ambient

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1408801381' post='2533606'] As far as I know Zon frets are epoxied into the fretboard so you might have a bit of a job getting it defretted. I certainly wouldn't have had anybody work on my Zons that hadn't had experience of working with composite necks before. I would suggest emailing Joe Zon for advice but he's not known for his promptness in replying to questions. [/quote] Don't dude you're scaring me . I looked into that and found this [url="http://www.zonguitars.com/zonguitars/faq.html"]http://www.zonguitars.com/zonguitars/faq.html[/url] It says that a Zon fretboard can be re-fretted quite easily, so I'm guessing/hoping it can be de-fretted quite easily too, by someone who knows what they're doing.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1408796465' post='2533542'] I've got Julian's details if you need them. He's more of a phone guy than email (mostly because he's usually working solidly all day and can't get to emails until evenings). I speak to him very regularly so happy to ask him for you if you need any help [/quote] Thanks I'll give him a ring next week, I don't get the bass for a few weeks anyway, I just want to make sure that someone can do it for me.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1408795897' post='2533534'] Is it a phenowood or pay ferro board? Composite neck Zons will have the former and wooden neck the latter. The phenowood definitely needs someone who's worked with it before. The Gallery is definitely a good call,if you're in London. Julian Mullen is the person we use at our shop west of London and he's very good as well. [/quote] Phenowood 😊 thanks I'll get in touch with them see what they say !

I do or at least think I do, have a chart for this. Will look

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1408747875' post='2533268'] Music Man Bongo is basswood. [/quote] Was about to say that

Can anyone recommend a luthier to de-fret a Zon bass ?

I played the Pink puffin or purple parrot or some such place in Camden a few years ago, pretty nice venue, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't pay to play.

It maybe makes more sense to befriend bands in London that play similar music to you, and support them. Maybe return the hospitality. You could also find which venues don't charge for you to play by doing this. A lot of bands from my uni play at the Good ship in Kilburn, I don't know if they charge you to entertain their audience, but it'd be worth finding out.

My main function band does everything from disco, funk, pop and soul 'loud guitar' gigs to acoustic gigs with acoustic guitar, upright bass, percussion doing jazz and latin tunes, including some regular 'pop' songs that we've latinised "). I think having versatility just adds to your chances of a regular workload.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1408636138' post='2532091'] Which Fenders? [/quote] Both the USA Fender 5's I had, a Marcus Miller Jazz and a standard Jazz, had through body stringing, the little metal cup things that fitted in the rear of the body used to fall out, the holes they fitted in were too big. The standard Jazz had a very badly cut neck pocket, 2 or 3 mm gap between the body and the neck, tapering to nothing.

Remember that a 5 string bass, isn't just the extra notes. It means you can play the low E, F, F#, G and G# in the centre of the bass, making this great for avoiding stretching down to the first frets. Aklo means you don't have to move about so much around the neck.

D'Addario half-rounds are great, probably my favourite sounding strings, especially on my Modulus. [url="http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=191&productname=ENR71_6_Half_Rounds_Bass__Regular_Light__30_130__Long_Scale"]http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=191&productname=ENR71_6_Half_Rounds_Bass__Regular_Light__30_130__Long_Scale[/url] They're not really very versatile though, but I personally love their sound.

They are extremely well built basses (better than a lot of Fenders), they do feel somewhat 'clunky' to me though, I have to admit. In the right hands, for the right music they're pretty much fantastic. Though they never seem to work for me.