rmorris

Interesting comment. But I'll just take a slightly different view that while an audience may not explicitly identify a sonic quality, the overall sound may influence the way they perceive the quality of the band etc. A 'lumpy' live bass sound that is often either inaudible or 'booming' is likely to put people off even when they don't recognise it. And I'll add that that may often be down to the PA and room acoustics regardless of the signal coming to the FOH desk.

I see. I think ? I'll add that I buy more than sell. Think I've only ever sold two basses and I regret having sold the first ! Have (sort of) replaced it with same ! Cheers in Bass. Wrong - I forgot about a Westone Thunder 1 fretless I sold.

I feel the need to admit that I didn't originally see that the OP was from 2009 !

Mmmm...how does that work ? Arithmetic is failing me 🤔

Well I guess you either appreciate the Steinberger body shape...or not. Def good for carrying. Think you may be right about the pickups. My 'Bottom E' and notes around there don't seem to have the 'authority' I expect. Usually other way with other basses if anything. Difficult to be definitive as there seem to be fee alternatives without going to the active EMG option that is more costly than I want to look at atm esp since it might not be the thing.

That would be a bargain but doesn't sound realistic ? I'd hope a retail shop would be sorting it with a basic truss rod relief and string / pickup height setup before it goes on the wall. But a fret dress is a bit optimistic imo. New strings might be good. Would more or less equate to the £20 discount I suggested. Assuming it's not a pack of cheap ones.

Assuming it's from the Matsu' factory then it should be excellent assuming no serious faults/damage. Retail Shop prices are going to be higher than eBay auctions but £199 doesn't seem out of range. Maybe haggle for £180 ? And given age it will likely benefit from pro setup Inc fret level so I'd budget for that and maybe get the shop to quote for that if it's something they can offer.

I don't get why the taper would be different ? Apart from errors due to track accuracy - but that's not really a 'taper'. I might be missing something !

Yes - and that's why I put a caveat in there 🙂 If I were considering a new (to me) bass then I would have the advantage of being within daily reach of that London so that does put a perspective on it.

Yes SS not easy to cut although that varies with grade/quality. I have worked SS with hand tools and Dremel type multitools. Though not for guitar stuff. SS frets get worked. I guess thinking pre cut SS nuts for end users. Hassle of fine adjustments might be outweighed by benefits of longevity.

Yeah - I vote: Visit shop ('proper bass /guitar' place that does setups etc.) Choose bass Play bass Play bass some more Buy bass only if it's set up and play in a way you like (also confirm that truss rod is not maxxed out or near to it) I know that it's not always easy to get to a good retailer and you don't get the advantage of distance selling rights but for something as tactile as a bass it has to be worth it ?

Fair Enough. Lots of people seem to advocate making much use of the BLEND control but tbh I hardly ever back it off from 100% ! I will say that I only really like it with moderate amount of DRIVE before it gets obviously grossly distorted. But even online Sansamp demos seem to go for the 'Speaker Break Up' thing. And it can get too noisy for comfort if you crank the TREBLE and - especially - PRESENCE. Not wanting to sound negative - I'm still happy to turn up with a bass and BDDI and confident of getting a decent tone to desk / monitors. I find it the (gasp!) Behringer BD121 to sound just as good and less capable of giving me too much distortion but ability to run BDDI on phantom is a bonus.

Well it seems the OP has had enough ? But in any case getting back to the issue I think the issue with the 'clack' likely comes down to: "I mean the 'clack' when I press a string and it hits the fret above and below." Taking that to mean that the OP tends to 'fret' somewhere behind the target fret rather than more 'on' it. Some setups won't have the same result and some basses won't make it as audible. And some players don't mind it. Raising the height at the nut might give some benefit depending on the fretting technique.

I think it was referring to the lead time before they'd be able to do it due to other work lined up. As it happens I was emailing with the Bass Gallery a couple of months ago and the turnaround time was advised as around two weeks.

I blame Idris Elba 🤣

Oh - let's not kick off the fretboard oil issue again 🙃 Meanwhile I'll have my frets level please regardless of the fret material !

Ha 😳 I missed the original date !

Just shorthand (not real shorthand obvs) to say I don't see the sense of the statement. Particularly why the frets being of stainless steel is relevant.

Right. I see. That is proper interesting from an electronics approach cf the standard Hi-Z passive. Many Thanks.

No. I was questioning the value, not the SI unit. 2.5k - I'm reading that as 2500 Ohms (2K5). Most pots in passive basses are min 250 kOhm (250K) and often 500K or 1M0. 2K5 is likely less than the DCR of a passive pickup. Even active EMGs typically spec 25K. 2K5 would be possible with active circuitry but other considerations eg power consumption of a battery powered circuit often lead to higher values of potentiometer resistance being used.

2.5k ? Ohms ?

I think we need some clarification on this from the OP...

"...since it has stainless steel frets they would need to be making sure that they are level before leaving the factory" ????

I think the issue is whether it would rigid enough for a scratch plate if it's covering cavities ?

Isn't the message here that it will likely be fine but in some cases not ? Basically - Quality Control. So what is the returns policy. Obviously that doesn't cover long term performance. But in that context - I have both Westone basses (Matsomoku) and OLP basses. All good stuff but different constructions (apart from anything else) but the Westones are much more stable (basically never need adjustment) cf the OLPs that often need monitoring and truss rod tweaks.