LukeFRC

One month later... With some bass preamps you boost the bass or treble it makes them louder. With this Bartolini on you turn it up and it makes them sound fatter too and adds harmonic content... which is fine, but I was setting it flat and not liking it... my big penny drop moment was that "flat" on the bass seems to be cutting it a little bit. I was all ready to give up and move it on up till then. what I really really like about this bass is the fact that it's got loads of low mids - if I set it right I can get passably into the way that a P bass sits in the mix. - which is amazing. Now I've got the preamp kinda figured the tonal range of the thing is really really nice. What it doesn't have much of is aggressive or cutting high mids and digging in doesn't give you any more of them either. In terms of the 5th string. It feels normal now. BUT for the first time I was playing something fast tonight and I noticed the 35inch scale and I was stretching more, and some bits couldn't move my hands quick enough. That's not anything to doc with having a B string, just small hands!

I am not @Bassassin, I am not even a Padawan of 70s Japanese stuff but it looks so similar to the Cimar I had, even that bloody horrid bridge with the adjustment screws sniffing for blood. I seem to have lost the images from around then though.

maybe that's why he sold it?!

Not mine anymore. Sold it (v cheap) to a mate. He’s still playing it

I can't imagine Belle & Sebastian playing a ACG!

Was going to say that - it looks a lot nicer compared to some of their others

Nate: “guys can you make me this one off for the tour?” ashdown: “sure mate, mind if we make two, we know someone who will deff take the other one” Nate: “ Paul again?” Ashdown: “yep”

Adding mass to one end of the string would be easy to test. Get a metal G clamp and fasten it to your headstock and see if added mass makes any difference. I think though, if we get away from the science side for a bit the better question is what do we prefer and why. I would say there are differences, but how pronounced it is depends on the player, the bass, the rig and so on. The other difference is usabilty. My Sadowsky bridge is easy to change string on, and the G&Lbridge has a grub screw hold everything in place. Thr bridge on my Warwick allows a massive amount of adjustment... it is possible that the use ability will be more important than minute tone differences when choosing a bridge

Surely it would be the opposite way round. a high mass helps the string resonate more effectively and resonates less into the body? A string resonating between two points which transfers less of its vibrations into the points it is resonating between will have more sustain. The heavier and more bolted in the bridge (and stiffer the neck) the more isolated the resonating string is. the lighter the bridge (And more flexible the neck) the more transfers into the body/neck and the more cancellation Of bits of the frequencies there will be. (It’s only going to ever be subtractive, a bridge or body can’t add anything to the vibrations of the string) From a P bass with its flatsawn maple neck and BBOT bridge where the way it interacts with the body gives it the classic attack and decay to a P bass sound. I think I very much prefer the BBOT bridge on a P. the opposite would be a high mass bridge on a neck made of laminates of wood. A peavy T40 is the best example I have tried. Absolutely massive bridge, and super stiff neck - there’s less transfer of resonance and the string resonates freely, the attack and decay is different to a P bass.

It’s a good thread

The bridge reminded me of the 1975 Cimar 1908ash you helped me with the tuner brushing for years back. it's really odd how the body had yellowed but the fretboard hasn't

I think it's a machine that deliberately doesn't wind perfectly ...

Well Ernie Ball would say that wouldn't he! The same factory managed to keep making G&L pickups which are quite well renowned (esp the early ones!) I guess with something like Nordstand, he's done all the R&D and tried lots of things, and genuinely makes really nice sounding pickups. I think they have some kind of mechanised scatter wound so it's similar to a hand wound pickup? I would really interested to compare a boutique pickup, a cheap pickup and a homemade one, all with the same ingredients, and see how different they are

love the colour of that one. (playing's nae bad either)

but this is the bit I don't understand... if you make a cake in a factory in china, and make a cake with the same ingredients in a artisan pickup winder in Brooklyn .... where does the difference come in? I get that a bass is a bit different, there is some difference in wood and how it can be harvested and dried, and there are bits in bass production where someone spending an hour doing a task will give a better result than a factory spending 10 min, but with pickups I'm never sure.

I think there's probably a bit of a difference between the pickups on an entry level Harley Benton and something Boutique. Probably when you get past semi decent the differences are marginal. But then the same is true with bass guitars...

I’ve done some swaps too. Slight differences. High mass nice on jazz. Prefer BBOT on a precision

Vigier?

No I think you can. I think you need to know what you want to play. If you're a precision player and settled on that, or a Jazz or Stingray player or whatever- so that when you see the latest sexy bass that isn't what you have settled on you're happy with your direction. And if you know deeply in your heart and head that a different Jazz bass than your Jazz bass, for example, is just that - different, not better. But I think a better question is "what would you do with the money instead" - secondhand instruments are unlikely to devalue super quickly, the money will gain little interest at the moment (although debts are good to pay off).

of course it is possible. You would probably want to avoid Basschat though. It seems to encourage the "what else would you like" tendancies. I currently have four basses, which is probably two too many. Interestingly I've had unsolicited questions about if I want to see three of the four in the last few weeks... I haven't wanted too!

Not mine, mine is green

Saw @zomnius post from years ago and thought this link would be useful... 1981 slot-pole piece L1000 anyone? https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/g-l-l-1000-1981

I'm half cured of GAS... that said give me some money and... 1- A precision bass. I miss having one. I thought I was over it and then tried the custom shop one they had in PMT. I've a long time half-want for a Bravewood. Ideally a custom colour of some kind. 2- I loved trying @Frank Blank's Rob Allen Mouse bass at a the Midlands bass bash.... I'd have one of them! 3- A random one from years back- Wes Steed used to be on here and make some lovely looking vintage basses. Including a Herbie Flowers replica. I didn't know who Herbie Flowers is, and still don't, but loved the look of that bass... It's from the time before relicing was a big thing too. I think @molan was the last person to own it and then sold it via Bass Gear ... and it's not been seen since. I hope it's got a nice home look the internet found a picture of it!