Paul S

I had a toilet seat bass once but had to sell it - my wife was forever telling me to put it down.

I'd always thought there came a point when they are too close and everything kind of distorts - I just wondered if this is what was already the case or whether there was room to move them up a bit. I'll give it a go, ta. While we are about it - anyone moved the strap pin onto the upper bout or shall I stick to the neck?

Yes, pushes it all up nicely! Does pickup height make much difference to this fella? They seem quite low. Worth an experiment, maybe.

And an hour later.... Mrs S popped out so I had another little noodle but this time with more volume. And that is all it needed, more volume - it does not sound thin at all! The hollow, woody tone is very nice - very similar to the Danelectro Longhorn I had. Not keen on the bridge pup isolated but the neck alone is a lovely rounded tone and the two together have some extra bite. Hmm.

Probably the expensive basses I bought without thinking it through properly. The worst of which was most likely an NS Design Bolin 5 string that had been de-fretted. Absolutely fantastic bass that I had absolutely no need for but bought it in a rush of blood and lost a huge sum over. At least this was only £250, a decent chunk of which I would get back if I decide to move it on.

Could be my ears, of course. 😂

Gone!

This has just been listed on eBay, I think£250 BIN is one of the cheapest 'Vista's I've seen. One of those little gems that Squier do from time to time, these were limited run, MIC, chunkier neck than a Mustang and powerful, aggressive sound. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Squier-Musicmaster-Vista-Series-Short-Scale-Bass-Mustang-style-body/303398086935?hash=item46a3ef6917%3Ag%3AzrEAAOSwzkRd762s&LH_ItemCondition=3000

By contrast I bought a Fender Rumble combo and couldn't get a sound I liked out of it. Quilter bass block, for me, out of the box, 5 mins fiddling and I was as happy as Larry. Also a pick player. Horses very definitely for courses - optimum tone is one of those things that is just so subjective

Well, lightning quick service from BAX, my Hofner Ignition Club has arrived. Straight out of the box it was covered in dust and bits of expanded polystyrene, the rosewood fretboard looked dry as anything but the set up was OK - I might even drop the action a little. I changed the stock strings to TI Flats and had the Devils own job fitting the E string into the tiny tuners, gave the board a wipe of lemon oil. First impressions are that it feels like a toy and sounds pretty thin but that's just after an initial noodle and very low volume. However it is ridiculously lightweight (just 2.4kg!) and it probably worth keeping for those bad back sessions. If so I might change the tuners and move the front strap button to somewhere sensible. So overall not my best impulse buy but certainly not my worst.

I have TI flats on all my basses now, just love them - the feel, the sound, everything.

I have a set looking at me as I type

My blues/rock trio start with 'Confidence Man', a nice up-tempo song with some nice guitar solo opportunities. Much like the other 110 minutes. Bon Jovi tribute used to start with 'Lay Your Hands On Me' with some nice backing tracks/back projections to accompany it but more recently at more modest venues 'Raise Your Hands', which is an absolute belter. My recent defunct covers band started with 'Superstition'. Drummer would start off. Guitarist #1 would pick out the riff, I'd join in on the beat, rhythm player would join in once he'd finished tuning up, making sure his notes were in order, got his in-ears adjusted to his liking and hitched up his trousers.

Well, BAX had the Club Ignition in black for £251 so it would have been rude not to, right?

I had an MIJ Squier 32" Precision - which had previously been through the hands of many on here - and it was one of the finest sounding P basses I have had. Really organic and woody. And it does make a surprising difference even though it is only 2" shorter. I currently have a Frankenstein bass that has the body of a cheap double cutaway bass with an Entwistle precision pickup married with a 32" scale neck from a Hondo II. It also, surprisingly, sounds like a Precision albeit an aggressive one. I have also had a Fender Musicmaster that had a P bass pickup installed - a Wizard Thumper as I recall - and it sounded great but more like a Mustang than a Precision. Not a bad thing, just different. Perhaps (cow poop theory alert) the reduction to 30" scale changes the fundamental Precision bass tone no matter what? But having said that there is absolutely nowt wrong with a Mustang, tbf. They have the old school Fender vibe and sound. I currently have a Squier VM Mustang that had a Nordstrand pickup upgrade and it sounds bloomin' lovely. Which, if you happened to find yourself in the Essex Riviera at any point, you would be welcome to borrow for a while to see if it was a fit.

Speaking as a bassist whose slap technique could, at best, be described as 'agricultural' I would do the intro as slap then quit whilst ahead and play the rest with pick or fingers. No-one will notice.

Thanks for all the input. Seems like a lot of love for the Club. I'm guessing the Dano 56 is not widely used, although I imagine there must be a lot of crossover in feel/sound etc with the Longhorn.

My cunning plan is to have this connecting my pedal board, such as it is, with the amp leaving me with the Boss between bass and board and NO LEADS to trip over! I haven't tried it yet and can envisage all sorts of things going wrong - may have to start half a beat ahead of the others to be time...

Thanks for that. Interesting thing you say about the strap, too.

Thanks for that - it hadn't occurred to me that is what the bridge was! I did actually string my Longhorn with flats - sounded amazing - and I imagine the tuners are much the same in this model.

Does it neck dive, at all?

Some idle speculation on my part but I sometimes look upon these single-cut, hollow-bodied, thuddy things and wonder what living with one would be like? In many ways they are similar - light as a squirt of shaving foam, 30" scale, single cut. Both are available in black, my favoured colour. Both would look and sound pretty cool strung with flats/black nylon tapes. All of which are important considerations, of course I've had a couple of Danelectro basses - a Longhorn and a DC - and enjoyed them. Particularly the Longhorn. Never had a Hofner but have read on here and elsewhere (yes, there is an elsewhere) that even the Ignition level are pretty good. In short, they are what they are. What would anyone expect the main differences to be in terms of how they play and how they sound? Anyone in fact own(ed) both and able to make an A/B review?

'Smoke On The Water' for me. I'd have to climb into a time machine to 1972. though.

I think this came up before. The word 'friend' means different things to different people. Some people regard the people that follow them on Facebook as 'friends' and have lots. My understanding of the word 'friend' is something more deep - someone with whom you can share your darkest thoughts, someone you will always be there for because you know they will always be there for you. I have very few friends. I am 'friendly' with lots of people, however, and this is how I would describe my relationship with band members. Apart from the guitarist in the band that just folded, of course.

And to complete the saga, I had the Hondo neck transplanted into the Encore body, (Honcore? Endo?) which had to routed somewhat to accommodate it. But I have to say it looks fantastic. It doesn't neck dive, either - I guess because it was shunted backwards a bit so made up for the extra scale length. What I was hoping for - and what has happened in bucketloads - was some extra zing from the maple neck. This is something I've read about countless times tha maple necks give more bite to the sound but never had a chance to A/B it before. It certainly has with this which, combined with the snarley Entwistle pickup, make it a bit of a beast. I was intending to fit some Hipshot Ultralite tuners but these stock one work just fine and are probably lighter. Weighs in at 3.1kg - well under 7lbs.