Cuzzie

They look very interesting. In Most Sandbergs you will find the Delano JMVC 4 FE/M2 I think, have a listen to them.. If you can find any sound bites of the JC4 HE/M2 then that is the same as the one you have listed except they are side by side in one package. It should give you a mark of the difference between them, but from a quick look at their spec, possible a bit more vintage on the one you have listed. Bear in mind Sandberg use a Glockenklang Pre-amp so make sure it’s set flat to give you a proper idea of the sound. Looks really good though, hope it goes well

It’s all that moisture they held, could have done with a little heat shaking...

Aye Muzz, i’ll Agree there it’s Wild West Country, but this type of thing can work in your favour second hand. Happens all across the place, for example USA made doesn’t mean better than Mex or Jap in some instances within some companies, that falls into the same category

I think it’s Brunswick, and they are definitely looking at formal research into it, but sitting on the roasted fence it could be Hannover. Yammy use a temperature controlled chamber whilst doing it as well

@rubis I think it will be very difficult to quantify such a variable as with hearing a note, or feeling how something plays it will be very subjective. Some people prefer new strings, some dead, some nickel, some steel etc. Knowing how wood behaves as an entity, it’s logical, is it night and day, probably not, but having played them across the range with various treatments I think it makes a difference, couldn’t afford one new, but would stump up the extra for a second hand one

Except for the ones taken from the same tree

@Muzz you dodged a bullet there, could have been tragic, thank goodness you ended up with a bass that has a unique colour different to any other out there.....😊

Delano have good offerings if you like a crisp Hi-type sound. Ulyate do some pretty nice pick ups to me ears, Joe Barden do some interesting blades you would prob fit in one for a bass VI they do Haüssel for a more retro, mid focussed and full sound. Hauessel also do a triple bucker the same size as an MM, but 3 lines of Pole pieces switchable. you may of course be able to mod the existing pick up to select a single coil, but it depends on the pick up andnsokeone cleverer than me will be able to let you know

@krispn got in there before me! ARE also stands for acoustic resonance enhancement. as he said, may work, may not, but it does no harm

@rubis in Sandbergs case approx 100 hrs of specifically chosen frequencies are vibrates through the bass. This is constant and non stop. Thermal is as you suspect the wood is maintained at a temperature, or sometimes is heated and brought down all within a very tight range. Some people will or won’t agree that an older bass having been played sounds better as wood matures. Without getting into the nitty gritty too much, Wood is a cellular porous material, allowing it to mature in these ways will have some effect on its cellular structure and resonance for the good. I am sure someone will say Mumbo jumbo, but Yamaha do something similar with their A.R.E. Technique. Its nothing new, if you look at things like violins etc. They get better with age

@Wilco i completely get you buddy, but I think where I am coming from is that in general if a bass depreciates 50% then if it’s £2k new it will go for half as will the £1.5k new, which is pretty much reflected in the second hand market, except of course the pristine one with dings may go for less, but the dinged one with more dings probably won’t, if you get my drift, it will hit its shelf. I think we are sort of talking the same, when I mentioned not just the relic I meant other things like vibration, heat treatment etc. If you want that sort of thing, marketing was deliberately kept aside

@Wilco a brand new bass relic’d or not makes no sense fiscally, they all drop in price. Masterpiece for example is not just about the relic

Beaut

@Muzz I agree with you both that band and the fake Rolex are fake @Al KrowNever equated a tribute band to a relic’d bass, I asked an opinion on what is fake and what is not along a musical topic, being a musical site, lines are obviously blurred. No one will pay the same you are right, just as an ‘original’ bass will fetch a different price, BUT you can take a whole host of companies and line up their equivalent models to a Fender counterpart and the prices will be similar across the board, aside from Fender Mastebuilt, you are arguably getting at least as good if not better quality and consistency. Yammy Attitude LTDIII - a very fine bass, Yammy Nathan East, BB range. Olinto P bass (Carbonetti guitars will no doubt get a hammering for his relic’ing and Mas Hino for being a crap luthier copying a Fender design) ESP etc. Then second hand you get even better value. But you are right, you want an old bass, buy one, if you want a bass with a few dings, so a few dings more don’t matter when you want to sell and someone tries to hammer £500 off your fair list price for a crack in the paint, nowt wrong with that

So the band set up to look, act and play like an old band are not fake, because as they clearly state, they are not the actual members http://www.thestones.co.uk/ But a bass made to look like an old Bass that has had some wear, had hours of musical vibration treatment to try to simulate many hours of play, stuffed full of modern technology and well made, without passing itself off as being 30 years old is a fake and in no way being the same bass is a fake...... Yep, the Logic is undeniable

Does that mean that tribute bands are fake? How about a covers band playing covers from a particular era dressing in a similar way to that era, but using new bases not from that era, or modern copies of bases from that era? Are they all fake? Happy to live and let live as it’s just a finish as an option, but still astounds me how much ire there is against anything Fender, even Fender Custom Shop aged bases don’t get the same voices against. Ergonomically shapes are going to be roughly similar to the original, and the shape is not patented, it’s what works whoever invented it, Leo or otherwise. But hey, the thread is in the cost of a new bass done with care and attention. The more man hours spent on it, the more expensive it is, it’s that simple compared to a factory run relatively soulless build

....in warp speed time........

Especially the Cedar one coming in.....

Sandberg have a whole P pup with M humbucker, it’s called their VM bass. IMO if you don’t have your MM pick up in exactly the same spot as a Ray, you won’t get a Ray sound. In addition if you don’t have their pre-amp then again you won’t get the sound, doesn’t mean it’s bad, you just won’t get that particular nasal Ray sounding vibe

The thing is with a graphite neck, even if put on a pristine bass it’s always going to age differently to the wood. As it ages from whatever starting point the bass is, it will give a beautiful contrast

PJB bass cub, only 100w but you can get extension cabinets or DI out

I know you said no pedals, but........the new Trickfish Trilobite seems the nuts and I have spoken at length with someone who uses it, and they are gushing https://www.trickfishamps.com/pedals/trilobite/ Failing that how about the Tech21 dUg Ultrabass 1000. There is of course their VT1000 or 1969 or their old Landmark 300 or 600 which I believe one of which was for sale recently either on here of FB

Amazing, looks the bees knees. I can second how helpful Rob and Dawn are as well at Status can’t wait for the final review with the band in anger

Remember though the European Maple is lighter than the usual Canadian Hardrock, and also there are lightweigt aluminium tuners

Also there is a dealer in Coventry, nonidea on prices but worth a shout Cant remember the name sorry