Wolverinebass

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1321201' date='Jul 30 2011, 11:53 AM']I feel the same way when people want more for a bass thats had a setup to be honest, £30 on a setup for you means nothing to me and if the bass was in such an unplayable state that only a pro could get it back to where I could adjust it to my taste then whats been going on with it in the first place?[/quote] Now that is so true. "It's been set up professionally" screams the ad or advertiser. Yeah, but I bet you don't like the action as low as I do, so I'll still have to spend £30 to get it lowered down to nothing anyway. How is that a negotiating point? The advertiser might as well say, "It's been set up in a way that will make it very different from what you ideally would want. Hope that's okay for you to pay for this privelige then pay for it again to get the bass set up as you would like." Good luck mate and dare I say it, jog on.

Truth be told, I'm not sure if I really like this or utterly hate it. Bits of it are great, bits of it, less so. This is so far removed from what I do I don't know what to say about it. Do I like it because it's unlike me or hate it for the same reason? This is the Marmite reaction which I'm sure lots of folk who have watched it have thought in some way or other. It certainly can't be said that he's talentless or can't play "properly" whatever that means....

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='897215' date='Jul 17 2010, 12:26 PM']IME shortscales ( 30" ) are easier to manoeuvre but the sound is less defined.[/quote] Depends on what price bracket you're talking about though I would agree on passive shortscales being a bit, well, wooly as I learned on one. I wouldn't say my Alembic Stanley Clarke has a "less defined" sound than say a 34" Jazz bass for example. It can literally rip your face off it's got so much upper mids and treble. Just my opinion though.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1317867' date='Jul 27 2011, 01:16 AM']No, look for straight grain and lack of cracks & defects for necks. Anything will work for bodies. Here's a bass I made from a local wood store's supplies. The maple was less than $3 a board foot. [/quote] Would you accept a fiver for this bass if the wood was so cheap?!! Just kidding. That is a seriously nice looking bass. Top gear mate!!

As someone who's got one, I'm probably going to come across as trying to justify my purchase, but here goes. Naturally, I'm biased, but I'll try and be reasonably objective. Is that bass worth $55K? Er, no. It's got no providence and frankly hasn't been well maintained. The fact that the pickup screws and bridge are all rusted up to hell and back bears this out. Is it ugly? Depends on taste. Fair enough if you think so. I find single cut basses look a bit silly, but I've never played one and they probably sound great. Is it a design disaster? No. The upper wing (if you wear it at the right height) provides a nice ledge for putting your elbow on which relaxes your wrist. Secondly, it weighs nothing. Silddx, I invite you to pop round to mine to try it if you want, you might change your mind. Now for the bad points. Well, the points actually at the bottom. Hockey stick headstock can be a bit dangerous to say the least. It's quite difficult to get a passive type tone out of it, but hey, that's not why you'd buy this is it? It's really ludicrously long what with the headstock. That's probably the main downside. I paid £4K for mine new in 2005 and I was skint for a year. I don't and will never regret it. I would say that a reasonable price would be £8K - £17K depending on circumstances and if it's in good nick. Before you all shout at me, consider this. There is only 38 that exist and 6 of them are probably owned by Hard Rock Cafe's. The instrument is associated with (arguably) one of the most iconic bass players who ever lived. But, for those of you who think it's going to sound like crap because of it's aesthetic appearance, believe me, it doesn't. It's brilliant. If you like Status instruments (and I do appreciate that even this is an acquired taste) it's just the best. For those of you who think it's over priced but have £5k kicking about, they sold all Entwistle's basses at Sotheby's and if I recall correctly, all the touring buzzards were sold for £20K. In other words, LESS THAN THEY COST NEW. Now of course prices have somewhat inflated. I shudder to think how much Gareth paid for his (as his is one of John's), but it's fair to say, insurance companies are making a killing on the pair of us now.... As for the Warwick buzzard. Pfft. Weighs a ton, ludicrously wide neck and rubbish circuit. Neck dives like a whale. I wouldn't pay more than £800 for one. Ultimately, it's only worth what people are prepared to pay for it. Were it to be for sale, mine is naturally worth the £35K!! If anyone knows of any billionaire bass players that are in the market...

[quote name='bartelby' post='1307487' date='Jul 18 2011, 09:50 AM']Off the top of my head, just to be a pedant: U-Retro gold - £215 Nordstrand NJ5S pair - £210 Hipshot A style Bridge gold - £110 Hipshot Ultralites - (£27 each) - £135 total - £670 [/quote] Exactly. He's not sparing any expense when doing this bass up as he's not intending to sell it. That's not actually that far off what he's planning actually. I just wondered if the whole concept of it was like putting a jet engine in a small hatchback.

A mate of mine recently bought a 5 string bass. I won't name brands or anything, but I think it was about £500 second hand. I think for the money it's a good bass. However, I was round at his the other night and he said that he was going to mod it a bit. I asked how much was "a bit" and he said he was going to change the circuit, pickups, tuners, bridge and nut. Now, whilst it's not a bass I would have bought, would people argue that there is a point where doing this sort of stuff is just insane? I pointed out that for what he was about to spend on hardware, he might as well get a custom bass made for him. Now before you ask, I think that the bass body was maybe ash or basswood, so it wasn't like it was something ludicrously expensive. I suppose the question is would you spend £500 on a bass then another £600 modding it? Or am I just totally wrong and that this is a viable move?

I've just got a semi after looking at that bass. If I was working at the moment, I would be ordering a 12 string version of that a la Doug Pinnick. Top gear squire!!

[quote name='stef030' post='1296527' date='Jul 7 2011, 10:05 PM']well got meself some boss multi effects, now its been a few years but jeez nobody told me you need a applied degree in nuclear physics to understand this lot,this parameter,that one given me a bloody headache,so it would seem persistance is key on this one or is it just me getting senile, does everyone think its too complicated cheers stef[/quote] Depends. I happen to think multi fx stuff is infinitely better than stomps. Especially for delays. Good luck trying to do a tap tempo with an analogue stompbox. Just my opinion. The tone is subjective. Take your pick to what you like best. However, if the programming isn't for you, then don't do it. I used to quite like having stuff on tap that was simple. Now I prefer to having to work something out and have become a bit of a tech head for multi fx stuff. For example all my rack stuff is midi controlled by one unit. So basically, I press one button on the floor and the whole lot changes. Say from clean to dirty with flanging and delay. Just like that. You might think that doesn't allow stuff to be flexible as stompboxes as the settings are seriously programmed, but you'd be surprised. I happen to enjoy programming stuff. I did my guitarist's rack rig for him a while back as he wanted to do something like what I did but like yourself when he saw the word "parameter" in the manual just asked me to go over to his house and sort it for him as he couldn't figure it out!! He doesn't really know how it works, but the fact that it does is enough for him. Made me laugh.

My own personal favourite branches of design insanity are: Heel adjust truss rods that you have to take the neck off to sort. Who thought that was a good idea?!! Try that with an 8 string bass when you have to re-string the damn thing to adjust the action and take the neck off twice just to be sure it's right. Grrrr. Most things about Rickenbackers. Though I think Mr Foxen has already said everything!! Rack gear that doesn't have inputs on the back. Then you have to run it through to the front via a gap to use it. See my Digitech for that joy with only a front input. Idiots!! Why didn't they figure that out?!!! 3 point bridges. [i]You[/i] know it's wrong Gibson. [i]We[/i] know it's wrong. Basses not having standardisable scale lengths. Sure, 35, 34, 33, 32, 30 or whatever. That's fine. Don't do 30.75 like my Alembic or some other ludicrous fraction of an inch. Because then you're never quite sure what scale of strings to get as it's kind of in the middle. You'll probably always get the wrong ones or if you can get ones that'll fit they'll be the wrong gauge so you'll feel like you're playing a bass with melted cheese strings on it as the tension will be too low. Rackmounted amps having the tuner output socket on the front. Why?!! Just so we can have more wires in the way of our stuff?

Does this thread mean that we'll soon be seeing adverts stating - CASH FOR NEODYMIUM!!! Send your old, disused bass cabinets in our pre-provided envelope to: PO Box 12345 Cash for neodymium BA55 SFA

This is just brilliant. Top gear!!

[quote name='Lorne' post='1290083' date='Jul 2 2011, 01:45 PM']So, what you're saying is there is finish cracking in the corner of the neck pocket on the upper wing side? (Where I've arrowed in the picture) If so, then the neck joint there, is under stress to create those "Finish Cracks", removing wood from the heel will only make the matter worse[/quote] Not just where you've arrowed actually. I also meant the corner where you would rest your right elbow as it's cracking like hell up there. That's where there is quite a lot of finishing cracks. Though as you say, there are some at the join which I have become concered about recently. The heel on your (frankly lovely) BC Rich bass is a bit more like what I wanted. Top gear mate!!

Very true Chris, we all like what we like. I suppose the heel thing is only one of a few issues that puts me off Fenders. I think I'll probably get the thing carved down if it's possible to do it without wrecking the bass. I suppose that the fact that even though I won't really access that area of the neck that much, the fact that I can't, starts to grate. Plus the neck feels that bit further away. Though, it's only about an inch or so, it feels a bit weird at times in certain different note positions. It's quite difficult to explain. Another point is that I should have got Warmoth to carve it down when I ordered the body. For some inexplicable reason, I didn't and I now regret it. Especially since the bloke who did it, didn't do it properly, though for those of you who've looked at that photo if you think the heel is quite chunky, it was way massive when I got it.. I was expecting something a bit more "sculpted" and I got a block. I should have made an issue of it at the time. I think that the whole "let's try this out!!" took over and I didn't really reflect on the problem until much later. Idiot....

[quote name='Lorne' post='1289927' date='Jul 2 2011, 10:46 AM']Is that a "V" shapped bass? it looks like there is not a lot of side support to the neck, and the neck is not deeply set into the actual body length, it also appears that there are some stress cracks showing in the very corner of the body in the neck pocket, if all of the above is true, then I wouldn't have the heel shaved at all, it will end up breaking[/quote] No, it's an explorer shaped bass. I don't think that what you see is stress cracks though I must admit I share your concern about the positioning and support etc. There is also cracking in the finishing which is at the upper wing of the body, right at the corner as well as other points that shouldn't have any stress on them at all. That I would imagine not be anything to do with it? I'm guessing here so if I'm wrong, I'd quite like to be corrected.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1289888' date='Jul 2 2011, 09:47 AM']That's not a heel, that's a spare neck![/quote] Exactly. For those in the technical know, can that get carved down to virtually nothing or not?

Finally got round to doing a picture. You may now see what I mean. Put my hand in for scale. I quite like the idea of a heelless join however. However, any thoughts on this, let me know.

[quote name='henry norton' post='1289215' date='Jul 1 2011, 04:10 PM']Just to dip my oar in, there is allot of bullsh#t surrounding different neck joints. In spite of what allot of makers will tell you, the chances are most wouldn't be able to tell much difference between one type and another in a blind test. That said, neck thru will more likely give you good access up in the high register if you find the right design. It will be more usable if you use an 8 saddle bridge [url="http://www.warmoth.com/Schaller-471-8-String-C724.aspx"]Schaller 8 string[/url], but whatever neck joint you have, it'll be pretty out of tune past the 7th or 8th fret if you can't adjust the intonation of the octave strings.[/quote] This is exactly what I mean. Aside from possible better access is there any sound difference? BTW - the Schaller bridge you mention is the one on my 8 string. The thing holds it's tuning brilliantly. The heel and general feeling of the bass is that "something" that seems be missing in some indefinable way. It sounds great, plays great and stays in tune has a brilliant low action and does what I want it to. I just wish it had a smaller heel. I'd have to post a few photos to show what I mean.

To be fair, it's the fact that the neck is that slight bit further away as well. Maybe about an inch or two. The block per se is annoying, but work roundable. The join is at about the 15th fret which is a bit of a pain too considering it's only a 21 fret bass. Again, another thing to remedy.

I've been giving quite a great deal of thought to getting a new bass. However, something has got me thinking. Preferance of differing types of construction is really the main thing. I am someone who likes to use the whole neck so I like the upper register access. About 2 years ago I got an 8 string bass made and I didn't take into account that it'd be a bolt on. I got the heel carved down a bit, (although I wouldn't say using the high area of the neck on an 8 string is that much of a priority), it just doesn't feel right to me any more (though the neck profile is brilliant) and I'm contemplating flogging it and getting a neck through made. I learned on some shortscale japcrap bass (Fenix - anyone?!!) which was a bolt on but the heel was very small (sort of in the shape of the Dean bass in the for sale section) and very sculpted. Now I figure this is a reason that I don't like Fenders that much due to the block heel, but having never played a set neck, what are people's experiences? Basically why do people prefer certain types of construction (leave aside cost as a consideration) and why. Plus, does anyone have an 8 or 12 string neck through bass or set neck bass. Grateful for any thoughts or opinions.

I've got a mix of fret numbers and scale lengths and it just depends. The buzzard has 26 and that's great because it's a long scale. The extra 2 frets make it feel like a mid scale to me. My Alembic is a short scale and has 24. However, there are times (like when doing tapping at the high end) that it does feel a bit cramped as the frets are very close together. My 8 string is 21 frets and I kind of thought I'd miss not having the 24 on it. I kind of do and don't. Sometimes I get asked to play something I've played on a 4 onto an 8 and if what I've done is quite high up it becomes a problem, but it's generally not a big deal. I think though if I were playing a 4 string bass I'd miss the upper notes though.

[quote name='Merton' post='1269995' date='Jun 15 2011, 01:03 PM']Good idea! Clive didn't do the MIDI part, that was done by John Price, a chap with a company called Kenton Electronics. I was talking to him about it the other day in fact. Shall I get him to contact Ashdown? [/quote] Thanks!! Tell them I expect a reduced rate!!