Aidan63

October 1997 I reckon, 10071470 would be 2007; easiest to just email Status they are really helpful

20.65mm behind the 1st fret

I picked up a Squier Classic Vibe Mustang, in Surf Green, this week, delivered on Friday and as always with a new bass it seems 😉, I am loving it. It's not mega light at 3.88Kg, 8.55lb, with a good deal of that mass being in the body so it balances level on a strap. I use a strap when sat down too, I don't find balancing instrument on right leg comfortable. It's nicely resonant unplugged, which I have found with a number of Squiers, they are made from well chosen wood. The strings aren't awful to me as some people have reported, there are no obvious dead spots or oddly resonant notes and harmonics are bright and clear. The fretwork (narrow tall frets) is excellent, fit and finish 9.5 /10. From the serial number it's made, I believe, by Samick in Indonesia rather than by Cort. The very vintage gloss finish on the neck looks good to my eye and brings out the variations of colour of the maple, but those of sweaty hands might not like it, tbh I am undecided, if I keep it long term I may satinize it. But the tint does make the small fret markers disappear a bit, so long term I'd fit luminlays (maybe get someone to do that), for now a dab of white paint pen will suffice as it is easily removed. I had to adjust the bridge just a little (though I have kept a higher action (factory setting is 3-2.5mm) than I might as it plays fine as it is) and set the intonation of the G string; the nut is cut generously high but is fine for intonation of the first and second fret notes so I'll leave alone, maybe adjust once I've found the keeper string choice. I also adjusted the pitch of the pickups a little as E and G were too loud but a small adjustment has brought a good balance string to string. 38mm nut, well spaced strings, not too close to the edge of the board and 19mm at the bridge, neck is much like the top 2/3 of a Jazz, but upper fret access is pants because of the heel (body join is 14th fret), even though its only 19 frets I can't actually get to much above 15 with my short fat hand. I had a quick look inside the control cavity, no shielding paint, mini pots and .047mF poly tone cap, pretty much as you would expect from a Squier, I like the tone 80% off mostly, or 50% with the volume backed off a little and a little bit of gain pedal to colour and boost the output. But the tone is great, even across the strings and less bass/treble variation EA/DG than many Ps and Js I've played and the compact slab body (no belly cut or arm carve) is comfortable and the smaller size means that it's easy to move around with the fretting hand and palm muting and thumb and finger picking down by the bridge is easier than on a full size instrument I find. I haven't tried it with a pick/plectrum. I've only played it through my PJ practice amp. Overall I'd give it 8/10 with that new owner tinted glasses, got to justify the purchase to myself mindset. Other than the addition of a Toucan it is as yet unmodified, haven't even taken the scratch plate plastic off. Supplied by A Strings in Treforest as I had a Reverb credit to use, Andertons have stock again and are cheaper, but I am happy to also support a smaller independent who provided great service and equally quick delivery on this and previously when I needed odd strings to make up sets or odd parts and keep a bit of money in Wales.

Loz sold me a nice clean Mono Vertigo bag, shipped out next day and well packed. A pleasure doing business with him again, and a very busy guy at work took time out to engage in pms as we bemoaned Parcelfarce Manchester's ineptitude over a couple of days. Top man. And the Jazz I bought from him last year is still great and being enjoyed.

I ordered some parts for the business from Germany 3rd week in January, nothing urgent, for stock to test the water. I wrongly assumed the vendor had worked out the process post Brexit. They were picked and packed and dispatched with GLS, then sat around in a GLS warehouse in Germany for 3 weeks, occasionally being scanned but not moving, before being returned to the company that sent them, who then took a week to confirm that the parts had been received, then a few more days to tell me the choice of refund methods, I elected for refund to card and am still waiting for my money back. In the meantime they are daily sending out special promotions and big discounts to buy from them. Many emails exchanged, and negative feedback through their own market research, they really haven't got a clue. Shame as they used to be a good reliable supplier. At the same time several of my UK suppliers are running low on stock and have been waiting for more than a month for pallets to clear customs and be delivered. And we all bought extra stock at the end of last year to try and ensure we had enough for a couple of months trading while it sorted itself out.

StewMac website has a calculator for placing the bridge in the right place

have fun and make music 👍

On Squier necks with skunk stripe the truss nod is not directly below the fingerboard, at least on the one I have removed the fingerboard from (2009 Jazz), so it looks like they are fitted from the back, but on a neck without the skunk stripe it should be fitted in a channel below the fingerboard and the board may be a little thicker and better glued on

when I was experimenting with different P pickups in order to decide which one to use in mine I wired the output jack to a terminal block and tried them all direct, they didn't sound overly harsh; it meant I could swap them over fairly quickly without having to strip the instrument each time as I had the terminal block on top of the pickguard through the normal tone control hole and I could thread the pickup wires through the volume hole and connect and I didn't seem to suffer much rf noise as a result

Babylon by Bus, Live and Dangerous, and does Shut Up and Play Your Guitar count 😀

Lozz sold me a very nicely priced pair of V Mod Jazz pickups complete with the original controls, quickly dispatched, super packaged and received next day, all good. Thank you Lozz

Alain sold me a nice set of D'Addario ETB92 tape wound strings, quickly dispatched, tracked 1st class, all good. Thank you

Probably because unless you have a true bypass bass the existing pots and tone controls already colour the output - does a Sadowsky pedal make your Fenderesque Jazz bass really sound like a Sadowsky ? just thinking, I've never tried the Sadowsky pedal, but I have the Alien one and whilst it's a useful boost it is a bit too subtle and doesn't do anything to my ear that the zoom B3 couldn't do and the B3 can do so much more

Massive Attack, Manchester Apollo 2003, just ridiculously loud, I reckon they had something like 20-30kW of PA turned up full, it would have been about right at 1/3 to half volume, I thought it was my ears but I checked out the amp racks and everything was clipping, realised it was the sound engineer who was deaf and went outside, even outside it was too loud, the sort of thing that brought in curfews and dB meters; in the 80's we'd have done that gig with 3-5kW and everyone would have had a great time and would have been able to hear afterwards.

Value Added Tax 😲 where is the added value on used things between private individuals ? VAT is just a tax on anything by a fancy name to differentiate it from tax on earnings/profits It could have been included in any trade deal but it was not in the interest of both parties to have some sort of mutual exemption for used goods being shipped between the UK and Europe, far easier to just treat all goods as goods and gratefully accept the extra revenue to help pay the extra costs in managing the new system, and it mirrors the state of play with such goods trading with the rest of the world; being part of the single market had some advantages, unfortunately some people didn't feel they were worth having

Musima, made in East Germany, perhaps, are the tuners held on with 2 screws each ? solid woood body with veneer finish front and back and a hole in the back behind the bridge with a white plastic plug in it ?

The serial number belongs to an American Jazz Bass 2003-3008, 2007 year as previously stated, weirdly the Fender 'register your instrument' only identifies the model but doesn't have the colour of it in the database, I don't know when the Fender data became more comprehensive, but a Squier I have registered from 2006 did have the colour information correct

check the string heights of all the strings (plenty of bass set up videos on YouTube), if the D string is lower than the rest then adjust the bridge saddle to raise the string height till it is the same height above the 17th fret (or 12th fret, just be consistent) as the other strings

Can you contact EBMM support direct with a photo of that and ask them for their advice and copy Thomann in on the email I'd hope that EBMM would reply pretty promptly and be helpful

what about a glove like Scott wears on his fretting hand ? I don't know what gloves they are though

"Steve Cook started as a touring bass player when printed maps were the only way to get there. His extensive studio and touring credits run the gamut from rock to jazz to country. Also a busy producer and WWII aviation junkie, he welcomes you to reach out via Twitter @shinybass." from Premier Guitar website, maybe invite him to post up about it, or share alink to the video explaining exactly what he has done to it

Fender have announced price increases too I believe; as stated there is a worldwide demand outstripping supply issue with components and instruments which are feeding through the system, hence prices rise. Post pandemic there will likely be a glut of used instruments on the market and as the industry ramps back into full production it will be interesting to see the pricing, but as we know from experience prices rarely go down, and some manufacturers (Maybe EBMM - how many basses do they actually make a year a few 1000 possibly) will just restrict product and keep prices high if they are selling what they can make at a profit, especially if they have highly visible brand ambassadors/endorsees able to create demand for that product. MusicMan aren't trying to compete with Fender or Yamaha, just maintain a brand with high perceived value that sits well with the primary string business and adds to the whole business's worth I think. Hopefully there will be some great new music and a more diverse and vibrant and dynamic live music scene too, post pandemic, fingers crossed

it was for stock, so not that urgent, thanks, if UPS had just said 'we've got problems, expect a three to four week delay' from the outset I'd have been chilled, it was the constant changing of expected delivery date, delaying it by 24hours, then going dark for a week, all the time promising to do something to expedite it (which is after all what I'd paid for) whilst the tracking showed the box being scanned multiple times but no actual progress that was annoying

the same Aidan yes