Kiwi

i suspect we're probably more interested in finding out how much you paid for it. You could always give Bernie Goodfellow a call I guess?

no problem

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='177184' date='Apr 15 2008, 05:25 PM']I was at work, so all I could see in your previous post was a blank square with a red cross in - didn't know if it was a piccie or a film clip or what. My band are supposed to be playing the same venue in the future when they've sorted noise level issues out so I'll be interested to see how the gig goes.[/quote] That's probably happened because your work place has blocked youtube videos.

[quote name='ahpook' post='177207' date='Apr 15 2008, 05:58 PM']as a librarian i can only add this... remember to use correct citation when referencing online discussions[/quote] Please don't forget your punctuation, Mr Librarian. :brow: :brow:

There was a comedian I heard once who was taking the piss out of duran duran because their basslines were all the same. Was it Richard Vranch? He was funnier than Guy Pratt anyway.

Sorry, I don't understand

Woooooooooooooooooooooo!

[quote name='SJA' post='176936' date='Apr 15 2008, 12:07 PM']and here's what it sounded like before the overdub [/quote] LOL Is that avant wheel guard?

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='176885' date='Apr 15 2008, 10:29 AM']hmm, i been wondering about graphite necks for some time now ( ireally wanted a status for a long time but went off the idea for nothing more than the price). however i would be interested to know how one of these necks would sound on a mahogany body with the inherent warmth of the wood with the cut of the graphite, would consider replacing my wenge bubinga neck on my ibby.[/quote] You'd probably need to take a view on the neck pocket dimensions and whether one of the current after market necks would be likely to fit, I'd think.

yeah but they seem to motor along OK

I think the current trends of increasing fragmentation in the industry are likely to continue. I expect to see that the market will becoming increasingly divided as record companies become increasingly risk-shy and look for safer bets (usually established stars). This means they will support new music acts less. New music acts are increasingly having to do their own promotion and generate a fan base to the point where record companies can't afford not to sign them up. In some ways this is because technology like the internet has improved access to markets, but this is a double edged sword as well. Where direct access to markets has improved for new bands, the support of record companies has reduced. Hopefully it means that music will get cheaper to buy in the long run but what isn't clear to me is how easily new acts are going to establish themselves. Where before it happened on the say so of a single A&R person, now its depending more or less peer approval of thousands. On reflection its probably more difficult for new acts to establish themselves than ever because they can't rely on record companies to get them noticed any more. They now have to do it in competition with every other band out there with a myspace page and access to home recording software. The other thing is that this is already having an impact on the demand for session musicians. Because record companies are no longer interested in chucking money at acts to get them established, there is generally less cash being circulated within the industry. Technology has replaced the demand for session musicians. There may come a point where a new technology only available to the record companies becomes in great demand by the public, that would probably stop the current trend. Thats how the industry got started in the first place (recording technology and radio). But so long as the record companies are no longer gate keepers to the market, I think they'll be more likely to stick with the tried and tested acts.

For any of you who weren't watching the BBC's breakfast TV this morning, I present the "Ford Fender Bass" Thats right, a fender bass made from a real fender. LOL There's another bass made from the petrol tank. It all started when a composer called Bill Milbrodt decided to pull his 1982 Honda Accord apart and make musical instruments from the parts. Ford then asked him to do the same with a brand new Ford Focus, and he came up with strings, percussion, brass and woodwind. [url="http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1358314062/bclid1422258516/bctid1456354712"]http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/b...bctid1456354712[/url] [url="http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om06850.html"]http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om06850.html[/url] Apparently the violin is so heavy (see 2:01 in the clip), it can't be easily lifted so it has to be played like a cello.

I had a pickup screw shear off in my Pentabuzz. What a saga! (In fact I had two, come to think of it but I wiggled the second one loose). This screw was too small a diameter to drill into. I ended up heating the sucker up with a super hot soldering iron and charring it loose. Then I drilled the hole out with a larger diameter bit and plugged with PVA'd dowel. It did a great job in the end but I wasn't that comfortable watching smoke coming out of the bass and I was sh*t scared I was going to poke the screw out the back of the bass.

Depends on how long you want to keep the bass for, I guess. If you sand the finish off then the wood will be exposed and will gradually stain from the oils and sweat coming off your fingers. You could refinish it too but you'd have to find someway of keeping the headstock decal intact.

Have you considered the Nemesis range at all?

believe it or not, passive was an option for customers when stingrays were originally first bought out 1976.

[quote name='kevbucket' post='175795' date='Apr 13 2008, 07:19 PM']it's identical to your's with the 1 , what does that mean ?? what year ? do we have special cutlass's or what !!!! tell me mine's special !!! [/quote] Hehe, no mate. The special ones are the early ones that don't have the 1. These models were made before they decided to do Cutlass II's. I remember playing one in NZ a LONG time ago (like 20 odd years), wish I knew where it was. Probably stuck under someone's bed now. I'd love to have find someone who owns one, just to see what state the neck is in. Speaking of which, is the neck on yours dead straight? Press the E string down at the first fret and then at the 21st fret. I'd love to know if there's any gap and how wide it is. BTW, the nut on mine is made from bone, not brass.

BTW, I'm not Modulus bashing, I'm making the point that I don't think ANY current manufacturer has yet managed to exploit the full potential of these necks to deliver the velvet glove experience. All that firmness in the mids, the growl and lows without the upper end rawness. The Status Stealth and the older graphite necked Vigier Passions are closest though But anyway, thats getting a bit OT. Let me rattle the cage of the guys on the status forum and Steve Lawson to see if they have anything to add.

[quote name='fullrangebass' post='175417' date='Apr 12 2008, 08:54 PM']I think that a bubinga bodied graphite necked bass would sound too "spunky".[/quote] Wots spunky?! My Smith 6 had a walnut body and tbh, my Smith 5 with a mahogany body sounded growlier and warmer. I've owned a few instruments with large proportions of mahogany in them (and played both MacDaddy's old Shuker and Urb's Chapman fretless) and they've all sounded warm and growly. If there was some way of pairing that to a graphite neck I think I'd probably be content.

[quote name='SMART' post='175114' date='Apr 12 2008, 12:25 PM']It's interesting to read your comments above regarding Modulus necks. Can you shed any further light on the background to such occurrences as in the last 10 years of working closely with Modulus as their exclusive UK distributor we have never experienced this with any of our customers here in the UK and Europe. Granadillo has always been an option that customers have opted for more for aesthethic reasons that anything else as we also have not experienced any issues with the composite fingerboards either. We have many Quantum and Flea instrument owners with the standard Modulus composite fingerboard who are and have been extremely chuffed at the quality and sonic performance of their necks. The most usual feedback we receive is that the intonation produced by a Modulus neck is nothing short of superb and almost synthesizer like in its precision and definition.[/quote] Hi Ian I'm sure many your customers ARE satisfied, I'd imagine a lot of what they hear on stage has been affected to a greater or lesser degree by their choice of backline and their expectations. This '97 (IIRC) fretless had a neck shaped like a banana I'm sorry to say. Its an old one so no truss rod either. It had a medium weight alder body and actually sounded quite nice with the Bartolini electronics - the first time I've ever felt Bartolini's actually made a bass sound better! This is the '94 fretted version It had a good neck although it lacked warmth because the alder body was too light and had an EMG pick up. It sounded quite nice through an SWR amp too but I didn't actually discover that until I'd taken the bass into the shop to sell on commission . On reflection, I wish I'd tried an Aguilar OBP-1 preamp with it, I think it would have enhanced and shaped the natural sound of the bass nicely. The '96 Sonic Hammer I imported had an ash body and was fearsome. Sounded better with Seymore Duncan pickup and pre than the Bartolini pick up it came with though. It made carnal and filthy love to any amp powered by valves and had a neck which was as straight as an arrow. Its now the stuff of Basschat legend I sold it because it was too aggressive for the music I played but it did set a standard of sorts. Hopefully Modulus will have sorted the phenolic recipe by now, I know that Status have. Still, in my experience wooden fingerboards do have less clatter and on some phenolic necks too but not all by any means. I wouldn't say the analogy of being like a synth applies in my own experience, the characteristic Modulus sound that I recognise from both my own instruments and also listening to bands like the Dave Matthews Band is one which lacks lower mid grunt on the E and A strings (despite the B string sending the power indicator on my multiplug off the scale) but has plenty of growl. However the character I've described varies according to the kind of wood used in the body (also, in my experience of owning about 8 graphite necked instruments and having played countless more including Vigier, Status, Steinberger, Zon and Basslab). [quote name='fullrangebass' post='175401' date='Apr 12 2008, 08:11 PM']The method of making the necks is different between the two companies.[/quote] This is interesting. Care to shed any more light on these differences? I have an idea of how the necks on my own basses were made and I've been to see Rob Green and how the latest batch of Status necks are made (the ones with the foam core). They seem pretty similar to me. [quote name='fullrangebass' post='175401' date='Apr 12 2008, 08:11 PM']The neck part (contribution) can only be judged when coupled with a body[/quote] I couldn't agree more, as you can probably guess from my comment earlier in this post. When coupled to a graphite neck, I've found the tonal characteristics of the body become that much more influential on the overall basic sound of the instrument. FWIW, I don't think enough manufacturers are exploring other wood options apart from the standard ash which can tend to sound too brittle to my ears. I wouldn't mind seeing someone trialling a graphite necked bass with a body from a soft or heavy sounding wood like bubinga. Something that tames the highs and preserves/enhances the lows and mids a bit more. In short I guess I've been a bit frustrated in one way or another with pretty much every graphite necked bass I've ever played, with the exception of the '79 Alembic I own (which has an ebony fingerboard). If it hasn't been the necks bowing then the bass concerned has had a sterile sound. If my Cutlass basses had dead straight necks and came in a 5 string version I'd be very content. However that's a saga in itself where EB/MM are concerned, its not like they haven't been petitioned already. I really wish someone would produce an affordable graphite necked 5 string bass that sounded warm and had a dead straight straight neck! (Something headless, wide bodied and lightweight too, while I'm day dreaming away here).

Ummm if anyone NEEDS some... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4618"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4618[/url]

i left my Jaydee on the floor, being too afraid to leave it up against a chair in case it slid over... ...and promptly tripped over the lead I'd left in it ripping the jack socket out of the front of the bass plus a healthy chunk of wood. I turned the air blue with my ranting and self contempt for half an hour afterwards.

Do you mean the string mutes? Yes, all three bridges have mutes on them I usually keep them wound down tightly. The Cutlass II still has the original sponge bits on although they're a bit stiff now. They were gooey, sticky black lumps on the other two.