OutToPlayJazz

I'll see if I can record some live on the laptop. They'll be video, as I don't have the gear to plug into the PC.

The bridge is now done. Decided to be brave and do it myself, as my luthier down in Derbyshire is away this week. Nice little session with the power saw, some needle files and sandpaper has it feeling a lot better. I do my own violin & cello bridges usually, but this was my first attempt at cutting a bass bridge. Luckily, the maple is really soft, so it was an easy job.

It's quite high at the moment, that's why it's going to a luthier to have the bridge cut down to size. Most factory basses come like that unless the seller has a workshop in house.

Heh! Shall I make the word, "COCK" bigger and bolder for you as well?

[Rant] Mart! No! No! No! [u][b]Do not under any circumstances[/b][/u] let some t**t of a singer, or for that matter, anyone [period] dictate to you about your sound. You have some of the lovliest basses both in looks and sound & your rig is top notch, too. As far as the singist goes (for singer, read failed musician) just ignore him! I'll bet he comes from the school of thought that says, "bass should be felt and not heard." Cock! [/Rant]

I was looking at one of these the other day in a gorgeous chrome orange/cayenne colour. Amazing value for a mere £239. Go for it, I'd say

Here we go - The varnish is actually a deeper brown than the flash suggests, btw...

Just waiting for the camera charging up then I'll do some

A few of you have mentioned the "Archer" professional double bass available for £750 from Gear4Music in York. Well I went up thee yesterday and bought one. I've been looking for a cheaper bass for jazz and pit work (I'm increasingly worried about leaving my Ron Prentice bass in pits for a week, etc.) for a while and didn't want to go down the cheapo orange box route. Some of the laminate/ply basses can be pretty horrid as you know, but the Archer appealed to me on a number of levels. So what're they like? Well, the woods are very nice - The bass is a carved instrument with good fixtures and fittings and the tone/volume is huge. I picked between two examples and the one I bought had the best sound, which is what counts at the end of the day. For a £750 instrument the fit and finish is fine and the only fault as such that I can find is some over zealous glueing on a couple of seams. The instrument comes with two cases, a pretty useless gigbag & a vastly huge styrofoam semi hard case with wheels, which I need to go and pick up in my partner's van, as it wouldn't fit in my car & a reasonable quality perambuco German bow which will make a reasonable spare. So I've been out and spent £120 on a set of Dominant strings & am now waiting to get the bridge cut down for a low-medium classical/jazz action by a local luthier that did some work on my violin recently. So allowing for some extra costs of a setup, a decent case & a set of strings, the Archer fits the budget bass bill perfectly. Go have a look! Pictures later...

My current favourite is "Sinister Minister" by the Flecktones, but from a player's standpoint I find all of the Stanley Clarke & Marcus Miller stuff the most approachable from a reading point of view.

Hey Mike, I see you've gone all headed Lovely looking Empathy you have there - Are you finding these better than the KingBasses? I certainly prefer my S2's to KB's in terms of sound and playability.

Nothing's ringing my bell at the moment on the bgt front. Waiting to see what Rob Green's got up his sleeve for this year...

Hey Stag, that Les Paul is an amazing looking thing. Am I seeing things or does it have a 24 fret neck as well? Finally a Gibson bass I'd actually like to own! Rich.

Yes mate, they changed the pickups in the 5-string in early 2008 from the ceramic magnet one (a la Sterling) to the traditional alnico magnets. So if you love the sound of your 4-string Stingrays, have a new one. If you want something more hifi & aggressive sounding, get a pre 2008 model. Rich.

The bottom line is that some of the current budget basses at the moment, particularly the Squier Classic Vibe range, are genuinely really good. It proves that as long as you get the product and the quality control right, the price whether high or low, ceases to be an issue.

I've always ended up selling all my Fenders, whether Precisions or Jazzes - Not because I don't like them, but because there's no place for them in my music work when I have Status basses knocking around. I can make a lot of use of my Stingray, though. It has such an adaptable sound and still has the massive output and punch I like with a more soulful and classic tone. So if you like classic passive sound, the Jazz is for you. If you want a little more and the added punch of a Stingray, there's your answer.

These four are definite keepers. They all have their own distinct characters & sounds, as well as the usual Status hifi growl. The Streamline is a fabulous design, very light & has it's own almost 3d resonance through the all-graphite construction. The white front and side LED's come in handy for pit blackouts as well! The walnut S2-Classic 4-string is simply the best 4-stringer I've ever played. It even surpasses the lovely 1990 model I had for a while. The sound is astounding and it's my main player. The S2-Classic bolt-on 5-string with the phenowood fingerboard is a lovely bass. Great for all jobs, especially jazz stuff with the grittier sound. The myrtlewood S2-Classic 5 is quite simply not only the nicest looking bass I've ever seen, but also the lovliest to hold. There's something about the neck profile that's really special on this one. It just exudes luxury and sounds fantastic. The other potential keeper is my MusicMan Stingray piezo. The fact that it's such a lovely example & with the addition of the piezo bridge it's practicallty two basses in one. Excellent!

I bought three of the Westfield Strats as rental instruments a while ago. The pearl white (seriously cheap ones) were fine enough, but the purple higher spec models with the better pickups were great guitards for the money. I wish I'd have bought more of them now.

It'd be the MusicMan 5 for me as well. The Warwick 5's have narrower string spacing which can be a pain if you're used to 18-19mm spacing, but the MM necks are better & the tone is richer. Pre early 2008 model MM5's also have the ceramic magnets for a very tight and focused sound. Alnico magnets since. Highly recommended. Why did I sell mine?!

+1 for the Yamaha TRB-6. The best sounding and most playable six stringer out there!

Your revised figure of £6-800 will get you almost any used Stingray you want. The Stingray 5's are among the best mass produced 5-stringers around, having an almost unlimited tonal range from Status-like hifi to single coil P-alike grunt. Why did I sell mine?!

The Status Streamline was made for your back problems - Only a shade over six pounds and such a massive & clear sound. Ergonomically perfect as well as still using a 34" scale. 32" with bendwell is available as well. Used ones come up around the £1000 mark.

I always used to use the rotosound sets of 30-40-60-80-100-125 on my Yamaha TRB-6, but I think Status do a lighter Hotwire set with a .25 guage top string. Rich.