Leaderboard

Here is a great example of a 1976 precision that has been moderately played but looked after like no other vintage precision bass that I have had the pleasure to own and a great player with the A neck and weighs just 3.8 Kg's, just perfect Fret wear is minimal, the body and neck are almost in new condition with no chips or dings, totally original down to the last screw, the guy just loved to look after his gear This belonged to the same guy who's daughter sold the Antigua that I posted here some weeks ago and that sold for near the asking price of £4000 plus

Last night's gig was at the Three Horseshoes in Charlbury. A rather nice pub, but the performance area is barely large enough for the band, no cards are accepted and it's pretty much drinks and crisps only. IIRC the landlord runs it as a hobby. The pub was empty when we started at 8:30 (the rumour was that the 7:30 lecture by the local gardening club had over-run a little) but soon filled up. There were even some Spanish tourists in addition to the locals. As usual, the jazz-adjacent long grooves seemed to go down well. Headroom was a bit of an issue...

I’m not a regular visitor to the NBD posts given that the last new bass (any bass) I bought was a decade ago but last Friday I picked up my new Sandberg VM4 in hardcore aged Marley Blue. I’ve long been a fan of Sandbergs and had had a hankering to get one for a long time. My comment about them was always that I’d never played a Sandberg that I didn’t love. And that’s perfectly true. I tried the bass before Christmas and loved it. I had a work event in Holborn and managed to arrive very early. Getting off the tube at Tottenham Court Road it was only right to kill some time browsing idly around Denmark Street before strolling on to the venue. I saw this bass in the bass basement at Wunjo’s. Having been wondering about whether a P bass pickup plus Music Man humbucker was a good alternative combination the fact that the bass had this layout was interesting. So, of course I asked to have a tinkle on it and was very very taken with the looks and the sound. I’m not a relic fan but this seemed to be a bit more restrained than some of Sandberg’s other hardcore jobs. To me it was really quite good looking and authentically done. No huge bits of finish scraped off in ridiculous places you can’t imagine getting regular wear etc. Having tried it out and reconfirmed all my Sandberg prejudices it got me thinking that I’d work up my ideal config (not that different - different blue, no relic, dots rather than blocks, pearl scratch plate, same neck and pickups) and look into ordering one. I finally got round to doing that in the New Year and, having inquired at a couple of dealers, I discovered just how long the lead times are… yikes! Not quite Wal levels but 18-24 months is a long time. Anyway, having loved this bass when I tried it out before, I decided to check whether it was still available. It was and the price was no different from the configuration that I’d worked out. So that sealed the deal. The specs are as follows… alder body, maple neck with pau ferro fingerboard, P/H pickups and Sandberg 2 band active/passive electronics. The neck is so comfortable - a shallow rounded C which fits in my hand perfectly and a silky smooth matt finish. The sounds is great too and having tried it out at our regular jam night it played so nicely and sounded beautiful. The pickups are really powerful and full sounding and it was a pleasant surprise that switching from active to passive mode doesn’t cause a particularly noticeable drop in volume - which is a bonus and makes the passive mode al the more useable. The strap lock compatible strap buttons are a nice “icing on the cake” kind of bonus too (even though I do prefer Dunlop to Schaller). It’s hard to complain when they come as standard. I’m not someone who names their things (cars, guitars, basses etc) but this one does have a name. It will be unofficially known as “Alfie” after my dad , who passed away last Spring aged 100. I kinda think of it as his last present to me so it’s named after him.

It lives! With many thanks to @KiOgon for troubleshooting the wiring loom, The Spondz and @Andyjr1515 for advice during the process and @AngelDeVille for sorting getting the body to me in the first place. I present the Peavybird It's not quite finished, I've left the knobs off for a moment because I have a suspicion I've got one of the pickups out of phase, certainly the volume drops right off in certain coil combinations. I'll detail the not quite right bits if you want me to 😉

I saw this Guild M-240E Troubadour on the cash converters website when they seemed to be doing a Dutch auction as the price was dropping by £20 every few days. It got to a price where it would have been rude not to press the 'buy now' button, so I did that. It arrived the next day very well wrapped but on unpacking it there was a definite odour. After a wipedown with kitchen roll slightly dampened with febreze and then a piece dampened with water, the guitar is no longer malodourous, but the gigbag is taking a bit longer to destink. I've used approximately half a bottle of febreze so far on it inside and out, and it is currently sitting zipped up with an open tub of bicarbonate of soda inside. It only has a trace of the smell now if I get my nose right up against it but any other tips to get rid of a weird smoky smell from a gigbag will be gratefully received. If it was a tatty old gigbag I'd put it in the bin, but apart from the smell it could pass for brand new, and its a good quality well-padded bag with embroidered Guild logo. The guitar itself it lovely. It is parlour sized and has a solid sitka spruce top and a DeArmond Tone Boss passive soundhole magnetic pickup which sounds surpringly good. There was a bit of rattle on the low E string as the fingerboard was almost dead flat. I had to remove the pickup to get to the truss rod adjustment, but after a tweak and refitting the pickup I now have a little relief in the neck and the guitar plays very well with a good lively feel and bright tone.

This arrived today and is really nice. Think I may have an emergent problem though:

I’m not sure how aware people are of Anaconda basses so I thought I’d share this latest custom to shine some light on these amazing instruments. Andrew is a talented luthier and I had been a fan of his custom basses for several years. Last Summer I approached Andrew about a possible build. My idea was to have a medium-scaled 5 with a vintage aesthetic and a sound inspired by a Ken Smith or Sadowsky Modern. I have always loved that Ken Smith sound but wanted something a little different looks-wise with some additional customisations. Andrew was incredible throughout the process, sharing his knowledge and advising on every single detail of the build. The end result is amazing and I couldn’t be happier. It was never the intention to simply build a Ken Smith clone but rather capture that general sound; but I must admit, it nails that KS sound! If anyone is considering a custom build, I can’t recommend Andrew enough. Based in North London. http://www.anacondabasses.co.uk/ Specs: Model: Anaconda Ultra J5E - Elite Body Core: Swamp Ash Top Wood: 3A Quilted Maple Neck: 3 piece Maple/Purple heart Fingerboard: Ebony Scale length: 32” Pickups - Armstrong ‘Handwound EMG shape with Ken Smith spec Preamp: Glockenklang 3-Band + Mid Passive tone control Bridge: Hipshot A Style –16.5-17mm Tuners: Hipshot Ultralites Lollipop Newtone Strings

Delroy Wilson, the Cool Operator

***People of Wiltshire*** We're delighted to be a very last minute addition to a (magnificent) seven band bill on Saturday afternoon that includes Homer, Street Outlaws, Mike & the Free Spirits, Room 101, Viva and Six O'Clock Circus. It's a charity show for local lad Paul Smith who recently died, to help raise money for his funeral. We're opening the music up at 4pm and will be doing a 45 minute set mixing originals and covers (the best of our 3 main releases). A suggested entry of £5 on the door (less than a quid a band!)

Didn't even manage January. Still, I have a GRBass AT212 as compensation.

New to this forum (Howdy) and I thought I’d share the BL700 I managed to get in December. Hands up if anyone recognises it. Now I need another BL700 to recreate what this one looked like when it was new in 82….

Scott Whitley on YouTube demonstrates Chowny SWB-1 he designed. Well worth a look. I’m absolutely delighted.

The orchestra I play with, Orchestra of Everything, is playing the Main Stage at the Bradford Roots festival at Wiltshire Music Centre tomorrow at 1.15pm: https://www.wiltshiremusic.org.uk/event/bradford-roots-festival-2025/

I had a Fender Bassman which I bought for 40 Euros (about £28 in 2010) in a rural junk shop in France. I don't think they knew what it was as it was on a shelf filled with microwave ovens and electric grills. I had no way of testing it, so I bought it blind and had to wait a month until I got home to try it, but it was perfect!... It was too big & too loud for me and I wasn't playing much bass at that time, so I sold it on and made a small fortune! (which makes a bloody change!). When I was given the B&H speaker cab I was also offered the Bell & Howell 631 projector for free... These 'Film-O-Sound' projectors have a 15w all valve amp built into them, which some people seperate for guitar use... But it's a lot of work, and these projectors and their amps run on American voltage and the one offered to me came without the transformer. I'm a terrible hoarder, but even I couldn't justify having the projector!.... But I also have another small projector cab, it's an all aluminium mid 1950's speaker cab called a Danson 540. The original speaker in the box was dead but being a hoarder, I'd kept hold of an old 8 inch Celestion speaker from a valve radiogram that I'd had in the 80's, which was made in June 1956... The marriage of the two was like it was meant be! It's no wonder that my wife calls me 'Steptoe' The Danson 540 cab now fitted with a 1956 Celestion speaker.

I will give you a list if books later guys and also take a look at that link. I also wanted to say that there's a difference between introduced and built, and not only semantically speaking: that can explain some rare examples, but not a norm...

I acquired a gig bag that absolutely reeked of smoke. I opened it up and left it in the garden for the day in the sunlight. Wrong time of the year unfortunately but it works and all the smell went completely.

It's arrived! And it sounds bloody brilliant. Quite a wide range of sounds with the two slide switches. One very 'present', one dark and doomy, one almost an octave distortion effect and one that is a bit meh. The dual volume instead of blend is unusual but works well.

Blu tack is your friend. (turn and resqueeze)

Tomorrow night, first gig of 2025 for Nine Lives, at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Couple of new songs to go into the set, and a couple of dusty old ones got the cobwebs blown off them too!

I do remember one occasion at a rehearsal where we were playing a big band version of Europe's "Final Countdown." The bass part was crap and the entire arrangement lacked the feel of the original which had quite a driving tempo. So I did something different. The MD was all "what on earth are you playing?" Me: "Exactly what is on the sheet." MD: "No you are not" Me: "I am - I'm just not playing the bass part! I'm playing the guitar part. It's on the sheet" The guitar part is quite gallop-like. We then tried it both ways and my version was preferred, especially as at the time we didn't have a guitarist. My formative years of being obsessed by Steve Harris definitely helped there!

The venue manager loved it, and has promised us some more dates, so we will be back. I think we'll be doing a Friday or Saturday next time though, so there will be a cover charge I think. Rob

Re-arrangements of existing tunes are still covered by copyright / IP rights. They are referred to as Derivative Works. Butchering just means the new arranger didn't know what they are doing, or they got instructions to do it in a simplified way or to suit a particular band make up. Hal Leonard has multiple versions of famous tunes. Sometimes only slightly different to allow for junior / senior players. and then sometimes for a Concert/Jazz band that often has bass/drums/piano and then another version for a Marching Band and so on. Some of them are just crap even with the same publisher. The recommended HL version of "Sir Duke" is awful - the main run is barely there at all. Fortunately the Mossman arrangement (also by HL) is far better and has some excellent jazzy re-arrangements while keeping the normal progression of the song. When you buy sheet music most of the time it comes with the right to play for educational purposes and on your own and in non-profit & charity situations. Just can't make profit with it. In reality they just don't care unless you are recording and then releasing it for money: There are loads of school and community bands on youtube playing Hal Leonard arrangements and they never get taken down.

Sounds like the ink is correct and the handwritten notes about funny tunings can be ignored. Perhaps the previous bass player wanted to practice alongside some of the original records in their original keys?? They really should’ve scrubbed those out before handing the music on to avoid such confusion

I’m Lewis or GrandfatherGroove, I am however only in mid twenties the username just has a nice ring to it. I’ve been playing since I was 9 and got my degree 5 or so years ago in music. I mostly play Soul, Motown and funky sort of stuff and find myself mostly doing session stuff for other musicians (admittedly mostly amateur projects and I never charge, I think a high quality bass recording can really boost a project and I like helping out artists) If I had my say I’d to be part of a jazz trio but I doubt that will ever get off the ground in my area. I’m a bit of a nut as most of us are for pedals and effects, mostly compressors and preamps so if you’d like advice on either I’ve tried most.

Nice one Reggaebass, my kinda ting! I should lie and say I knew but I'll go on the honour system as I had no idea which movie, I had to go hunt it down. I must have seen Cocktail late 80s, over 30 years now! I'll try for the 5 points next time

It's a cab 😁

Well done Si!

Well this is timely given our discussion and the chap demos that lovely pink coral one I posted earlier:

Love the idea, less keen on the outlay! But you know it’ll be a quality product of course…

Agreed, as far as I'm concerned the only thing that a bassist should ever worry about is underkill, nothing worse than seeing some poor sod clipping the hell out of a 100w Carlsbro combo provided by the venue

I don't understand the "overkill" thinking when deciding whether to use 1 or 2 Barefaced 112 cabs. We're not talking a 2 x 412 stack or 810 fridge. For 99% of my gigs I'll use both SC and SM cabs. I see no downsides in using both. IMO 2 sound better than 1, 2 can be heard better on stage and if you got 'em use 'em!

Went to see Sonny Landreth Wednesday. Just him and his guitar, and it was sublime.

I’m happy to be the first to post feedback for @GrandafatherGroove. After a tip-off from @krispn, Lewis contacted me about my wanted ad for a Shift Line Olympic MKIIIS. As Lewis is a new member and needed payment via bank transfer, I asked if he’d be OK to let my feedback speak for me and agree to send me the pedal on a payment-upon-receipt basis, or half up front and half upon receipt. Lewis kindly placed his trust in me and sent me the pedal with the agreement that I’d pay him the full amount upon receipt. I’m happy to report that all went smoothly with the pedal being in excellent condition as described. Pedal was suitably packed and posted quickly. All communication was clear, prompt and friendly. I’d happily recommend dealing with Lewis to the wider Basschat community on the strength of this interaction. Many thanks, Lewis and welcome to Basschat!

I’ll second that. Nice guy with honest and transparent communications.

Do not throw in the towel! Nobody can sight read tabs - they are a crap system for sightreading as a fret number doesn't give any timing information for the note. Trust me - 10 mins a day and you'll be reading Grade 1 in 6 months and those images you have shared are no more difficult than that.

I play in a fairly loud rock band and have 2 supercompacts. I often just use one of them (with a 500w orange amp), and it copes brilliantly. No issues with stage volume alongside a hard hitting drummer. Both together are insanely loud (and look cool!) so it’s good to have that option too. 😀

RIC did that mod for a short time (though the screws were further towards the edges). The new V2 unit is a different thing; it has a separate string anchor block which screws to the body and the chromed end of the tailpiece is just a hollow cover which sits over it. However, I've got one on a Ric and am going to revert it, as the saddles won't adjust low enough to get the action where it should be. So far, every alternative bridge I've tried on a Ric has had its own issues (Badass, Hipshot, Allparts, V2), so I've gone back to the original one.

Voltage and current have to coexist (in resistive circuits) until you add reactive elements... then it's possible to have current with no voltage due to the phase shift between the voltage and the current (for AC) because power is stored as voltage or current in the capacitor or inductor. This is an entirely different topic however.

So what he has sent you is correct for what you will perform then? Being a different key to an original track is common in many covers gigs depending on instruments or vocal ranges.

I don’t assume the expertise of anyone making definitive statements about vintage Fenders. I’m simply interested to know the source of your information, being keen to improve my level of knowledge if you have access to information I don’t. I have all the usual written material so yes, please do share a list, that would be much appreciated. I’m certainly not after an adversarial exchange, quite the reverse, I’m always keen to know more and I don’t consider myself more knowledgeable than anyone else here. The Blasquiz book has a perfunctory half page entry about the first version Jazz Bass where the opening statement is that the first version was introduced in December 1960, when there are neck dates as early as July 1960. He may have met Leo Fender, but his opening statement is wrong. There are multiple examples of pre-December 1960 Jazzes. We are all open to making an error. Re the late 1961 VVT examples, assuming the changeover of concentric-VVT wasn’t the last day of 1961, I don’t recall having seen a 1962 concentric pot model and all the 1961 VVT examples seem to have 1961 dated pots and late 1961 body/neck dates. Do you think the Andy Baxter examples are modified? Seems a lot of trouble to go to in order to reduce the value of your bass. I’d genuinely be very keen for you to share your insight into evidence of modification to the Andy Baxter 61 VVT examples Like everyone lease, I’m keen to be better informed.

@Hellzero I do apologise if my responses here have riled you. That certainly wasn’t my intention, and I’m not looking to cast doubt or shade on your knowledge and experience. I also wasn’t trying to suggest that Andy Baxter, The Gallery, etc., are the absolute, unrefutable authorities on vintage Fender, or to deny the possibility that they might sometimes (perhaps conveniently) fail to mention non-original or altered aspects of some instruments they sell. My interest and confusion is more around unusual examples, like the supposed ’61 VVT I linked, where the assertion is that the year can’t be correct based on the setup. Yet, from my perspective (which I feel is relatively experienced), there’s nothing that seems to suggest it’s incorrect. It’s also one of a handful of examples I’ve come across with the same setup. I’m also aware of the idea that certain features are said not to have appeared until ’62, but where is the definitive proof of this? For instance, is there a photo of the first invoice for decals with numbers and three-hole control plates dated 1st January 1962? As mentioned, I’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts on the example I linked (linked again below), and from your experience, understand what aspects you see as red flags. Respectfully, I’m not trying to refute your experience or act like an authority here, I’m honestly just trying to build on my own knowledge. https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-jazz-bass/products/1961-fender-jazz-bass-see-thru-blonde

Vigier Passion and Arpege have 40mm nuts and the strings don't taper out too much at all on their way the bridge. They're far comfier than a 4001 too and usually quite light.

I think he’s just excited about getting new bass. Ive owned one of these and I really liked it. I know Simon who does the setups and I’ve played a few at his place. Really like then.

This is what I use https://glowtec.co.uk/fret-finders/