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It’s great 😊 The fretwork and neck are perfect so I can get the action as low as my Vigier. It’s effortless to play as a result. The pre sounds great - I’m not sure what the internal dip switches do but currently it’s very spicy sounding and really lively. Slapped notes sound full and weighty right up to the G. The body is very tactile - a little bit smaller than a full sized J, and slimmer - it reminds me of a Smith in that regard. The neck joint is neater than your regular four bolt plate and very tidy. But yeah it sounds tremendous. The pickups soloed sound great too, which I have found isn’t always the case with jazzes. The smooth covered pickups are nice under the fingers - I’m used to using them like a ramp. I don’t know about the specs of them but they are super Hifi. Also I think they’re the first pickups I’ve had where they actually raise up when you loosen the screws! It came in a Hiscox style Celinder case which is in pretty good condition. The bass has obviously been played and has a few small marks and scratches but that’s good because I don’t want to have to baby it! The G tuner (Hipshot) is a little unresponsive to tuning down, it sort of needs going back to take up the ‘slack’ and back up to tune - maybe it needs oiling? Otherwise - perfect. Seriously love the shape and thin body. The bridge saddle grubs require a very odd sized Allen key - I have a set of every type, metric and imperial - none fit! Luckily the correct one was in the case. The truss rod needed a very slight loosen to compensate for my strings but that is a regular 5mm and was smooth as you like. The neck is a serious piece of work though - lovely bit of clank/buzz when you want it but clean when you attack slightly differently. No other neck has been this good for me and I’m really fussy with my almost dead straight neck and super low action (I normally find G saddles don’t go low enough and have to file the groove down) Compared to the Atelier? Hm. Too early to make a direct comparison but it is more Marcus Miller and enables me to set the action slightly more to my taste. It’s a close call. Both are just fantastic at what they do and have that organic grindy 70s slap sound. I’ll get some pics in the next few days maybe if the whole collection which has grown a fair bit lately. I quite like that this matches my P of choice (Black/Maple) Cheers to the Gallery for sorting a Saturday delivery, too. Cheers ped

It's here!! Well done TNT!! Brb...

The Gallery did - should be fine in it’s case. The TNT app shows it as out for delivery today (despite not showing it as being collected yesterday) so we’ll see. Fingers crossed!!

No that’s me

Ah it's new isn't it! Probably not then. Whereabouts are you?

Hm yeah sounds like the neck is shimmed (pointing down) and the saddles are up to compensate and raise them over the heel hump. Get the neck flat, adjust the relief then get those saddles down!

Sounds amazing. Isn’t Meshell’s a 60s bass?

Hi mines a DAL-4 which is basically the same but with chambered body and ebony fingerboard. It’s a great bass, beautifully made and has 70s spacing which I love. The preamp is probably different too - V/V with bypass/treble cut and boost/bass boost. Does yours have a different one?

First of all, always adjust with the strings tuned to pitch (if you’re loosening to create more relief) If it’s truly stuck you could try heavier strings if you don’t mind that, as a workaround?

Quite - and make it impossible for you to collect it when they inevitably deliver when you’re at work or out because they were meant to deliver it when you had arranged it. Apparently TNT offer the option to collect but then you turn up and they don’t let you because COVID. So that’s good too. Anyway - they have my address and it’ll turn up one day I’m sure 🤷🏻‍♂️

It was meant to have been collected on Thursday and delivered today - predictably that hasn’t been the case and TNT didnt collect at all. So the gallery have asked them to collect today for Saturday delivery - but the TNT app doesn’t show it as collected. So that’s good

Yeah I'm more into the business side - Mind you I did just read quite a good thread on the Ernie Ball forums - with 'Big Poppa' being pretty abrasive in parts. http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-basses/7512-music-history-george-fullerton.html This book was recommended as a good source of info https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30626357258&searchurl=isbn%3D9781574242164%26n%3D100121501%26sortby%3D20&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title2

Ah crikey! Well at least you know there's a high attention to detail!

Which book is that? I really want to find a book covering Leo's adventures from Fender to CLF, Musicman and G&L. @wateroftyne recommended this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-Inside-Forrest-R-White/dp/0879303093/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Leo+Fender+book&qid=1603446259&sr=8-3 The reviews are a bit mixed and it might be a bit Fender focused? Then there's this one which sounds a bit touchy feely https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leo-Fender-Quiet-Giant-Around/dp/0996793143/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Leo+Fender+book&qid=1603446259&sr=8-1

Yeah unfortunately you're right - I have found serials above and below mine from '83 but it would be interesting to know the date (although I assume different parts will be made any time from 1974 onwards!)

Thanks @drTStingray I have hoovered up all the information from the musicman.global site now - that’s something I live about getting a new bass, researching the history and minor details. I’ve ordered a white scratchplate for it too which will be interesting to try, although the black and white matches the headstock puppet and it’ll be known as my ‘panda’ bass! Is there any way to ascertain the exact build date from the serial or do I need to take the neck off or something? I think the slab body looks great - I’ve had one in the past but the corners weren’t even rounded so it was quite painful on the forearm. There’s something about the chunky body that just suits the character of this thing, another reason to call it the panda!

Ffs indeed. Was the ‘buyer’ a BCer? If so please let me know who.

Yeah the mutes are fun. Thanks for the info re the body. When did they stop doing slab bodies? I tend to also rest on the E string but on the pickup too, and I’m used to having a ramp so occasionally I hit the protruding poles on the A and D strings but just a matter of adjusting a bit. Volume across the strings is very even!

Oh the seller said it’s 4.39kg - I haven’t weighed it but it feels fine.

Thanks, yes it's a 4 bolt. Luckily the neck is dead flat and doesn't require a shim (I've always quite liked the micro tilt system). Thanks for the Eq tip. I have found my favourite sound so far (need to come back tomorrow with fresh ears) to be a slight treble boost and a bass boost about 1/4 of a turn more than the treble and backing off the volume slightly. It sound great with some 5:1 compression at a high threshold so you get all the dynamics but a really clear fundamental. It's a very rich sound. I keep touching the pickup pole with my thumb so may have to use my usual trick of covering it with tape!

I’d love to shift that many! Actually I’ve been fortunate with a couple of investments and the work on our garden was much less than I had saved up for. Happy days. Everything just worked out timing wise for once!

Thanks! The strap locks will be up for sale on BC soon - I held a press sale to find the production run and will be sending those in about a week so they should be in general sale shortly after that. All the cool people will have them 😂

Yes, like busses everything has come along at once - and I don't think Fred is college material tbh

Thanks - I think that one was earlier, it had a badass bridge and pickups with exposed poles.

Hi folks Call it what you will but after passively looking for a Stingray for a long time I was delighted to see a birth year ray come up on BC. Now I don't go in for YOB basses and think it's borderline weird but a bright white pre EB was always going to pique my interest. I know there has been quite some discussion here recently regarding the values and relative bargains of the EB Stingrays and I know all too well that the pre EB rays to some may seem over priced - the thinking here though is that the instrument will hold it's value better, whether that is based on a ill judged notion of pre-EB rays sounding better/different is not for me to say! Having tried many Ray's in the past (mostly 5ers) and finding my favourite of them all was in fact an OLP with a status neck I have an open mind about what I think sounds good and judge each bass on it's sound (and I guess visual appeal too). This one just sounds very 'full' and 'chunky' - with that 'slapping a power line' kind of taught attack to the sound which to my ears sounds quite different to others. The treble control in particular sounds very nice and adds a great 'click' to the sound which seems to affect frequencies above the norm, even the enhance setting on my pre. I rarely find a bass arrives to me setup to my liking (super flat neck, super low action) - but after slapping on Elixir 40-95s and loosening the rod a bit to compensate, I only had to drop the G saddle a tiny bit and adjust the intonation on the low E (Which I always tune to D) and it was spot on and I played it happily all through a zoom meeting just now (camera off!) For an instrument the same age as yours truly I can say it's worn the years better than I have - a couple of small bashes here and there and some wear to the scratch-plate but the white hasn't faded one bit (I think they used a different paint latterly which doesn't yellow like before?) and the neck is great, exhibiting that nice balance between chunk and manoeuvrability. Of course the Basschat strap locks look fabulous on it too!! Cheers and thanks to the seller who was great to deal with and UPS who although a day late didn't lose it and/or smash it up. ped