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HeadlessBassist

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Everything posted by HeadlessBassist

  1. HeadlessBassist
    ... and the rest! I recently did a commission sale elsewhere for my KingBass Mk-II. It's eye-wateringly expensive!
  2. HeadlessBassist
    I had one of the new Levinson Blade guitars (a Tele) come through earlier this year. It was very good quality. I'd like to try one of the basses, especially the 2-band active "Austin Standard". The UK Distributor is Scan.co.uk. I just noticed that the swanky B3-Custom flame maple topped Active Jazz is £1400! But to get Levinson Blade quality for £399 is certainly a good deal. I'll be interested to hear what you think of them, Brian.
  3. HeadlessBassist
    Very nice - I really liked mine too, but as per usual, something better came up and I traded it in. The Pure Vintage 64's are among the best passive Jazz pickups out there. Mixed with the free-breathing Nitro finish and you've got an unbeatable passive combination. I have the same pickups in my American Original Jazz. Congrats, you've got a great bass there!
  4. HeadlessBassist
    In 1975, when fantasy themes were prominent in rock music (think Roger Dean’s classic Yes album covers and H.R. Giger’s eerie pre-Alien artwork on 1973 Emerson, Lake & Palmer epic Brain Salad Surgery), artist Bruce Wolfe illustrated six surreally colorful and cleverly conceived fairy tale-themed Fender advertisements. Elaborately trippy in imagery and copy, these popular ads ran in 1975 and 1976 in publications such as Guitar Player, Rolling Stone and National Lampoon, and in Fender’s highly collectible Collected Works of Fender 1976 catalog. They represent what many consider as Fender ad design at its most artistic. At the bottom of some of the ads, they printed, "For a full-color poster of this ad, send $1 to Fender, Box 3410, Dept.575, Fullerton CA 92634." These must have been the ones the public could order.
  5. HeadlessBassist
    ** This bass, upon being delivered to Manchester, has now been withdrawn from sale - the current owner is utterly smitten with it and has decided to keep it. Thanks for all your interest! <<HB>> 2018 Status-Graphite S2-Classic "Black Beauty" Unique Custom Order in metallic black (yep, you guessed it!) with faux vintage white binding and red wrap-around LEDs.) You may remember that the Status 'Black Beauty' editions were all KingBasses, launched after Mark King's gorgeous black KingBass debuted - Well, this S2-Classic was a unique Custom Order with the same Black Beauty scheme, as well as Mark King's signature 16.5mm string spacing. This bass, [which was ordered by the one original owner who ordered a Black Beauty KingBass at the same time] is as a result, seriously fast to play and sounds utterly amazing. It has that Graphite 'Shimmer' In spades! It has been set up on fresh 30-90 gauge DBE Strings for the full Mark King effect. Uniquely, it doesn't have the usual Board 30(X) Mid Cut/Flat/Boost selector switch. Instead, there's an extra rotary control for Mid Frequency, giving the player even more tonal variations than the standard S2-Classic. There is one very tiny defect in the finish, to the right of the battery covers on the back, but not a chip or gouge. You might spot a small white dot in the pictures. That's it! Otherwise, there are a couple of very small scratches on the lower 'bout, but too small to be picked up by an iPhone camera. All in all, this Bass is in lovely condition for an eight year old Status. Potential buyers are welcome to come and try the bass by appointment. This Status Bass can be viewed and played at either Ashton-under-Lyne (Manchester area), or Derbyshire (10 mins from M1 J25.) Either location is good, and coffee/biscuits are available at no extra cost. We will happily move it between either location. Delivery available for fuel cost, or happy to meet you half way at a distance of roughly up to 140 miles. Interesting trades are welcome towards the cost of this unique instrument.
  6. HeadlessBassist
    Oddly enough, having owned three Cort Space Basses, my four string also had a very vague wood pattern around the front pickup too, whereas my Space 5's have had lovely grain patterning across the whole front. Maybe they use offcuts of lesser quality wood for some of the smaller four string fronts? Personally though, on such a good value instrument, I'd say that how it plays/sounds is more important, but as others have mentioned, that's down to your personal preference. My previous Space 4 front... My current Space 5 front...
  7. HeadlessBassist
    Like any mass produced instrument, there are always good and bad examples, but there is something odd about the Stingray sonically. You can tell it's definitely designed as an evolution to the Precision, as it's pickup placement fits into an almost perfect sonic space for the listener, but it's often a struggle for the player. If you're running a 'Ray balls-out like Flea, it rises magnificently to the occasion, but as an accompanying instrument it does tend to get sonically buried. It's almost as if the sound lacks the necessary body in a live situation. Even my fantastic sounding thirty year old 2eq model can seem to get a little lost [to my ears], but audience members regularly say it sounds fantastic, that they can clearly hear every single note. Maybe many of us have on-stage hearing difficulties and the Stingray is just fine?
  8. HeadlessBassist
    I almost forgot the very best purchase of 2025 - A trolley which saves me carting amps and cabs around. Sadly, like a Dalek, it's still foiled by stairs! Perfect for when you're almost 56!
  9. HeadlessBassist
    Hmmm... If you were driving said Bus, you wouldn't have much chance of being run over by it. 🤔
  10. HeadlessBassist
    Are these 7-Series Yamahas Japanese made, or produced by the Cort factory?
  11. HeadlessBassist
    Congratulations. They're lovely basses. If you like it and it fits you like a glove, the cost really doesn't matter and hey, you may be run over by a Bus tomorrow. Enjoy it
  12. HeadlessBassist
    Kill me now. Please. 🤦‍♂️
  13. 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?
  14. HeadlessBassist
    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?
  15. HeadlessBassist
    "And lo, when the price equals the number of the beast, the bass he shall have..." Congrats Carl, that's a great looking bass
  16. HeadlessBassist
    Personally, I'd leave the 'Claw Bridge' on. It looks very individual and cool. Definitely a talking point.
  17. HeadlessBassist
    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.
  18. HeadlessBassist
    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.
  19. HeadlessBassist
    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
  20. HeadlessBassist
    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.
  21. HeadlessBassist
    Looks just right to me. How does it sound..?
  22. HeadlessBassist
    My eye (yes, I have two. Don't worry...) was caught by the cool looking lever at the top of the bridge - does this amazingly manly bass have a lever that deploys the string mutes? Bet MusicMan wish they'd thought of that before adding those fiddly tiny metal round screws under the bridges of Classic Stingrays. Seriously impressed by the intonation calibration markings on the bridge as well. If Bang & Olufsen made basses, they would make basses like this.
  23. HeadlessBassist
    Nah, the Round Window was definitely best, but then again, I am probably descended from a Hobbit. Tea, anyone..?
  24. HeadlessBassist
    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...
  25. HeadlessBassist
    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.
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