JJTee

I think in profile, the bottom half was fatter/thicker and more bulbous than the top half. So looking down the neck the lower half was just a bit fuller feeling in the hand is my guess.

Thanks for your thoughts Belka - you’ve certainly given me pause for thought with the refinishing plan. I also wasn’t aware of the difference in truss rod access between the different years. I vaguely recall something about the very early versions not having a jazz-width neck (unlike mine and all the later ones), and perhaps they somewhere in between a P- and a J-width. I don’t know what year that’s from though. There are a few differences between the main run in the years 84 to 87, and from what I’ve read this was due to what was available at particular points in terms of hardware. So some have different bridges and tuners. And obviously at some point they stopped painting the back of the necks - sometime in 1986 I would guess. I knew Duff’s had a manufacturing defect in the neck which meant it had a slightly ‘egg-shaped’ profile which took Fender a couple of attempts to get right when they made a couple of copies of his original back in the late 80s/early 90s.

Finally got my hands on one of these, since Duff inspired me to pick up the bass back from in 1992. Ideally I would have like a slightly earlier one (84 to 86 I think) that seem to have the back of the neck painted black, and obviously in pearl white like Duff’s (which he bought in 86, so guess it was an 85/86 model). My serial no starts ‘E7’ which I think is 1987. Anyway, it’s in very good condition, with (unusually) the original Fender knobs. It has the original oversized Japanese pole pieces in both pickups. They’re about 6.5mm across, and I’ve compared them to the SD Quarterpounders I had fitted in my Fender Aerodyne, and they seem to be about 6.7mm. Feels quite heavy (4.2 kg) compared to the Aerodyne (3.8kg). Very solid. Love the jazz neck. Duff apparently switched out the Jazz pickup in his model for an SD Hotstack - I don’t know why (in one video I saw he said “it came with Seymour Duncan pickups” when he bought it). So there’s a bit of confusion as to what’s gone on. It’s difficult to tell from the available photos. Who knows what was in place when Appetite was recorded. His signature models have a Hot Stack jazz pickup and a generic Fender P pickup with normal sized pole pieces in both. Anyway, it could well be irrelevant as, to my ears, the magic is all the in the TBX rotary control (the one nearest the Jack) With all controls on max and the pickup selector set to both pickup, it’s instant Duff! And that’s even with the deadest strings I’ve ever experienced. There’s just a difficult to describe upper mid/top end character that comes through when the TBX is on full that is unmistakably that sound on the Gn’R albums. So I don’t I’ll be installing a Hot Stack. Anyway, sacrilegious as it may be to strip the excellent condition red finish, my plan is to take to Bow Finishing near Godstone to get it refinished in pearl white and the back of the neck painted black.

Yep. All gone through smoothly to the account details provided by the seller.

Many thanks chaps. I have messaged a mod. The guy has sold 8 items in the past, all with great feedback. So it is a bit odd. I haven’t left feedback yet in case there’s some sort of crisis going on here. You never know what’s gone on in someone’s life that means a £50 online deal is utterly irrelevant while they try and deal with whatever life has unexpectedly thrown at them.

OK, I bought an item from the For Sale section here a few weeks ago on 30 September, paying (perhaps rather naively) by bank transfer as the seller said they didn’t have PayPal. It wasn’t massively expensive - £50 pedalboard - and the seller seemed friendly and efficient, saying it would be posted out the next day. Over 3 weeks later, nothing. No item. No replies to my messages. Diddly. Squat. Of course there could be illness, a family emergency, or another crisis at play here. But I can see they’ve visited the site as recently as Tuesday. So I’m resigned to thinking I won’t see my item - which is still for sale on here, by the way - and will put it down to experience (and will use full fat PayPal for all future dealings on here, rather than bank transfer as I did on this occasion). Any suggestions as to what to do? The irony is that I can see this person has made a few contributions on the Mick Mason thread… !

Another cracker from ‘82, this time from Shalamar (Leon Silvers III on bass/producer duties?):

I think this is what Duff uses (and maybe Flea?), so good enough for me.

Bump

I love Pick of the Pops on Radio 2. Currently hosted by Gary Davis. I always find any chart between 1977 and 1982 to be absolutely packed full of superb tunes, and some cracking bass lines. 1978 was one from last week: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001y2kd?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile Baker Street Wuthering Heights Night Fever Everyone’s A Winner Denis …oh and Brian and Michael’s Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats & Dogs… I was 3 in 1978, so I think this period is fused with my early life and memories. But there did seem to be some high quality music in those five years.

Maple board, then! Looks like he had two, or switched pickguards from time to time.

Everyone* in this video: *In reality, I do appreciate their technical ability, and musical knowledge. But the vast majority of this video leaves me stone cold…!

Champagne Supernova Don’t Look Back in Anger Wonderwall. You’ll see a pattern emerging. Appalling, over played, over-rated rubbish.

Can’t beat a bit of Beato when it comes to theory…

If only you there was a way to translate what the dog was chipping in with. Probably a helpful comment like, “don’t forget to retune it”, or “I told you to get a chair with five casters, much more stable”.

And here he is on a BC Rich… Marvellous stuff!

Have to disagree on the strings front. I saw a great interview with Nile on, I think, a Top Ten of Disco (hosted by Huggy Bear I think!) programme which I recall very clearly as I watched it over and over again. Nile said it was in an interview with both of them for Guitar Player magazine where: ‘the interviewer asked “Bernard, you have that fantastic sound - like, what kind of strings do you use?”, to which Bernard replied “I dunno? What kind of strings come on a Stingray?” - he hadn’t changed the strings since he bought, he didn’t even care what they were!’.

Fantastic - never seen a live version of Everybody Dance with Bernard showing off his chucking technique before. There it is, at 08:00, in all its glory!

I think it’s a P bass on the first album (i.e. for Dance, Dance, Dance and Everbody Dance) and then his 1978 Stingray for everything else. And with the unchanged halfwound strings it came with, for every session. I read that he used the P bass and BC Rich for live work because he thought they looked better, and Marcus Miller I think confirmed this when he asked Bernard how he got his tone on the records using (he wrongly assumed) the BC Rich he’d seen him playing live.

Interesting to hear Le Freak played on something other than a Stingray by the great man himself. Definitely one of those players where it’s all in the fingers…(although, is it my ears or is his bass a bit flat?)

During the bridge of Dr Hook’s ‘When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman’, as a nipper I thought it was: ”Maybe it’s just an eagle problem…’. In fairness, I don’t think I knew ‘ego’ was a word back then…