kodiakblair

Not really true but it appears that way. It's down to perception. A bright jangly roundwound puts out the same information when run through Alnico or Ceramic. Difference is Ceramic has a stronger pull and that translates into a higher output . Human brains are hardwired to hone in on certain conditions , higher/brighter/louder = better.

I don't see much value in Fenders except with resale, even then only if you've bought it used in the first place. That said you can still take a hit with 2nd hand, not many folk clamouring to buy Dimension models. I like the look of the AV II 54 but £2050 is a hell of a price, then there's the fact demand for chubby neck single coil P-bass is limited. You could lose £500 if selling on. For that £500 hit I could easily build a 51/54 style P-bass. Truth be told with £500 I could , and have, build 2 of them 🙂

No, only as 4 string ATM.

It's the best way . Get yourself up the merchants. Dressed 5x2 pine will cost £25, that's a 4.2M length and enough for 3 bodies 🙂 I've templates so it's no trouble to run another one off. Plenty of pickups out there for small money. It's a doddle 👍

Can't comment on the Sire weight, owned 6 PB-50s ; all were around the 9lb mark.

Limited dealings with them. There was a £20 difference paying in Czech crowns to paying in euros , when I questioned it there was some talk of them using a different exchange rate. Work around would be invoiced for crowns 🙂 Requested invoice was never sent 🤔 Next attempt was to buy a bundle of necks in a blow out sale, "we prefer to sell parts locally" was the response. Asked Czech fella at work what he thought the deal was, Jan reckoned they were getting shafted over currency rates and looking at ways to deter UK business. Plan then was I'd get Jan to do the order but his sister became terminally ill so he returned home; poor bugger ☹️

http://www.bachmusik.com/en/music-instruments/bass-guitars/model-bach-bpb-60

Probably 'fret sprout'. Not a sign of poor workmanship, shoddy QC nor Thomann not giving a hoot, it's down to climate. No idea where in the world you are but if the weather is cold and dry then the wood has contracted leaving the fret ends exposed. When the weather gets warmer and more humid the wood expands again, if you trim those fret ends now you'll never experience the issue again.

Bought necks from Kmise UK and Jinwan. The Kmise necks were something daft like £24, 3 maybe 4 year down the line still well impressed by them. I also found the Kmise UK folks to be up front and honest. I placed an order just as China went into lockdown then had a message from them saying they expected some delays and it'd be best to cancel and find the parts elsewhere. Being an derrière I told them it was OK and I'd wait , took them 6 weeks of messages before I followed their advice 😆 Another time they miss some eBay time limit for shipping, that message was " We've run late with dispatch so refunded your money but goods are in transit. Could you contact us when the neck arrives so we can issue an invoice." Couple of days later the neck turned up, I asked for the bill and happily paid the balance. Have 4 necks from Jinwan, not through eBay but their Ali-Ex store front; worked out cheaper 🙂 Proper chunky 51 P-bass necks, been very happy with those as well. 3rd eBay seller to look at is 'twincam'. Willie gets the same necks/bodies as the 'Musicily' brand sells, ships from England so you won't be waiting long.

421

Aye, Peavey Millennium J4. J4 Plus models had a Hipshot D-Tuner but we'll never know since the photo doesn't show all of the peghead.

Not a fan of guitars solos, I'll leave the hall for most drum solos. Bass solos are an invitation to get knocked out 👊

It's all down to balance. I work with 15mm Soundbloc fair bit of the time, boards weigh 36 Kg or 40 Kg depending on the length. No masking the weight when you draw them from the pallet but flip them horizontal, get the balance they're easy to handball about the place. It's the same with timber. Length of 4x2 CLS is 11.5Kg, way heavier than any bass yet look at building sites; there's lads wandering back and forth carrying 4 at a time without a care.

I have, at least 12 times. Never had any problems. Delivery to Scotland averaged 3 to 4 days from placing order. Returned a pedal once, arranged the return via email. Thomann's customer service is run like a call centre, staff have a procedure to follow and limited info. Start asking questions outwith the procedure and the system stalls, stick to the basics " I want to return this" . One other thing, they are not too interested in partial refunds, return for replacement or full refund suits their business model better.

Quick Google turned up. Northwest Guitars prices start at £25. Flame Guitars (Sutton) £40. Jim's Guitars (Leeds) £30 Guitar Hospital (Whitstable/London) £30 if no routing, £40+ if routing required. Guitar Lodge (Felixstowe) £35.

Think my HB count went to 16. Out of those only the 2 JB-75 and BZ-4000 could be classed as 'heavy' ; over 9.5lbs. These new models don't have ash bodies but Poplar is not particularly light nor is Nepalese Alder ; using either for a large bodied bass like a Jazz won't result in a lightweight bass. If folks want a Jazz under 10lbs look elsewhere.

OK

I'd say sadly no there's no magic formula. Bunch of SE lads got together a few years back and for a bit of fun did a double blind P-bass shoot-out, results saw an Encore and a Gear 4 Music model preferred over both a 57 and a 66 Fender. Pickups are simple things, most reports of cheap crap pickups are from folk who never bothered to adjust the heights 😃 Going with a brand is often an exercise in name dropping, you'll see plenty of "I swapped the pickups for 'X' and it sounds great" ; rarely will you hear what was wrong with the stock pickups or what steps were taken to try and improve performance before chucking them. I'm afraid finding the right bass is really just down to playing them. A wee tip you might find helpful, try and recreate a familiar situation. I would often play through a portable headphone amp, I'd also use the headphone amp when trying basses in shops.

Not to me they don't. The Seymour Duncan SJB-1 has quite a low output, it'll struggle against the Split-P. Nothing striking about a Player series split-P either. It will however sound like a P-bass 🙂 There's something seriously wrong with the low action claim. In one photo it looks like a string is being held down while the others hover above the board. Also if you look at the bridge saddles, they well above the base plate, I'd expect to see them lower. Not a fan of D'Addario chromes so I'll keep my biased opinion to myself 😃 Have to wonder though why a bass strung with flats needed a fret dress and polish after just 6 year. £220, it's not deadly; it's about the going rate round that way.

Naw, that's a badge of honour 🙂

Sounds like the nut slot was cut too low. Might have been a wee bit shim in there which got lost during the string change, sliver from a pill blister is normally enough. Before messing with the TR check the nut. Fret E string 3rd fret then see what you have between underside of string and 1st fret. If it's touching or almost touching, build up the slot ; try a wee bit of thin plastic (pill blister). Tune the bass and see if you solved the problem 🙂 Should the problem be fixed, make the fix permanent with drop of super glue and baking powder. Easier to explain on YT. One thing about the truss rod. It's purpose is neck relief ; string action is set by nut slots, bridge saddles and sometimes a neck pocket shim. You say buzz is on 1 string and just 1 fret, to me that says your neck relief is fine and dandy. Leave the TR alone, adjust the nut instead 👍

Everything can be improved, folk send £3k basses off to be PLEK'd. If I read the OP's other thread correctly the goal is not the pinnacle of excellence ; it's to bolt together a bass and say "I did that 🙂"

@SumOne I understand the disclaimer, it's got little to do with QC. It's to guard against eejits 🙂 You have a machine prepares a blank within tight tolerances, a fretboard (also machined to tight tolerances) gets glued on. Fret slots are cut (machine), deeper than the tang, then pre-bent fretwire is stamped into the slots using a 1000 or 2000 lbs arbor press. Only way you'll get uneven frets is with a poorly machined fretboard, those should be picked up by QC checks every X units. If fails do get flagged, the batch gets pulled and the machines re-calibrated. Perfectly good necks get sent out in to a world where 99% will work right of the bat. Sadly that world is plagued by myths,half truths and blatant stupidity ; relevant one here is use of the TR. Misinformation about the TR and it's purpose is rife, there's a widespread belief you just crank the TR to get a lower action 😮 The TR deals with neck relief. Those carefully machined necks will have no issues if the end user follows the guidelines and keeps neck relief/action roughly in harmony 🙂 Trouble is eejits don't follow guidelines, they follow half truths overheard mumbled in a crowded bar one drunken night 20 years ago 😃 They don't set a bass up to within it's capabilities, they crank TRs to the limit, bottom out saddles, recut nuts, shim pockets; then they complain about fret buzz. Of course the neck is to blame not their hamfisted ineptitude. The disclaimer is to ward against those folks and they are many 😞