HeadlessBassist

The hardness of the fingerboard mainly makes a difference to the percussiveness of the sound. A graphite neck with phenolic fingerboard will sometimes add a "shimmer" to the sound too. But you do often find that there's a big difference in attack and percussiveness, for instance when one maple fingerboard is glossed and another isn't. There are a huge amount of variables at play. So are you keeping the "chunkier" maple neck on your 'Ray, KillerFridge?

So which one of you is the Gordon Murray of the Bass World? It is utterly fascinating, but I generally don't take things apart. I have been genuinely surprised at how light my GB Spitfire & 95 Stingray are, though. Also, has anyone found that lighter basses seem to resonate better?

"And lo, when the price equals the number of the beast, the bass he shall have..." Congrats Carl, that's a great looking bass

Personally, I'd leave the 'Claw Bridge' on. It looks very individual and cool. Definitely a talking point.

Yes, welcome ET - that's a fantastic looking Precision. I'm looking forward to hearing how it plays/sounds when you get it. The early eighties were an interesting time for offshoot instruments like the Specials and Elites. Fender were forced to introduce preamps and other additions when other makers suddenly burst into the eighties with more 'up-front' powerful basses.

Very reasonably priced and might just need a setup. Where are you buying it from? The RBX series is very similar in price and quality to the Ibanez SR300. Great starter basses.

Didn't you buy a lovely looking Japanese Jazz in the Summer, WoT? Lovely looking example of an AVII you have there! If you get a good one, the American Vintage/Original/Vintage II Jazzes are some of the very best around. I know what people mean about the side dot markers - the ones on my American Original just about disappear on a dark stage, but it's no real issue usually. It looks like yours has a single piece back, too. That always improves resonance. I've been very impressed by the '66 pickups (used a set in a custom build bass earlier this year and just bought some more for my MGCS/Aurok Walnut/Graphite Jazz build. Oh, and Lollipop tuners for the win! Congrats

The Nanoweb coated Nickel Elixirs are the ones I mainly use. I change them once a year, usually after 30-40 two hour live shows. Also, the 40-95 set are really comfortable to play, very bendable, but still with good string tension and no loss of tone.

Looks just right to me. How does it sound..?

Nah, the Round Window was definitely best, but then again, I am probably descended from a Hobbit. Tea, anyone..?

Young people's music is so simplistic and obviously aimed at those with a short attention span. But I love Sophie Grey for some reason..?` People who call Basses 'Guitars' are clearly wrong (or chronically uneducated), as our hallowed instrument was designed as a more portable alternative to the Double Bass. Therefore it's an Electric Bass. Coldplay make me feel depressed. I just can't do it. A little bit of drive added to the sound of a Bass can be great. But distortion? Leave it to the guitardists to create that wall of nasty noise. Flatwound strings. I love the sound in isolation, but can never use them live. My sound just disappears into a deep, sonic hole in the ground. Tablature is the work of Satan himself. It's only representative of how one player played it, and often has no representation of the rhythm. Learning to read notation is so much simpler. Yes, yes, I know it's all just in my head...

Yes, obviously the graphite necks are the most stable and are usually 'fit it and forget it' spec where seasonal changes are concerned. I've never had any issues with my Status bass necks over the years. I haven't seen any real difference in stability between roasted and natural maple. It seems to vary from bass to bass. My 30 year old natural ash/maple Stingray seems totally oblivious to seasonal change and just stays set up exactly as it always has been. Whereas my GB Spitfire does increase it's action by about 1mm when it gets cold, but otherwise it's super stable. Maybe the one teller is the Cort Space 5, which has the roasted maple fingerboard on top of a 7-piece maple/walnut/purple heart neck. That thing lives in the boot of the car and never even needs tuning, whatever the weather outside, but that consistency seems to occur with most headless basses equipped with monorail tuners. I definitely see a small movement on my natural ash/maple Fender Elite Jazz (with the posiflex rods in the neck) which does display a small rise in the action, but only around 1mm difference, whereas my American Original Jazz (with no graphite rods) never seems to change at all, but it did arrive brand new seven years ago with plenty of relief in the neck from the factory and I've never needed to change it. I really don't know if it's down to the cut of the wood or the seasoning etc, but it may just be down to luck of the draw with maple necks in general.

I have a simple Roland FP-30 Stage Piano for teaching duties, but I regularly play on a lovely Roland HP-508 at a pupil's house. So whatever the equivalent Stage Piano to the 508 is, I'd highly recommend it. Lovely action and fantastic sound. Also, there's no real need to plough thousands into a Stage Piano - I previously had a Casio Privia PX-310 which was a fantastic Piano at the time, and my current Roland only cost me £250 barely used from a lady on Gumtree.

Sounds close to a modern C Precision based on the '63 necks with the 1.625" nut width. They are very comfortable necks. Love that Korina Burst, too.

One way is to remove the front passenger headrest and put it in the traditional way though the hatch, so the neck is resting on the top of the passenger seat. Another way is to put the scroll on the top of the rear seat and the body at an angle on a reclined passenger seat (entering via the passenger door. (I used to do this with a Mk2 VW Jetta saloon. Corsa will do you fine for DB carrying duties, no problem.

Oddly enough, Fender did build a headless prototype bass in 1975. It was the result of Gene Fields (of Fender's R&D Department) research into eliminating dead spots on basses. Gene’s research led to his designing a completely new instrument, the first Fender prototype headless bass. The instrument consisted of a maple neck-through body with mahogany wings. The neck had a 32″ scale with 23 frets and black position markers. The body was cut to a stylized Jazzmaster shape with a carved top similar to the LTD jazz guitar. The body-mounted tuner was a simple right-angle pull design with tuning knobs in the tailpiece. Individually adjustable bridge sections were used, as well as individually-adjustable mutes. The neck pickup was humbucking, while the bridge pickup was a P-Bass with a special cover. Two switches provided pickup control and phase reversal.

The official promotional video is out...

No experience here, but the Elites with the quilted tops look very nice. Ballpark used values look to be around £7-800 dependent on condition. If you're planning on moving it on, be prepared to significantly cut the price, as ESP basses, nicely made though they are, aren't hugely sought after.

Of course, yes. After all, nothing else will do. The Duracell Bunny always knows best. 🤣