Bridgehouse

And in balance to my last post every CS Fender guitar or bass I’ve tried I’ve really liked. I’d agree that for the standard US, MiJ or MiM Fenders there can be some huge variation, and there’s variation in the CS offerings as well, but for the CS ones I’ve tried I’ve found them to be pretty spot on every time.

Every Sandberg I’ve ever tried - and I’ve tried a lot over the years - I’ve thoroughly disliked. On no occasion have I even come close to enjoying playing one. Now if it were one or two then fair enough, but I tried a stand full at the guitar show a few years back and really didn’t like any of them.

Yeah. I can imagine that actually. The CS Strat I had was extraordinarily good. I reckon I tried 3 or 4 alongside it, and they were all good. One or two were really good and the one I bought was exceptional.

I’ve been thinking of getting a 4 string fretted for a little bit, as I’ve mostly been playing my Shuker fretless over the last 6 months or so. I put a WTB ad up for a Jazz/Precision from 74 (YOB) but I suspect that might take a while to surface. In the meantime, I’m considering a Custom Shop. Now, I know the usual arguments here - all that money for a bolt on neck etc. but, back in my guitar days I had a CS relic strat - and it was by far the best guitar I ever owned. Resonant, beautiful to play, sounded fantastic, the complete thing. Knowing that, I know a decent CS bass will be the same. So, popped up another WTB ad, but nothing forthcoming so far. I’d like to try a Jazz, as I’ve never had one before (I know, right?) - I might have to consider going retail and paying full whack. If I did that tho, I’d get a full range of choice. So, the question is, which CS would you go for?

Jon decided not to charge me. I was floored by that alone.

Yep. It’s had some serious work over the years now. It’s been back to Jon and basically rebuild, and all the electronics have been stripped and replaced. The under saddle piezos are original, but there’s a nordstrand jazz pickup along will a full set of East preamps and stuff in there as well.

Lol - not quite, but kinda!

It’s very controllable - there’s a boost on the preamp as well which can emphasise it. If you dial in the under board jazz pickup you get a pronounced upper mids boost.

If you dial back the treble on the East preamp and reduce the sweep you can remove those clicks completely

I’m playing finger style - those clicks are the high end of the piezo picking up my nails as they dig into the strings a bit - mostly on purpose but sometimes due to lack of practise

It's a simple track and a simple bassline, but I'm not doing anything particularly complex with the state of my arm at the moment so this was a nice track to give a sample of the general kinda tone etc. (And yeah, I know it isn't very fretless either.. )

OK, I've popped a bass line on an old band track.. I had the master without bass and it lets me pop bass on easily so I thought I'd do that for context. The original track was a P bass. This is recorded in Logic, with the bass L/R coming from a Helix with a MESA amp/speaker model but nothing else. It's pumped right up in the mix so you can hear what's going on, so far too high, no compression, no fiddling or nothing, pretty much the original track with the raw bass tracks on it.

I’m not sure about that quite yet - but yeah, I reckon I can provide at some point.

Well thanks all for your kind words and thoughts. I fear I may be going a bit mad now though. I’ve realised that I really like the tone I’m getting from the Shuker’s piezos. I’ve always thought they were decent, but revisiting it now I actually prefer the wider range and more detailed lows and highs compared to a P bass. Now I’ve always been a P bass chap, and this revelation has come as something of a shock. The under-board jazz pickup is meant to provide upper mids which can be dialled in where needed to focus the sound but I’m finding I’m not dialling it in much at all.

That's a very kind offer, Dave - and believe me I spent a good few seconds considering it.. however, I feel I have to bite the bullet and look after it myself (sadly)

You should have seen it when I still had the dressing on! Oh, the bass… right…

It’s not real tort - it’s fake tort. Otherwise I’d never be able to take my forearm out the country attached to the rest of me.

Apparently acceptable Basses for post-HA care include P, J, Stingray, Fretless and a limited amount of Bass VI. However, PJ is unadvisable, anything too active is discouraged and as you rightly say anything by Rik would result in a referral, a big syringe of sedative and a rather discouraging frown.

I thought I’d revisit this topic as it seemed apt. Some of you will know already, but last Tuesday I had a heart attack. I’m on the mend now, and during conversations with the doc he suggested I needed to exercise my right hand to stop stiffness after the angioplasty and the cardio catheter. Apparently my session was a bit more brutal than usual. I asked him if playing bass would suffice, and after a bit more chat he thought it would be ideal. Anyway, got home from hospital yesterday, and decided I might as well have a go. They give you lots of stern warnings about depression and suggest that doing stuff not too strenuous is a good idea. Picked up the Shuker and realised it’s a bit like me. Has had an incident involving major surgery but is actually the better for it afterwards. Yep, I’m pretty much stuck with it now given that link.. so I had an enjoyable hour getting back to it and despite a bit of wrist discomfort it actually wasn’t so bad at all. Nice to be home, in more ways than one.

This is true. Drop me a line and you can come round to mine - I have loads

FTFY

Nut cheese? Isn’t that a prop65 substance?

Another thread where I’m convinced Bass Chat should have the warning “may contain nuts” on it.

I based my playing off your excellent example

FTFY