Dingus

[quote name='operative451' timestamp='1389354587' post='2333150'] Yep, that looks cool! Compare: [url="http://londonphotos.biz/galleries/music/livework/photos/B4908_Level42IndigO2_034.jpg"]http://londonphotos....IndigO2_034.jpg[/url] Very not cool.. Also watching the 70s old grey whistle test compilations on bbc4 has made me think, yeah, the prog guys playing fingerstyle looked way less cool with their fingers flapping around than the punkers with picks... Hmmm... Ok, fingers work better for certain sounds, but yeah... Flapping. No.... [/quote] Might I suggest to you ( in a friendly manner) that the point of playing the bass, or indeed any musical instrument, is to make music. The coolest thing you can do with a bass is actually learn how to play it in a musical fashion , not sling it round you ankles and look like you are trying to saw it in half with a plectrum.

[quote name='Ian Savage' timestamp='1389269137' post='2332070'] This is a few years back: [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/smokingbeagle/ianbddrink.jpg"]http://img.photobuck.../ianbddrink.jpg[/url] I'm an inch or two higher than that now, but not by much. [/quote] At least you haven't fallen for any of the stereotypical rock and roll cliches...

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1389258764' post='2331912'] The bassist from Ash wears it low. This doesnt seem to hamper his playing anyhow. [/quote] You are quite right about wearing his bass low not hampering his playing. He still wouldn't be very good even if he wore it a bit higher.

I like new basses, and I like older basses that are in good condition . I'm not looking for player wear, mojo , provenence, relicing or any other such spurious qualities that are promoted as being assets nowadays. Brand spanking new or mint condition will be just fine. Then I can decide how and why the bass will be used, maintained and kept in good order.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1389283329' post='2332344'] From my American Vintage Jazz - pick up cover = 41.2 g, bridge cover, (with F) 112.1g, screws = 3g In english = notalot [/quote] Thanks for taking the time to do that, I'm grateful to you .

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1389289740' post='2332470'] Can I be a bit dim and ask why/]? [/quote] I'm looking at a bass that comes with a metal cover over the neck pickup, but the bass has been weighed without the cover in place, so I wanted to know how much difference the cover would make. That may sound a bit strange, but experience has taught me that small differences can make all the difference to the perceived weight of a bass. A bass that weighs 8 3/4 pounds feels light to me, whereas one that is 9 1/4 pounds feels substantially heavier, despite the difference only being the same weight as slightly less than a third of a loaf of bread. If the cover added three or four ounces, for example, you would probably feel a slight difference in the overall weight of the bass, so I thought I had better investigate further. Some basses can be on the weighty side for reasons other than density of the woods used . Certain pickup designs and electronics packages add a considerable weight to the bass, and if you have both covers on a traditional Jazz Bass that will add more than a 1/4 of a pound to the total.

Sounds about right ! Cheers for that .

Does anybody know how much the metal "cowbell" neck pickup cover on a Jazz Bass typically weighs? I am looking at a bass which would usually have one fitted and I am trying to work our how many ounces ( or grams) the cover would add to the total weight of the bass. I've tried Googling it but I can only find the packed weight.

May I interject , hopefully in the cause of peace of harmony, that you are both right. These were indeed budget basses, but very special ones. I know because I had both a JV Precision and Jazz back when they were current models , and thirty years ago this very evening I would have been twanging away on one of them along to my favourite records in my bedroom never for a moment suspecting that one day decades in the future I would be reminiscing about it for your benefit as a middle aged man with a belly who has sacrificed his dreams of stardom on the alter of compromise . Those JV Squiers were( and doubtless still are) very nice basses , but they were relatively inexpensive budget guitars , that is an undeniable fact. But this is well-trodden ground on Basschat, and ultimately if Cameltoe or anyone else wants a JV Squier then that is fair enough , and they are certainly very enjoyable basses to play on every level. I'm sure we are all keeping our fingers crossed the Cameltoe gets a better-than-expected outcome in all of this, one way or another.

GCSE? In that case, forget about what is complicated and start thinking about what is[u] popular[/u]. There is likely to be lots of girls there, so try and work out what they like the most and then play that. I am not really in touch with what GCSE - age girls like these days , I must admit -Operation Yewtree has seen to that- but in my day it was Duran Duran , who ,to be fair, did have some cracking basslines. All you had to do was learn how to play Rio and Planet Earth and you were a genius in the eyes of your contemporaries. Find some recent chart records with half decent bass parts on and play those for your recital . It will go down a storm.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389140235' post='2330678'] Spandex isn't a good look for anyone, really. [/quote] Stamping on another one of my dreams there, Shelly.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1389208606' post='2331444'] It's a one- piece neck, so no seperate fingerboard. Truss rod may be able to exit the way it went in, through the walnut dowel on the headstock. [/quote] Ah, that is a bit unusual on a budget bass. This is, at best, going to be a pain in the arse to repair for someone. Fingerboards are usually stuck on with animal glue that comes unstuck under heat lamps and with steam. Hopefully the headstock plug is stuck in the same way but it might be a bit harder to get out and then access the truss rod . Get it a good luthier and see what they say, but you are probably talking hundreds of quid to fix this, I'm sorry to say. I really hope I am wrong about that though. .

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1389184020' post='2330963'] I think it all depends on the age the US Jazz is. I have a couple of 1970s US Jazz Basses and there seems to be no decrease in prices at all. In fact they seem to be increasing in value. [/quote] The prices of '70's Fenders are indeed appreciating, especially for nice examples. Also very noticeable is that post-CBS late '60's Fenders are trading at pre-CBS prices now. You will pay approximately the same money for a good '66 or '67 bass as you would for one pre-1965. It's all driven by demand, and worldwide demand for those basses is constant. You can sell them in Europe, you can sell them in Japan, and, most significantly, you can sell the in America, where supply is greatest, for just as good prices as anywhere else.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1389127186' post='2330457'] That's awesome, thanks- I will give him a shout. Yes that's gone through my mind a lot- I'm going to pursue repair for a while until I have a rock-solid diagnosis and price and will then have to make a decision accordingly. i'm going to start a thread on the repair section, as I've been googling a lot regarding the construction of these early truss rods, and from what I can tell, the truss rod would have been inserted at the headstock end, with the truss anchor held in place under the walnut plug. If the truss can be removed from here and a new one inserted, it would be the best outcome I could hope for. [/quote] A skilled luthier can whip off the fingerboard and access the rod with no problem, if necessary. This is , however, usually a pretty expensive job, as are most truss rod replacement scenarios, in my limited experience of these matters. You may have to make the decision over whether this bass is worth sinking a few hundred quid into in order to fix , I am sorry to say. I will keep my fingers crossed you get a better-than-expected diagnosis from the repairman.

A lot of very expensive high-end basses have shims. Wal, Music Man, and most vintage Fenders all have them more often than not. Sadowsky use them when necessary , as do countless other makers. You won't hear any real perceivable difference in the tone of a correctly shimmed bass, but you will notice a huge improvement in the playability if the job has been done properly. Shimming is just another legitimate technique in the guitar making process, and a lot of basses are shimmed and nobody knows it. Especially on a Fender-style bass , it really is nothing to get worked up about.

That is truly impressive. I always said you would be crazy to want to play a six string bass on a regular gig, and this chap proves my point. Now I understand why Anthony Jackson plays sitting down exclusively.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1389125038' post='2330405'] I always imagined that you would be the sort of woman who likes a large Pinot, Shell. [/quote] Just so long as that's not a large Pino. He's a married man .

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1389123557' post='2330360'] Dingus, I would appreciate it if you would ask my permission first to use my piccy before trying to pass yourself off as me! [/quote] Actually, I must confess that isn't me . It's actually some Scottish bloke , Alex Salmond , maybe?

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389119328' post='2330289'] Ooh, you smooth talking lothario [/quote] I've got the looks to match the patter , too.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1388947559' post='2327994'] As you can imagine i'd rather get the original neck sorted, due to the collectability of these basses. The neck I'd like will set me back $320 from Musickraft. Anyone got a good quality maple neck kicking around? Just in case? [/quote] I'm very sorry to hear about this mishap, and rest assured, this bass is fixable, the only question is how much it will cost and if it is worth doing in light of that expense . It may be that a replacement neck may lessen the collectability of the bass dramatically, but makes the most sense in terms of cutting you losses and giving you a great bass - maybe even a better bass- to play and use.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389118719' post='2330277'] Cheap lambrusco, Dingus? Pinot, please! You think I've got no taste or summink? [/quote] You sound like an expensive date, Shelly. What about a bottle of Blue Nun and some pork scratchings?

Just like chrizzmus, I find no real difference in the overall tone but certainly a slightly tauter feel to the string if you go through the body . One way that through-body stringing can be useful is on some five string basses if you string EADG through the bridge and then the B through the body it can help even up the tension / compliance of that low B with the other four strings and make things feel a bit more uniform .

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389083711' post='2329595'] Well, it had to come in the end. We had been growing apart and we didn't have much in common any more. There had been the occasional arguments, but in the end the split was quite amicable. We felt it was time for us all to be free to meet other bands. So we decided to call it a day. I've got custody of the drummer. Alas Spectrum, the first band that would ever have me, is no more. Drummer and I are in another band anyway. We'd both been thinking we'd quite like to split, but we didn't want to let down the guitarist as he is a nice chap. But luckily for everyone, it was the guitarist who told us yesterday that he didn't want to carry on. Singer had one foot out of the door anyway as he is also a performance poet, and that had been taking up loads of his time recently. I'll always look back on Spectrum with great fondness. We were a band of limited talents, and a somewhat ill matched little foursome. But I am so grateful to the guys for giving me my first 'break'. It's not everyone who would have taken on on a middle aged woman who had only been playing for just over a year. However, onwards and upwards for 2014! Drummer and I can really concentrate on the other band now. [/quote] Spectrum? That drummers name isn't Billy Cobham by any chance? He must challenging to play with! I just hope you don't let this parting of the ways push you over the edge Shelly. I know it is tempting to go down the route of nihilistic rock and roll excess and try and lose yourself in cheap lambrusco and toy boys , but before you know it you could end up just another has-been rummaging through bins near Kings Cross and muttering to yourself. I know Ozzy went off the rails big time after he split with Sabbath, and I would hate to see you go the same way, Shelly. Think of me as your Sharon, here to save you from yourself and guide you to future success beyond your wildest dreams. To that ends, I think you and Space Chick should form a girl group with two bass players and call it Shelly's Atomic Dustbin .

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1389093429' post='2329715'] What we really wanted was a Mime! [/quote] Some of the sound mixes I have had at gigs have made me a de-facto mime artist holding a bass guitar as a prop.