Dingus

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1396043532' post='2409495'] That's what I liked about it, I loved the Sabbath angel inlay at the 5th fret, fairly subtle but looked great; shame they didn't get permission to use it, given the cost of a USA Lakland, it can't have been a massive percentage cost increase. I've never been wild about matching headstocks either, prefer the contrast of the bare wood :-) [/quote] Well they will definitely do you a version with an unpainted headstock if you request that. As far as I know, they were refused permission to use the logo, full stop. It wasn't a question of failing to agree a percentage. The question of who actually owns and controls use of the Black Sabbath brand name has been subject to legal wrangling in the recent past, so maybe it is a bit too thorny an issue to negotiate a deal at the moment. Just speculation on my part, though, I hasten to add.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1396039105' post='2409426'] I only use the neck pick up with the tone off. There is a marked increase in treble and upper mids with the volume on full. It isn't the same tone as using the tone control, which adds higher frequencies. It gives me no peace of mind at all, I'm not bothered either way but I just happen to know they are original, unlike much of the bass that has been replaced over the years. I wonder when mine will wear out? They've done over 50 years so far I have only played a few pre CBS Fenders and they have all had very powerful, juicy sounding pick ups. I have owned and played some modern US and Mexican Fenders, but no CS models (yet). The pick ups have sounded weak in all of them compared to my old beast. It's a shame because I would love to find a new bass that could give me the same depth of tone. It is all subjective of course and I know my taste tonewise is not like most player's. [/quote] If you want to try out some Fender CS' 60'S pickups, they are fitted as standard to all the post-2012 American Standard Jazz Basses, so if you see one of those in a shop, that is your chance to give them a whirl. You can instantly tell them from the pre-2012 standard ( non-CS) Fender pickups because the Custom Shop ones have raised pole pieces, whereas the previous ones had flat pole pieces flush with the pickup case.

If you are prepared to go the secondhand route on E Bay ect, then if you can find a pair of Sennheiser HD485 they were a fantastic affordable design. Very comfortable, lightweight but durable , great sound, easy to drive and compatible with portable devices. Strongly recommended. The sold for about £40-50 new, and were discontinued about three years ago, from what I remember, but are well worth scouting out.

Round core DR'S such as Sunbeams, Fatbeams and Hi Beams are low tension, as are Thomastic Jazzz Rounds. Dunlops claim to be lower tension, but feel about average to me. Warwick Black Label are pretty low tension, too.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1396032325' post='2409315'] There is science behind this, but I can't remember the explanation. Basically, the full tone of the pick ups comes through with the volume on full, while reducing the volume also attenuates the upper frequencies. I don't like the tone with the volume on full. I play reggae and I keep the volume under 75% to reduce the treble and upper mids that are present on full volume. I haven't noticed any loss of dynamics, just a much warmer old school tone. I know the history of this bass and the pick ups are original and never rewound. I don't think of it as a holy relic at all, just a working instrument that happens to suit me perfectly tone wise. They must have used a heck of a lot of wire, because it's the deepest sounding Jazz bass I've ever heard. TO the OP - Sorry for derailing your thread. I understand your problem because I don't like weak pick ups. Be careful replacing them though, as a lot of new pick ups are also weak IME. [/quote] To address some of these points in order, if you roll off the volume on one Jazz Bass pickup by about a quarter and the other by about an eighth it is an old trick that some bass players use makes them kind of out-of-phase , and that does attenuate the treble , similar to rolling off the tone control a bit. I am glad that you the peace of mind of knowing that the pickups are all original on your old bass, but it isn't the end of the world if old pickups have been rewound or replaced , anyway. There are quite a few specialists in rewinding them to be vintage-correct, or even improved on the original sound. MojoTone in North Carolina are one such example of notable celebrity pickup rewinds and general hot-rodding of old pickups. . All pickups wear out eventually, and most the ones on the market today sound better than vintage ones ever did, once you strip away all the hyperbole. I've played and owned a lot of old Fenders , and I've never played an old Jazz Bass that had pickups that sounded as good or had the kind of output of the current off-the-shelf Fender Custom Shop Vintage '60's Jazz Bass pickups . Those pickups are overwound ( extra wire) and sound magnificent , to my ears anyway. If someone had an old Jazz Bass with duff pickups a set of those CS ones would be a good replacement .

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1396032651' post='2409320'] Cracking video, thanks for posting. That prototype signature Precision is far more attractive than the one you can actually buy. [/quote] I think the production model is nicer! You get a matching black headstock, and there are more inlays on the fingerboard on the production version . Geezer's prototype is a bit more basic. I'm sure they would build you one like that if you asked them , if that is what you wanted. The only thing they won't do is the Sabbath angel inlay, because it's a registered trademark and they don't have permission to use it.

I remember myself as an impressionable young man seeing that Frankie appearance on The Tube the night it was on, and thinking that there was definitely something to be feared in men wearing those kind of outfits, but something very alluring in women wearing that kind of leather gear. Call me a hypocrite if you like.

Given that I have never heard one, I would be very interested to hear some description of what this bass sounds like.

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1396023566' post='2409180'] Holy Sh1t, I did think rap could bring about a revolution; but in the words of PE or NWA, not a rap by Michael Gove.......This day is getting more strange! [/quote] Michael Gove is what is technically referred to in the world of Hip Hop as a whack ass rapper, and is incapable of a convincing appearance on BBC Question Time, let alone inspiring a revolution among young people with his rendition of Wham Rap, which, ironically enough espouses the joys of taking life easy and living on State Benefits . Maybe that song is where Michael got his very set ideas about the deserving and undeserving poor. Rather, my vision is that Gove and his kind will be the victims of formidable rapping skills honed in the inner city comprehensive schools of Britain as those institutions are progressively more denuded of proper resources, and pupils and teachers alike have no choice but to use rap to disseminate ideas because of a shortage of conventional textbooks.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1396022358' post='2409163'] What's your point..? Aren't you simply needling us, or have you chosen the wrong thread..? [/quote] My point is that this country is already a long way down the road to where we are headed, and Michael Gove is just the smarmy public face of a powerful group of crypto-facists who are too savvy to make any frank public admissions of their true sympathies. But , as Boethius famously observed, history is a spinning wheel, and those currently at the bottom of its' cycle will inevitably have their day on top.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1395996659' post='2408696'] Maybe it's just me (and I have no idea of the science behind this, if there is any!) but when I reduce the volume on any passive bass (and especially a P-type bass) there appears to be a loss of tone too... Completely subjective of course! [/quote] Passive basses do indeed always sound best ( or at their fullest and most dynamic, let me put it that way) with the volume on full .

Without wishing to get involved in a political discussion, I think Michael Gove is doing a fantastic job, as are the rest of the current Coalition . When all is said and done, his policies and those of the Government as a whole are designed to keep children from less privileged backgrounds in their right and proper place and keep the best opportunities for those from better-off families that really deserve them .I am happy about that state of affairs because the long-term effect of such a policy will inevitably be a class-based revolution, in which the kids excluded from opportunity will overthrow their oppressors by violent means, and, significantly, also by using rap. Yes, that's right, rap. The kids are going to rap their way to freedom , and there is nothing that Michael Gove and the rest of his kind can do to stop it. The seeds have already been sewn. It will be like Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, but with some Hip Hop grooves thrown into the mix .

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1395785820' post='2406408'] Cheers. I'm not going to even think about changing the original pups in a '68, that would be sacrilege. I'll have a play around and lift them tomorrow, I don't play hard so can't see strings hitting pickups being an issue. I've got a set of Boss ME-50B pedals, I'll see if they can boost before I go and buy a pedal. I've tried winding up the output vol on the ME-50B before and found after about 6-7 on the vol it just distorts rather than gets louder. More experimenting to do so thanks for the suggestions to try. Cheers, Rich [/quote] You could try adding a preamp like the Xotic Trilogic that can boost and fatten the signal from you bass. It's quite a common fix for this kind of problem with matching the output of vintage basses to more modern ones with a hotter output.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1395948711' post='2408343'] Do you know how this happens? My '63 Jazz has never had any work done to the pick ups afaik and it has been used heavily throughout it's life. The pick ups are as loud and clear as when I got it in 1980, they are much louder than any modern passive bass that I've tried. Is it just luck, or should I expect them to die off any time soon? [/quote] Well, presuming that you are right and the pickups on your bass wern't rewound( or changed completely) prior to your ownership ( as far as I know, without dismantling the pickup it can be hard to tell if it has been rewound or rebuilt ) one reason for the hit and miss nature of vintage Fender pickups is the slightly haphazard way in which they were wound in the olden days. Nowadays magnets industrially produced to specific tolerances and wrapped by computer controlled machines with very accurately measured numbers of wraps of wire. Back in the vintage era , it was just done by eye and approximate estimation so there was far more scope for inconsistency in the sound of those pickups from one batch to the next, and even between individual examples of the same batch . The truth is that no one gave it much thought at the time. The idea that these guitars would become holy relics would have been laughed at. More wire on a pickup will make it louder, but also reduces the high frequency response, and some magnets stay magnetized better than others. .

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1395950737' post='2408379'] That's one of my 'smoking and drinking conservatory' sofas. It's usually got a protective blanket over it... [/quote] Very sensible. If it was mine it would be shamefully stained in no time. On another note, you can really see how these basses were the genesis of what became the early series of Wal basses, in terms of the shape , styling and the ( for the time) ambitious electronics. A very interesting period piece in that respect.

Nice sofa, too, by the way.

I doubt very much whether, regardless of the nature of their association, that Geddy earns any significant cash as such directly from the arrangement. It is probably more useful to him in terms of the goodwill and support Fender give him in return for his endorsement.

Vintage Fender pickups, especially Jazz Bass pickups, can indeed start to give a lower output over time and become increasingly microphonic, and may eventually need rewinding , renovating or replacing. It comes with territory with vintage basses, I'm afraid. The last time I played a selection of late 1960's/early '70s Jazz Basses at a vintage guitar dealer's shop ([i][u]NOT[/u][/i] Andy Baxter's where you got your bass from, I hasten to add) , every single one of them had pickups that were shagged out, to put it crudely. That was a bit of an unfortunate coincidence, and not all vintage Jazz Basses suffer from this problem, but a very significant proportion do. Something to be aware of if you are raising the height of the pickups is the effect of the magnetic pole pieces upon the strings. Even if you play lightly and avoid the a string hitting the pole pieces, the magnets in the pickups will, if too close, unduly influence the vibration of the steel a string causing a detrimental effect on the overall sound in terms of sustain and overall tone. That is another reason why there is a minimum distance that the pickups should be from the strings, regardless of output and volume. .

I love a good bass renovation story, and this is one of those. I hope you get a lot of fun playing this bass, Mark, and you certainly won't see many others like it round town, that's for sure. That is a slice of British 1970's retro of the first order. I was just thinking how modern it must have looked in 1972. Given the current popular interest amongst musicians in more offbeat vintage instruments like this one , this bass means you are now officially "trendy" , and I hope you are prepared to deal with that. Don't be surprised if you now get teenage girls approaching you after gigs and asking if you are Peter Hook. Don't say yes, but don't say no. That way they will have less incriminating evidence against you when the case comes to court.

When Geezer plays the bass unaccompanied, you can hear the impressive attack he gets playing with just his fingers, and why he seldom needs to use a pick.

[quote name='Panamonte' timestamp='1395869411' post='2407531'] I agree that Songs For a Taylor and Harmony Row are both very good albums that show JB's songwriting and (multi-instrumental) playing at their best. But - if you haven't already checked them out - I would also recommend Somethinels, Monkjack and More Jack Than God. [/quote] They are indeed worthwhile records, from what I remember. Jack Bruce is one of those musicians that, whatever he is involved in , I will always be interested and give it a listen.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1395908012' post='2407721'] I like his tone with that combination! Now if you want to talk about awful, let's discuss superclean Wal and Superwound [s]elastic bands[/s] strings!! [/quote] Wal/Superwound was an awesome tone! Fight , fight, fight! I can distinctly remember the first moment I saw the video for "Big Money" on Whistle Test back in 1985 when Power Windows had just been released , and being excited firstly that Geddy Lee was playing a Wal, and secondly that he had a long mullet very similar to the one I was sporting myself at the time. I have nothing against Jazz Basses, far from it, as my guitar rack will testify, and I was excited when Geddy resurrected that black/maple bass for Counterparts and it sounds nice and meaty on that album, as you would expect considering it is essentially the sound of an old Fender cranked through a vintage Ampeg SVT, but after that album his tone went downhill , to my taste at least.