies had been changed to be non-infringing a year earlier. None of the other US manufacturers took legal action (Fender would have been on iffy ground, having piched their best-known headstock design from Bigsby), and in fact there's an arguable case that Hoshino have more of a claim to Rickenbacker's designs than Rickenbacker themselves... I've heard of most 70s & 80s Japanese brands, but strangely, not 'Fairytale'. Could be an incredibly obscure Japan-only marque, or perhaps the clue's in the name. Edit - Done a quick bit of digging & Fairytale was a brand owned by Swiss dealer Musik Kuhn in Zurich. This comes from a 2006 forum discussion & MIJ knowledge has expanded somewhat since then, but the suggestion was they were either Matsumoku or Fujigen. Moving on, I found this, which is neither: https://www.vintageandrare.com/product/Fairytale-Jazz-Bass-70s-Reissue-1975-Natural-55695#prettyPhoto That's a pretty generic early/mid 70s J copy, and the truss cover shape & 6-bolt plate suggest it's made by Moridaira. Mats & Fgn never used plates like that. Also found a very replica-y looking ES345 copy: https://reverb.com/uk/item/29921483-fairytale-es-345-stereo-ca-1978-japan-walnut More in line with the level of the bass we're discussing, high quality but nothing particularly unusual, tbh. Anyway, I'm bored now, think I'll go out on me bike while it's still sunny.

When you said fancy materials I thought it was going to be aluminium or carbon fibre. Not boring old wood.

I had no money so I thought I might as well spend it. So I went for something a bit different (via Reverb) and splashed out on this Anthracite 4H Bongo, something I'd always wanted to try. First impressions: great finish, super-low action, everything works as it should and the sound, admittedly only through my Vox headphone amp, is satisfyingly different to any other bass I've got. Looking forward to gigging it next weekend and will report back.

This old Greco deserved some attention. The main issue was the bridge had warped/curved over the years causing the E and G to be either too low, or the A and D to be too high. No middle ground, and no way to raise or lower the saddles individually. Standard fair for these old 3 point bridges I found a new bridge for £17. Not the best material but it would do just to see where i was with the Bass. It allowed me to get the job done. I fitted the bridge just to see if it followed the radius of the board, it did, it wasn't warped like the original, so all good. Next step, Adjust the truss rod to have the fretboard as straight as possible and proceed to mark the frets for leveling. Level the frets, recrown and polish. I'll need to invest in a longer leveling beam as the one i used was designed for Guitars. Around 12" long. Need an 18 incher. ooer Matron!😬 sets up great. 1.25 on the G and roughly 1.50 0n the E at the 12th.

This popped up in a thread on the fleabay a few days ago. I put it on watch and deliberated while doing some research. It’s a 70’s model 450B fretless. Going through many old forums it looked to have its original Schaller tuners original engraved picks ups (mighty mites?) and seemed in relatively good nick throughout the finish, knobs, switches and covers. there’s some marks but it is 40+ years old. I took a punt when no other bids dropped and lo and behold it arrived a few days later in a decent box I had a quick noodle and it sounds great, the pickup heights were all over the place but are sorted now and the action seemed a little high but I stripped the neck and there it was, the shim from thick tape plus it seems someone used blobs of something that set to lift the neck. I’ve removed it and the action is fine and it’s playing lovely. I’ll strip it properly the weekend and give it s good clean and service but my punt paid off and apart from having to replace the wooden pickup surrounds (we have a 3d printing shop at work) I’m well chuffed

My Zon Sonus Standard Import is the only one I can't see being sold. Mainly because I could never replace it as they are so rare. I saw a couple on the wall at a now defunct bass specialist store around 2011 (Bass Gear in Twyford - I think @molanmay have had something to do with the place?), played one, loved it but couldn't afford the £1000+ price tag on it. Moved on and forgot about it. And then walked into my local guitar store a few years ago to buy some picks and saw one hanging on the bass wall (amongst the usual stock of a couple of Fenders and Ibanez basses). It was used, mint condition and very keenly priced as they didn't know too much about them. I couldn't believe it. 30 seconds later it was coming home with me..... I've never seen another one in the wild since that first sight back in 2011.

Hello fellow Basschatters, Just a quick message to say that for any of you who are based in London, my band - Harmonic Swamp - is playing at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town, London this coming Friday, 21st April. We're on stage around 9.15pm. Here's some info about the gig: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0waNbkDmY8KYJpx8rBD77wTAMUrrGAk8zPTVm1sxr4ZX6RRsQKaYtd32sYPMnwC65l&id=167859290629456 And some info about the band with some video clips: https://www.facebook.com/harmonicswamp https://instagram.com/harmonicswamp?igshid=ODM2MWFjZDg= If we sound like your thing, you're free and able to come down, it'd great to see you! Cheers Nik

First coat of linseed oil on the neck

Jabba semi-hollow 32" fretless.

Those were the days, and I also had a laminate in the garage. But I’ve only got one bass now.

Praying for inheritance plus you getting bored of it

My home can accommodate two basses, not sure my relationship can!

Implement a talk back mic and start sharing jokes at the expense of those not using IEM. They will soon become paranoid and subject to fomo.

One of the best (and certainly the loudest) 34" acoustic basses I ever used was the Fender Kingman, still use one now occasionally. Also, if you can find one second hand, the Ibanez SRH500.

Still got two builds to complete and the wood for the next build has arrived. Through neck consisting of Purpleheart and Wenge, fretboard is Leadwood (Combretum imberbe) and wings are Cherry. Still got to decide on the shape, but going with 34" Scale and fretless. Can't decide on 4 or 5 string, still got time to work it out. Will fully hand wind a couple of humbuckers for this as well.

https://www.packsend.co.uk/croydon/?utm_source=GMB&utm_medium=GoogleOrganic&utm_campaign=GMBCroydon Try this company. When I visited, they had an 8 foot tall 6 foot wide antique display cabinet, with glass panels, ready to be packed up and sent to the USA. And some paintings from some London auction houses, to be sent to the buyers, in Paris. These were already boxed, in custom made wooden crates. No idea what was in there, but it was 6 feet high and 10 feet wide and a foot deep. They offered to pack up my Arcam Alpha 9 amplifier too - in the end I just purchased two boxes from them. So, worth trying, I would say.

so glad i took the gamble on a cavebear! (NON Human Audio) oh boy! such a great sounding pedal! and the most simple distortion/fuzz on my board!! also got to try out a new addition to the rig my Peavey mk3 400 series! ( due to my gk crapping itself!!! ) that into a 215 is just lovely!

Zoom B1on user, I have a B1 four but prefer the B1on, only use various distortion and eq

Consider restringing a four-string BEAD (bottom four strings of a five-string set). I have a Harley Benton strung like this, it's an interesting change and needed minimal setup, and the whole thing cost me less than £150. It might make it easier to understand what you actually want to do.

Just ordered the Waza-Air Bass from Scan along with @Bunion's excellent case recommendation from Amazon.

As Frank Black said the ideal environment for an acoustic bass is playing on your own at home. As soon as you need to accompany anything more than a single gently strummed guitar you will need amplification. The good news is that the majority of acoustic bass guitars come with pickups fitted already, however tone and feedback issues may mean that you would be better off with a hollow-bodied/semi acoustic bass for "acoustic" ensemble playing, being the best compromise between image and sound.

Simplest way is to gig at 3/4 volume on your bass. Then you can go louder or quieter easily depending on requirement. Other simpler ways are digging in harder and rolling up the tone control. It's not really about being louder, more being more prominent in the mix. More costly alternatives are a mid boost pedal, compressor, boost pedal etc.

I've had a few lefty ATK's, all made in Japan. They were originally made in Korea (from 1994-1995), but when they became succesful production moved to Japan for just a few short years (1996-1998) before moving back to Korea - with the exception of a Prestige model that was short-lived, the ATK1300/1305. And the weirdest oddity of all, the USA-made USATK models - made for Ibanez by Bunker Guitars, with their unique, patented Tension-free Neck, which is basically just a wooden shell around an adjustable steel rod, and a separate headstock bolted to the end. The later ATK series were Indonesian, and are easily recognizable for their lack of a truss rod cover on the headstock, but rather a spokewheel truss rod adjuster at the neck heel. I've owned two ATK300's and one very rare ATK305 (only a scant few lefties ever made). I loved them, but I'm not really into the MM type tone anymore and sold all my basses with MM-style pickups. I kinda wish I had kept the fourstring in this picture, it was a beast and somehow sounded warmer and punchier than the other two ATK's I owned.

Turret tapes for me

proper playing with dynamics. We do that in my 80s band. 😀

@ped do you have an alert set up for that phrase ?

I think the main reason that Terminator was upgraded to the T1000 was due to buckle rash

As it happens I got a Squier PJ that all the plastic fillum was still on, even on the machine heads.. I've been just playing it like that and still haven't stripped any of it off yet. tho I did peel the "get your free online lessons" (or whatever it is) sticker off 😁

Evening All, Hope your Monday was tolerable, only FIVE sleeps to the bash In advance of the event, some admin and the like. LOCATION Date: Saturday 22 April 2023. Time: 10:00 - 16:00 Not compulsory to arrive on time or stay to the end. Location: Radford Care, Prospect Street, Radford, Nottingham, NG7 5QE, Radford Website: https://www.radfordcaregroup.org.uk/prospect-street/ Google Maps@: Radford Care Group Parking: It looks like there are about 14 parking spaces, but as it's only us then we can block each other in if necessary. There is parking opposite in the retail park, how restricted that is I have no idea. If we need that then load in and then move the car. ENTRY Entry Fee: £10 on the door. Cash only, sorry folks. We'll have a register on the door of names so we can keep track. This is partly in case someone's 100kW valve amp overheats and we have to evacuate in the event of a fire, partly because we all have our precious gear there, and partly so we know how much to give to charity at the end Raffle: £1 / ticket. Bashes all work on the "If your ticket is called, pick a prize from the table", as it's just simpler. Charity: Any profits on the day to Nordorf Robbins Music Therapy. We've done this for the last couple of Midlands Bashes: Nordorf Robbins CUNNING PLAN Outline plan for the the day (timing and so on all subject to change, but it's always good to have a plan to start with) 10:00 - 12:30: Rock up, set up, talk about basses, play basses, drink tea, etc etc. 12:30 - 13:00: @Andyjr1515 bass setup lesson for those interested, otherwise continue as above 13:00 - 13:45: Lunch - AMPS OFF. There are some nice rigs coming along, so we may have to watch the noise, but past experience is that it all works out OK - nobody needs to prove their manhood at a bass bash. Amps Off for lunch is an idea I pinched from other bashes. 13:45 - 15:00: Talk about basses, play basses, drink tea, etc etc. 15:00 - 15:15: Photo call and Raffle draw 15:15 onwards: as you were with basses, tea, etc etc 16:00: Everyone clear off, but help clearing up would be good. THINGS TO REMEMBER NOT TO FORGET: You. (Anything else is secondary to be honest) Sense of humour, curiosity, clean hands and good manners. Which of course all bass players have anyway, but I thought I ought to mention them. Extension leads. Or Frank will be cross Basses & amps. Or we'll have to talk about kebabs all day. If your amp has a headphone socket then headphones are a good thing to remember as well. And that's it! If there's anything I've missed then @petecarlton or @Frank Blank will undoubtedly point it out. Look forward to seeing you all there on Saturday. Rich

Hi, We (Bassbros) are a registered business/ physical shop, not sure why you'd think we're out to scam people but understand there's a lot of individuals doing this sort of thing. Just to be clear also, we were contacted by the OP and asked to purchase his bass. Believe me it's more sketchy us paying random people money before receiving a bass! If it's someone we have worked with, etc before it's a different story. There's plenty of feedback to go off on the internet and here. That being said it has to be something both parties are confident with so if you're worried about it then best to leave it or come up in person when you can. Thanks Will BassBros

Stay at the same volume and get the band to play quieter. The old school method.