Hellzero

A-ho.

Congratulations @RonC, what an amazing work! Say hello, from Tony, to Axl who came home, in June 2022, in the South of Belgium to buy my Takamine TB10: he is a great player and a great person. 😉 What a small world. 🙂

Yep with Steve Hawe on guitar, Chris Square on bass, Jon Andorson on vocals, Rick Wokeman on keyboards and Bill Braford on drums.

Would be mine too @Mrbigstuff. 😉 And just in case, the seller is a real store: https://www.vintagerareandretro.co.uk/store/Carvin-SB4000-Lined-Fretless-Bass-p732281552

Those two are on Gumtree. https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/fender-fretless-jazz-bass-guitar-mim/1486252185 https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/carvin-sb4000-lined-fretless-bass/1494508276

There are these 2 at Bass Bros in your price bracket: https://bassbros.co.uk/product/2013-sandberg-california-tm4-fretless-2/ https://bassbros.co.uk/product/shuker-custom-fretless-jazz/ The last one is a kind of sunburst, but worth every penny.

Indeed @tauzero, indeed.

I simply put a tuner's washer as it is (usually) made of self lubricant nylon, so it works very smoothly. All my headless basses have received these washers and work flawlessly and super smoothly.

Do you need more than 181 screws?!?

As you mentioned @Woodinblack I also think the best carrying solution would be an 88 keys keyboard bag like this one that you certainly already noticed. https://www.thomann.co.uk/gator_gkb_88.htm That said, I had a similar issue finding a gig bag for my Leduc U-Contrebasse 6 EUB, which has a quite similar length and ended up buying an unbranded Eminence EUB gig bag at Gollihur as they had one at a very very very decent price back then. I can measure its inner dimensions if you want.

Here are some: https://www.accu.co.uk/imperial-cup-point-setgrub-screws/166962-SSU-6-32-1-8-A4-BL

Amazon provides a lot of these grub screws in imperial and metric measurements. That said the inch is an imperial measurement. 😉 Here is a link to a conversion table using the American UNC thread measurements: https://www.trfastenings.com/knowledge-base/thread-geometries/thread-conversion-table According to this table you need a #6-32 thread, which is the usual suspect for these screws.

Don't rush for these grades, they are just pride and joy for ... the teacher. Been there, done that, and it ended up with a loud "snap" which was the start of a fantastic tendonitis on the right arm forcing me to stop playing the piano and bass for 2 years: that's the only prize I eventually won. Strangely I could still play a bit of bass, but not that much. It's getting better now, but I don't play the piano very often, which is a shame. The bass is back on tracks since December 2024 with a bass duet we started just before the tendonitis accident... So take your time @bass_dinger. 😉

In fact, the volume (250 kOhms) is before the preamp on the early series, but it has to be after the preamp and a 25 kOhms linear or logarithmic (up to you and your taste). Easy mod, really. But you have to do both to get the best out of this bass. Check if your pickup has 4 wires. I can send you the correct parallel wiring and it's hyper easy to do too.

On a more serious way, if you try a Lollar P-Bass (not the Hi Wind, but the regular model), you'll get exactly the tone you're after, but it's an expensive pickup.

First thing to do is to wire the pickup in parallel and not in series as they are wired at the factory (hoping you have the 4 wires plus screening ground wire), then it will work properly. And don't forget that even if there is a center detent, it's a boost only preamp, so start with all at zero and add the bass and treble to measure.

Love your thread's title. 🤣

And they are...

If you want to try the most flexible stings, the Hellborg Perfect Pitch, Dogal are offering a 20% discount at the moment on their website for their 75th anniversary. https://www.dogalstrings.it/en/basso-elettrico

@rwillett if you put the output jack just in the middle between the volume and tone pots, you'll have way enough room to use them even with big fingers like mine. 😉

And there's even one for sale here:

Discontinued @kwmlondon ? Don't know where you've been looking... https://www.thomann.co.uk/markbass_mark_stand.htm

It's definitely his Roland G33 fitted with a mirror pickguard. Check this:

It's definitely his Roland G33 fitted with a mirror pickguard. Check this: