paul_c2

What do I look for.....one bass which is reliable enough not to "break down" in a gig? I too don't fully understand why you'd need a spare bass. I have used the same bass for ~30 years and then recently changed in the past few weeks to another (which I hope will also last 30 years) but nothing spectacular went wrong with the first in any case. I'd have thought any failures would be in the moving parts, or electronics, than the bass itself. And without active electronics and with 2 pickups (a pickup is very unlikely to fail, but if it did...) what could go wrong? I carry spare leads, I have straplocks on both basses (personally for me, worth every penny) and the only pedal I use is mains powered but I have a couple of batteries in case something funny happens there, and even if it did its a tuner pedal so I could ditch it and plug straight into the amp if needs be. Seriously considering having a second amp plugged in and ready to go next to the first one but even that's a bit OTT. Regarding strings, I reckon you'd have to do something unusual to snap a string - unlike a guitar, the strings are sufficient gauge that their inherent strength is way beyond any force applied during playing; and that while bad strings exist, they'd likely snap either during fitment or in the first few hours after (and are more likely to break internally, going 'dead' in sound but still semi-useable).

The (relatively humble) C harmonic minor key, has a B natural together with Eb and Ab. ETA: with 3 flats, are you sure the key isn't C minor instead of Eb major?

How long have you been playing? Finding it a stretch could merely be a symptom of inexperience/newness on the bass, rather than a fundamantal incompatability between a long scale bass and your anatomy (and age). I have only ever played long scale basses and "the stretch" is perceivable during warming up, but once warmed up and playing actual music rather than abstract technical exercises, its basically a non-issue. Yes I'm sure a short-scale might be more comfortable for some, or allow a theoretical greater stretch in certain isolated situations, so no worries I respect that for some, short scales are the way to go but don't put yourself into this group quite yet.

I have bought a (non-genuine) tort scratchplate ready to go on. It needs a little bit of a tweak around the neck area, so I'll carefully have to do this, then it will be ready to go on. Of course, I'll keep the white one. I might change it to a black one, or a mirror-finish one, later. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

So, after toying with the idea of buying a PJ (two pickups) Precision, I realised that the Squiers didn't really do it for me, and that it was worth the step up in price to a Fender. And it was going to need to be a Jazz. Frustratingly, although understandably, there just aren't that many secondhand MIM Fender Jazzes around. I searched for quite some time, I guess they are really decent instruments and if someone has one, they'll tend to keep hold of it rather than selling (what would you upgrade to, for example?) This contrasts with the numbers of secondhand Squiers out there, and of course there is the frustration of searching for a Fender and it returning loads of results for "Fender Squier Affinity" stuff etc etc. My local music shop had a MIJ Fender Jazz, not quite in the right colour (it was a turquoise - reasonable colour but I really wanted something a bit more subtle) and it was wonderful to play. It was one of those basses that you knew was "right" within the first 5 seconds of playing it. However the price was a little high and it had a terrible - although I was assured, fixable - electrical issue. So, I put an offer in (it was a commission sale) and waited. The seller declined it, and to rub salt into the wound, didn't even drop the £20 or so the electrical repair would have cost - so in effect the total price to me would have been £20 above its £519 price. It was in cosmetically "reasonable" condition (rather than being brilliant) but that's a non issue, I'll be using the bass quite a lot so it didn't really matter. And no plans to sell it soon. So with my local options exhausted, I searched and searched on the internet and found a Japanese Fender Jazz for a bargain ~£300, plus duty and shipping which brought it up to around £500. It was cosmetically excellent condition and in the right colour for me. So I bought it. And......(despite having a rosewood fingerboard)......arrived from Japan in only a week or so. Of course, being from Japan I was unable to play it and had to trust the Fender brand name and my instincts - I don't think I'm disappointed. It has that distinct Jazz tone, not so much low end punch as my previous bass but I have a graphic EQ pedal and also a graphic EQ on my amp, so a simple tweak can make the sound "right" for the situation as relevant. Its not flashy, its not high spec, it just does - very well - what I want it to do, so hopefully this is the one bass I'll predominantly play for the rest of my life, with the luxury of my old one as a backup (might send it in for repair to get a number of its issues sorted out). Pics on their way....

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1500349408' post='3337078'] Personally I'd go used MIM. I think my 2013 MIM P is really really good My MIA is only better due to the hardware and electronics and the rolled board edges. [/quote] [quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1500366865' post='3337194'] If I was looking at a budget of £350, I'd probably go for a second hand MIM. Or try to stretch to a CIJ 62 reissue (might be too much of a stretch, given the consideration of the Affinity) [/quote] I thought about MIM but didn't recommend it, basically because I believe a secondhand MIM is nowadays a significant step up in price from a new VM Squier. And a Japanese Fender is probably another step up again. I recently bought a new (to me) bass and found that the idea of picking up a reasonable condition, reasonable price MIM is basically a bit of a fantasy now. However if you can step up in price, then its worth considering - but its a step up in price and opens a whole new world of other basses too, of course.....

It depends firstly on how much, and what kind, of use you're going to give it. And secondly, on the individual bass concerned - as others have explained above, no two guitars play the same, although they'll be similar there will be differences, and its an inexact science - the cheaper of two guitars could sit in your hands and feel perfect for you, where the more expensive didn't. Given the above, I'd say try out as many as you can. So, that means as well as Squiers, have a peek around at other makes/models in the price range, you never know. And if you have a bass already (I'm not sure, I didn't look at your other posts) then take it with you too, to do a back-to-back comparison. I dislike going to music shops to try out instruments, although I much prefer it to buying "blind" - well not blind, you can see photos, but getting something sent from a distance is always a risk in my eyes. Fortunately on the past two occasions, as soon as I had the instrument in my hand, I knew within the first 5 seconds whether it had that "wow" factor for me.

Wouldn't both pickups at 50% be the correct thing? The reasoning being that 2x 50% = 100% volume, and you'd WANT the blended sound to be the same volume as either pickup on its own, not twice the volume. Thus, the blend is a blend control, the volume is a volume control and the tone is a tone control. If the blend was 100%x2 pickups, then it would be a blend AND volume control, and you'd need to adjust the volume control to compensate, thus negating the actual advantage of VBT?

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1499879849' post='3334296'] Warmoth will sort out the necessary certificates for export. As I shall be importing, I shall need to sort out the import certificates. [/quote] What import certificates (perhaps Germany is different to UK)? I didn't do anything, except order it and pay for the customs tax/duty once it had arrived in the country pending final delivery to me.

I bought a Japanese bass with a rosewood fretboard and it arrived in about 10 days. No mention of the rosewood, or CITES, and no issues. I've seen other listings of Japan instruments where the seller explains due to CITES, that they need to apply for the exemption once its sold (it can't be done before its sold) then it will take 2-4 weeks, but mine went through okay.

Personally I don't think there's any benefits (of VVT) but its the simplest wiring on a Jazz bass with passive pickups and I'm used to it. I am glad its possible to adjust the two pickups' outputs finely and never quite understood why a Fender Strat has the more restrictive selector switch which only allows 100/0, 50/50 or 0/100 of each of the adjacent pickup pairs. (No doubt there is some aftermarket wiring mod available for strats to give VVVT control).

The bass guitar, followed by electric guitar, are the easiest instruments to transpose on - you could ask why bass/guitar players struggle and moan when asked to transpose something!!! Joking aside, the fact remains that a singer's "instrument" is quite limiting in that for most people, it has a sweet spot of not much more than an octave, with most decent singers able to extend it another octave or so without too much trouble, but beyond that and it becomes challenging. Sure, good talent and good training can extend the range and enhance the quality outside of the normal range, but its difficult, hence why singers would want to stay within their comforable range. In fact, most instruments have a "sweet spot" which isn't that great - tessitura - and its only a handful (piano/keyboard, to a lesser extent guitar, accordian, etc) which are the same/not-too-much-harder to play in a wide range. Ask a trumpet player or french horn player to play something a fourth up or down and they'll be saying "nope, can't do it - give it to someone else if it needs to be in that key".

Another update. Realistically there was only one guitar I found in the local area which ticked all the boxes. I decided that a Squier didn't really do it, I think they're overpriced new and in any case, the music shops in my area didn't have any. And that it needed to be a Jazz (not Precision). So the one guitar I could try out, was not my favourite choice of colour, had an electrical fault, and the buyer wouldn't shift on the price. Once it was opened out to taking a chance on a guitar shipped to me, it broadened things quite a bit. I get the feeling that people hang on to nice guitars in the UK, so there wasn't much choice and I sensed they were poor value for money too. After looking on eBay, reverb.com and other sites, I found a number of others albeit located abroad. Even with high postage, the prices were competitive with those available in the UK. I'm in no particular hurry so its not a big issue, although it would be nice to have it before a few gigs which are coming up. So, I found a secondhand MIJ Fender Jazz - in Japan - and bought it, fingers crossed it will be on its way soon and turns out good.

I also say "no" but I think I understand what you mean, and why you'd think this. We are faced - daily - with lots and lots of things which might influence us and naturally, the vast majority of these are filtered out and forgotten about. So, you tend to only conciously remember those things which rise up above the crowd and are notable for some reason or another. And I think you've noticed some musicians who have followed a similar progression as you have. Jazz is completely avoidable should you choose to. Having said that, bits of it are quite alright.

Just for clarity - can you confirm which way round? The bass in the car, or the car in the bass?

I will go for a Fender(/Squier) Jazz, in one form or another. I think if I bought anything else, I'll always be wondering "what if.....". I don't know what it is, but there's something about the feel and playability of a bass that's "right", that you instantly know in your hands. Whether its down to learning on one kind, possibly an imperfect technique meaning others don't feel right, or actually something definable and physical about the guitar, I don't know. But I know when a guitar feels "right" in my hands. I've played Precisions before (although not for an extended period) and I owned a different bass a while back too, so its not like I have an irrational preference for Fender Jazz. If this Japanese one falls through, I'll keep my existing for now and be on the hunt for a secondhand VM or Classic Vibe Squier Jazz, or a MIM Fender Jazz, or possibly another MIJ Fender/Squier. They're out there, its just finding the right one etc.

I would have thought it would be an advantage for a right-handed teacher to teach a left handed player, because they could sit facing and simply copy the hand position, techniques etc etc. I am left handed but do a few things (knife and fork eating, for example) right handed. When it came to guitars, I tried both ways on a right handed instrument and chose right handed becaue it felt more comfortable. I did play the drums for a little while and I did that right-handed too. Apparently on drums, there is a distinct advantage for a left hander playing right handed since they can do more complex stuff on the snare etc. I got my own back eventually though - I can now play the French horn left-handed too (think about it....) Another advantage is if ever someone asks you to play golf, you can say "I can't, I'm left handed".

Update: I've finally been able to get to the shop and try out the basses I wanted to. Unfortunately they didn't have a Jazz to compare against but I took my own too, for comparison. The split pickup (P type) indeed is noise cancelling in itself, which is good. But if you turn up the J pickup then you'll get noise. So, with a PJ bass with both pickups turned up, it still has some noise. It was a bit frustrating really because 1) they didn't have a Jazz to compare against, neither did a different music shop in town, 2) they had a Squier Affinity and Squier VM Precision (both PJ pickups) but the Affinity had strings so new the trebly overtones you get in the first hour/day or so were overwhelming. Neither felt quite at home with me, but were reasonable. They had a Japanese Fender Jazz (not sure on the year) secondhand, much more expensive but after a fruitless walk to the other shop to try out a Jazz, I returned and tried it. It played perfect, much more at home, but it has an electrical fault which results in tons of noise and almost no output - so I've put a counteroffer in, subject to successful repair (it was took apart, it had no earthing from the jack to the pots or any other components) and I'm waiting to hear on that offer, which will be a day or so. I also searched around beforehand, somewhat fruitlessly, for a Mexican Fender Jazz (there's one on eBay for £325 the other side of the country - but not much else) and also looked at new Mexican Fender Jazzes, but they're getting pricey now too.

It occurs sufficiently often in classical music that it has a name - hemiola. Its 6/8 but there's definitely 3 over 2 polyrhythms involved.

I've kinda held fire on trying/buying a new bass, but last night (at a rehearsal) the noise issue irked me. So, I came home and ran through a bunch of tests again and its the bass. I tried my guitar (a Fender Strat) through the same setup and it too produces noise - although not quite as much - on pickup positions 1 3 and 5 ie one pickup selected. And it produces much less noise on 2 and 4 (where it combines the pickups). I know that a Jazz bass with standard setup can do this too - it combines both single coil pickups to cancel out noise, effectively acting like one large humbucker. Does the Precision's standard (ie neck) pickup, being split, also have any noice-cancelling inherent in its design? And does the wiring of a (standard, whatever that is) PJ configuration do noise cancelling, or does the fact that one pickup is split enhance or mitigate this? I can imagine, if owning a PJ Precision, that a valid use of it would be to turn up only the neck pickup to get as close as possible to the original Precision sound - how close or wide of the mark this would be, I guess comes down to lots of factors including the precise location of the pickup(s). Also I guess, that noise or the amount or absence of it, comes down to the quality of the wiring and the pickups (I remember Fender's top end models boasting "noiseless single coil pickups", for example - and have no reason to doubt its at least partly achievable); but also many other factors such as mains power quality, amplifier, leads, connectors, the other wiring within the guitar, in fact everything in the signal chain, pedal power supply etc etc

I must be doing something wrong. I sit there, playing the only bass I own, through the one amp I own................. [size=2]while alongside me are two other bassists playing exactly the same as I am.[/size]

Budget - not much, say £300 or so max, maybe more if really necessary but I can't really afford it. I'm not 100% on Fender but the times I've tried basses back-to-back and compared to a Fender/Squier I've always preferred them. Something says to me the safe bet is a Squier VM Jazz but I am open to other decent suggestions and I kinda understand the whole "Precision sound fits in better in the mix" thing too, hence why I'm looking with interest at Precisions - albeit with the flexibility offered with 2 pickups.