Grahambythesea

How is it for weight and balance? Do you know it's country of origin?

I had the basic Ibanez Roadster with the 4 on a side headstock with a P type single pickup. It had a fretless maple board. I loved these when they came out but never found one. I think the deluxe branding is right and refers to the bound edged body. The others were the same shape but with rounded edged like most basses. This definitely not marmite!

If watching bands on the TV is anything to go by I think more use J's than P's. They can't all be wrong can they? However having played Ps for years I switched to a Jazz 20 years ago, loved the neck width but thought the sound was generally thinner. Having finally abandoned Leo's offspring completely I think there are a lot better instruments out there and bass players should show the way and not be sheep like our guitarist brothers and sisters sticking to Strats Teles and Les's!

Try Southern Ukelele Store in Bournemouth. They have a solid body Mahola for £289. They are part of a shop called Music is Life.

What about the various bass uses that are for sale, there are solid bodied versions if you don't want the so called "acoustic" bodied versions. There is a shop in Bournemouth that sells all things use, I'll try and find the name and post it for you.

If you like low tension flats and can't afford Thomastik try La Bella Low Tension Flats. They are also lighter gauge and fit most nuts without needing adjust whereas many flats are also thicker and less straightforward to swop on to a bass designed to take rounds.

US Fretless Precision in Olympic White, 94 or 96 if I remember correctly. Sold to a friend and offered to buy back but he likes it too much to!

I haven't heard of a full bodied acoustic bass guitar which doesn't come with a built in piezo pickup in the bridge. I don't think you need to fit one but I have never played an electro acoustic bass that was loud enough other than in my home to play and be heard without amplification. I eventually sold mine as there was no point, my solid bodied fretless bass has a piezo bridge that sounds the same as an amplified acoustic but no risk of feedback.

Thanks, that's not going to work for me even with a 4in strap! Better keep hunting.

How are they for weight? At over 10lb I had to get rid of my Fender Jazz 5 string, but I do miss it a bit, but know mr shoulder can't bear that weight for any length of time. With active/passive option, does that mean you can carry on playing if the batteries go down?

The body shape reminds me of the Guild Pilot. Looks like a good pawn shop find.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1476111539' post='3151397'] Tanglewood is about as big as they get here. [/quote] Does Tanglewood actually make anything in Britain? All the ones I've seen are Asian made "designed in Britain"! LOL Even if made here the price will rise because there is a big hike coming in the price of fuel (has to be bought in dollars) so costs of distribution will go up and that affect the price of everything. Don't worry "Brexit means Brexit" and Britain is heading in the direction of being an overpriced third world backwater.

I'm surprised the 'ealth & Safety elf allows them to spread glue with a finger! And putting the pups in after stringing seems to be doing it the hard way, but hey it looks good at the end.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1476083278' post='3150985'] Funny I should see this, this morning. I watched a vid last night of Quo doing and accoustic gig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wNaiC3s-a8 But they were all plugged in !! Rhino used a few accoustic basses. He managed ok. [/quote]

Frankly, yuck. Even the wood on the back looks like apiece of an old shed. The front finish looks like the spray gun ran out of paint at a crucial moment.

I'd be interested to hear how it gets on in the front room acoustic jam. It looks as though it has a relatively small body for a bass. I used to have a Washburn AB35 which had a huge jumbo type body, but it was easily drowned out by a dreadnought body guitar be strummed.

[quote name='grayn' timestamp='1475687668' post='3148004'] Why does it have a scratchplate, that's been shaped for a bridge pickup? Kinda cool though. [/quote] I agree it looks very odd, but perhaps there is a 2 pickup version to come? I get that it's Gibson meets Fender but why only Fender type body colours, this would look good with more of a Gibsonesque Tobacco Sunburst or may be a natural finish, assuming the wood is half way reasonable and not a lump of cardboard. White with a black scratch plate would be good too and probably more easily achieved.

[quote name='Paulhauser' timestamp='1475524505' post='3146689'] For a rock band it is hard to beat a Spector. Queensryche, Alice in chains, Skid Row, Cannibal Corpse, Judas Priest and a host of other well known and iconic rock bands' bassist all used and still use Spector basses. I'd say you go for a EURO 4. It has PJ pickups, active electronics, slim neck, contoured body. They'd fit into your budget even new, but used they go around 800-900 GBP (or less sometimes) It will give you different tone options compared to your P bass. [/quote] With you all the way has to be a Spector, great woods and tone and the NS curved body shape is so comfortable plus it looks really cool. 😃

I thought they were a good looking bass when they first came out, but now may be its a bit dated, but not in a retro way. I really don't like the metal pickup surrounds, surely these are unnecessary?

I found the tension on Chromes quite hard going and the string gauges are quite a bit thicker than your average rounds. They didn't fit through the nut comfortably, but this probably wouldn't be a problem with a'57 P. However you might like to try LaBella low tension flats. A lot easier on the fingers, fit a narrower cut nut and I think have a bit more zing to them, although you may be looking more for that thud sound of the 60's!

http://www.bassplayer.com/Portals/1/StandardImage/042_bas1015_soundroom_ESP.jpg The more I look the more convinced I am that this is the Bunny Brunel revisited. Have a look at the ESP version (link above). At $1400 for the ESP (& presumably more for the Carvin version) the Gibson starts to look like a bargain!