EssentialTension

[quote name='Beedster' post='773421' date='Mar 13 2010, 09:45 AM']Surely having both PUPs on all the time and simply varying volume on each does the same thing (I prefer two vols to one blend pot anyway)? Or am I missing the point and [b]the TF only has one volume control and one PUP selector switch[/b], like my old Ibby PJ? If so, agreed, that is very poor design C[/quote] Correct, one pup selector, one volume, one tone. (And I would prefer two volumes to a blend control too.)

The TF fretless is a very excellent bass. I'd say its only weakness is the lack of the possibility of blending the pickups - the switching gives 100% P or 100% J or 50%/50% P/J but no inbetweens but this is not a major problem. I'm strongly committed to the P pickup but letting the J in can sometimes really help with cutting through.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='772844' date='Mar 12 2010, 03:17 PM']Hopefully not Sunburst, for the sake of The Bank of WoT...[/quote] Sunburst [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_american_deluxe_p_bass_rw_3csb.htm"]here[/url] at Thomann

[quote name='bass5' post='771143' date='Mar 11 2010, 12:12 AM']That is what I originally thought, but he is right, I have just checked on the Squier website which says so too.[/quote] [quote]( Squier Website) The Classic Vibe Precision Bass ’60s delivers the true Precision Bass experience. Huge tone roars from its traditional split-single-coil pickup.[/quote] But doesn't that mean 'single coil' because each string is only picked up by a single coil but there are two coils (i.e 'split') one for E-A and one for D-G which then hum-cancel each other.

[quote name='Sibob' post='771109' date='Mar 10 2010, 11:35 PM']The stock pickup isn't a humbucker, just a standard split single coil, so I'm not surprised it's noisy!? Si[/quote] Do you just mean this particular Precision pickup? Because split P pickups are normally hum-cancelling aren't they?

[quote name='bass5' post='771085' date='Mar 10 2010, 11:20 PM']Right..... it's indeed a lovely bass and now that I have spent the last hour adjusting the action and the correct neck curve it plays like butter however, sadly playing it through the amp confirmed my suspicions, there is a lot of static when touching the strings on and off, this is meant to be an humbucker but it bucks f*** all hum! There seems to be hardly any earth or screening and I will have to have it done, for sure. This pickup sounds ok'ish but you need to warm it up with the amp eq controls otherwise it's brittle and thin, I didn't expect it to sound great, I hoped it would, but it doesn't and after my experience with the other two Classic Vibe, the Jazz and the 51 reissue, both needed new guts so I knew this one would have been no different. On the plus side, considering that the rest of the instrument is well constructed and the neck is lovely, the neck pocket is the best out of the 3, sorting out the pots and wirings and fitting a new pickup is not going to cost me an eye and as I said in my previous posts I had planned for this even before I bought it. all part of the fun.... oh and on looks, having seen that Hank Marvin Salmon Pink beauty (hehehe) I have decided that a white p/guard is more at home than this cheap looking tort which looks like someone puked a whole kebab on it [/quote] Looks very nice though.

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='771008' date='Mar 10 2010, 10:17 PM']You will not be called Susan. That is the same colour as Pino`s. The photo below is a Hank Marvin custom shop Fiesta red strat. Still a cracking looking bass, whatever colour it is. [attachment=44580:57fiesta_1_.jpg] Jez[/quote] It definitely looks the same colour as the Pino which is supposedly fiesta red over desert sand.

Finish options on the P seem to be: - olympic white with black pickguard and rosewood fingerboard - natural, black, maple - wine transparent, black, rosewood - sunburst, black, rosewood - black, black, maple and I guess the same for the J.

[quote name='bass5' post='770622' date='Mar 10 2010, 04:53 PM']I got a text from "'er indoors" says fed-ex delvered a great big box. Guess I am leaving work now, had enough for the day. Pics to follow shortly.[/quote] We're waiting.

[quote name='funkle' post='769988' date='Mar 10 2010, 04:05 AM']The labels on the back of the headstock will eventually tell.[/quote] That's the point really - the brand new 2010 fiesta red P bass is still crafted in China and presumably at the same factory

Last week I asked at the Fender forum about this China/Indonesia/alder/basswood issue but no responses at all so far.

[quote name='Sibob' post='769558' date='Mar 9 2010, 06:43 PM']I'd be really interested to know if these new ones say 'Crafted In China' on them, in relation to another slightly controversial thread! Cheers Si[/quote] My thought exactly. I guess Bass5 will be able to tell us soon.

Lakland Joe Osborn Flats and Fender Super Bass 7250ML both have black silks

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='760695' date='Mar 1 2010, 01:17 PM']Any relation to Erik Estrada? [/quote] You decide:

Captain Beefheart's Magic Band had two bassists in the early '70s. IIRC, Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) on rhythm bass and Orejón (Roy Estrada) on bass.

[quote name='sjc' post='758728' date='Feb 26 2010, 11:28 PM']If you look at the Harmony Central reviews for the Tascam MP-BT1 (or more precisely its close cousins and the previous CD based variant), there seems to be some question as to the robustness and reliability of this device. Does anybody here have any views on this? Is the general opinion that they are fine as long as they are treated with a reasonably amount of respect? Cheers Stuart[/quote] I've had no problems with my MP-BT - although only had it two months and it gets no rough use but just sits next to my laptop and practice amp. It is slightly annoying that it only likes certain file formats and so I have to keep doing conversions before dragging and dropping though.

[quote name='funkle' post='750390' date='Feb 18 2010, 11:50 PM']If you have an '08 or prior CV (serial number starts with 08), which is stamped 'Crafted in China', then the body is not made of basswood, but of alder. Apparently, sometime in 2009, production was shifted from China to Indonesia, with a change in the specs, including a change from alder to basswood. I had a friendly chat with someone here in Florida who works in the instrument manufacturing industry, and who works with the factory where these basses were made (in China). This particular factory uses the same wood supplier as the Fender Custom Shop, and in fact has much larger wood stocks than Fender. Wood choice and quality control is apparently top notch, and basses cost more to produce at this factory than others in Asia; hence Fender's move of production last year to Indonesia.[/quote] I don't mean to doubt any of this as such but could you clarify. Is this a rumour with some evidence to back it up or is definite truth, as they say?

[quote name='funkle' post='750390' date='Feb 18 2010, 11:50 PM']Point of information to raise. If you have an '08 or prior CV (serial number starts with 08), which is stamped 'Crafted in China', then the body is not made of basswood, but of alder. Apparently, sometime in 2009, production was shifted from China to Indonesia, with a change in the specs, including a change from alder to basswood. I had a friendly chat with someone here in Florida who works in the instrument manufacturing industry, and who works with the factory where these basses were made (in China). This particular factory uses the same wood supplier as the Fender Custom Shop, and in fact has much larger wood stocks than Fender. Wood choice and quality control is apparently top notch, and basses cost more to produce at this factory than others in Asia; hence Fender's move of production last year to Indonesia. I handed my bass today over to Jeff Berlin's tech for the work I mentioned previously - right enough, he confirmed it was alder. Guess that explains the weight on mine - 9.5 lbs. I'm not sure what the '09 CV models sound like. But if you can snag an '08 that says 'Crafted in China', then you're on to a well built bass with good wood quality. Pretty much exactly the same as what many bassists of yesteryear would have played on.... No wonder Fender shifted production, I'm sure they literally cannot afford to make a bass this good at this price point. In passing, I note that OutToPlayJazz's CV was an 08/'China' model.[/quote] 08/China here too so that's very interesting. Is it the same story for the CV Precisions?

Well, thanks to all those who gave tips and just to bring this up to date, we eventually bought a Peavey XR8600 (at a very good price from Mark in the bass department at GAK). It has sailed through its first four gigs brilliantly.

Fender Reggie Hamilton: Someone here has one but I can't remember who.

I've at last begun to get into your boot camp Major. Very good it is too. Thank you so much.

Rosewood but I'd settle for maple on a '51P.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='756717' date='Feb 25 2010, 08:13 AM']At your gigs, do you get 'gearstalkers'...folk that, as soon as the doors open, gather at the front of the stage and check out your gear? Can you admit to being one?[/quote] At a gig a couple of years ago I'd finished setting up - LMII, Ampeg 410, Fender Precision, TU2, Punch Factory - when a guy wanders over and says 'Is that your gear?', I say 'Yes', and he says 'I bet you're one of those people who buys Bass Guitar Magazine'.