BlueMoon

I'm a Fender fan-boy, but..................................no!

Thank you for the detailed review and a player’s perspective that I, and probably many others, had not appreciated. I have always found EBS gear to be very robust and reliable.

@Linus27 is the sustain issue also evident when played without amplification? Is the Musicman Stingray preamp 2 or 3EQ? Folklore suggests the weak G-string dead-spots are worst with the 3EQ and vary between examples. Curious what others have to say.

......and then wait for silk to unravel before your very eyes

Agreed. Well said.

Nice one! Yamaha often reassures, and sometimes surprises. I find their quality control very good.

Describe its history and you have a snappy title: “The Life of Brian”

@Hutton it’s your bass, so do what you like. Personally I’d give it a short period (say 3-4 hours) to acclimatise, but impatience and curiosity would likely push that time to a minimum. I’ve never had any issues when I’ve unboxed directly a bass delivered in winter, either with poly or nitro.

Knobs are available in the euro-zone from: https://www.public-peace.de/meisterworks-luminlay-knob-5-to-5-boost-cut-screwable.html?language=en Not sure if they still stock the fingerboard dots though. Looks like you’ve got it sorted anyhow.

These guys may know: https://guitarshop.es/ They have a chat screen (in English)…….and the added bonus of a great selection of instruments if you have time for a visit 😎

No apology necessary. If John has done the work then you know it was done properly. Details of the original Fender parts attached below. The tandem pot will be tricky to source, the others appear to be industry standard.

It looks to me like the Fender active circuit has been modified prior to fitting to your Sadowsky, since the pots of the original circuit were soldered to the board (see example pic). In your last pic above I do not see that any pots are on the board, so changing the pots should not be a major exercise if you can locate the correct potentiometers. Am I missing something?

My first bass as well! I traded it back in the 70s in exchange for a Burns Jazz, which was made in ‘64. If I remember correctly I had to pay an additional £12 plus the Columbus to seal the deal. I still have the Burns!

Cream for me, but either are fine. Nice bass.

Looks legit except for the sanded neck and strap buttons. No pictures of tuners, which can often distinguish between an instrument made for the domestic market (i.e. Japan) or overseas. These are nice, dependable instruments.

Don’t think so. This topic comes up occasionally about possible upgrades (mods) to Dimension basses since nobody seems to stock the pups off the shelf. There were some complaints of “clicking” when the strings touched the pole-pieces……..but hardly something that couldn’t be fixed by a decent set up.

Loving the bass………..and the slippers!!

I’d say similar - if not identical - to a Jin-Ho model: http://www.jinhomusic.com/bass/jb_450.html

Agree totally with above comments. Fender tried to move away - even slightly - from their classic P and J heritage with what is basically a good new design. Wasn’t happening with the Fender fan-boy folks, unfortunately. Also mods were difficult with non-standard pickup shape. Sales were poor and excess stock was sold sometimes for silly money. The passive two pickup version is, in my limited experience, the way to go if you see one. Don’t listen to the haters!

This^^^^ I’ve used the alloy from a standard ring-pull can and wrapped a suitably sized piece around while jamming the ends into split shafts. Are your pots solid shaft?

I forgot to mention the asymetrically profiled neck - very comfortable, and a zero fret on fretted models. Here you go:

The Czech-made Grendels are great instruments. Not heavy, no neck dive, Schaller tuners, Hipshot B style bridge. Figured maple top. What’s not to like? The Bartolini pre and pick-ups (exposed pole pieces) are fine for a modern Jazz sound. You have additional control of mids via a toggle switch. Apart from the pot control knobs, which are a bit naff - the overall package scores high on quality/value-for-money. I don’t know the Stadium version, but I understand they are a badge-engineered version of the MTD. Go for it……..great basses.

Production date sticker may still be on the underside of the main pick-guard. For reference, I have an original Burns Jazz from 16 November, 1964 and it has a serial number in the low 6000’s. As others have mentioned, the polyester coating cracked even on the best maintained examples. Exposed to gigging and bits cracked off. I think there will be the normal VBT controls and a notched potentiometer with some pre-set pick-up combinations and sounds. “Wild Dog” was a unique one!

I have several fretless basses with coated fingerboards. These may be polyester (Pedulla) and others where I believe polyurethane is the coating. In each case I have had no problems with separation even with periodic truss rod adjustments. I cannot speak from experience of super-glue (cyanoacrylate), but I would think that also to be pretty stable when coated correctly. In summary, I wouldn’t worry and go for the material that best suits your needs and budget.