JimBobTTD

Warmoth control plate arrived yesterday. I have now put on both the scratchplate and the control plate. The Fender screws were a great idea - they are a little darker than expected, perhaps even a little "smoked" chrome in their colour. Anyway, they look great. The East plate, as expected, doesn't fit the screw holes left by the Warmoth plate at all. I shall wire the bass and play with the passive sound. Something tells me that the East preamp will find its way back on to the For Sale forum here. Taking it apart and drilling holes in the new plate whilst hoping it will fit seems a little drastic now, in the cold light of day. Next step: wiring. And waiting for Hipshot string retainers to become available...

I have my receiver on my belt. That £14 strap thing would be cool, but I don't have a problem with the clip.

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Levys-MM4-Wireless-Transmitter-Holder/dp/B002OEF3ZW"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Levys-MM4-Wireless...r/dp/B002OEF3ZW[/url] £14!!!

Oh my word...!

[quote name='Wooks79' post='1294902' date='Jul 6 2011, 05:16 PM'] it's bloody lovely, I isn't think anything would peel me away from my Musicman Stingray of almost 12yrs, but this has. Still couldn't do without the Stingray though. Gonna take pics of that soon.[/quote] Go on, then! I find myself returning to this thread a bit. It would be nice to have something else to drool over!

I use the G30 too. I have it on my pedalboard going into an Akai Unibass, AB-Y (for the Unibass), vintage fuzz clone, wah...no problems with effects. I use the G30 in rehearsals for peace of mind (dodgy electrics). I have also gigged it. No problems at all.

As a fan of Ibanez basses, and as an owner of an SR1205, I hunted down an [url="http://ibanezregister.com/Gallery/basses/sr/gal-sr1206.htm"]SR1206[/url]. I put in EMG pickups, an EMG preamp and an ABM bridge. It is a wonder to behold - 16.5mm spacing, perfect balance, excellent feel. I am so used to the SR1205, though, that I have a bit of hard time getting used to the SR1206. Still, I use it now and then and it gets a lot of play at home. While I cannot say that it is the best 6 string bass, I can say that it is the best one I have played.

[quote name='Wooks79' post='1294036' date='Jul 5 2011, 11:08 PM']My Fender 2010 American deluxe jazz bass V (natural)[...][/quote] I'll have one of them with sprinkles, please!

...but unplug your cables (especially from the input) to preserve battery. On most pedals (this might not be the case with the Hartke), the input cable creates the circuit, thus using the battery even when the thing is switched off.

These are the long, thin strip pickups, right? I seem to recall Bartolini doing a set of these, but I might be completely wrong. I had a hell of a time getting replacements for my SR1205 and SR1206. I used EMG40s there, but they fit pretty well.

I had a word with Warmoth. Rob there says that Fender use about three different control plates, which explains why my Fender and the one with the John East Retro do not fit. My options are to buy their control plate or reshape the scratchplate or live with it. I shall buy one of their control plates and drill holes for the East preamp in it. No hurry - I'm still waiting for Hipshot to supply parts shops with their string retainers.

I'm with neepheid, but I'd say that the bass likely has a BQS system with master volume and blend. I have the same circuit (except it's the BQC, which has treble and bass on one concentric pot). I keep treble and bass mostly flat (centre detent), except when I need more oomph. Then I boost the bass slightly. I wind the mid sweep (the bottom part) down to its lowest setting and boost the mid control when I want to cut through a bit better. I have my amp's controls set as I like them and use the bass's active controls for minor adjustments. That's a cracking bass you have and excellent electronics!

As do Ibanez - 16.5mm, if I remember correctly, although perhaps not all of them. Slim necks too.

Nice - thanks. I shall be keeping my 700RB but shall toy with the idea of moving to lighter cabs, especially the 2x12" cabs. No hurry, though. We don't gig that much and our gear is stored in our rehearsal space. But I have a new band on the horizon which should have more gigs, so I shall store this info away and revisit later! Thanks again for the info!

[quote name='Rumple' post='1281051' date='Jun 24 2011, 03:38 PM']I think I'm in luuurv...[/quote] You should be! That's lush!

My Japanese SR705, Korean cheapie SR405 and Korean top-of-the-line-in-its-time SR1205 all have very similar necks.

That Sandberg MM5 is [i]lovely[/i]. The GK rigs are a sight to behold. Have you tried plugging your small GK head into the big GK cabs? How does the sound of the neo cabs differ from the traditional ones? I'm thinking of lightening my GK rig so it is more portable.

I used to use all 24 on my E string in an old band when playing Running Free - I would have been stumped with a bass with fewer frets unless I changed how it was played. Now I use 22 of the 24 but like knowing that my bass will pretty much never hold me back.

Probably the final update before pics of the finished product... I have drilled the holes for the tuners and put them on. Strings are on the bass going through the body. I don't quite know how, but I put the strings on really badly. I cut them too short and so there are not even a full winding on the posts for most of them. The Fender string retainers I had (see pic above) are too big. The narrowest point on their undersides forces the strings off their normal path; the strings take an oval path rather than the dead straight path they should. I shall be putting a couple of Hipshot string retainers on - the 2 string and 3 string ones - and selling the Fender parts on at some point. The bass needs retainers - the strings are almost out of the nut and vibrate very unmusically when played. The Hipshot 3-string seems to be out of stock from US shops with honest postage prices, so I'll have to wait a good while for it. The bass is so nearly finished but unplayable! I'll drill holes for the scratchplate and control plate and wire it up soon.

Bide your time and search Ebay for an old SR1205*. After shipping, duty and VAT it will still be less than a grand, and it will be the best bass you ever play (after you upgrade the electronics). *There are two versions of the old SR1205 - one with a maple body and gold hardware, and the best bass I have ever played, the mahogany body with black hardware. There is also the new version, which has a bolt-on neck; I have not tried (nor seen) the new one.

Excellent thread! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks.

I suppose it all depends how you interpret "among the first". But agreed..."not that it really matters"!

The article states that he was AMONG THE FIRST, not the first. I cannot see a problem with the statement, although I have not heard of the man nor have I heard the Joe Walsh LP mentioned. The record could be the earliest with a strong fretless presence, in which case the whole thing seems fully valid. Of course, if the record is not the earliest [etc]

Ernie Ball all the way for me.