Marc S

I got my £20 P bass from a local Facebook group. I also bought the neck, again, quite cheaply from the same group (South Wales Guitar, Amp, Gear Exchange) Yes, I know a lot of people don't particularly like Facebook, and TBH, some people you get on these type of groups are eeejits and time wasters - But I've also met some great people via a couple of local buy & sell groups, and traded quite a bit too.... Plus, Every now & then, a bargain will crop up, or a part you need for an obscure brand of guitar

Thanks for that info. There wasn't a stamp on it, or any mark to help identify it. I wasn't expecting anything much, when I first plugged the bass in - but it really did sound great

Sorry, I missed your double NBD at the time.... Good to hear that the AVRI is nearly as good as your original '64 Hmmm, now this has re-kindled an earlier GAS for one!

I had an Ibanez full scale acoustic bass, and once you got used to the deep body, it was great to play That said, I think it should be easy enough to get used to the body shape if you occasionally dabble on acoustic guitar.... I really liked my Ibanez Electro-acoustic. Some people don't seem to like the sound of acoustic basses, but I really liked mine It had quite a full sound, and was quite different to solid bodied bass guitars, tonally. It was also handy for learning / jamming along with youtube, or stuff on radio or TV - without needing an amp The neck was narrow-ish, but when I got it, the action was a bit on the high side. This was cured in the end, by gently sanding down the bridge to lower the strings. Intonation wasn't brilliant high up the neck - but I couldn't get too high up anyway, due to the body shape I wouldn't have sold it, as I liked it - but my son loved it, so I gave it to him.....

I can't believe it's not Precision..... I'll get my coat.....

Funky!

Yes, I'm with CameronJ here (and others) definitely take your cab & head with you for monitoring. I mean, it's small, lightweight gear anyway.... Re the gigs, are they at the same venue? or Venue(s)? I'm just thinking, if it's the same place, you could turn up 1st time with all your gear, then try just going through the house PA during soundcheck (with your rig set up, for a quick comparison). Even if you use a Sansamp (or other D.I. Pedal) you don't know what on-stage monitoring will be like I've relied on in-house gear a couple of times, and usually end up regretting it.... Even when all seemed OK, I left the gig thinking it could have been better if I had my own amp......

Yes, I wasn't after a heavy reliced look. And yes, the pickups sound amazing on this bass I'm not sure how Mark has managed it, but the bass has huge sustain, and the tone from both pickups has a real warm, vintage sound Of course, I can spec this with a Limelight - I wouldn't want to add a J pickup if I had a genuine Pre-CBS Fender! And yes Mr Discreet, I had asked Mark to do a slightly paler Fiesta Red for this one... not completely faded to pink, just a bit paler, to look like it's aged.... maybe it sat in a guitar shop window for a few months? Just to keep you all in the picture. I'm really pleased with what Mark has built for me. He suggested I have the pickups slightly further forward on this bass (is this the 70's position for a bridge pickup?) My other P/J has the pickup positioned closer to the bridge - on that bass, the pickup seems to have a more funky tone However, this bass (the bridge pickup being closer to the neck) the J pickup is definitely louder, it still has a Jazzy tone, but it has more "bite" It's definitely more "cutting" in this position. I can see I'm going to have to be careful when taking both to a gig..... Cheers all

Hello Milford in London With a name like that, I thought you were in West Wales... Anyhow, hi from South East Wales Welcome to basschat....now, the challenge is to stay away from the marketplace, and not spend too much money... ha ha

I had a ply bodied P bass sometime back. It was a late 70's / Early 80's MIJ (It was either a Hondo or a Hohner, I think, but definitely MIJ) Someone had mostly removed the original decal on the headstock, and tried to paint a new one on it.... then tried to remove that, and do another.... so I don't know the exact make The body was quite "roadworn", dented & chipped.... The neck on it was broken. I found someone locally (on a facebook group), selling a replacement P neck (not Fender) I didn't know it was ply until I took the neck off, and had to to a bit of tweaking, to get the replacement neck to fit the pocket Anyhow, I got the neck to fit the pocket very snugly. The electrics all worked fine, in fact - I wish I had removed the pickups and kept them for another project, as they sounded superb! I sold the bass on, which was what I had intended to do. But a part of me wished I'd kept it as a knockabout bass - for gigs in rough pubs, and just because I liked the bass a lot It was 3TSB and looked rather nice. I must say, the bass was very resonant, and quite loud when unplugged. No dead spots, and quite a hefty bottom end. Good range of tones really How much of that was down to the pickups, and how much was down to the solid nature of the body, or the fact that I just must have made the neck / body joint pretty well... I'm not really sure It was a tad on the heavy side, as was the neck, so overall, the bass felt on the heavy side (well, a bit anyway) Bought the bass for 20 quid, paid I think 35 for the neck and sold it on for a small profit. The guy who bought it sold it on again.... and also for a small profit.... maybe I should've kept it though. Although it was scratched & dinged, I didn't mind this. I would imagine a re-paint would be quite difficult. The sunburst versions of ply instruments are painted black around the edges - so you can't see the end grains & laminations... Then again, if you're painting them a solid colour, you should be alright EDIT: At that sort of age though, would I be right in thinking it would have been a nitro finish? I'm just wondering what health hazards there may be, in removing paint from instruments from that era.....

Yes, I'm a fairly recent convert to the P/J. I must say, it seems "ideal" to me.... If / when you want just that P sound... simply dial the J out completely... Of course, it doesn't sound exactly like a Jazz, but to my ear, I get a sound with a touch of Jazz, or a P with quite a bit of Jazz "burp" - depending on what I want It's really quite a flexible sound. I now find that my straight P is a bit unsatisfactory... I keep wishing I could just dial a bit of Jazz into the mix.... lol

I don't know - Personally, I'm looking forward to hearing what owners have to say on this topic.... BTW. Was the 62 RI a US model, or the Japan 62 RI? I tried a Japan '62 recently, and thought it sounded sweet....

Well, last year I reached a bit of a milestone in work - 30 years! So to mark the occasion, in a moment of madness, I decided "to hell with it" and ordered myself a Limelight bass One of my fave colour combos (if not, my fave) is Fiesta Red, with rosewood board and tort plate (of course) Since having my old Squier P bass converted into a P/J, I've become a real fan of this pickup configuration A few years back, fellow South Walian pal FuNkShUi was selling a Limelight P, in Fiesta Red, and it had a Jazz style neck I tend to prefer Jazz width necks, or at least I don't mind P width necks.... but don't like them to be too deep.... So that was my order - a P/J Precision, fiesta red, with Jazz width nut. I missed out on FuNkShUi's bass back then, as I had to sell a bass before I could buy another A week later, the MM I was selling had sold (to another BC member) - but the Limelight had gone, and I had been kicking myself ever since Mark at Limelight has done a superb job. I asked him for a medium-light level of "distressing". I know not everyone is a fan of Relicing - I don't care.... it's MY bass I think it looks lovely. A quick noodle, and it feels amazing! Sounds lovely through my small practice amp too. Can't wait to plug it into a larger amp and crank the volume up Since the new CITES rules , Mark had a bit more trouble than usual sourcing the Rosewood fretboard neck - however, I wasn't in a huge rush, so I told Mark not to worry .... my new bass has been worth the wait. I'm a happy boy - but am currently in work, and can't wait to get home, to try my new bass (Pics courtesy of Mark at Limelight)

Happy NBD to you. It's also NBD for me.... so you're my new bass twin, obviously That does look rather nice. I must say, I did fancy a Yamaha BB which was for sale on here a while back But yours looks even better in white I don't play 5 string much at all - but I do have a 5 string that I noodle on occasionally... It's a Yamaha TRB Very nice bass that is too Have a great NBD - I'm in work currently, and can't wait to get home this evening, to play my new bass!

Yes, I think you're spot on here. I'm fairly sure that most manufacturers and food producers etc who say they are fair trade, in fact actually are fair trade - as far as they can confirm this. Many will indeed source fair trade materials / foods / ingredients etc and check on these items and sources, and even ensure further checks are made from time to time, to ensure consistency.... However, as you say, supply chains being what they are, and some businesses being what they are - I'm sure that some of them may be finding loopholes..... sadly I would be willing to pay a bit more, if that ensured that sustainability, fair wages and working conditions could be guaranteed PS. roceci - I really do wish I'd kept that VM fretless - it was an absolutely lovely bass (you know, I wasn't just saying so at the time! - it wasn't a sales pitch lol) You have a good 'un there matey.... honestly, US / MIM and MIJ versions of the same bass are not that much better..... Perhaps the pickups could be improved - but I seem to recall that even they were pretty good, for such a reasonably priced instrument...

As I'd said earlier, my 1st bass was so bad, it's a wonder I didn't give up.... I wonder how many people did actually give up, thinking that it was their playing that was bad, and not the quality of the awful instrument? Several mates back in the early 80's did give up - maybe it was partly due to them having such awful guitars.... maybe partly because they weren't truly committed enough? Maybe, it was a bit of both? Some of them really did own truly awful instruments - I know, cos I tried them (mind you, some of them were awful, but still better than my Kay bass!) If the improvement of the lower end of the market means that more beginners will be encouraged to stick with it - then there's no such thing as "too cheap"... surely? Of course, underpaid workers is another element of this equation, and shouldn't be ignored.....

I saw that VM fretless, and think I may have commented on it. The gist of my comment was that I had indeed owned a Squier VM fretless Jazz.... I thought about upgrading, and got myself a US Fender P fretless, and sold the Squier Jazz Although I really liked that US P fretless...... I actually preferred the sound of the Jazz!! Of course, that may have been because I preferred the J pickup config - perhaps I feel it's more suited to fretless? Now I have a MIJ Fretless Jazz, and it's lovely.... but neither the US, nor the MIJ were that much better quality than the made in Indonesia VM fretless I wouldn't say that £300 is lower-mid level stuff - if you take inflation and rising costs / wages etc into consideration, it's comparable to the amount spent on cheaper instruments back in the late 70's / ear;y 80's. When I started playing in the early 80's there were a lot of cr@p 2nd hand 70's instruments around (but also some good ones too, don't forget) These days, you definitely get much more for your money if you're buying a "cheaper" instrument. Of course, you still need to beware of "cheap & nasty" - I've seen some dodgy stuff in Cash Converters, for instance But I wouldn't say it's "too cheap" as such - I just think you're getting a lot more for your money these days. And perhaps the step up to higher end instruments is less noticeable - so maybe manufacturers of such instruments need to up their game? I started with a really nasty Kay (the catalogue company) short scale bass - it was dreadful, and quite hard to play, as you just couldn't get the action down - so fretting around fret 10, you needed a G-clamp! I'm surprised I wasn't put off for ever... EDIT: In fact, I miss that VM fretless, and wish I hadn't bothered to "upgrade"

Ditto re heavy cabs and amp heads - the older I get, this is becoming more relevant I would also not buy another model of the bass I started with - a truly dreadful Kay 1970's Rick copy This was so dreadful, I'm surprised it didn't put me off playing bass.... forever Probably wouldn't buy another Warwick Corvette either

Hello Stew, Welcome back to the world of bass. I took an even longer break - almost 25 years! But I'm so glad I picked up the bass again, I enjoy it even more than before Sorry to hear of your woes mate. I went through a marriage break up too, years back. I can tell you, it does get better / easier and looking back, my life is so much better now anyway Music can be such a great medicine to life's other woes. Stick at it, and hopefully, you'll soon find a band of like-minded people who want to play the same songs / style BTW. How did your New Years Gig go?

Yes indeed! YouTube is not just your friend... but your bestest ever buddy

Me again! Just another thought... I've not tried one of these myself, but I've heard other upright players talk quite highly of them But a folding upright could be another option - mind you, it won't be as quiet for those late night baby-waking practice sessions .... more portable than a full size DB though, and a fairly affordable option I think? EDIT: I don't know Muzomatt, but he's on this forum, he's sold /selling a few items, and seems a decent sort

I also enjoy both. Obviously, the sound, the feel and the sheer joy of owning & playing a true acoustic DB is something else But the portability and ability to practice in near silence shouldn't be under estimated... I too started my upright journey with a Stagg EUB. It certainly gave me an introduction into the world of upright bass, and it made me want to then go out & buy "the real thing" It also gave me some good background info and some essential experience & knowledge about how to choose my first acoustic upright - signs and features to look for. So buying an EUB has benefits for when you want to start spending more too.... and you will want to spend more, I guarantee you Although I didn't keep the Stagg too long, I got back what I paid for it (another advantage of buying a used one!) and although I then bought an acoustic upright... ... I found I needed another EUB, for those open mics, jams & folk club nights or just whenever taking a full sized full bodied DB wasn't practical... Again, my experiences with the Stagg had helped me choose a better EUB second time around.... Nowadays, although I don't play as much upright as I had anticipated (projects keep collapsing, sigh!) I'd still rather keep my options open and have both. There are times when I can only practice late at night, and there are times when I just love the tones my acoustic upright produces, or there are occasions I'm asked to bring my acoustic to a jam..... Try the Stagg in the first instance - if you buy second-hand, you'll get your money back, or, there are websites detailing upgrades you can make to the Stagg to improve it... Alternatively, if you really want to spend some more money, buy something more expensive - but you still find you hunger for an acoustic upright! And I'm sure you'll still find space for your EUB Good luck with your search, and on this new, exciting journey