Annoying Twit

I have a Thunder II, except I had to pay market value for mine, cost me £175!! And you got one for free! IMHO the pickups and electronics sound fine. It can do a Peter Frampton style buzz, and I feel no need at all to obtain a P90 equipped guitar as the Westone can pretty much do that sound as well.

Would the Modern Player series have something to do with this? If Fender are getting good quality out of China, they have less need for Japan. Though, personally I think that if they have some Japanese production, there will be a market for people who want the instruments because they are made in Japan.

David Steele of Fine Young Cannibals tells a story whereby someone at a concert was watching him really intently. The next day there was a post on a forum expressing surprise that 'David Steele's technique is AWFUL'. Note: IMHO David Steele is a great player, even if he isn't necessarily using the easiest road to getting there

Lesson No 1: Don't cut too much of too many frequencies. This can result in a massively subby sound, but it will fade into mud when mixed with anything else. Selectively boosting frequencies while leaving most flat is much better. The more I use this EQ, the more impressed I am. I've tried doing the same with the graphic EQ on my Zoom B1Xon, but I didn't get results as good as I"m getting with the pedal. For whatever reason. There really are a lot of sounds that can be achieved just by varying the GEQ while leaving the amp model (etc.) I'm using alone. I've been putting my Rockbass streamer standard through it. I've seen other people repeating my complaint of the pickups on it being quite weak. But through the Bass EQ with some boosted frequencies as well as an overall level boost, and there are some massive sounds there, IMHO. With the extra boost, I've got to make sure I'm not letting strings ring when they shouldn't as the extra boost makes spurious sounds more noticeable. I put a guitar through it. The bass EQ will not be voiced in the most appropriate way for a guitar, but it still gave me some very useful tone shaping on it.

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_e_35_bk_vintage_series_deko.htm?sid=dd8f56911636cb339ddd417af2e1feb7"]http://www.thomann.d...ddd417af2e1feb7[/url] [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_d_120ce_nt_deko.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...0ce_nt_deko.htm[/url] EDIT: Gone in seconds again.

Here's the longest German language review as translated by Google Translate. [quote] After the first BVT4500H after 15 minutes thomann mileage gave up the ghost, I was first disappointed, but was on the next day, thanks as always quick settlement of Thomann, again a replacement. My current BVT4500H has since been running smoothly. I play the part with a tube preamp and 4x10er and 1x15er Behringer boxes. The sound pressure and this combination thomann is really good for the money and you'll quickly find a decent sound. With a full stack Ampeg you certainly can not keep up, but measured by the use of capital I find the Behringer parts really great. For music styles such as punk and various rock styles, the part is of good use. With tube preamp to get thomann already "almost" to the sound of Mr. Kilmister. Often musicians and any Poser express derogatory first if you arrive by Behringer equipment, this is also true but when hear the most this combination it is with the Gelästere very quickly. Just buy it if you thomann emphasis auf's make music in the first place and would like to have enough power in the practice room at a rehearsal or on stage. [/quote]

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1428099359' post='2738172'] Ah, yes I remember him. I see he's still using the "German Engineered" misnomer. When I contacted him he would not admit they were B Stocks he was buying in and was emailing me into the early hours with abuse....! [/quote] That guy! I remember him now that you point it out! I sent him a message and got a very strange stream of consciousness reply from him.

@KB - there's almost no grain there. Comparing your samples to my natural Yamaha Pacifica (made from five different bits of alder with varying grain ) they look much more like your samples than the wood I saw in the neck pocket of my PJ5. This sample of basswood looks a much better match to my bass: I used a high powered light to examine the grain in the main guitar body, and there's not very much there. What is there looks like basswood to me. Alder instruments I've seen have had more grain, and different looking grain. E.g. more similar to your second wood grain example in particular.

[quote name='bigjohn' timestamp='1428091564' post='2738079'] Aye, I've just picked up (not on here) a US Fender neck for not much over £100. There are necks about. [/quote] Wow, what a bargain. If there's anyone around who can sell me a good condition 5 string USA Jazz or Precision neck, fretted or fretless, whatever the fretboard wood species, for £100, then I'd buy it immediately. I'm going to be keeping a bit more of an eye out for bargains.

Deko LH acoustic bass sold for £87! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harley-Benton-Electro-Acoustic-Bass-Guitar-Left-Handed-/131472342122?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e9c5cbc6a&nma=true&si=2TlSpK28TZJYBigw1V%252Fjws4ZqDo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Thanks guys. These are definitely big fat frets. Now they they're polished, they [b]look[/b] to be a quality material At least they polish up well. I'm very tempted to follow the method whereby a straight file is pushed down the fretboart from top to bottom, Only the weight of the file itself takes material off, so it's very slow. One step towards that will be getting the neck straight. It's not too far off with current truss rod tension, but it will take time if I'm correct in thinking that I have to make small truss rod adjustments and then leave the neck to settle for a fair while. I'll have a closer look at the rocking. I wondered if the eleventh fret might be lower than the others around it. How can I tell the difference between a high 12th fret and a low 11th one?

£395 for a USA Fender neck. http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/bodies-necks-c5/necks-c585/fender-fender-american-medium-jumbo-rosewood-jazz-bass-neck-099-3700-921-p3827 Not that I'm going to be buying one, but I wonder if it's possible to buy Modern Player Chinese made Fender necks. When I tried one, it played find as far as I can see.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1428074921' post='2737837'] Mine weighed a ton which was why I thought it may be Alder rather than Basswood, but it was over a year ago and they may have changed woods. Actually remembering the first one I got was a B Stock and was heavier, I then sent it back and got an A stock which was lighter...but I think that was just individual variance [/quote] Mine feels reasonably light for a fiver. It's not as light as one cheap bass that I've encountered which I suspect was Pawlownia. But, I don't think anyone would think this heavy for a five string.

I think I read somewhere that someone was filling in holes using matchsticks and wood glue! (I'm not sure if this is the best method).

The reviews are good, and the sound clips sound convincing. It's just me being fussy. Congratulations on the purchase, I hope it arrives quicker than mine did! EDIT: For my own bass, I'm not convinced that this is alder.

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1428057080' post='2737516'] randomly saw a Black SG Deko for £21 this morning. Would be rude not to try it. [/quote] Is that the S200? If so, it's a bolt on. The reviews are good, but I must admit to a personal prejudice that if I bought an SG guitar, I'd really want a set neck. I've removed the neck from my PJ5, and have taped it up so that I can practice polishing frets on it. (Erm, my reason for purchasing it might just have been ... a cheap bass to practice 'stuff' on - sorry Deko fans). I do not believe that this is an alder body. It is a light coloured wood with very little visible grain. It looks very much like basswood.

Please help me conquer my fear of fret fettling. I'm used to very basic setups, but am scared to do anything to the frets themselves. I've bought a cheap bass (Harley Benton 'Deko PJ) for £35 for the express purpose of doing things to its frets. Today I bought some fine steel wool and some masking tape to have a go at polishing the frets. I do also want a try to level the frets, but I'm finding the symptoms of fret unevenness a bit confusing. There is fret buzz when I fret the 11th fret on the E and A strings (tuning is BEADG), but using my short straight edges, I don't find a simple rock over a high 12th fret. Even though this might be ass backwards, I thought of practicing polishing first before I gird my loins and attempt to level them. This video makes it look easy. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEBYYs0foY[/media] BTW: The backup purpose for this bass should I wreck it is to defret it. EDIT: Shiny shiny The bass is now back together. It doesn't play any better with shiny frets, but it does now look quite a bit nicer as the frets were quite tarnished before. There is still a hint that if I could look into the frets somewhere around the 12th fret that I could get a lower action without fret buzz. I've got just a bit of buzz now. I find it playable as it is, but the purpose of this bass is to experiment. When I had the neck off I did use my improvised high fret finding short straight edges to look for high frets. I found a very minor amount of fret rocking at the 12th fret, but it was very little. But something is giving me buzz, so there must be something that can improve. Nice to see that £1 for three rolls masking tape seems to do the job and comes off easily without leaving any residue or anything on the neck. Was it paranoia to use masking tape when I steel wool the frets? I've read that some people use steel wool on the fretboard itself to smooth it.

Given all that, it is a very impressive finishing price.

Thanks guys. This video suggests they sound good. But, of course, some or even all of that may be down to the bass. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JurefeTiNo[/media]

Some very nice black basses here, please keep them coming. @Warlock: Pics?

Damn. My eyes were goggling at the shinyness of gold strings. They're available cheaply on ebay as single strings, and I thought of buying one to try. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maxima-Optima-Gold-Single-String-for-Bass-Guitar-Gauge-090-Brand-New-/181303050429?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a368100bd"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a368100bd[/url] Reviews are mixed. But £3 for a single string including p&p is not going to break the bank ... decisions decisions.

Painting in the pole pieces might work, but the basses with black pole pieces on the talkbass thread don't look wonderful IMHO. I think covered pickups a'la the humbuckers on my 7 string would look nice on the black jazz bass above. Or the black covered pickups from the Lodestone bass with black screws. Black blade pickups might work as well, but I couldn't find any fully black jazz bass ones. It's just personal taste obviously, but when I saw basses with black pole pieces on the talkbass thread, they just looked wrong to me. EDIT: Oooh - it's possible to buy gold bass guitar strings. Anyone else think that the jazz bass up there would look even better with gold strings rather than steel coloured ones? EDIT: Holy ... something! The following strings are gold coloured because they are actual gold plated! http://www.optima-strings.com/gold-strings-electric-bass.php#p2

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1428054953' post='2737471'] The question has to be asked.....how much more black could this be? The answer is none more black. [/quote] Pole pieces.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1428053339' post='2737437'] The bridge is fine, it's the angle it's mounted at that's not right! I'd have filled and re-drilled the holes if it were mine. [/quote] Thanks. So obvious once it is pointed out. I was looking closely at the bridge, not the wider context of it's positioning.

Ooh! That does look very black, and very nice, indeed.