fergs40

The wikipedia caption says 1971.

Hallo, upright people. I have never even picked up a double bass, much less played one, so please forgive that this question is coming from a place of complete ignorance... I've been listening to Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool this morning, which features Al McKibbon on several of the tracks. As I do, I've also been idly flicking through the wikipedia bios of the musicians on the record, and came across this picture of Al on his (though very little additional info, even though he lived to 86). Anyway, to the point of this post - what is all that ironmongery on his headstock? And would anyone have a clearer picture of something similar? Just curious! Thanks in anticipation.

None at all - all the holes lined up, neck cutout fitted perfectly and the supplied screws went into the existing holes snugly.

How solid is your floor and how much dancing will you be doing next to the turntable? You can make any needle skip if you work at it…but with a reasonably solid floor (wood or concrete, for example) you shouldn’t encounter too many problems.

A bit like with basses I’d always suggest buying used (unless the new car smell/first owner vibe is an important part of the experience for you), but unlike basses I’d be wary of going too vintage unless you are buying from somewhere that offers a guarantee and/or will fix it if it goes wrong. For example, I still have my Ariston Q Deck II which I bought in 1992 for around £200 (which is getting on for £500 in 2026). Great deck, but the plastic in the tower supporting the arm bearings has become brittle, meaning it’s now held together with glue and hope. Works great for spinning the occasional album in my office, but its days as the main deck are past. I replaced it in 2022 with an Audio-Technica LP5 (now superseded by the LP5X), for all of €185 from the local classifieds. It’s a great thing - really solid construction and it has a built in phono stage, which is good for me as the phono stage in my 1992-vintage Marantz PM35 amp has become very noisy (maybe needs recapping?). Both the LP5 and LP5X had rave reviews from What Hifi, so with that and my personal experience I’d say it’s a solid recommendation. Main downside is that it’s fully manual, so you need to be around to lift the arm at the end of the record. But, hey!, you’re listening to vinyl because you want to concentrate on the music without other distractions, so that won’t be a hardship, right? Anyway, HTH - I’m sure another opinion will be along shortly!

I put one of these 4-ply guards on my LPB 40th Precision - fitted perfectly, despite what it says in the listing about not fitting Squiers. When I bought mine it was about €15 - not sure why it’s shot up to more than €60 when I looked just now, but other variants still seem to be cheaper. Link is for Amazon IE rather than UK, though it was delivered from the UK.

Needs de-blinging (IMHO…) but beyond that it has more than usually solid bones which will take you a long way towards a bass experience which would otherwise be many times the price. Enjoy!

I’m in too. I’m not going to stop looking at stuff, because I’m not an alcoholic, sorry, bassoholic, but as things stand I really don’t know what might present itself to break my resolve. Maybe one of those eight-string Hagstroms. But they come up like never. Right?

Please add a ‘w’ to Newtownards - I’m from Northern Ireland, not Scotland…;-)

Here’s the modern equivalent of that stylus: https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/ortofon-dn-165e-replacement-stylus/ (EDIT: I now see @Hellzero got there before me with that…:-)) I suspect you could also use any of Ortofon’s OM range of styluses (https://ortofon.com/collections/om-hifi-concorde-series-1), which all fit on the same cartridge and run from £40 up to spendy - the OM10 used to be a fairly standard fitment on decent mid-price turntables, and the OM20 is a nice step up, albeit three times the price. Or, as @Matt P suggests, change the cartridge - the Audio Technica ones he suggests are very good and open up a whole range of different stylus options. It can feel a bit daunting, but I’d say if you can do basic setup on a bass you’ll probably manage fitting and aligning a new cartridge. I’d also agree with @Dan Dare that if you’ve never replaced the belt in 40 years it’s probably a good idea to do so. Thakker in Germany is a good source (https://www.thakker.eu/en/belts/turntables/), but I’m sure there will be UK-based suppliers too. Whether you need any other maintenance is really down to your judgement about whether everything is running and moving smoothly - if the platter isn’t making any unpleasant noises, and the arm raises, lowers and tracks across the record smoothly you’re probably good to go. You can also download apps that use the motion sensor in your phone to check whether the rotation speed is right (a worn belt can certainly affect that). Finally, you might just check you’ve got your tracking weight (the downward force on the stylus) right - that might be a cause of the original bending. Plenty of guides online for that. HTH

Well, we live in a golden age of consumerism and benefit from 200+ years of manufacturing expertise, that’s certainly true. Sadly it’s wildly inequitable, not at all sustainable and will be the end of us but, hey!, why not enjoy it while it’s here. Two hundred years ago we’d have been digging coal or weaving cloth and dead by 35. Two hundred years hence -well, who knows, but it probably won’t involve a Squier jazz. We only get one turn round the wheel, we don’t get to choose when it is, we make the best fist of it we can. Right, enough empty philosophising - enjoy your bass!

I recently picked up an immaculate 2024 pearl white SR300e (for €150!) as I’ve long been curious to try an Ibanez bass and this seemed as good (and as cheap) a place to start as any. I’ve got it fitted with a GK3B pickup and the combination of this with the onboard pickups is sounding mighty fine. To me, anyway - I guess I haven’t conducted a poll… Anyway, to the point of this post. The one thing I’m not 100% sold on with the bass is the fretboard - it’s more red than I think I’d like it to be. Plus it’s an opportunity to tinker with an otherwise fine instrument, and who could turn that down? I’ve previously had reasonable success using Montypresso wax to darken/brownen the fretboards on an Epiphone Casino (yes, I know…) and the Squier Precision I deblinged recently (see build diaries). However, both those have neck binding and glossy neck finishes, meaning it didn’t matter how sloppy I was with the wax (and it can be sloppy stuff), I was only going to stain the wood of the fretboard. The SR300 is slightly different - see pic. Two potential problems: 1. As there’s no binding I need to make sure the side of the fretboard is stained as well as the top. Otherwise it will look silly. 2. But as the finish on the back of the neck is satin/matt I’m not sure whether or not the wax will also stain this. Which would also look silly. So, I’m wondering if I need to mask off the rest of the neck for this job. Sadly this introduces a level of tedium which probably outweighs my aversion to the redness. I know, no dedication to the craft… Anyway, what thinks the collective?

The neck was a large part of the reason I wanted another of these. I also considered a 70s CV, but I much prefer the white/pearloid blocks and binding to the black. And I’m delighted that someone shares my appreciation of the pearloid pick guard. And surprised no one has popped up yet to suggest tort…:-)

My ‘de-blinged’ Squier 40th. There’s a thread in Build Diaries with a bit more info for the curious.