martthebass

Thanks Neil, I think the current ones are imperial but I might give these a shot. Pretty much resigned to having to get a set of 4 anyhow and likely the saddles to mate up. first time in nearly 40 years that I’ve lost a bridge screw - it would have to happen on an ‘awkward’ bass.

Well after another couple of days trawling US parts sites still no luck - really surprised it's that difficult. Now trying Mr Shuker to see if he can advise.

Sure you'll be well chuffed with it. I use 2 at gigs, a Mikey Way sig (thin Jazz type neck) and a JMJ relic (thick precisionish type neck). Both lovely but very different in feel and sounds. Not sure but I think that the Vintera (if that's the one you've picked up off of here) is basically a JMJ but without all the relicing? My JMJ is strung with flats and is much smoother than the MW (single humbucker), so basically the strings will also make a fair difference to the sound (as alluded to earlier in the thread).

Gorgeous, a real JMJ Mustang! Now if I could only find an intonation screw and spring to get my 2018 relic version back on the road.

Unfortunately not - that's first thing I checked, sempt to be more likely.

Searched......failed. Stolen by the bass goblins.

Apparently this is proving a little more difficult than expected..... Tried a few places now without success as they don't seem to be able to request the parts from Fender. Poor little blue is still sat in the corner unable to join the party with its inadequate 3 strings. The glittery silver Mustang is staying out of the way as it is scared it might be raided for one of it's screws.

One of my fave bands D, makes me miss the old fretless

47 in 2019, all with the Glam Rock tribute. About 25 booked in for 2020.

Many thanks BG2017, very much appreciated!

A thankfully fairly local gig for us yesterday but a very mixed audience made it hard work. 10th XMas eve gig I’ve worked on the trot and still waiting to have a good un 😂

I love the look of matte finishes but I know my ocd would play hell up with the development of shiny bits.

Had an equipment malfunction the other night. A string suddenly went unresponsive....imagine my surprise when I saw that the intonation screw had gone awol. Anyone any idea where I can pick up a replacement? Cheers, Mart

We’re doing a Christmas party in the middle of January - that’ll feel well weird

The ubiquitous Slade one and lonely this Christmas. Being in a Glam Rock tribute kind of points us to these. Also dusting off 'Wombling merry Christmas' this year............

This could be me! Had to check that it wasn’t 😂

Tell me about it. Occasional trapped nerve between 5th and 6th, rotator cuff, tinnitus and over active bladder (that can be fun on a longer set....). As me mum says, getting old ain’t for the squeamish.

I think we could make the same comment about many of the US bass manufacturers..... But to be fair, when a supplier makes an 'improvement' how often is it met with criticism? With Ric, the 4004 (cii and Laredo) arguably addresses many of the issues with a 4003, (proper bridge, no ironware, profiled body) but I bet the 4003 outsells it 10 to 1. Not sure what the issue is supposed to be with the dual rods - I've always found them easy on a 4003 (but wouldn't have a 4001 for love nor money). Fender still sell shed loads of AVIs despite the improvements on the modern lines. I own a couple of MMs and a 4003, the MMs get a lot more play than the 4003 but it doesn't stop me enjoying the latter when I decide to use it

5'8" here.....so a short derrière

Just had to sniff mine.......I’d never noticed this but you are totally correct it does smell of maple syrup lol.

I was referring more to the stiffness rather than the movement of the neck with change in moisture (linked to expansion/contraction) but I see your point. If the stiffness has increased significantly then there could have been claim that deformation under load would be reduced and therefore stability increased - less need for rod turning with string load changes. Claims of graphite like improvement (non-hygroscopicicity not withstanding).

That's interesting. A loss of 30% in MOR would make you think that durability would be reduced with respect to tensile stress induced cracking (and subsequent propagation). If these results are carried over to hardwoods then the minor change in MOE wouldn't help stability though - I guess Sterling Ball wouldn't want to hear this. I suspect that in the typical loadings on basses however that the effects are minimal.

On the one side, in comparing my roasted neck (Ray Starry Night) to non-roasted neck (Sterling), I would say that most of the differences are cosmetic and that any sonic differences are over-ridden by the electronics package and possible the fretboard material (ebony on the Ray, one piece maple on the Sterling). As a materials engineer, I'm also interested by the material properties, they could have a bearing on the dimensional stability and the durability (ignoring sonics here). Strength is a vague term; I was concerned that the brittleness might be higher in the roasted; so far I've been lucky and my neck hasn't suffered impact to demonstrate failure due to brittle fracture. On the normal maple neck a couple of dings (later steamed out) showed no such tendency. I'd be interested to see figures for difference in strain/stress to failure (tension - as I'd assume the predominant failure mode would be flexural/tension) and MOE between roasted and non-roasted but I'd assume there was a lot of variance as wood is hardly an homogenous or isotropic material. In the meantime I'll admire the looks and play it with gusto.