Kev

A close up:

Always had good experiences with Thomann, in fact I don't recall ever waiting more than 3 business days for a package to arrive

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1421500299' post='2662012'] I dunno. I always thought Rickenbackers sounded EXACTLY like the back end of a scooter! [/quote]

Why every luthier doesn't use this acrylic impregnated technique I'll never know, some of the woods you can use as fingerboards is crazy cool. I guess he could do one with buckeye burl, now that would be something...

Psh, in the guitar section. I want your opinions on these with bass!

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1421529192' post='2662420'] I understand what your saying though, if their 60th anniversary Fender P came up for £250 I'd have a broken keyboard from trying to order it so fast. [/quote]

I think LaBella use that colour silk, doesn't help much I'm afraid!

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1421528202' post='2662400'] A Wal is a distinctive sounding instrument much like a Stingray and while character instruments are great they never really get out from under that signature sound. I read an article I think it was either John Giblin or Percy Jones many years ago and they said that they stopped using Wal because they where being associated with the Wal sound. [/quote] Great comparison, the Stingray is another instrument that just doesn't quite sound the same if not from the EB factory, although that one puzzles me more as the electronics and construction are both comparatively basic! Alan, it is still my intention to commission a build with you and when finances allow I will be giving you a call. The Recurve was an exceptional instrument and the build quality was perfect. If I lived a few hundred miles closer I am fairly sure I would have already paid you a visit and made it happen

I think perhaps what Ubit was really getting at is, ultimately, they are still low end/value instruments and the amount being saved in these deals is great relatively speaking, but perhaps not so great in the bass market as a whole? If we were looking at, say a 75% discount for these "unplayable" instruments, my tail would be wagging if £400 basses were being sold for £100 as deko, as opposed to £100 basses being sold for £25. Have there been any more premium instruments sold in a similar way?

That fretboard is superb, is that really maple?!

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1421525799' post='2662358'] I would have to disagree with it being nothing like a Wal. I played a Wal for many years and have recordings of that Wal the sound of which I have got very close to with the EQ03 and single coil pickups. This however it was a fretless so I am less familiar with what I would regard as a good fretted Wal sound. While possible to get what I would regard as a good Wal sound it does take some work since the EQ03 was never really intended to be a Wal copy so it does take some time. You turned that bass round fairly quickly and the EQ03 has a much broader range than the Wal pre-amp and did take work to refine down to what I was looking for. An example of a bass with FB Humbuckers and an EQ01 pre-amp which to me gets very close to what I define as my favourite Wal tone that of Mick Karn. [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/joe-leitner-mick-karm-medley/"]http://www.acguitars...ck-karm-medley/[/url] The DFM with the much reduced treble does make dailing in a Wal type tone much easier. I have the prototype MC pickups in a fretted bass but I have much less of an opinion as to what constitutes a fretted Wal tone. What the MC pickups do bring is greater clarity across the whole board. Increased articulation again all over the entire range and simply makes the bass better. If it was not for the fact that they cost so much I would use nothing else. I am working on a demo with Colin Cunningham on the Uber ART Recurve 4. Generally I leave him to pick the sounds he likes as per the other vids but with this bass I may pickup out a few tones that I like. Also hope to do a guide to the DFM just working through the range of tones possible. And while I think it will get you as close to a Wal as you can without a Wal (this is my idea of how a Wal sounds and I can pretty much nail it,your idea will be different so I can't comment on that) it does so much more that a Wal can't touch. The idea is as you said to make a bass that sounds great in it's own right if it happens to sound like a Wal as well I can live with that. [/quote] I did turn the bass round quite quickly, and I would add it was nothing to do with my like or dislike of the instrument, however I spent quite a lot of time fiddling with the filters (with help from a few members on here, Talkbass and your good self) and setting the low pass filters as close as my ears allowed to the frequency of my Wal and ab'd extensively, there just seemed to be a difference in voicing between the instruments, with the ACG sounding perhaps more clean and precise and the Wal having a more aggressive, growly vibe. Then again, a bass with that many knobs I may well have had something set wrong! But in my head, I figured that the difference in sound had something to do with the pickups and that is why I am interested to here the MCs. Look forward to that demo!

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1421507437' post='2662077'] I now have my own Multi Coil pickup and the new DFM dual filter pre-amp. Not really interested in a Wal clone to be honest but you can certainly get firmly into Wal territory sound wise. Should point out the DFM and the MC pickups are not for sale outwit my own instruments. [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/basses/electronics/"]http://www.acguitars...es/electronics/[/url] [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/basses/pickups/"]http://www.acguitars...basses/pickups/[/url] I am also on the MKII version of the EQ01 which has just been released. Difference is the reduction of the lowpass filter range to bring it into line with DFM. This brings the filter range more in line with the Wal. We went over board on the EQ03 making a pre-amp which in hind sight had to much of every thing so it was possible if used in the more extreme settings to sound pretty nasty. The reduction in the filter range took top end out of the system because it simply had way to much. [/quote] Are there any videos/sounds samples of the MC pickups with the DFM floating around? Really keen to hear how it sounds! The ACG I briefly had with the standard pickups and EQ03 was a great bass but was some way off the tone of my Wal; really the only thing in common was the style of the preamp, but of course it was never your aim for it to sound like a Wal and sound ace as its own bass. I'm just curious to see how much closer the MC pickups get to that sound.

Awesome!

I'm always sceptical about vintage Fenders in this condition, why has this bass been played so little over the last 58 years? And the price? Lets not go there

Bit of Warwick for the weekend? Here is my newly acquired SSII [attachment=181206:DSC_0498.JPG]

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1421346063' post='2660240'] [size=5][b]Uses[/b] [color=#000000][b]Okoumé is one of the best timber species for plywood[/b]. [/color][/size] [size=5][color=#000000]It is made into blockboard, particle board and veneer,[/color][/size] [size=5][color=#000000]The wood can be used as firewood and is suitable for the production of pulp for papermaking.[/color][/size] [size=5][color=#000000]It is also applied to treat superficial wounds and abscesses, and as a water disinfectant. [/color][/size] [size=5][color=#000000][b]The astringent bark is used to treat diarrhoea[/b].[/color][/size] [/quote] Sold. Why have I been bothering with Warwick's African Hardwoods all these years?

Speechless.

Couldn't find a thread for this gent, so figured I would make one and merge if necessary This bloke became the first person to ever respond to one of my Wanted threads with something I actually wanted! Deal struck for an old Warwick, honest deal and the guy even sent the bass to me without taking any payment, can't ask for more. Love this place Cheers bud!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1421182761' post='2658251'] This confuses me, my basses are 2008 and 2005 Both have 38.9mm nuts and the neck depth front to back is 20mm approx. You sound so very informed and accurate, but mine don't comply. I also don't recall re-carving them with a Stanley knife and if someone else did, they did a real pro job. My basses are: J147007-08 - Fretless H117225-05 - Fretted K110687-04 - Corvette All the necks are the same and the fretted Streamer is a neck-through, so I doubt that's been changed. (before you suggest the necks aren't original) Please explain. I'm looking forward to learning from a real Warwick expert like yourself. [/quote] Forget the nut width and the depth of the neck, this is about the shape of the neck. The U profile was common in the naughties instruments, but there were still inconsistencies. The Limited Edition models, for example, seem to be carved quite slimly, certainly the Dirty Blond thumb I owned felt very different from a Streamer LX I owned from the same year. I must say though, I did not think the neck profile on the standard instruments changed much at all 2000-2009? One thing I would see, the U shape I have found more pronounced/obvious on the five string models.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1421046009' post='2656444'] It's just worth remembering that current/contemporary Warwick necks are as thin as those of any other make. They were thicker only for a short period in the 1990s IIRC. [/quote] Generally, the Warwick "Baseball Bat" neck period was 1999/2000-2009. The handmade eighties and early nineties bass were very slim, mid to late nineties they were all over the place. Post 2009 they went back to being slim again, although not as slim as the vintage models (however that profile is available as a CS option). I have actually never played a fretless Warwick somehow(!), however I'm sure they are great, providing you like the Warwick tone! Very different from an SG, have you tried both? Just choose the year wisely. If you like slim necks, look at pre-1999 and post-2009 models, if you like the thick necks then grab something built in the naughties.