P-T-P

[quote name='Pedro1020' post='144485' date='Feb 21 2008, 04:26 PM']The Silver serial number on the back of the neck looks like a quick job, the decal seems prominant so it hasn't been properly lacquered over....that well The screw in the middle is an odd thing :wacko:[/quote] Agreed on the serial number, looks like an afterthought. The screw in the middle isn't that unusual, there are Fender basses with those, though I'n not sure what era exactly, though the Geddy re-issue has one IIRC.

I think the downer on Fender MIA basses stems primarily from the price tag and then secondly from the fact that most which you try in shops tend to be really badly set up. The MIJ/CIJ Fenders always come with a far more attractive price bracket and are generally quite well set-up when they come from Japan but also are more often played in a pre-owned state rather than in a shop. Basically when people try MIAs they often play badly set up and highly priced models but when they get their hands on a MIJ/CIJ, the price tag is appealing and the bass has probably had a decent set-up by whoever owns it. However, I think once an MIA has been well set-up it's gonna be a much better instrument than it's Japanese equivalent. The Japanese one is still arguably going to be better value for money though and that's always going to be a consideration for most people.

Looks a bit awry to me. At a quick glance and working from memory... Has a white 60's re-issue type pickguard - holes for a pick-up cover and grab rest type thing - and a 60's type neck with truss adjust at the heel but doesn't have 60's RI type bridge with the threaded sadles and the neck has a skunk stripe down it. Also I think the Jap RI basses have mint green guards, not white. The pegs on the tuners look to have too small a diameter. You can clearly see the joins for the pieces of the body through the finish which doesn't strike me as the kind of thing that a Jap Fender would have. The Jap Fenders I've had which were CIJ have a serial number in a silver grey at the bass of the neck but also the words "Crafted in Japan" in black and the words "serial number" in black also IIRC. An 04/05 serial number would be an R plus 5 digits according to Fender, this is R plus 6 digits.

[quote name='acidbass' post='141064' date='Feb 15 2008, 02:14 PM']It's possible that they're an OEM string brand that Lakland put on their shipped basses, so there's a chance you may not be able to buy them commercially. Sorry I can't be of any more help! [/quote] Thanks, definitely not Lakland strings though as their's have grey silk on them and the B and E strings are tapered at the bridge. [quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='141073' date='Feb 15 2008, 02:29 PM']My Elites Stadiums on my jazz are the same colours.....and as far as the nut end's concerned, it's through a Badass bridge not a thru-body, but there's still a good 1.75-2 inches past the nut before the silk. So it could be them.[/quote] Was thinking they might be Elites, haven't used them for years, had black silk on them in those days as I recall.

So I bought a Lakland 55-02 recently and the strings that were on it felt very nice to me but hadn't been fitted very well (cut a bit too short). Anyway, I've put a set of my usual strings (DR Extras .045s) on there and I'm not liking the bass quite as much as I did with the "original" strings on there. The ones that came off were roundwounds, I'm guessing steel but possibly nickel as they certainly weren't as harsh on the fingers as a set of Swing Bass 66 for example. The silks on them were red at the ball end and a kinda bluey-purple at the peg end. The bass was strung through the body and even with this and the 35" scale, the silks cleared the nut quite comfortably - which is not always the case with some strings. Any idea what brand they might be?

Well, you could just flip it on it's head and say that the bass is playing/outlining/implying a chord sequence of Em -> D -> C -> D and the guitar is playing a melody, in key, over the top of it. It's a similar effect as is on the intro to Where the Streets Have No Name, the guitar repeats a simple riff over an keys/bass pedals chord sequence of D - G - D - G - Bm - A - D Might not be quite as exciting in musical theory terms as you'd perhaps hoped, but console yourself with the fact that your new creation sounds ace.

Bought my Shure Auxpander thingie. He collected it from me and though only a brief meeting, seemed a thoroughly decent bloke.

So I love my DJ5 and a while back I bought another DJ5 but the feel of the neck on that one was just not the same but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Both before and since getting my DJ5 I've owned several other Lakland Skyline series basses and on Saturday I took the plunge again and bought a 55-02 from a fellow Basschatter. Where I'd previously put the different feel of the 55-01/2 and JO5 necks down to the slightly different dimensions to the DJ5 neck (fingerboard radius in particular), this new 55-02 feels almost identiacal to my DJ5 and I'm loving it. What I've realised now is that my DJ5 and this new 55-02 seem to have a lacquered neck finish, not as heavy a lacuer as on the classic Fenders, but a definite layer of something that ain't wood! Thinking back, the second DJ5 I bought and then sold, didn't have this and I'm sure none of the other Laklands did (with the exception of a 55-01 fretless I had for a while). When I was at the SE Bass Bass selling said DJ5, there were a number of other Laklands there, some of which I tried, and there was at least one DJ4 that had a similarly lacquered neck. The un-lacquered necks no doubt do have some kind of finish on them, but i@m guessing it's more of a MMan oiled type affair and they feel wood-like to the touch. Am I just losing it completely or can anyone shed some light on this? What does the neck finish on your Lakland feel like - slightly glossy and finished or more natural and woody? I wonder if there's a point in time where they made a conscious change. Wonder also how the necks on their US instruments are finished.

So I'm thinking about getting myself one of the Sandberg California 5 string basses but the info on their web site is a bit thin on the ground so can anyone tell me... Nut Width String spacing at bridge Neck depth at first fret Fingerboard radius Obviously that's not going to tell me whether I love it, but it will give me an idea of whether or not to go looking for one/some to try or to just get another Lakland.

I got a "Yeah, whatever" vote Whoever wasn't 100% happy, could you PM me and let me know what was wrong and if I can put it right I will.

David bought my Sterling and is an excellent guy to deal with and was a pleasure to meet.