Beedster

Well I bought one of these a few weeks back (July 1st). I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed out of the box, even more so when the front PUP stopped working after a few minutes of playing. Perhaps I had a Friday afternoon instrument, but to me the feel was mediocre, and whilst the tone was OK, it was not significantly different to any other factory Jazz I've played. In terms of playability and tone however this bass was not a touch on my £500 bitsa, equipped with SD Weather Report PUPs, Kiogon circuit, Allparts neck and plain ash body. Yes, it looked OK but next to an original Pre-CBS it looked fugazi (Fender really do need to spend a few more minutes on each instrument making the bare wood look as if it hasn't had the paint scraped off the day before with a power sander), whilst next to my other Flea Bass, albeit one made by Modulus, it felt frankly agricultural to play and completely lacking in grunt. It went back the very next day, but it took a while to get my refund (which I found extremely annoying given not only was I within the seven days of purchase but it was also faulty), hence not posting sooner in case it got messy with the shop in question. As I say, mine may have been a Friday afternoon bass, even Friday evening finishing-off after having a few beers. Either way, I expect to see a lot of these for sale over the next few months. Chris

[quote name='silverfoxnik' timestamp='1457042752' post='2994856'] Just bought a fabulous, vintage Hayman 40 40 bass from Baldwin bass, a.k a. Stuart who has been an absolute gent and a pleasure to deal with from start to finish. As well as entrusting me with a bass he's owned for nearly 40 years, Stuart was kind enough to drive to my neck of the woods to allow me the opportunity to try out the bass in person before committing to buy it. So, I'm more than happy to personally recommend Stuart to one and all here on Basschat... Deal with in complete confidence, folks! Lastly, thanks for a really pleasant transaction Stuart and for the bass itself, which is just brilliant! Hope you do decide to come along to the South East Bash in September ; it's a great day and I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.. Nik [/quote] Well Nik, in yet another example of the strangely parallel lives we lead, I just bought the WEM Dominator that Stuart had also owned for about the same period of time. In fact, I imagine it knows your Hayman pretty well (and let's face it, both are definitive statements of early 70's British design). My experience of dealing with Stuart was equally positive, especially given that having agreed to collect the amp, I found myself unable to until about September, so he had it professionally packed before sending - and I'm not joking, Parcelforce could have played football with it and it would still have worked out of the box first time, it took me 15 minutes to unpack! Capping it all, he actually phoned me this morning to check that it had not only arrived in one piece - which it had - but that I was happy with it, which I most certainly am, it's bloody lovely. Stuart, many thanks, hope to buy you a beer and talk early 70's gear at a bass bash one day C

Try a series/parallel circuit, Kiogon on here will make you a very high quality version at a good price.

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1468336562' post='3090242'] P.S. albinokiller?Terrible name.Sounds like someone who does terrible things to small furry animals... [/quote] Isn't that 'alpacakiller'?

Well it's a long story (isn't it always) but I acquired not one but two Modulus Fleas from Chris over the past few months, one that was a little too in 'yer face visually even for me and which went to live with a rather impressive bunch of stablemates in Essex, the other, a rather understated black, is sitting happily next to my '65 Precision in the studio, and very glad indeed I am to have it, there are few better basses. Chris is a 100% top guy on every level, great comms, very understanding and agreeable about how deals are done, and a great selection of great gear. A highly recommended member of the forum. And he's now got a B-15

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1421179178' post='2658174'] Ed is a 100% top guy to deal with. He sold me one of the best basses I've ever played (a Yamaha TRB5iip), then bought it back from me when I upgraded to the six-string version. He then sold me a combo I'd been after for a while and it is perfect. In each case he bent over backwards to make the deals as straightforward as possible, and I can't thank him enough for this (I've two rugrats that render travel on bass related activity pretty much a no-goer!). I hope that next time we trade something we get the chance for a beer Ed! Chris [/quote] Having just done a deal with a very very understanding Mr Pirie I just wanted to restate the above, a top guy in every respect Chris

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1467883634' post='3086915'] I can't remember the groups name, but a mate had booked an 80's synth pop cover band for his wedding. They were a typical frontman/synth wizard but with the added twist of a mannequin with a TFT monitor for a head which announced the songs... I waited with much excitement. But they'd split up a month before the gig. Musical differences or something. I'm sure they were called 'Electric Dreams' or something similarly corny... [/quote] They split up with the mannequin over musical differences?

"How does that go...?" and "..but we've never played that song before...?" were the constant responses of our old guitarist to songs we rehearsed at every rehearsal and gigged at every gig. However, he was great and we loved him so it didn't really matter. In fact we started recording rehearsals just that we could get agreed arrangements circulated by mp3, and it became quite amusing replying to him his own protestations that we'd never played it before, followed but us playing it, week after week

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1467801341' post='3086326'] so.... a recent move up a gear and I now need a back up bass. i have a great fender american deluxe. nothing wrong with it. its a fantastic instrument. its my bestest bass in the whole world ect. I thought, well they all must be as good if not better for the more expensive ones. Ive now been to three well stocked, nice people guitar shops and tried a lot of basses out. compared to mine, they are very dissapointing. its almost like hand finished neck = fred in the neck department gives it a quick one two with a bit of sandpaper= finished by hand. i had it in my head that a machine does most of the work so the consistency would be about the same? ok no two are alike but compared to my own off the shelf fender they are all total sh*t. even the £2500.00 + models. Been on the phone since and ordered a custom build by a well known uk builder to solve my problem. Budget wise its in the same ball park as I would have happily spent on a fender so obviously the way to go from here on. I'm going to get exactly (or as near dammit,possibly even better?) what I'm after and as I know exactly what I want,how i want it, where i want it, plus the builder knows what I mean when I say what i want ect its a no brainer. So there you go mr fender factory. you dont care anymore so from now on nor do I. My money is not going in your account so how do feel about that for the sake of a bit of quality control? Really had no idea the quality had become so dire. One music shop guy said he can sell whats in there all day long to those not so much in the know and his buying budget allows him to fill the wall with fenders but cant justify spending a his budget on one or two great basses that no one can afford. fair enough but a fender from £1500.00 up should be really great already. I know many here have been saying this for years but can now happily eat my hat as I now whole heartedly agree with them!!! [/quote] Two thoughts occur here, firstly that if you are very used to playing one bass and one bass only, many if not all other instruments might feel, play or sound less well than does that bass that you are used to. I have never been entirely happy with a bass that I have just bought - and that includes some very high spec instruments - it's always required a combination of changes to those structural factors I need to be different (such as strings, action, PUP height, nut height etc), and of getting used to those factors that I can't change. A perfect bass is often perfect simply because you are used to it. Second if you have struggled to find a bass you like in all of the shops you've been to, what makes you think that you will like a custom built instrument that you by definition cannot play before you buy? The list of folks who've spent shedloads of cash on a custom bass only to find that it doesn't work for them is not short.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1467798853' post='3086293'] It must be so ingrained in our brains that it is mainly Fender guitars and basses that look great worn in. [/quote] I think that's it in a nutshell, even heavily worn Rics, a brand that has been around as long as Fender, just look rough compared to equally worn Fenders. Not sure a heavily worn 64 Hofner Violin Bass would be all that attractive either?

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1467797086' post='3086263'] The Sandbergs look great, but for some reason the Fender wear looks more authentic to me.... [/quote] To me the Sandbergs have always looked wrong because the design and aesthetic is contemporary whilst the wear suggests 34-50 years of play-wear - even the least careless roadie in the world with help from his kids couldn't cause the wear in question to a new bass.

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1467796193' post='3086252'] The first of my brace arrives today, I think it will have to go back to GuitarGuitar Still the second one arrives on Thursday Haha what a dick! [/quote] Make sure you don't send it back until you know which one's the better instrument, it's Fender, one of them could easily weight about 2lbs more than the other

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1467767640' post='3086118'] I have come to the end of bass guitar GAS. [/quote] No one comes to the end of bass guitar GAS, at least not unless they stop looking at this forum they don't

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1467732590' post='3085731'] Because I'm an idiot I have managed to order 2. Let me know if anyone wants one at cost before I send one back. [/quote] Ha ha, that's the real reason they're all sold out

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1467702591' post='3085406'] It's a very good bass Chris, with some great features, especially for a Fender in this sort of price bracket. But ultimately, it's a Fender Jazz, so no massive surprises. It's the looks that are different to most jazzes, I guess. The niggles I have are generic for any Fender stack knob and really I knew about them before I bought it, so not unexpected. With the neck being a tad thicker, I would hope that it's not prone to the neck issues AV 62 RI's were prone to. The unexpected QC niggles are really very tiny and easily solved. I guess the most outstanding feature for me is that it's probably the lightest Fender Jazz I've ever owned. [/quote] Thanks Karl, TBH I've never found stacked T/V very useful, and think there's a few pretty obvious reasons why Fender (and a lot of folks who at the time owned early Jazzes), switched to VVT. As Dan suggests above, there might have been some voodoo about the original circuits, but I've never found that to be the case with modern versions. It's interesting what you've said about the AV 62's. I wasn't aware there was an issue across the range, but sold one a few years back just following a recording session for which I'd strung it with La Bella flats. It was dead straight for the session, but I left the strings on at tension when I sent the bass. The buyer, a very decent chaps and long standing member here, came beck to me a few days later saying the neck was bent and unplayable, and there's no doubt that was the case (it was eventually repaired). It does beg the question of how on earth a company like Fender could get something so basic so badly wrong, especially on a prestige range (and especially on a bass that was a re-issue of a 50 year old instrument many of which have survived all of that time without that neck issue). Enjoy the bass mate, I'm sure the niggles will fade with time.

You don't sound quite as impressed as I was expecting Karl?

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1467577410' post='3084680'] You're on it mate, are you getting warmed up for a purchase? [/quote] Ha ha, well Dan there's a few things mitigating against that. Firstly it's a Jazz Bass, never been my favourite. Second I haven't got any money. Third hey appear to have sold out everywhere even Thomann. Fourth I've already got a Flea signature bass. But yes, I'd bloody love one Very odd that they are available to Europe before the US, with virtually no prior advertising and/or marketing, and in such apparently small numbers? You know Fender well, any thoughts?

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1467532324' post='3084251'] I wonder Chris, with TB being a lot more American, if it's perhaps not such a big deal over there? Fenders are obviously cheaper there and there are a lot more available there than here. Custom colours, stack knobs rarely available here and when they are they are often pricey? Or perhaps they aren't available there as you say [/quote] Post in this TB thread https://www.talkbass.com/threads/leaked-fender-flea-jazz-bass-replica.1230133/page-2 suggests Europe only at present?

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1467569258' post='3084614'] This is often caused by an old or duff string, on expensive as on more modest instruments. A string change may have fixed the issue, perhaps..? [/quote] Yep, that's the most likely cause if it's an otherwise decent guitar. Same is true of bass but it tends to be less noticeable