LeftyJ

I agree, they should export! It's a pity Fender Japan is making all those lovely non-export lefty instruments that Fender USA won't I got my MIJ '75 Jazz reissue (with a maple board, something Fender USA won't offer lefties) used on eBay and it's just an awesome instrument.

[quote name='Rockaction5' timestamp='1372083671' post='2121341'] - "[color=#0000ff]Curtis Novak is now making Bisonic pickups. They're in the new Guild Starfire Bass too[/color]." false : Curtis novak make one bisonic "clone" for sale at a certain price... they are not intend to be first mounted on the new guiLd bass .[/quote] You're right, I'm mistaken. A friend of mine was at the Messe in Frankfurt, played the new Starfire Bass, and spoke to both Curtis Novak and a Fender representative. I thought he'd said Novak makes the new Guild Bisonic pickups, but you're absolutely right. Sorry for the confusion!

Saw Lefties Soul Connection performing last Saturday, their bass player used one of the original G3's with those white rail pickups through an Ampeg SVT + 8x10. Massive thump, sounded incredible! I also really like the look of Grabbers and Rippers, they're just massive!

From what I understood, yes. Which seems amazing, as the new Starfire bass is fairly affordable considering the retail value of a separate CN Bisonic.

Curtis Novak is now making Bisonic pickups. They're in the new Guild Starfire Bass too. [url="http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/BS-DS.shtml"]http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/BS-DS.shtml[/url] He also makes one that fits in a Gibson mudbucker housing!

Appears to have quite a bit of room left in that case. Maybe one of the old 32" scale MIJ Squiers, in that case it's probably a serial number starting with E ('84-'87). Excellent value, really easy to play and a lot of fun too.

[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1370436802' post='2100791'] I think its the transitional 1988 Roadstar RB800, I think Ibanez were forced to change the headstock as it was too close to an existing design It does look very Soundgear like. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amL90leO8SU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=amL90leO8SU[/url] I did message the seller about it and he isn't too sure what model it is. [/quote] Wow, thanks, I was never aware of that model, nor did I know Ibanez still made Roadstars after the Soundgear came out in 1987. Even the book "Ibanez, the untold story" doesn't feature it, I think. The bridge is definitely a replacement though, and comes from a late 90s, early 00s Soundgear.

The seller never claimed it was a Soundgear You're right though, this is a bit of an oddball. I think at some point this may have been an old SR800 that had its frets ripped out, the headstock shape altered, the Ibanez decal moved from the headstock to the body, and a Roadstar truss rod cover and tuners installed (and quite crookedly too, the cover is not exactly mounted straight). The finish is interesting though, it looks like it's been very well applied. It's not your average DIY jobbie. Mind you, there have been Roadstars that looked a lot like the first Soundgears (the 1986 Roadstar Deluxe (DX) models for example), and even the last Musicians (MC2924) had a very similar bodyshape. But not like this, and the hardware is too recent for that. The bridge on this one was introduced by Ibanez in the late 1990s.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1369992692' post='2095238'] Loads of peope just looking for bass porn. I do it too, we all do. [/quote] We have a turd in the punch bowl, I repeat, we have a turd in the punch bowl!

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1369913026' post='2094310'] I'd be more concerned about the quality of the photo than the amount, although I agree that sifting through 10+ photos of the same bass is a little bit tiring. But what annoys me more generally tends to be the quality of the photos. Learn to use a camera! [/quote] The thing that annoys me most (not specifically here, but on eBay in particular) are people who take pictures of their instruments with their bloody WEBCAM. The worst ones are people with their webcams set to mirrorring the image. I've mistaken a lot of basses on eBay for nice lefties through the years... Oh, the disappointment

Nice! I once planned on doing the same with the Audere preamp that I had in my Jazz, but in the end I replaced the pre with the original passive electronics because I didn't really touch that bass anymore after I had 'upgraded' it. The shafts on the Audere were too thick as well.

Wow, that worked out very nice. Is that an SR1000E?

My thoughts exactly!

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1369396799' post='2088713'] I've been doing quite a bit of research into bridges over the past year & have discovered that they do 0 to change the amplified tone. Some may offer a bit more sustain (or should that be less sustain? ), but i replaced the Ibanez bridge with a cheap Vox bridge & there's no difference in sound, just looks & adjustability.[/quote] Sorry for going off-topic, but I kinda disagree here. I replaced the stock bridge on my Fender MIJ '75 Jazz reissue with a BadAss II, and the change in tone was dramatic. The lows are tighter and punchier, and the highs have become more prominent. Overall, the tone gained a lot of brightness, an almost metallic, with a nice zing to it. And then there's the difference in material. I've tried both a brass and an aluminium Hipshot Style A bridge on a bass I used to own, and found the brass to sound beefier with a bit more sustain and sweeter highs, whereas the aluminium one sounded brighter and tighter

Awesome! I've never seen one before. Beautiful instrument!

1981 MC924L 1983 MC924L 1981 RS924L 1996 ATK300 and 1998 ATK305 And just because I like them so much, two more pictures of my Musicians together:

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1368649359' post='2079867'] I'd thought that the Badass was a direct Fender replacement and so swapping that for a Delux would be just an unscrewing job, turns out I was wrong. [/quote] The Badass II [b]IS[/b] a direct Fender replacement and requires no drilling of you're replacing a standard Fender bridge. The Fender Deluxe bridge however is not a direct replacement for the regular Fender bridges. If you were to remove the Badass, you'll find no additional screwholes. [quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1368886485' post='2082682'] You won't see the bridge as you'll have the bridge cover on or am i missing something here? [/quote] The cover won't fit over the Badass II

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1368715078' post='2080588'] My next bass will have humbuckers in and to start with I was wondering whether to try running them passively with a 6 way 4 pole rotary switch for selecting various combinations of the coils, apart from PRS guitars (I believe they don't do this any more) I can't think of this idea being used by manufacturers, maybe there is a reason for that. Anyone tried it or own a bass that has this set-up? maybe it's a bad idea? my thinking is that you could get some quite varied tones with the 6 options. [/quote] Many German custom bass builders use rotary switches for pickup selection, like Esh, Marleaux, Börjes, Bassline and LeFay. I've tried a LeFay Herr Schwarz with a humbucker and a singlecoil paired to a rotary switch, and I liked it a lot. The tonal options ware many! However, I personally still prefer a balance pot and a series/parallel/split switch on the bridge humbucker. To me, this seems more versatile and useful, you can dial in a far greater variety of tones.

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1368616925' post='2079169'] I've got are 250k, is that too low for active? The blend pot (only surving bit of electronic) seems to have 1000k pot on it, would all the pots need to be that as well? [/quote] On active instruments, pots usually have lower impedance (often 25k). 1000k seems a bit unusual to me with active pickups?

I wouldn't bet on it. And for that money, I would personally rather look for a used USA-made EBMM Sterling. They don't come by very often, but used prices for MM's in the UK are incredible at the moment. I would really dig a lefty version of the new SUB line! A Ray4 in black with maple board... Mmmmm! Interestingly, although they're based on the Stingray, they have the narrower 38 mm nut width of the Sterling!

Back when I mostly played guitar, I used to mod the hell out of my guitars. I tried various pickups, upgraded the electronics, installed graphite nuts, stringtrees and saddles, and often installed locking tuners. Oddly, on my basses, I don't have that tendency at all. The only bass I modded is my '75 Jazz Bass reissue. I installed a Badass II bridge, Hipshot tuners, a Hipshot X-tender on the E-string, a black pickguard instead of the original white one, and a cover over the neck pickup. Later on I've also tried an Audere preamp in it (with switchable pickup impedance) and played it a few times but at some point it just started gathering dust in my rack. I then had it changed back to passive, but with a rotary on/off-switch for a 6 dB active bass boost. And it absolutely rocks now, it is an awesome bass and gets played a lot :-)