molan

I've only recently got into flats as well & really like them on certain basses. I have found different brands to be really different in feel & tone. Had some D'Addario Chromes and absolutely hated them but then picked up a P bass strung with Thomastic Infelds & thought they were great. On a vintage P & with the tone on the bass wound down there's a great growl from the lower notes. Have also tried TI's on a '63 Jazz which sounded really nice as well. Had a brief blast on some LaBellas which were good but the ones I used were a bit too heavy gauge for me. I gigged my old Alleva Coppolo KBP4 with TI's in a soul/funk/disco band once and everyone in the band loved the sound

Ok - I am going to set myself up for ridicule here I paid about £50 for an original '63 thumb rest to sit on my '63 Jazz. As thumb rests age they tend to warp around the screw holes and original nitro-cellulose pickguards also go out of shape directly in line with the warped shape of the thumb rest. I saw the one I bought on US EBay from a very reputable old parts dealer in Nashville and could see the warped shape looked near identical to the indentation in my original nitro pickguard. Took a flyer on it & it fits absolutely perfectly. You can actually hold the bass nearly vertical without any screws in the thumb rest and the indentations hold it in place without falling off. It was the only thing missing from my '63 & I didn't fell like £50 was much of an investment to finish off the original look. Of course I could have bought a $5 one, screwed it too tight & left it to warp naturally & then roughened it up a bit to make it look like it was nearly 50 years old but I kinda like the fact that it's an old bit of Fender history performing a vaguely useful function - purely aesthetically because I don't even use it to play with

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1340449151' post='1704553'] Is it possible to tell the difference under that horrible stuff they are coated in? [/quote] The newer the Elixirs the better the feel. Original ones were quite 'sticky' but I think the latest ones are really good. Last for ages & easy on the fingers for long gigs or if you don't have really tough callouses

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' timestamp='1340449053' post='1704549'] Is stainless steel supposed to give a brighter sound than nickel then? [/quote] Obviously a bit of a generalisation but steels are usually brighter, and coarser on the fingers & fretboard, than nickel. I'm sure you could find some nickels that are ultra bright and steels that sound a bit dull but if you get strings from the same manufacturer then the steels will usually be brighter.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1340455129' post='1704646'] Cheers, maybe it's because I'm on an iPad. Anyway - crikey, I wish I hadn't asked! :-) Not my cup of tea at all. I dislike quilted maple anyway, and agree that Fender should leave the fancy stuff to the 'boutique' builders [/quote] Picture is showing as a broken link on my machine too now - maybe it's a Twitter issue. Anyway, I've uploaded it here now as well - have to click to see full size though [attachment=111209:603656953.jpeg]

That's odd - I can see the pic on my machine but not on iPhone! Here's a libk to the page http://twitpic.com/9zegop/full

Whilst I'm a lover of flashy tops on nice basses I always think that a Fender should have a 'classic' colour finish & never sure about their attempts to play the custom builders at their own game. The custom shop have just published pics of this Dennis Galuszka Masterbuilt model - just wondered what people thought of it?

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1340399974' post='1704175'] Badges removed. Looks much better I think. [/quote] What a great idea!

The steel ones are the new ones. They have upgraded the nickel ones as well apparently. I don't know anyone who's tried the stainless ones yet though so can't comment on tone. Official release says: [color=#4C4C4C][font=Arial, sans-serif][size=3] "Our new Stainless Steel Nanoweb Coated Strings are perfect for players who love the ‘zingy’ clarity of steel, but have been put off in the past by the rough texture these strings sometimes have. Our product has that classic steel snap, but it also offers a smoother, more natural feel, thanks to the Nanoweb coating.”[/size][/font][/color]

AV's come passive as standard - AC's can be whatever you want them to be Personally I think Jimmy C's active circuit is one of the very best around. Really musical & rich, very difficult to get a bad sound from one. Unless you have massive bass & treble boost the switch between active & passive is quite balanced on the AC's as well. The passive sound is very nice, it's not just an 'emergency' standby switch for when your batteries fail. I've played both and my personal preference is towards AC. The really nice AC's are pretty much the best Fender style basses around. Jimmy's 'winning' hand is that he makes three core basses that capture classic Fender sounds: LG - Alder bodied '60's RA - Alder bodied early '70's LM - Ash bodied late '70's But all of them in 5 string formats (for no premium on a 4!). His 4's sound great as well but it's the ability to get a great vintage sound in a 5 string that has made his name. I like the AV basses but they sound more 'modern' to me. They can still cop a good vintage feel but not quite to the same degree that Jimmy manages. Mind you, Jimmy charges a fair bit more for his basses these days and his wait list is getting ever longer. One thing I would say to watch out for on AC's is that Jimmy sometimes experiments with things that don't always come off. His classic LG/RA/LM are almost all dead certs to be nice, some of the others are also very good but need to be properly tried out before buying

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1340311467' post='1702832'] Only 2 still remain in existence? Owner number 1 please donate to Fender museum. Owner number 2 please buy a pack of matches and do the decent thing. CB [/quote] +1

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1340297556' post='1702537'] Great video mate..... really really don't like the vocal performance though. Hope that's not too harsh [/quote] I'm with you on this I'm afraid Crez. My attempt at constructive criticism is: Vid quality is good & some of the instruments sound great but the lead vox is weak & doesn't seem to sit nicely in the mix to me (certainly not on my home hifi anyway). For a corporate audience (the big payers for function bands) the vid might almost be too much like a promo vid for a band's single because of all the close ups & cutting from musician to musician. Could be that I'm an old duffer but there's a bit of a feel of a cameraman showing off his chops & post production skills rather than capturing the band to sell to a prospective customer. From personal experience (my wife books bands for pretty big money) the bookers are looking for full band shots, on stage, with lights &, ideally, a live audience to show lots of people dancing. Great playing from Mr K though

I tried a set up at a loud rehearsal last night with twin lead guitars that really quite surprised me. I used the trusty TH500 but into a little MarkBass Traveler 2x10. I only really bought this cab because it's one of the very few units that will slot neatly into the boot of a Z4. I used my Ritter Cora and it sounded great through the Aggie/MB rig. Really punchy and sat perfectly in the mix without me really having to try very hard to balance things. All the tone controls were set at flat on the bass and 12:00 on the amp with the Drive set around 11:00 an tweeter cut by about 3/4 on the cab. Not sure where the dominant sound was coming from (apart from my fingers,lol) but the overall combination was great. Didn't think the MB cab had the grunt for this gig but paired with the TH500 it was really nice - or was it just that Ritter that was making all the difference, who knows eh?

That sounds interesting, I've never seen a Ritter with a graphite neck. I know Jens has a fabric covered bass in production right now though

Love his answer to the first question: [i]"[color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3][left]Don't know anything about bass guitars. A pro bass player friend tried it and he said it was an exceptional player, not sure of the value so I put it in this auction. If you want to know more, best you come and check it out."[/left][/size][/font][/color][/i]

Forgot to say that the overall colour & grain isn't quite as defined as these photos suggest - it's a little more 'subtle', if you can use subtle when it comes to a Ritter It actually looks nicer in the flesh than the pics suggest. . .

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1340129597' post='1699693'] I normally post pictures of the world's ugliest dog upon mention of Ritter but that has rather taken me aback. Wonderful bass, Barrie! [/quote] Praise indeed from a man of your tastes Clarky I can't praise it enough in terms of playability. I've actually raised the action a bit higher than I usually use which allows me to dig in a bit more & I can still whizz around on it more comfortably than anything else! Mind you I have strung it with Vic Wooten Fodera strings which are a 'girly' 40-95 gauge, lol. The band last night was quite 'rocky' and we played a few old standard Creedence type gritty songs & it fitted into the mix brilliantly. I'd thought it might be a bit bright with the solid maple body & ebony board (plus I was using a little MarkBass 2x10) but it sounded perfect