
GrammeFriday
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Everything posted by GrammeFriday
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Never tried an Electra but Sandbergs are ace so I'm sure this will be a good choice too.
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MTD Kingston Saratoga. Hotter output pups than Fenders/Squiers, and a super-comfy asymmetrical neck profile. Brilliant basses - especially the 5-string - and cheap too. Only two colour choices, mind, and minimalist styling (i.e. no control plate or pickguard) may not be your thing if you want it to look exactly like a Fender Jazz.
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Bought a lovely MTD 535 fretless from Alan. Product exactly as described, and a very fair price too. The whole buying process was very easy and cordial, and I spent a very enjoyable hour with Alan drinking tea and basschatting when I went to his place to pick up - this despite the fact that he was in the process of moving house at the time! It was also a treat to listen to him whizzing through Patitucci lines and bossa nova grooves on his amazing MTD 635-24 - outstanding chops, sir! Great guy, great player - buy, sell or trade with confidence.
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MTD Kingston Saratoga and CRB. At just over £500 new, these are the best value for money 34" scale passive J and P style 5ers on the market, IMO. The low Bs on these absolutely kill any Fender/Squier 5er I've tried. The styling may not be to your taste if you want a Fender lookalike, though!
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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1409429748' post='2539692'] I really want one you know, might need to sell a stingray first though [/quote] Now hang on a minute ...
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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1409416383' post='2539547'] Thanks. I want to be careful that I don't make this into my NBD thread mark II, it was meant to be about the general joy of 7 strings. [/quote] In which case I will just have to lurk, never having played one myself! Like Jellyfish, I would love to have a go, though. [quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1409416383' post='2539547'] BTW: Are you the MTD fan that I met at the Midlands bass bash in Leicester? [/quote] Never really thought of myself as a 'fan' of any brand of bass, but yes, I do like MTDs, and yes that was me. How's your software looper coming along? A 7 string bass will be just the thing for loop-based doodling!
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Just had a look at your pics - looks really nice! Very MTD-inspired, methinks. So, it's a neck-thru, so that I guess rules out body/neck join issues as an explanation for the floppiness. Hope the string change works!
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Aguilar DB751 / GS412. (sold / Withdrawn)
GrammeFriday replied to Marcus's topic in Amps and Cabs For Sale
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Good string tension on low Bs is less to do with scale length than it is to do with construction quality. In particular, a good low B needs: a. very high quality (i.e. hard and dense) neck material (e.g. canadian rock maple, wenge, carbon fibre, etc…) b. super tight neck join (if a bolt-on; if neck through, then this is already an advantage). Both of these things inevitably translate into a higher cost. In other words, you get what you pay for!
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SANDBERG CALIFORNIA TT5 GREENBURST - Withdrawn
GrammeFriday replied to rpsequeira's topic in Basses For Sale
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*SOLD* Sandberg California TM4 Unlined Fretless
GrammeFriday replied to GrammeFriday's topic in Basses For Sale
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*SOLD* Sandberg California TM4 Unlined Fretless
GrammeFriday replied to GrammeFriday's topic in Basses For Sale
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Thanks again!
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Good to know! As it happens, I'm still waiting for someone to step forward and take her off my hands at the moment. No chance of getting her down to Portsmouth from Brum, though!
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For Sale or Trade, my lovely Sandberg California TM4 Fretless. [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6968_zps22988ef9.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6974_zps1a34ccc5.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6952_zpsd6ba277f.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6951_zpsd9c449be.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6958_zpsb4b2ef80.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6962_zps956f718b.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6961_zps529a5bac.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6418_zpsd0e6578b.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6413_zps92562bbb.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6412_zps1b662a46.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6957_zps5d3fade0.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless/IMG_6947_zps94940f31.jpg.html"][/url] More pics here: [url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/library/Sandberg%20California%20TM4%20Fretless"]http://s1333.photobu...0TM4%20Fretless[/url] [b]Construction: [/b] Nicely figured ash body, Canadian hard rock maple neck, lovely unlined rosewood fingerboard with white side position dots. Six bolt neck, with as tight a neck pocket as I have ever seen on a J-style bass. [b]Finish: [/b] 3-tone sunburst in satin finish, which shows off the ash grain in the body really nicely. I was expecting this finish to be somewhat scratch prone, but much to my surprise it has turned out to be very hard-wearing, maybe even more durable than your usual poly gloss job. Certainly, there is virtually no buckle rash on the back to report, and this bass has been played/gigged a fair bit. [b]Electronics:[/b] Delano J and MM pickups through a 9v Glockenklang 2-band active eq with passive bypass option. Controls are volume, pickup pan, treble boost/cut, bass boost/cut, with passive bypass push-pull on the volume knob. A particularly nice and useful feature of this preamp is that in passive mode the treble pot functions as a passive tone control, so it becomes a 'real' passive bass (i.e. with volume AND tone controls) when in passive mode. You'd be surprised how few active/passive switching basses offer this feature. [b]History: [/b] I am the sole owner. This one was a custom order, purchased on 7th August 2012. (I still have the receipt.) It has seen active gigging service playing soul/funk/pop covers mixed in with a few of the more dance-oriented jazz standards (Herbie Hancock etc.), but has not been thrashed and has been extremely well looked after. [b]Weight/ergonomics: [/b] Not a lightweight at 10.5lbs, but balances perfectly on the strap and is very comfy to play. TBH I was a bit surprised when I weighed it - I had never thought of this one of my heavier basses and never notice any "Oof, that's a relief" feeling when taking it off after a long set. (This goes along with my general theory that weight is much less important than balance as an overall ergonomic consideration, but that's probably one for another thread!) [b]Health and fitness: [/b] Everything is original and in excellent working order. Neck is ramrod straight, truss rod works great, electronics work great. Low action, but - as with all fretlesses - can go to crazy low relief if you want. No discernible wear on the fretboard. This bass has a very generous slab of rosewood on it, and it will be a VERY long time indeed before it gets even close to wearing out. There are a few of the inevitable dings on the end of the headstock (pictured), and there is one tiny ding on the top of the body (also pictured), which is not visible from the front, and can very easily be touched up. (Another advantage of the satin finish over poly.) There is also one small scratch on the back that has not gone through the finish, but this is so hard to see that I couldn't find it when I tried to photograph it the other day! [b]Sound: [/b] VERY versatile, with an extremely wide range of tones on tap, especially for a fretless. Neck pickup gives a very traditional, old-school 'woody' tone - ideal for jazz, Motown, soul, Amy Winehouse covers, etc. etc. - you know the drill. Despite the name, the Delano MM-style bridge humbucker sounds nothing like a Stingray at all; what it gives you is a MASSIVE fat jazz bridge pup sound - one of the best I've ever heard, really brilliant for straight-up disco and funk as well as the usual Jaco thing. [b]Strings: [/b] Currently strung with La Bella 760FX flats (39/56/77/96), which sound fantastic. [b]Case/bag: [/b] If you collect in person it will come in its original high quality Sandberg padded gigbag. If posted, I will send it in a newly purchased basic Gear4Music hard case and add the cost of that (£37.99) to the postage charge. Alternatively, you can send me an empty hard case, and I'll put the bass in that and send it back to you, generously swathed in bubble-wrap. [b]Sale price and collection/delivery options: [/b] £550 collected from my house in South Birmingham (near M42/M40). I am also happy to meet up or deliver within a reasonable range - PM me to discuss possibilities. I am also happy to post to your door using UPS or similar; I will organise this and add the cost to the sale price. Yes, I know, £550 is a crazy low price for such a stunning instrument, but these are tough times, and this price is based on a realistic assessment of the market for secondhand fretless basses. [b]Trade valuation: [/b] £800 The difference between the sale price and the trade valuation reflects the fact that my main priority is a quick cash sale. Either way, you are getting a proper bargain here: this bass cost me £1349 new. [b]Why selling? [/b] I love this bass and am only selling it as I have a 5-string fretless incoming and need to free up space and cash. [b]Trade/part exchange options:[/b] Although I am really after a quick cash sale, I am open to trade offers, but please note that I can only consider straight swaps or trades with cash my way. Tradewise, I'd be particularly interested in an MTD Kingston Saratoga 5 or CRB 5. I'd also be tempted by a nice P or P/J bass, and I'm always a sucker for Stingrays. No fretless trade offers though, please, as I already have a fretless 5-string incoming, as mentioned above. [b]My feedback:[/b] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/235584-feedback-for-grammefriday/"]http://basschat.co.u...r-grammefriday/[/url] Thanks for looking!
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Yeah, a Yammy, Ibanez or Aria would all be sound choices. MTD Kingstons are also excellent VFM, although secondhand ones don't come up for sale very often, and most are active not passive.
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I've never understood people and their NBDs
GrammeFriday replied to BassTractor's topic in Bass Guitars
[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1409167020' post='2537083'] Ah go on! [/quote] This bass is definitely my cup of tea! -
I've never understood people and their NBDs
GrammeFriday replied to BassTractor's topic in Bass Guitars
[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1408827213' post='2533918'] Feck! [/quote] Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! -
Agreed!
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TBH you're not missing all that much - more often than not, being in a band is just a massive pain in the arse. If it's someone else's band you will soon begin to feel frustrated at having to make endless compromises in what you play, how you dress, even what bass you are allowed to play, and if it is your own band you will soon tire of herding cats and generally being the only one who can be arsed to do any of the nitty gritty stuff (bookings, organising rehearsals, promo, etc.). Of course, if you get lucky you will suffer neither of these fates. There will be a marriage of true minds and a fair and harmonious division of labour. But it's a big if, so prepare to be underwhelmed by the experience if you do decide to venture out of your bedroom. Personally I can totally understand why some people prefer to do their own thing using software. I remember reading an interview with Christian Fennesz, in which he said he was in various MBV-style shoegaze bands in the 90s and then one day thought 'sod it, I've had enough with all this band crap'. And never looked back. Having said that, I must admit it's not exactly thrilling live entertainment watching geezers press the space bar on their laptops all evening either, so I dunno ...
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Treat yourself to a day trip down to Bass Direct and talk to Mark.
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Kickass! Great sound - really big, spacious and detailed, and great bass tone(s). Excellent work.
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Really, really nice - congrats! Now you've got me thinking … oly white Precision, maple neck, black or tort pickguard, p/j pups, V/V/T, jack socket on the bottom edge ... Oh dear ...