neepheid

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1376077501' post='2169579'] Great to see this bass being played. (if its the one I think it is) From the scrap heap to the stage.....awesome. [/quote] It is the one you think it is, and while it's my least expensive bass (hence why it came to the festival with me - risk management and all that) I'm happy to gig it any time and it stands toe to toe with any bass in my collection. It always puts a smile on my face when I think of how it was when I got it and how it is today.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1376041754' post='2168864'] Indeed they do. However for some reason it appears to be almost impossible to get hold of at the moment. [/quote] Can one not obtain one from them directly? Either that or have a bellyache at them about how hard they are to find. I did that once to amazing effect back in my heavier computer geek days - I emailed AMD (or more specifically a particular person at AMD by guessing their email address) to complain that I couldn't find a K6-III processor anywhere for love or money. They sent me a 450MHz one FOC. You could have knocked me down with a feather. I'm not saying you'll get a free gig bag out of it, but at least you will have brought supply issues to their attention.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1375441258' post='2161330'] Why you'd want to put an item worth £700 in a bag less that £60 i do not know. There's never good reason to skimp on protection. [/quote] "This place has become stale. Same old bitter rubbish."? To be fair you came across a little sanctimonious and "holier-than-thou" when I read it so I'm not surprised that it got up a nose or two. It's fine to have an opinion, but it's not cool to ram it down throats like it's the law. What does it matter to you if someone buys a cheap gig bag and their bass gets damaged? At the moment my Epiphone Jack Casady is in a rather thin gig bag as it's the only one I could lay my hands on that fit it. I do not like hard cases because they are utterly inappropriate for my needs - I don't tour, I don't chuck stuff in the back of a van, I tend to have my own transport to gigs and I walk often to local gigs (and stagger home afterwards ). I suppose you think I'm stupid. Good for you. But it's my bass, my risk to take and I've found on average that people don't like being made to feel or seem stupid in public. I'm sure you know this too, so are you really surprised that people got a bit snotty about it? My actual answer to this I think has been covered already - don't Warwick manufacture (or have manufactured for them) a suitable range of products in their Rockbag/Rockcase line?

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1375960066' post='2167862'] I did think that but if you look at the technical drawing it just shows 5 screwholes at the back? [/quote] If it's like the techy drawing then it will hopefully be fine. But which one is the actual bridge that you would receive?...

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1375954185' post='2167760'] Hi Guys can anyone tell me if this will fit onto a Squire VMJ without any drilling etc [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stellah-BB-02-Guitar-Fixed-Bridge/dp/B008JFTL6W"]http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/B008JFTL6W[/url] Looked at this as it gets good reviews and is cheap thanks in advance [/quote] Again, you've got the extra screws at the front of the bridge plate. Will therefore need drilling.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1375955757' post='2167787'] I say it because there are loads of basses that I like the look of, but can't entertain owning because they don't make a 5-string version. [/quote] I know why you say it, I'm just having a chuckle at the frequency of it. Must be frustrating though, you make it seem almost as bad as being a lefty.

It's very easy to get bass fatigue listening to all of these in one go. Rapidly flicking between neck pickups on the various Jazz basses resulted in me concluding that they all sound much and such the same, in that they have the same characteristics (which you would expect) but have subtle differences that to be honest got lost on me after a while because they're also so similar. Surprised by the variance in bass and overall output of the various bridge pickups, even with the different positioning taken into account - the MIM one sounding particularly anaemic to my ears. Honestly I have to say that I think my favourite out of all that was the Yamaha neck pickup. A Goldilocks tone for me, not too bassy, not too middy, not too trebly - just riiiiiiiight and therefore a great place to start when EQing. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I've done this sort of thing before on request for particular basses and I know how tiring and monotonous it can get. Cheers!

So, are we all agreed that the bridge is in the right place and the actual beef is with the design of the bridge itself, that being the ball ends of the strings are too close to the saddles once intonated (which incidentally is a beef I share, amongst others regarding this bridge). Gibson, despite all their idiosyncrasies and foibles I'm sure are well aware of the scale length of an instrument and where to put a bridge. So, where's the parallel BBOT thread and spurious accusations of Fender incompetence? There are enough BBOT detractors out there, are they just not as organised or something? For what it's worth, and despite my stirring the pot above, I think the BBOT is perfectly reasonable, functional bridge. I have BBOT-a-likes on my two Yamaha BBs and I feel no desire to change 'em.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1375912633' post='2167480'] If there was a 5-string of either of these I could be persuaded to actually buy a Fender bass! [/quote] If I had a quid for every time you start a sentence with a variant of "if it had 5 strings"...

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1375904519' post='2167296'] Thanks for that [/quote] Sorry, it completely slipped my mind. The switch I linked has 4 terminals, 3 in a row and one on the edge of the case. I've labelled them like so: 1 = neck pickup hot 2 = output from switch (goes to volume pot) 3 = bridge pickup ground 4 = neck pickup ground AND bridge pickup hot Hope that helps, and sorry for not doing this when I said I would.

Pics found so far: Starcaster bass: Coronado bass:

Me at Belladrum festival: Picture courtesy Derek Mair

Also, I hope they don't ruin it with a skinny, spindly Jazz neck. Keep it beefy!

I'm sorry. Let's just all go "yay", because as far as I'm concerned this is the most interesting news ever to come forth from Fenderland in quite some time (possibly ever).

[quote name='mart' timestamp='1375885755' post='2166943'] Isn't the Pawn Shop strapline "guitars that never were but should have been"? Sounds like the Starcaster bass is a perfect fit for that slogan. Looks pretty cool, and in line with the slightly more creative things that Fender are doing these days. Good news. [/quote] But the Starcaster bass was intended to be, and did exist in prototype form, so it's not that it never was, just that it never got out Ach, this is pedantry. It doesn't really matter about the semantics, just excited to see something that I never thought I would see.

I haven't sold anything on eBay since 2008. I think I gave up when they removed the ability for sellers to leave negative feedback.

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1375825743' post='2166299'] Makes sense with all the pawn shop series that these would get an airing. To damn them with faint praise, I'm interested but wouldn't buy one [/quote] I don't think the Starcaster bass qualifies as part of the Pawn Shop strategy - it technically never existed (beyond something like 4 prototypes) and so in practice is a brand new model as far as Joe Public is concerned.

Dunno if this is a windup or not, but if it's real... very interesting. Apologies if this has been covered already, had a quick search first. [url="http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Effects-Pedals-Multi-Effects-and/Fender-teases-a-new-Starcaster-reissue/m-p/35763765"]http://www.harmonyce...ue/m-p/35763765[/url] A model that never made it past prototype, and a long lost one. And two Fenders that most certainly would give me GAS, especially the Starcaster.

[quote name='Samashton12' timestamp='1375800337' post='2165808'] Tiny turn in which direction, neepheid? [/quote] Left (anti-clockwise) to loosen - adds relief (effectively - it actually allows the string tension to pull more relief into the neck) Right (clockwise) to tighten - reduces relief Try a quarter turn at a time, although your situation sounds like it'll need more than that. Make the turn, tune up and then check the relief by fretting the E string at the first fret and pressing it down at the last fret. You should observe a tiny gap between the top of the frets and the string in the middle of the neck around fret 9 or so. If there's no gap, there's more loosening to do. Gap doesn't need to be big, as long as there is one because strings need room to vibrate. Loosening is the less dangerous way to go. You go too far then all that will happen is you'll end up with too much relief. Tighten too much and well, you can guess what's going to happen. Once you adjust this you may find you will be able to (or indeed have to) lower your bridge to achieve the same action as before.

Choke has arrived.

[quote name='Samashton12' timestamp='1375703391' post='2164409'] Hey Guys, Ever since i got my Thunderbird in December its buzzed from the 1st to 5th fret, the action is perfect, but the bridge and bridge pickup are pretty high It never really used to bother me but after playing my friends Tokai i envy the non-buzz on his lower frets Any details on how to rectify this? I'm new to the whole set up thing, Thanks, Sam [/quote] Sounds like you need more relief in the neck. This means you need to slacken off the truss rod. Carefully.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1375705564' post='2164464'] Did it affect the flavour of the cola though? [/quote] Made it better

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1375706114' post='2164475'] With the cola soak, do you just rinse it off with water afterwards? I've got a Marlin Strat copy I'm supposed to be cleaning up for a mate, most of the hardware could do with cleaning up. [/quote] Yes, rinse and dry thoroughly. I used diet cola as I didn't think sticky sugar was a good idea.

[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1375705401' post='2164461'] That looks good. How long did you bathe it for? [/quote] A few hours. I guess if it hasn't cleaned up enough you could keep going for longer, maybe change the coke every hour or so. I have no idea if that makes a difference.

I haven't used them, seen similar setup on individual headless bridges that's all. Can't comment on their effectiveness, sorry.