Shaggy

Definitely my first ever gig, aged 16, which was playing bass in a school rock opera*, also my band played an opening and closing set. The school hall felt as big as Wembley arena, and with my trusty Kalamazoo short-scale bass, and puny amp farting feebly in the background, I felt I had the world at my fingertips…. 2nd favourite – a couple of months later playing at a friends’ 17th birthday party, with a pair of still-warm girl’s panties dangling from my headstock. Ah, rock n’ roll. (*biographers’ note; the school opera was based on “Far From the Madding Crowd” which the artist formerly known as Shaggy had been forced to endure for English Lit “O” Level. The Stones track “Brown Sugar” was played as “Bathsheba” with the slightly dodgy lyric “Bathsheba, how come you taste so good……”. Half of the band stayed in the music business and hit it big in the ‘80’s & ‘90’s, the artist formerly known as Shaggy went to Uni, got a degree, and spent the next 30 years playing seedy pubs and clubs.)

+6 =142

Squier Jazz fretless really nice, and you could add a J-retro and upgrade the p/u’s later. Mind you, if I was looking for a fretless with that budget there are two absolute crackers in the For Sale section right now – Rich’s Jaydee Roadie and Bassballs’s Warwick Fortress – both active, both luverlee!

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='103534' date='Dec 12 2007, 08:08 PM']Blimey, I haven't had one of those for *ages* Is it true you get a fistful of hazlenuts in every bite?[/quote] No - if the ads were to be belived, the squirrels used to stalk you if you had a bar and nick them first (squirrelist, I know) [quote name='Rich' post='103693' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:38 AM']Anybody remember British Leyland in the 70s, and some of their ghastly cars? Remember how badly screwed together they were, bits falling off all over the place? Remember Alfa Romeo doing much the same thing in the 80s? Was their quality control done by the Chinese? No, it was just bad. QED.[/quote] I have a Triumph TR7 (convertible) which I love. There's a BL worker still sleeping in the boot I think. Re Ashdown; never tried them, but they do look very cool

[quote name='dub_junkie' post='100638' date='Dec 7 2007, 02:00 AM']congrats...I love the look of the pre EB Sabre basses.I once owned an '88 EB Sabre f/less and always wondered how it would sound against one of the Leo era ones given the different switching but never got the chance. I still havent heard/played a pre EB one and I guess I wont either as they're rare birds these days. I'm guessing they're not too disimiliar to an early L2K? enjoy the bass![/quote] Peter Gabriels's "Sledgehammer" has Tony Levin playing an old fretless Sabre, and James Browns' bassist used a fretted one in the '80's. Hope the bass has arrived OK! How come someone so young has such great taste in basses? (ie; late '70's Americana)

You’re going to be one happy fella! Definitely one of the most underated classic basses ever. Mine was chocolate brown before the previous owner had it stripped – I always meant to refin it in either black or sunburst but never got around to it. Don’t worry if the “bright” switch doesn’t appear to do anything – it’s not broken, it just doesn’t do anything

My old Listerud had MM style Bassculture neodynium pickups with flamed maple covers - having made a couple of customs I'd have loved to have used something similar instead of the usual black plastic SD's or Barts (ebony covers on one, maple on the other). Be pricey, I guess.

Joe, judging from recent scary Bass Gallery prices and the fact that Sabres are rarer than hen’s teeth I’d say that was a good buy – but obviously try and haggle. Truss-rods can break on any guitar, and personally I wouldn’t find a replaced/repaired one a big deal. I’ve played all sorts over the last 30 years and after getting the Sabre a few years ago never needed or wanted another fretted bass – it’s like a cracking Jazz bass AND a ‘Ray rolled into one and funks like a b@stard!

Good thread! Placebo effect? Dunno. I've only ever bought one brand new bass - an Ibanez Artist Musician - and didn't bond with it at all. I like old basses (/cars/motorbikes), the way they sound, their quirkiness, the patina of use on a well-looked after (ie; not shagged) instrument. Plus a sensibly modded old bass is always more interesting than a bog-standard one. Until very recently I thought the whole relic-ing thing total crap. Then last week I saw the Joe Strummer signature Fender Telecaster (guit*r) in my local guitar shop. Basically looks like its been painted with grey primer, given to a blind-folded gorilla with a power-sander, then left out in the rain for a month. It is a thing of utter presence and beauty. You could hang it in the Tate with the simple title "Rock n' Roll" underneath. Yes, it's artifice, but rock music has been self-parody ever since Elvis made it big. As for the "Skoda" effect, the only guy not giving a toss about the label on the headstock is probably some 80-year old blues player somewhere in New Orleans. As for me, going to check out that Wal in the For Sale forum again.................

True jazzers would laugh at this, but a good one to start on and give you that jazzy feel with a bit of a solo is "Nivram" by the Shadows. Jazz doesn't need to be avant-garde or virstuoso stuff to sound good!

Gotta say I find this discussion about recording (I won’t say “argument”), really interesting, worth a thread in its own right. From my limited experience of studio recording – which I dislike intensely – I find that whatever bass sound you try and create the engineer just whops the bass EQ setting up and it’s lost. I hadn’t really thought about active vs passive in a recording setting but I guess its true – the last time we recorded I took my active MM, but the slight earth hum that I can’t be arsed to suss out and usually mask with a bit of noise gate was highly audible when recording. So the engineer lent me his passive Wal Pro-bass – lurvely! – which to me sounded woolly, but in the mix was absolutely spot on. I’ll take the Precision next time! I think the gist of the thread is that if you find a P-bass playable then it’s a hell of sound to have in your arsenal, although versatile it’s not (in standard form). Also should have said before that upgrading the stock pick-ups (to wizards, SD’s etc) makes such a difference – same sound but with hi-fi definition and clarity.

Contact Chop-the-bass on this forum - top bloke, fantastic luthier, and has all sorts of bits - supplied most of my Jazz custom 5 parts including neck & body.

[quote name='Beedster' post='80749' date='Oct 29 2007, 11:48 AM']And me . I sooooo nearly bought it and so regret not doing so! Please promise me that, if you ever let it go, you'll let me know first. Chers Chris[/quote] You know it! Those two basses belong together (Annifrid and Agnetha? Right era anyway). As a biker I think the comparison between Fender and Harley is a valid one – both stuck with an iconic product that they can’t radically change without losing their customer base (although Harley made a brave attempt with the V-Rod). Hence the endless special editions. As such Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker fulfil an important niche in the market and shouldn’t really be knocked for it – there’s enough really excellent and truly innovative bass makers at low and high ends of the market; far, far more choice than when I started out on bass. (I ride an old Norton by the way – long since extinct)

[quote name='Beedster' post='80371' date='Oct 28 2007, 11:12 AM']When I first started playing bass I associated the Precision with thumpy root notes and avoided it like the plague. I was a light gauge string & active circuitry kinda guy. Now my '73 Precision gets picked up more often that my Modulus. It's comparatively crude mechanically (in fact it's almost agricultural), has less tonal range, is harder to play and weighs a ton. It is however so much more satisfying to play, and although the Modulus can do so many things, the precision is so much better at the one or two things it does. In response to a comment above, as far as I can remember form my music days, most musical instruments have evolved tremendously, and most in the modern orchestra are of a lineage that can be traced back to medieval or earlier times. As far as I know, pretty much the only instrument that was 'invented' as such was the saxophone. Instruments such as the violin and guitar can be traced back to earlier stringed instruments such as the viol whilst trumpets and trombones back to early horns. There are example of electric basses before the Precision, I think both Rick and Gibson made some, they just didn't work well and didn't get picked up in preference to uprights by the players of the time. I think, unlike his competitors, Leo did his homework, both in terms of technology and market research, and didn't go to market until he had it perfect. Chris PS he didn't actually get it perfect, perfection would have been adding a JPUP at the bridge [/quote] +1 completely It took me thirty years to get the point of the Fender P. Like Chris, I’d always considered them strictly a one-trick pony – thuddy, old-school, blues-rock. Especially as a mainly fretless player, you really need that bridge pick-up to add a bit of bite to your “mwah” - at least as an option - but I’ve never liked fretless Jazzes that much. Anyway, last winter I joined a ‘60’s rock/R&B band as a side-project to the main covers band, and fancied a “retro” bass purely – I’m ashamed to say – for image. As the two guitarists have red Strats I was kind of looking for a red MIJ P-bass, briefly considered the Sting signature, then saw Walbassists’ ’73 sunburst P-bass on Basschat this summer. Heavily modded – converted to fretless with ebony board, narrowed neck, added J p/u at the bridge, re-wired with SD vintage/antiquity II replacement p/u’s. Ruined as a vintage bass of course, but it could have been custom built for me. Well, plugged through a Trace valve head it was the tone I’d been looking for all my life, and with the neck mods and pro setup played like a dream. Yes, my active MM Sabre does a pretty good imitation of a P on neck p/u, but no bass I’ve tried gives that plummy, harmonic-rich, sock-in-the-gut sound of a P-bass. The addition of a J bridge pick-up is a revelation, makes it so much more versatile, and whilst string choice and a good set-up is crucial for any bass, for a P-bass I’d say it’s critical. And if it’s good enough for Pino, it’s good enough for me!

[quote name='Sibob' post='79325' date='Oct 25 2007, 12:20 PM']My moulded logo fender case is great! Survived numerous gigs and tours and still lines up! Si[/quote] +1 Had mine since the late '80's, gigged contunually and still going strong, although once left it in the sun and the top warped! I prefer the Hiscox tho'