kodiakblair

I'm definitely count as 1 of the above. Over 8 years now and I still rate my £76 Harley Benton PB-50 as one of my better purchases 🙂 OK, the paisley pink finish on the Fender is prettier but the HB plays and sounds every bit as good.

I'm wondering if the folks suggesting DiMarzio have read that sentence. DiMarzio's place in the market was helped by roundwound becoming the norm. The combination of roundwounds and the overwound Model P (output further boosted by ceramic magnets) was a breath of fresh air to jaded alnico/flats players , louder/brighter = better 😄 Want old P-bass tone ? Stick with Alnico 5 👍

Aye. There's no Border Police with electric fences trying to keep the vibrations penned in 🤣

There's one on eBay ATM , £175 + £20 shipping. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125354867289?hash=item1d2fbb7a59:g:L5MAAOSwPnVilHi2

@CBbass Don't buy another body, buy a scratchplate that's a snug fit around the neck. Plenty of Fenders ship with gaps/snug scratchplates 👍

Can't say I've been too impressed the Seymour Duncan single coils. They're are a bit like Nescafe ; well known brand but not particularly good coffee 😀 Herrick in Wales do a couple of nice 51 single coils , both straight singles or split singles (if you worry about hum get the split). Jess Loureiro does split and single too, really like his split 👍 Dave at Bloodstone does a really nice single, the custom super overwound split he made is great. Martin Harmer built me an Alnico 2 single , that turned out really well 🙂 On eBay you can find a brilliant low wire count alnico 5 from China for £12 . Bootstrap in the US do another single at £40. There's also Haussel in Germany and Bare Knuckle though I haven't tried them. Keep your eyes peeled for somebody selling a Roswell from a Harley Benton PB-50 , same alnico slugs as Duncan QPs but a more balanced tone.

Slab body P-bass (don't care what hardwood is used) , 20 fret all maple neck. 250k pots , 0.1 cap. 2 saddle bridge and any tuners with a ratio above 20:1. For the pickup, an Alnico single coil with lowish wire count.

Aye, something pretty important. Right hand playing position, simply moving towards the neck or to closer the bridge makes a big difference.

Fantastic. What do you reckon , couple of hours to get it how you want it ? You've won a watch 😀 Congratulations on a fine purchase 👍

You're welcome. Whichever one you decide on I'm sure it will be a cracker .

Put a dot of white paint on the end of the pole pieces then drop the pickup in the cavity. Remove the pickup and drill a hole in the areas marked by the paint. This allows the poles to drop lower but leaves the cavity depth untouched. Should you sell the bass ; copper tape will hide any evidence of the holes 👍

I'd say none. Both Laurel and Pau Ferro are up there with Rosewood when it comes to weight and hardness , only difference is cosmetic. You hear more about the JB-40 because it's been on sale 7 years longer then the JB-75 FL.

Don't forget the cardboard Stratocaster from a few years back, folks at Fender went on record saying "sounds like a Strat"

Generally a non-issue. Standard depth for pickup cavity is 3/8" or 19mm, that allows for the pickup to be partially sunk, cable and foam or springs. Fender alnico jazz pickups are 19mm high , EMG are 22.9mm including the connector. Entwistle JBXN are 25mm high including the bar magnets. Pickup foam comes in 2 thicknesses 13 or 18 mm. Way too thick for use with Entwistle so it's screws and springs.

Neck is 92 mm long , bridge is 95 mm. Screw mounts front to back 29.5 mm.

Aye , Brian over in Glasgow is the man for these. Likely a Cat 2 size, 4 ply brown tort £33 inc delivery. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114675042782?hash=item1ab32a49de:g:mPEAAOSwVChgKmQT

Paul favours the Steamhammer and API gear, £1200 and £800. I'm not too surprised he finds fault with the preamp in a £247 unit.

Aye but the main German lad in that thread messes about changing circuits , caps etc. Serial modders are never happy with anything stock 🤣

Not to mention the two price hikes 😕 That was the death knell for me , £216 to £350 !!! Sacked the idea but when one appeared on FB for £150 I couldn't resist 🙂

I think it's down to return policy. If you find the bass is damaged out the box then G4M can chin the courier service or hit the factory for a credit note. They lose that option if Warehouse staff start taking stuff out "protective packing" and putting it in other "protective packing" , factories/couriers can counter that damage was done in the warehouse. Say you bought a camera and a camera case from Argos , they'll hand you 2 boxes. Sounds daft but that's how these places operate.

Red Sub fanned fret is a decent bass; trouble is roasted maple is quite brittle and G4M use really crap packing material. Look at the state this, my pal's acoustic bass was in that .

Aria use Samick in Indonesia. The Detroit bass is a variation on Aria's original RSB design. Hell it's just 2 years since they launched the range at NAMM.

I was playing my headless 51 slab this morning, body is torrefied obeche so weighs next to nothing 🙂 Headless + the robust Overlord countered any potential neck dive. Wasn't too keen on the grub screw locking nut, swapped it for a ball end type. Of course now I'm limited to double ball end strings but tuning is stable 👍 Will happily use Overlord again should I build another headless. Wee tip if using these bridges. You'll sometimes hear folk complain the knurled tuning knobs are hard to turn. 9 from 10 those folk are using their fingers , unaware the knob has a 4mm hex socket at the end 😄 Reckon the Guyker will also do the trick , I like their tuners. Can't tell from that photo if they have thrust bearings like this one. If not get some, they make a huge difference 👍

I found 2.5mm ties lay flat on the fingerboard ,never got any dings either. They're thin , about 1.5mm, so conform to the shape they're wrapped around; nor do you need to hitch them super tight . Added bonus is the low profile means you don't have to raise the action on your fretless by much. Course it goes without saying, just because these wee ties worked as temporary frets for me it's not a given they'll work for @three 👍

Try using some cable ties. 2.5mm is the smallest I'm aware of , 91p gets you 100 of them at Screwfix. https://www.screwfix.com/p/cable-ties-black-100-x-2-5mm-100-pack/65467