Jean-Luc Pickguard

I steered clear from a Taylor as I don't want any of my money channeled into supporting scientology. I tried a few and couldn't afford a takamine so ended up buying a tanglewood rosewood reserve which is absolutely brilliant. The sound of any electro acoustic bass is improved with a behringer ADI-21 preamp pedal To prevent feedback when gigging a rubber "feedback buster" in the soundhole works wonders (as does a CD stuck with blu-tak over the soundhole.

It seems to me that a precision (or similar) with just the single precision pickup sounds best with a BBOT bridge (somehow punchier) but once a bridge pickup is added (eg a PJ configuration) a hiMass bridge sounds better. Am I imagining it or could there be a reason?

This thread is making me wince

We've gotta get out of this place - The Animals My Girl - The Temptations you're sosososo square Baby I Don't Care - Elvis

Good idea for a thread. I loved the Wombles when I was the same age as my son is now [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP7CDvQULXw[/media]

No idea, but if the neck was Fender the tuners would fit properly. I'd assume it to be a nasty piece of crap with badly (not-quite) fitted Fender tuners and pickups that look like DiMarzio but probably aren't. Personally I'd pay no more than its value as firewood. Edit: Reported to ebay as fake - as it is listed as a Fender.

MInes a 1990 MIJ '62 RI - it has the super-wide nut width, but the neck seems shallower to make up for it so it doesn't bother me. The finish is more hardwearing than nitro so apart from a few very monor dents it hasn't picked up any mojo. The tuners are a weird choice - they're not the small plate ones on later 'for-export' RIs like on the CIJ mustang and they're not the 50s/early 60s vintage reverse type, but they are the same shape as the 70s type non-reverse ones on my '81 USA precision but nickel plated instead of chrome. The torty pickguard is a bit fugly I'd fancy swapping it for a more authentic US one, but I'm wary of ordering one as the tory pattern varies so much even on those, so buying sight-unseen is a gamble.

Hilarious to see Alex Salmond at the end clapping totally out of time. We have punters like that - they're usually the ones we later see falling over in the street as they make their way home.

I look after my stuff so the bridge, neckplate, chrome covers and tuners on my 1981 Precision look like new - although the bass itself has picked up some knocks & bumps. The nickel plated tuners on my 1990 ('62 reissue) precision have taken on a dull patina and look many decades older. Just keep them as they are - artificially aged chrome always looks really crappy & obviously faked when its overdone. The chrome is there to protect them.

the first batch of pro-iv & pro-v thirds had the strap button on the upper bout, but he later ones (including my natural oil pro-v) do indeed have them by the back of the neck heel. This helps alleviate neck dive.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1340404820' post='1704242'] When you say chunky, do you mean more so than a 70s 'Master? I like em like that, but the girl I'm looking on behalf of really isn't that fussy afaik. [/quote] I don't know about mid/late 70s, But yes, the Squier Vista one was about double the weight and had a bruiser of a neck compared to my '71. It sounded pretty good though and the shell pink looked cool.

I used to have a Squier vista series musicmaster - it was OK, but a heavy lump with rather a chunkier neck than I prefer. My favourite gigging bass is my CIJ Fender mustang, but my candy apple red VM Jaguar SS is a close second - both basses beating my daphne blue '71 musicmaster for playability & tone. The broncos I've looked at were pretty poor in comparison. Id advise anyone looking for a short scale to look for a jag SS - mine was £165 new from Thomann when there was a Fender/Squier promo on at the beginning of the year.

i'd keep the bass passive & use a preamp pedal - a behringer bdi21 v-tone preamp pedal/di will probably be comparable in price to the unit you're looking at

I cut up a 50p ikea mousemat and put pieces in layers to make pickup sponges for my P basses

I used a kent armstrong alnico 'P' on my fretless precision. It's pretty much an ideal fretless tone for me, but some of that can probably be attributed to the thick ebony fingerboard & Thomastik TI344s

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1340200225' post='1700912'] Interesting... I think it's hideous and looks half-finished! Just goes to show that everyone is different. [/quote] It probably needs a violetburst pearloid top

Lovely looking Gibson. I have a bass a similar shape on [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Daisy-Rock-Stardust-Elite-Bass-/270999829644?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f18d93c8c#ht_500wt_1156"]ebay[/url] at the moment - It isn't quite as understated as the Gibson though. Here it is with its twin: [attachment=110962:elite-basses-2.jpg]

I much prefer bananas to beetroot anyway.

Its a ballend - like a cross between ball & bellend. Can you improvise - stick something in the hole in your ballend? or maybe use a washer or something?

active emg pickups might be good for this as they are shielded internally & don't require the earth connection at the bridge

When I restrung my 'real' doublebass I eyeballed the strings against my NS CR5M & came to the conclusion that anything other than the D'Addario ones made for NS-Design would probably be more hassle than I could be bothered with - even if I could find a five string set.

no wax, oil, silicones etc. anyone know what is actually in it? duck phelgm?

pdf file

I've changed the weak (mustang guitar - not strat) pickup in a couple of early 70s music master basses. I used strat sized rail humbuckers from brandoni each costing £25 a while ago. The enclosed cool rails in my daphne blue sounds just right - punchy & deep- as well as looking identical to the stock pickup, but the exposed hot rails in my daughter's custom painted lilac one is too clanky for my taste. If I had another one to upgrade, I'd definitely use a cool rails again.

Are these still polyurethene or latex or something else? I went over to pahoehoe strings on my Ashbory, so if these are better than the pahoehoe's for the kala, maybe they'd work on the ashbory as well? If they're latex or any other stretch material I'd probably pass though. The original latex strings of the ashbory sound good, but go out of tune as soon as you look at them, they need talc - which can look a bit druggy when it goes everywhere. And the G strings break for no apparent reason so the black poly pahoehoe's were a massive improvement - especially when a Behringer ADI21 stompbox preamp/DI is used.