Aidan63

I'm guessing you don't mean one of these

I had written (and rewritten/edited several times) my post and was about to hit submit reply just as Ped posted up 'play nice', so just in case anyone got upset I thought it might be politic to post as a separate thread rather than further muddy the waters on this one, I did consider not posting it but having spent a good deal of time on writing it I wanted to validify the time spent writing it to myself at least - perhaps I shouldn't have posted it, my bad☹️

just a FYI, in the VW car world, model year production generally starts on 1st August, when their summer shutdown finishes (they do the bigger mods and upgrades to the production line during shutdown, and obviously plan and agree changes with suppliers a long time before that) so a 2000 model year (i.e. built to 2000 specification) could be built and sold and on the road long before the beginning of the model year, depending on the sales and stock of the different countries' importer/dealer network. You'd have to talk (or have talked to a long time ago when they were alive and had reliable memory) to people who worked at Fender on the sales and production (production scheduling particularly) side to understand what their lead times and schedules and 'year' break points were back then, chances are they weren't as cast in stone as VWs, as it would depend on the tax and sales cycles, when are the brochures released, when are stock sales agreed etc....these days we partly have the 2 NAMM cycle which will influence that quite a lot, I don't know how that was done 60 plus years ago, but I bet it wasn't quite as regimented as now when the accountants pretty much run the businesses, and everyone else is secondary. Ref the Jazz bass, I always thought swap to VVT was mid (whatever that means) 61 from several (fairly common and cheap) books and many articles I have read but I haven't been down the whole vintage rabbit hole, but likely the articles were written from research based often on the same books and oft told and repeated 'facts'. Does anyone know how many Jazz basses were built between the 1st one and the end of 1961 ? How many were stack, how many VVT, how many changed by factory at the time or subsequently (Fender was tight with musicians/dealers who were effectively development testers), how many changed by dealers ? Is that openly available information, did Fender (and especially the dealers) even record that accurately, was there a serial number register back then, did they actually build c.17000 instruments of all models in 1961 or was that figure just the max possible (planned i.e. 70/day based on 5 day week and 10 days annual holiday) production and serial number allocation, is the data set still intact or has it been lost to fire or thrown away or stolen at some point ? Without definitive primary source information like that we'll never really know, it is just by observation that we can make 'informed' conclusions and build a narrative around that - as Hellzero, AndyB, Norms, ATB many other etc.. have all done, but no one will ever know for sure, so assertions can only be made qualified by 'as far as we can estimate based on the available information both past and current'. Even now Fender's online digital database isn't exhaustive, and doesn't go that far back, has lots of gaps especially for short run instruments and overseas production, and I bet even any Fender in house published history account isn't absolutely accurate, as there will be stuff they didn't want to reveal/admit to, and a little obfuscation is good for the myth and increases the mystery, the potential that one day you could possibly find under your great grandparents' bed a unique instrument that is worth even more that the rest of the extremely expensive instruments already in circulation, a lottery win 😃

easiest to just ring GigGear and ask them surely ?

is it a muting tuner, and its muted ?

Best : Xotic Effects Bass RC Booster pedal, off Ebay, set to 'B15' voice it just works, is simple and small, runs on battery, and very cost effective Worst : Squier, Samick made, CV Racing Stripe Mustang, off here, I have cleaned the neck and strings multiple times with isopropyl and I can still smell previous owners aftershave on my hand after playing it and its made the case smell too - its lighter than my seafoam green Cort made one, but doesn't sound as good - still pondering doing a pickup change a la PawnShop to it

not just colour fade, but the lacquer yellowing over time changes the colour seen with blues they tend to move toward greens

@ash is selling one, doesn't look as extreme as that blue one

I wrote to Yamaha over a year ago to suggest they capitalize on the Revstar and make a short scale bass version, pointed out the success of the JMJ and Joe Dart ss etc.. got a polite reply from the European distributor, I doubt the suggestion made it to Japan though

Jon at Rexter guitars would probably be £500-600ish in nitro based on what I paid 3 years ago

Dave Smart [email protected] He's Patrice's/HTD's recommended partner in the UK, should be able to help

possibly taps for different impedance speaker connections, not required in this specific application, so not connected - the transformers maybe used in different applications not all of which need all the wires to be connected I watch a lot of Psionic Audio (US amp tech) on YT and he'd definitely be able to answer the Q; I don't know if any of the knowledgeable old school valve amp technicians in the UK are on this forum and would interact, check the recommendations in repairs and maybe contact someone who works on these

So it's dull sounding in the area the truss rod does most work, and dead sounding generally - it's much more likely to just be a poor neck made from a piece of wood that just doesn't vibrate, or there's something slightly out in the truss rod pocket/skunk stripe if fitted), or maybe the glue up of the fingerboard to the neck, rather than anything to do with the pickups - wood varies and that's why some are good, some are great, and most are functional, but a few are dogs My CV Mustang is slightly less resonant on the A string frets 5, 6 and 7 and that corresponds with an obvious knot that is visible in the grain on the back of the neck, but overall the instrument vibrates okay - it's a heavy one though only just under 9lb, Nato (sort of mahogany) body. I don't think Fender check the vibration of the completed instrument and reject dead sounding ones, I don't know if even PRS do that with their US made premium instruments despite Paul maintaining that a non vibrant instrument will never sound good - he wants a string to ring out acoustically for 17 seconds plus

My Squier ClassicVibe Mustang is ~18mm, I think the original Fender Mustang type bridge is 18mm, the PJ variants with hi mass or bbot bridges are probably 19mm string spacing seems to be left off the technical details on so many instruments these days, I wonder if it is because they buy in components from so many sources in batches and can't guarantee if they are all the same - they really should detail string spacing at the bridge and at the nut, not just the nut width

This is what Fender says in the 2011 version of the bass guitar manual - good starting point, then adjust to suit your playing style and to achieve the balance you like and the overall sound most pleasing to your ear