mcnach

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1483624042' post='3208752'] The point against a shim is that it's simply a bodge to make up for poor manufacturing standards. If you pay for good standards you should get good standards. Other makers manage to do it. [/quote] You'd be surprised... even Warwick used them As for it being a bodge... we'll have to disagree. It may not seem that elegant at first sight, but it's highly effective with no drawbacks. Yes, you may argue that theoretically the contact neck/body is reduced etc etc. But I'm only interested in what works or doesn't work *in use*. And shims work. No question about it. edit: but then I also liked the micro-tilt mechanism on 3-bolt fenders (and some 4-bolt too, as my old Strat has that). It gave me all the adjustability I wanted and I never saw any problem -as long as the neck pocket is tight.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1483557714' post='3208261'] My 5-string currently has a low B. It's going in for some work and a set up so this would be the opportunity to swtich to high C. What do other five-stringers do and any thoughts on the pro's and cons of the two options? Cheers Steve [/quote] I guess it depends on whether you will use more the higher or the lower range. I would not really use the extra higher notes, and I use more the lower range than the higher, so I'd find more useful the ability to move horizontally towards the low end (B string) than towards the high (C string). So that means BEADG for me. If you do a lot of melodic soloing etc you might prefer the C. If you're unsure as to which one... maybe you need a 6 string?

If it's new from a shop, I'd get them to fix it. Unless I really liked the bass. All it likely needs is a tiny tiny shim. I notice some here think that's a problem, but I disagree. It's a very effective and common way to fine tune the neck angle on mass-produced bolt-on neck instruments. Many include a shim from factory, which you only find out when you remove the neck, and I'm not talking about budget instruments exactly. So... if that were my bass and all I didn't like was that, I'd keep it and address it myself. You can get the shop to take care of it but either you'll have to wait, or you'll have to wait AND receive a new instrument which you may like more or less than this one you have in your hands: so if I really like it, I'd keep it... and depending on how impatient I feel I'd either do it myself or talk the shop into sorting it out.

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1483620538' post='3208710'] I was looking at these and contacted one of the shops. The say the supply came from Fender. Here's a pic of the s/n that they sent me: [attachment=235307:$_12.jpg] The prefix and everything looks right, but I can't find a reliable source to say whether the first two digits refer to the yob as the shop is saying it's 2015 (which I thought was after they were discontinued). Can anybody shed any further light? [/quote] The first two numbers indicate the year indeed. That's a 2011. edit: I found I had a picture of my 2014 Matt Freeman made in the same factory, as an example:

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1483537780' post='3208009'] You meantion a blend control... in the middle position is it both pickups at 50% or both pickups at 100% (mn type I think it's called) that will make a difference to the sound of it [/quote] I have noooo idea. Chris McIntyre did the initial conversion for me and when he asked "hey, how about a blend rather than VVT configuration?" I said "hmmm, sure!". That's as far as that conversation went and I have no idea what kind of pot was used. I didn't even know there were different kinds! I do like the result now, 'though.

as the original poster, I thought I'd add that... I got tired of them Nice feel and sound, but... I missed my usual stainless steel roundwound sound. So after I sold the ATK300 I haven't bothered buying those strings again. They do have their uses and I'll keep them in mind, but I personally prefer the good old roundwound stainless steel string after they lose their initial OTT brightness.

[quote name='krispn' timestamp='1483509985' post='3207713'] Surely this bass should be renamed the Hack Freeman JJ [/quote] ha! I had thought of Huge Hackman JJ as it's been hacked at so much

wow!

[quote name='fiatcoupe432' timestamp='1483345673' post='3206292'] Hi all , after 12 years living in the uk me my wife and our 2 yo son we thinking of relocating to Wroclaw in Poland . I'm italian and my wife is polish but we have been living in uk since 2005. Now...... I love the uk and I have a very good job , not good money but a job everyone would def love. I work on one of the most amazing place in uk Bantham . I work 6 month of the year full time 3 month only 2 days a week (weather permitting ) and 3 month off of course paid all year around around £18000 a year before tax . This job give me lots of time on concentrating on music . In 2013 me and my band realised our first album which sold over 80000 copies been voted iTunes best of 2013 , let's say I had axing experience and lucky to achieved this , played amazing shows tour America couple of times etc. then lots happened we took 2 years break and started writing again . However this is the part where my wife decided to move and i do feel a bit i need to supported me in this as she supported me in the last 5 years and i also could do with a scenery change btw we both 34 . Any polish people here know about Poland music scene?is it easy to find job , i speak English Italian Spanish a bit of French and still learning polish.I be been in Wroclaw lot of times and amaze me every time. Thanks for your advice [/quote] Sorry, I have nothing helpful to add... but my girlfriend is from Wroclaw and I love the place too. I never miss a visit (or five) to Spiz everytime I'm there Make sure you post here when you're settled in Wroclaw and gigging there, and I'll come and say hi

Sorry I cannot help... lovely basslines on that album 'though. Voulez Vous, the album and the song, are favourites of mine.

Oh no! I never met him personally, and my only contact with him was a few emails when I wanted to order a pair of TKS S112 in blue tolex... it was close to Xmas and he was so helpful and generally nice... Way too young to go.

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1483314374' post='3206189'] That configuration has a really great look to it. Nicely proportioned - which given how far the pickup has moved is a real surprise. Nice! [/quote] Thanks! I thought it might look a bit off, but it seems it works alright visually. I think having both pickups equidistant from the pickguard edge makes it look balanced.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1483306652' post='3206138'] Next mod - triple pickups! [/quote] Ha ha! no, I think I'm done with this one now although it could be cool to have three pickups and a 5-way pickup switch like a Stratocaster where you can also get the two outer pickups on, for 'Jazz' sounds... Maybe next Xmas if I spend too much time at home without anything else to do

[quote name='Fisheth' timestamp='1483302310' post='3206081'] Nice one, I'll have to hear you play it sometime! [/quote] If we play near you I'll let you know! I'm really liking it, so much so that I'm thinking I should have maybe left this one as 'Jazz' and have the Maruszczyk be the JJ... ah well! I do want a 'nice' Jazz, which the Maruszczyk will surely be.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1483282457' post='3205873'] I can understand the guitarist wanting more top end but unless you are slap-happy, as a bassist I'd imagine it isn't such a problem. Let us know what you think? I like the idea that you aren't injecting sound into your ear with those. Additionally, taking the eardrum out of the process altogether might turn out to be advantageous in my case. [/quote] Well, I want to hear everything, not just myself ;)It's an issue for everyone in the band, not just the guitarist, if it means he ends up turning his amp or his monitor higher. Las gig was at a place with a very bad stage, very boomy box type of stage... I turn down the low end in my bass a lot onstage and we generally avoid a lot of bass frequencies onstage or everything becomes mush. If you have high volume onstage there you have the same effect. It's just not ideal. As for hearing the bass better... I don't know about you but what I need to hear from my bass is something that gives me a good pitch recognition, not masses of low end. Pitch recognition is all on the midrange. It may sound bassier overall, but if the pitch recognition is not improved...

Two gigs now with the bass in this configuration... and it's a winner. I ended up just leaving the two pickups on (parallel) and it has enough oomph and enough definition and sounds very good. A very different sound from a Stingray or a Jazz. Nice slap tone and fingerstyle. Success! It'll stay as it is

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1483194099' post='3205346'] [media]http://youtu.be/3vmPwZT-9zY[/media] [/quote] After Cato's message, that's the song I had in my mind, yes... thank you soooo much

Flare earplugs... my guitarist last night admitted he's not liking them after the initial honeymoon period. He says he cannot hear his guitar as clearly as he needs and that's the reason for extra loud guitar in his monitors, which is starting to throw us off.. Apparently they are very comfy, that's true... and they look great.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1483120231' post='3204882'] The P-Sting? Sounds a bit like an STD. [/quote] I hate you! Now I can't 'unsee' that... I was going to go with P-Ray but I didn't want it to be mistaken with a religious message. I'll do my best to forget what you said... but the bass is already ruined for me

As I said, I didn't want a Fender logo or anything like it, but I didn't want an empty headstock so I had to come up with something. I'm no graphic designer and my ability is very limited, so I just made something very simple and sent it away: At least it indicates its provenance, and what it tries to be Not the prettiest logo but it'll do.

[u][size=5][b]Background:[/b][/size][/u] I bought a Matt Freeman precision a while ago, as backup to my Fender Classic 50s, which was my 'goto' bass for a while. It was a lovely bass. It looked like this: I played a few gigs with it, but lovely as this bass is, its role as 'backup' was not really required, as I soon had my Maruszczyk Jake P/JJ which was a fine bass indeed and between the Classic 50 and the Jake I really didn't need three Precisions. However, I liked the idea of a Jazz with a Precision type neck. A lot. It led to my briefly owning a Roadworn Jazz with a RW series maple Precision neck... but I really prefer the smaller Precision body. So I converted the Matt Freeman to Jazz. There's a thread about it here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/289660-not-quite-nbd-matt-freeman-precision-to-jazz-conversion/page__hl__matt%20freeman"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/289660-not-quite-nbd-matt-freeman-precision-to-jazz-conversion/page__hl__matt%20freeman[/url] It essentially ended up looking like this: I later changed those Nordstrand NJ4SE pickups for a set of my favourite DiMarzio Area J with cream covers, and since I was at it I put cream coloured knobs too: I used the bass in this configuration in most of my gigs in the past couple of months or so. For some reason it does not have that Jazz tone. I'm very familiar with those pickups, and they were placed at the correct positions... I checked and double checked... but it sounds nothing like my Squier Jazz with Area J pickups. The bridge pickup was very nice, the neck was also very very nice, but both together had a weird resonance that was not very Jazzy... I can't understand it. Still, it had a lovely spot where I turned the blend knob slightly to the bridge, just where it changes from the "two pickups full on" but without getting to bridge alone sound... and luckily that position was achieved by aligning the knob marker to one of the pickguard screws, so I could get the sound easily everytime. It was lovely. But I have a Maruszczyk Jake with Jazz configuration coming soon and I have time in my hands right now... so I decided to go for something different here. [size=5][u][b]Episode IV: A new hope[/b][/u][/size] I had a new pickguard made by SIMS and I'd move the neck pickup closer towards the bridge. My experiments with an old OLP suggested this could be quite cool. It may get a bit of a Stingray-ish vibe, but pretty distinct from it, and a very focussed type of sound. Let's see. The mod would also be quickly reversible in under 10 minutes: loosen strings, swap pickguard, move pickup, screw back on and tighten strings. Ok, so I removed the pickguard to reveal the routing underneath: I placed the new pickguard on top so that I could mark the new pickup position and know where to hack away... and I mean hack, I'm not a subtle wood worker A lot of the space needed was already empty as the original P pickup routing overlapped with the new position. I started chiselling softly with a wide chisel to mark the boundary. I used masking tape to help me avoid chipping the finish too much (note: use VERY SHARP chisels!!! mine weren't that sharp anymore and I didn't do great). I marked also the edge of the pickguard to make sure I don't make the hole too big: And with the help of two smaller chisels, I started to carefully remove wood... Ok, it is not a very elegant job, but I didn't remove much more wood than needed and the bottom was reasonably flat and level with the existing route... that would do! Time to reassemble it! And the Matt Freeman JJ LIVES!!!! Sounds? Well, the neck pickup in its new location has a lot of midrange bark that reminds me of a Precision, but it does not sound like a Precision... In its original location it sounded fat and was reminiscent of a P, here the sound is a lot more define, a lot less bottom end, but that Precision midrange 'bark' is there... it's a different sound. Panning between the two pickups is almost like having a wide peak mid-range semiparametric EQ control. Both pickups sound very different, but they're both two flavours of the same type of sound, if that makes any sense... With both pickups on there's a slight mid scoop, but nothing like on a Jazz. I found a sweet spot where I turn the pan slightly towards the neck pickup, where I get a very defined tight bass sound with just enough low end and the right amount of mids... It doesn't sound like anything else. Does it have anything in common with a Stingray? The line between the pickups is pretty much where the middle of a Stingray pickup would be, just a fraction higher towards the neck, and the pickups are wired in parallel, as the two coils in a Stingray. The area covered is a bit wider than that covered by a Stingray pickup. So does it remind me of a Stingray? Absolutely not. Nothing like it whatsoever. I'm surprised just how different it is. When I played in the OLP I could get sounds that had some 'Stingray spirit' in them, but this doesn't. It's true I never placed the two coils so far apart as in this example. Well, I put new steel strings on, and I'll be using this bass at tonight's gig. Let's see how it behaves live!

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1482948475' post='3203713'] The sellers store name was louyuan yan, but his store is not active anymore. [/quote] thank you. I chose my seller based on the feedback and reviews. The only one thing that made me a bit nervous was that there were a couple of reports of damage in transit... but the seller seemed to act quite fast to correct the issue either through replacement or repair/parts... we'll see