henry norton

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='628972' date='Oct 17 2009, 08:30 PM']Double bass is a completely different kettle of fish from fretless. I'm a professional double bass player and cellist, but I wouldn't dare play a fretless electric bass in front of an audience. Higgie last heard me play one. It wasn't pretty, LOL![/quote] It's far easier to go from fretted to fretless than from DB to fretless. Having said that, I'm pretty sure his fretless playing benefitted from his DB experience. Anyway, don't fretless maple boards look so cool? I can't think why he would have played one otherwise - apparently all the early recordings were done with a fretted Jazz played with a pick!

Yes the JV squiers are rated as some of the best of Fender's offerings, regardless of where they're made. I've seen chancers on Ebay asking over a grand for mint versions but you'll see allot of threads on here regarding ridiculous prices some people ask for vintage instruments. I've seen one or two for around the 300 mark if they're well looked after and unmodified.

How much have you got to spend? If you go for a custom made Matamp or suchlike you're probably looking at the same money as a 200 watt valve head, maybe more!

Maybe I'll wait for the rave reviews of the new versions before I flex my plastic. I take it they were quite expensive.

Elbow grease. Go through the grades of wet & dry, each one at a right angle to the previous so you're taking out the scratches. 400 grit, 600 & 1000 used wet with a bit of washing up liquid to stop it clogging. After that, T-cut or Brasso in a circular motion with a soft cloth and loads of elbow grease will do nicely

[quote name='Bassilla' post='625659' date='Oct 14 2009, 01:58 AM']I bought a pair of original soapbars i fitted in a MTD,IMHO they ain't all that!!in fact i liked the original pickups better!![/quote] "Doh Beleev Da Hype!!!!!!" Fair enough, it's always subjective I 'spose but what didn't you like about them???

I've heard allot of good things about Lane Poor pickups. Apparently the man himself went awol a few years ago never to be seen since. It looks like a bit of a WAL thing going on with the new pickups being made by someone else who was affiliated with him. Let's hope they got the 'magic' they put in the originals. I'd like to try them just to see if they're as good as people said they were.

Aren't Wal and Alembic basically 'custom bass makers' anyway??? Not to mention Warwick & Fender custom shops.

I don't know about coated rounds (although I've heard good things about rotosound nexus), but most rounds should be fine on a rosewood board. Gold plating is usually a flashing of gold on nickel or stainless anyway, so they'll feel more or less the same as the equivalent plain strings. They will wear into the board more than flats or grounds will but rosewood is still pretty hard so you should get plenty of mileage. Why don't you want to use stainless, out of interest?

Sounds like you need a thicker coating of paint. TBH, my 82 squier Precision is nothing like glassy smooth and you can see the lines where the 3 piece body has been joined, and they were meant to be well made! If you want the finish on a wood body to be dead smooth you need to put enough paint on to allow for any movement in the woods themselves. You can try spray filler (sometimes called spray putty), which is usually a mustard coloured spray paint you can buy from car places which builds up a very thick layer very quickly. You can smooth this back confident that there's still a good thickness of paint left over. Sanding sealer is always worth using, otherwise you run the risk of the different bits of wood absorbing paint at different rates - and that's before you even get to an edge.... Colour has allot to do with how lines and marks show up too. Lighter finishes and natural wood are usually OK but the darker it gets, the more careful you need to be. Black is a real b###ard 'cos it shows absolutely everything. Hope this helps

It's not an 'instrument' price, it's an 'antique' price and as most serious collectors will have a pretty good idea of the value of a 62 Jazz then it will go if it's the right price but it won't if it's not. I'd be shocked if ten grand [i]was[/i] the going rate for one of these but if it's any consolation, whoever ends up buying this won't get any pleasure out of playing it.

Looks like a nice piece of kit. It's good to hear positive stories like this as we all too often hear reports on the uninterested, evasive and sometimes downright rude vendors. Welcome to the forum, you should go introduce yourself to everyone. Oh, and post some pics of your basses on the build diaries or gear porn sections. 2 Willpowers? we have to see this.

'vintage' instruments are often finished in cellulose, clear and solid colours. I think Gibson still uses it on their US stuff too. The thing with polyester is when it gets used and abused it looks beaten up whereas a softer, thinner cellulose finish tends to dull and mellow with age which could be why allot of 'roadworn' instruments look 'roadworn' rather than actually worn for real. You can spray it yourself if you're careful and it's still available for vintage car restorations, although there will come a time when it's illegal

[quote name='retroman' post='621281' date='Oct 9 2009, 09:31 AM']I'm loving my SVT classic :wub: For some seriously dirty, valve overdrive, how about the signature Marshall Lemmy Super Bass head? I've been sorely tempted, but it doesn't fit with my current bands sound, hence the SVT [/quote] I'd look at the 100w Marshall route although I don't think the Lemmy head is that much different from a normal superbass head which could expand your options some. Here's a link to the Trace V8 site which has a 'for sale' section in case you have two grand to spare(!) [url="http://www.trace-elliot-v8.com/#ownerlist"]trace v8 owners[/url] If money was no object my house would be full of amps & basses. Good luck!

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='620830' date='Oct 8 2009, 07:17 PM']I agree, but why would you use anything else on a bass anyway?[/quote] Respect due to Prosebass but I personally wouldn't use plated steel, even chrome plated steel will eventually get attacked by the acid in the oak - in a pretty short time too. (I love the shape of that BTW) Hardware wise, looking at my Precision, machines, bridge, scratchplate screws, strap buttons & pickup screws are all nickel plated mild steel, which can't even deal with the sweat from my fingers, let alone oak. Depends on what's being built I suppose, if it's a couple more quid for a box of brass screws then it's probably money well spent As far as tonewoods go... [url="http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-76499.html"]oak guitars[/url]

If it's a natural oil/wax finished Warwick then it's not too bad. If it includes refinishing a solid colour or lacquer then I might just be worried it's too cheap(!). Bear in mind this is carving the neck of an expensive bass and if he makes a mistake or it goes wrong down the line then it's his time/money/reputation at stake. It's especially important if it's a thru neck 'cos if that gets messed up you've basically messed up the entire instrument. Doing it yourself shouldn't be too difficult with a sharp spokeshave, sandpaper, cardboard profiles of the final shape you want, somewhere solid to clamp the bass and a bit of time and patience. It helps that you're not slimming the whole neck down in which case you might start running into the truss rod cavity. None of it's rocket science but you need to be confident in what you're doing.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='620275' date='Oct 8 2009, 10:31 AM']My rigid riding days are over, paticularly with the state of some of the roads here in the west country. [/quote] If it's any consolation I'm starting to feel the same way about hi-comp pistons and kick starts. Good luck with the pup, let us know how it goes

The other problem with oak is that it's quite acid, so you'll need all brass or stainless screws. The weight might not be such an issue if you chambered it.

Beauty!!! There's not much doubt there. Thanks for the replies. Presumably it livens up their guitar samples.

Here's some rare footage of one of my fave bands. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMLboBI-YHo"]Young Gods[/url] Not a bass in sight but I'm curious about the amp Alain Monod's keyboard/sampler is going through. It looks a bit like an 80's SVT but I can't be sure. If so it's an interesting scenario of ultra hi-tech digital going into 60's valve power.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='619357' date='Oct 7 2009, 11:08 AM']Hi, That makes sense! So as I change the polarity of the Jazz pickup, I cancel out one or other of the Precision pickups. The Precision pickup (Wizard Thumper) does seem to work fine on its own. Is there a way I can test this, or is it just a case of switching the connections on the Thumper... and seeing what happens?[/quote] You kind of have performed the test already - switch the connections for the thumper then check against the Jazz - either you'll be weak across all strings (in which case reverse the J again) or it'll be fine across all strings. Nice chop by the way - is that a rigid frame?

[quote name='Beedster' post='618956' date='Oct 6 2009, 09:10 PM']Many thanks Henry, I know what you mean about soft epoxy, it can make the bass feel really slow and unresponsive. A pic or two (phone camera I'm afraid) [attachment=34088:Fretless_P_1.jpg][attachment=34089:FLP.jpg][/quote] Ahh yeah! Thanks Mate, you've made my day. +1 on what EBS says, if it's an original then I'd go for polyester too. You'll need someone to do it if you don't have a waterfall spray booth and air fed mask though - presumably the reason you're going to see Martin. Let us know which way you go and how it turns out.

I remember a conversation I had with one of the guys at Luthier Supplies about 20 years ago regarding Fender's fretless maple necks. He reckoned they were finished in the standard polyester they did all their other maple necks in but thickened the board itself up a bit with a few extra coats. Regarding epoxy, you can get different types, (from my experience as an engineer rather than a luthier), and there are softer and harder varieties that'll probably sound quite different (relatively speaking). I tried epoxy on my fretless maple Jazz and it did stop the roundwounds eating into the board but I think I used quite a soft variety and it always felt a bit 'tacky', but presumably a 'harder' variety wouldn't suffer that. Got a picture BTW? Maple necks sans frets are my favourite.

[quote name='Sibob' post='618812' date='Oct 6 2009, 06:32 PM']Gotcha! Thanks very much! So the difference between a 7.25" and a 9.5" is going to be fairly minuscule I guess!? Si[/quote] Well, it's like tonewoods, finishes, capacitors, construction, magnets etc. - some people don't think it makes any difference and some people think it's the difference between 'perfect' and 'unplayable'. But yes, there's not much in it - probably more of a marketing ploy than an assertive effort on behalf of Fender to improve their instruments.

It means a bit more with guitars where a smaller radius (ie. more curve), can choke the strings if you bend them, especially if the action's really low. Bass generally having a higher action doesn't really mean so much. I've seen some multi string monsters (7, 8, 9 string), with no radius at all and are apparently very nice to play.