NancyJohnson

While it's a huge shame that they only put out two official albums, we're fortunate that labels like Not Lame and Omnivore kept the flag flying with the 4CD Fan Club boxset, the live CDs and the StakATrak editions. Omnivore still (apparently) have more stuff that they've yet to put out.

To my dismay, it transpires that Elixir do not make extra long 5-string sets, so one has to resort to ordering a four string set and a single for the Low-B. I ordered both in nickel plated steel, the four string set (SKU 14087) arrived about a month ago, the the low-B (SKU 15433) arrived earlier today. Here's a photo of the happy family: Now then, look at the bottom right of each pack; both are nickels, the 45-105s are 'warm and round', the 130 is 'bright and smooth'. Now look at the back of the 45-105s: They're the same construction, so they shouldn't be described as one or another that applies to different base metals. I'm sure they'll be fine, but for the love of puppies, why don't companies get their poop together and make sure their blurb is aligned?

I don't buy so much now so essential purchase bands would be Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, XTC (reissue series). In the unlikely event of new product, I'd extend this to Ludo, Charlie Sexton, Tears For Fears, Jellyfish, Stevie Salas/Colorcode, 3 Colours Red.

Thanks...it was in a pretty poor state when I got it (job lot, two guitars, this bass and a practice amp for £50!). It needed a lot of TLC to get it playable... I've changed the bridge, pickup and pots, but it came with Schaller machines. Every time it goes out I ensure it gets another ding.

Here's my 1978 Aria Primary. I think it's probably a bit more dinged up since I took this.

There should be another option of 'No'. Don't we live in a world of fakery? It's not limited to Fender decals on Limelight/Bravewood/Squier or Gibson truss rod covers on Epiphones or Rickenbacker covers on Chickenbackers, it extends to other products including watches, clothing, accessories. I've never seen the point in faking things up; maybe I'm just wired differently. I actually like the fact that my 40 year old Aria Primary bass plays and sounds better (*subjective) than it's Fender equivalent, so why would I sand off the logo and put a Fender on on it?

I personally, have no experience of guitars/basses with provenance, I did however own Davey Johnston's Orange Matamp (he is/was Elton John's guitarist - the amp caught fire). It's probable there's this feel good thing going on, all these people queuing to pay $$$ for stage played basses, just never seen the appeal. It did make me happy to know that Mick Karn's Travis Bean was in safekeeping with Steve Jansen and that Geddy Lee still owned the Rickenbacker, but I'd have little desire to own these.

Anyone care to explain what the fascination is? Owning a guitar played by someone 'famous' (*subjective) isn't going to rub off on anyone.

The Shapes, anyone?

I do like the idea of a Crafter, but my head says a Taylor. (And then get a Godin later.)

Well, here's my two cents. I think the first time I saw a 400* was the inside of the Sweet album Desolation Boulevard; now I know Steve Priest used lots of basses, but that was the first time. I suppose I was aware of them for ages, Geddy Lee, Matlock, Paul Simonon, Foxton etc. Ownership didn't happen until maybe seven or eight years ago. Right out of the box it sounded distinctly different to any bass I'd played/owned previously; very distinctive. I don't really adhere to this train of thought that all P-basses sound alike (etc), but this was different, boom and clank with little effort. It looked and sounded great. I used it once through two amps and it was huge tonally. On the downside, I gigged it live twice; on both occasions someone tried to steal it from backstage. The neck had no taper; same radius its entire length which made it a bit hard going through long sessions. Hated that I couldn't get the Schaller Strap locks off

I think you only have to watch a couple of the Trogly videos to see how output resistance for individual pickups are in many cases double that of the combined. Certainly with the Geezer Butlers the P-unit does sound lovely through my kit (*subjective); the J-unit, now it's at it's sweet spot height, just gives it a little more mid-lower high ponk. I'd never use the bridge unit in isolation. I'm unsure what @Supernaut means by the pots being off. Certainly no issue here with them; they're linear, crackle free and the tone does what it's supposed to do.

I put a PJ set of EMG Geezer Butlers in one of my Hamers a couple of months back. Initially I'll say that tone is subjective, we're all different. The (35 year old) stock DiMarzios in the Hamer were a bit shrill/toppy for my liking, I'd read decent things about the GZR sets, so felt it was worth a punt. I tend to play with everything open, so the aim was to set things up for this. Took a bit of tweaking to balance things out though; on initial install the P-pick did everything you'd want - literally just installed it and we were off an running. The J/Bridge unit was a bit less straightforward - it just added a tiny bit of ponk and it was noticeable how much output it drew from the circuit when both volumes were on full and the tone was open; I did start thinking that I'd wired things up incorrectly (nope). It was more a case of just finding a decent height so that the J-unit complemented the P...a bit of trial and error, but success. I like how they sound compared to the old DiMarzios - wider tonally, hotter, a bit of scooped minds. Recommended.

I suppose I have a bit of bias, but gold hardware on red does it for me. I wouldn't have bought a Spector with gold hardware if it had been any other colour.

Doris Day at the moment.

I do wonder how many newcomers to bass/guitar buy gear that is so poorly set up that they just give up because it's too hard to get a note out of. By way of backstory, my nephew (18) had guitar lessons at school, which I worked out pretty early on were frankly useless; I recall him sight-reading Mull Of Kintyre and making an acceptable fist of it - he didn't even know what the song actually sounded like. He was 12 or 13, crying that it was too hard and saying he just wanted to stop 'learning', so he did. To my surprise, on a visit to the family early last year, he'd bought a new Fender Jazz bass and a little Rumble combo from his savings; while he was making his own gravy here, the bass itself was unplayable and he was on the cusp of jacking it in again. Action was well over a centimetre at the 12th fret, nasty neck front bow, the strings were just horrible (I'm assuming the dealer must have had this in the shop as a demo model, so god knows what was growing in the rounds). I set the bass up and as there was nowhere to get new strings, I ordered some off Amazon for him and we boiled up the old ones (shudder) - could have made soup. It played wonderfully despite the strings still being a bit yuck. He was made up. Point here being that manufacturers and retailers alike, it's all about shifting units. I've never played a new bass from Gibson or Fender (or MusicMan, or Rickenbacker, or Spector for that matter), that didn't need a decent set up before it became properly usable. Amazingly (as mentioned earlier in the thread), cheaper (let's just tar everyone with the same brush here and say 'Eastern') makers (viz. Sire) seem to have no issues sending out instruments that play straight out of the box.

I'm reading an essay collection about Power Pop, there's a ton of bands that I know the names of, but don't really know about. I've just put together a playlist for Badfinger. Let's see how this goes.

Can I ask a question of @warwickhunt? What is the drive for a P-body/J-pickup configuration? Wouldn't a Jazz Bass just do, or are you hankering for a Jazz tonally, but from a Precision shaped body? The first thing I thought was (if you're on a budget and if this is just a feeler thing), source a P/J configured body - a Squier maybe - pretty certain the P-routs on these budget models are pretty generous (viz. huge and oblong), so you won't need to get the chisels out. Then get a new scratchplate cut to accommodate the J-pickup.

Blimey, what a munter of a headstock!

In answer to the OP, band lineups ebb and flow. Have you never seen any of Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees?

XTC. Moreover Andy Partridges demos for Skylarking (from the surround series box set).

I don't play keyboards as such, but I know the notes. Some very good mates of mine needed some keys for one song, so I did it for them. Little midi keyboard into an iPad (or something similar). Droooooning synthy sounds.

I understand the desire for purchase/ownership; at one point I was into double figures for Gibson Thunderbirds so believe me when I say that these Studio models look like Thunderbird IVs, they're an underwhelming model by comparison. As @BigRedX has already pointed out, they're just very ordinary basses with a Thunderbird shaped body. I've attached two photos below of Firebird Guitars - yes, I know they're not Thunderbirds, but this more than demonstrates the differences. Which one would you rather own? If it's the one with the white scratchplate, then save up for IV.

Studio. Stripped back Gibson cash in. Yuck. Well, I wouldn't buy it; if nothing it's simply from the perspective that if you're desperate for a Thunderbird you'll pull the trigger on this then wonder why you didn't just buy a IV.