NJE

For me there are two aspects to buying a bass, sound and feel. I have played £150 basses that sound great and feel pretty crap and £3000 basses that sound a bit ‘meh’ and feel incredible. I guess the reason we all buy and sell so many basses is that we are probably seeking a bass that does both without spending 10k I have played fender CS guitars that were simply the best feeling and looking instruments I had seen, even next to the likes of Suhr, Nick Huber, Tom Anderson etc. The relic work was so good and the neck feel and rounded board were incredible, so much so that I thought if I could buy a CS bass that felt half as good I would be happy. I value feel and comfort over sound, because I can do a lot quite easily and cheaply to rectify sound (EQ, pickups, preamps etc), and for the playing I used to do, as long as it sounded like bass no one cared and I am not a person that has ‘my tone’ that I get precious about. So for me what you get with Fender CS is a feel and something that may well inspire you to keep picking it up or that extra bit of mythical ‘mojo’. How much you want to pay for that is a personal thing. You may well find a £750 bass that will get you 98% of the way there and if so your lucky you don’t have to spend the money. I paid very little for my Stingray a few years ago and the neck is phenomenal. I still slightly lust after a Fender Relic because I think some of them look very cool, but I would probably buy it on feel and build quality over how it sounded in a shop, I don’t even bother plugging in a bass in shops because I know when it’s in my hand if it’s a goer!

I saw these are available at Bass Direct now and were designed by Rob Elrick. The branding, website and general info on their channels is t great, but the spec looks seriously good. It is hard to create a traditional looking headstock but I quite like this one, I have seen a few shockers over the years but this is pretty good.

Tried a Sadowsky Modern 5 string, it was tame and characterless and the B string was way too flappy for me but that could have been strings. It felt no better than a Lakland Skyline to me. I had lusted after and Alleva Coppolo for ages and then finally tried one secondhand but in mint condition. It was fine, nothing exciting just ok and I didn’t think the build quality was there for the huge price tag and my old overwater Jazz was way better to me.

As mentioned TDog Customs do some great work, some Of the Jaycee and Alpher finishes he’s done are amazing.

Gloucestershire based Dire Straits band called Shire Straits.

Basically every major influential band 😂: Nirvana (other than the obvious big songs), Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Radiohead, Slipknot, Tom Petty, Oasis, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, The Rolling Stones.....

I agree with the other replies in that going and playing some instruments will help identify what you want. The chances are you may even be able to find some secondhand examples of uk luthiers work at The Bass Gallery and Bass Direct like Status, Goodfellow and Sei. I have owned and played a lot of custom made/bespoke/hand crafted instruments from small luthiers and two of the best I have ever played for feel and quality were a GB Spitfire and a 5 string Rob Elrick Mark at Bass Direct put in my hands many years ago. I also played a Sei Jazz briefly and it was phenomenal as were my old Overwaters but they were pipped slightly by the Spitfire (some of that could have been the hypnotic Birdseye neck though 😄) You may be able to find a great bass from a small custom builder in stock somewhere so go have a few days out and play a lid of basses.

Don’t worry too much about mistakes, everyone makes them and if your in a band with the right people you can just laugh it off. People watching you pay for the atmosphere and vibe the band gives off so enjoy yourself, move about and even dance a bit if it’s in keeping with the music you play. No one wants to watch a band of people glumly staring at their shoes unless they already know they are going to see Radiohead 😄. But seriously, play along with the songs and listen to them on their own so that you can hum the main melody and know the structure in your head. After that, gigging is the best practice IMO and enjoy it!

That metallic green on the Gretsch is seriously nice! Always wanted a green bass after listing over an early green Eric Clapton Strat as a kid.

I think the concept is great and I have to respect Vulfpeck/Jack for fronting it and taking the gamble (even though there isn’t one). He could have done a lot more and sold them all but they don’t work that way. Live the little nod to Pino, a short scale must look like a Ukelele on Pino 😄

Your right the G#s are octaves, he uses a 135 on the low one, I found a video somewhere on Facebook where he plays bland street bloom and he explains in the comments. Here we go: https://m.facebook.com/sikthofficial/videos/1580623935330390/

I presume you play in a heavy band, and that the rest of the band have a certain look and their guitars follow. I imagine they are jumping on the trend as it seems every remotely heavy band out there are playing the same type of guitars and the NG3 fits that image. Yes the fanned frets work well for down tuning but it’s not the definitive solution. If you don’t know him already look at James Leach from sikth, the last time I saw him he was using a 34” scale Manson bass and I believe he tunes to drop C# tuning as well as G#-G#-C#-F#. His tone was massive and clear, you don’t need to follow trends and look like every other heavy band and buy a Dingwall. If you can try one and it’s right for you then go for it, but don’t be made to feel like your gear is inferior because of a poser guitarist and some bloke at the back who hits things 😉

That’s a great tune with great bass. I was really taken aback when I found out it was programmed and not an actual bass, it sounded so much like a ‘live’ performance.

My experience of not owning fancy amps and using one bass and not worrying about tone and ‘my sound’, comes from playing in a small function band, where I do honestly believe I could pick up almost any bass and amp and make it work for that situation. That situation is very different to being a recording musician. My very oldest and closest friend is a recording musician and has done some very high profile film score contributions and TV shows etc. In that environment, his instruments make a very big difference and react in different ways to what gear he uses. In that situation I fully accept and realise it is not just about the fingers, you need tools to do certain things and as such the concept of ‘the one’ is redundant. I think the overall message here is that we can and have all probably been far too caught up in the minutia of gear and specs when in most cases it makes almost no difference to the band or music we are making. That’s not to say it doesn’t have an effect on our playing or confidence because I know how much better I feel at a gig when my bass sounds ‘right’. That said the inconsistencies of playing live have got me to the point where I don’t really think preamps, woods, strings, pickup brand or much else will ever get me to a place where I have a consistent repeatable tone. But that’s just one mans experience and I like hearing everyone else’s.

I came to a very similar conclusion. My bass was always sent to PA from a DI and then the engineer always tweaked my bass for the room and overall mix. It rarely sounded anything like ‘my tone’ it just did it’s job. As a result I got rid of my Aguilar rig as it was just a fancy monitor in the end and to be honest in the mix of the other stage noise and the venue we were in, it sounded no better than any other amp I have used. I might as well have been using a cheap secondhand Ashdown (not knocking Ashdown, just stating they can be picked up very cheap for what they are). The same went for basses, no one cared what my bass sounded like, as long as I played my parts in time and in tune, no one gave a monkeys whether it was a 2 grand overwater or. £250 Squier and I gigged both. Actually I got more comments about the Squier! The grand conclusion for me was that as long as the neck felt comfortable and it was reliable and made at thuddy bass sound, I’m good to go.

Well to be fair my cheap might not be someone else’s cheap. Originally I only seemed to see roasted maple on the likes of Suhr guitars and then there was MusicMan which are almost 2 grand. Now we have Sire, Cort and even Squier using it on £400 basses. That’s a big chunk for me these days, but cheap compared to the premium brands who originally started using it.

I may be way off here, but I think the benefit is also that by roasting the wood you can make use of timber that would have otherwise been unsuitable for guitar building. I think that’s why we are starting to see it on cheaper instruments now as the process becomes cheaper. I think it was Roger Sadowsky that said he never used heavily flamed or Birdseye wood for necks (excluding finger boards) because it wasn’t strong/stable enough. Now he seems to be using roasted figured woods on NYC basses and the German stuff, so I’m guessing it makes a significant difference as well as being very nice to look at. I’m looking forward to trying/buying a bass with a roasted neck, I think it looks great and if it means the industry can make use of more wood then great!

Hopefully these images load properly, I might be in trouble with that green P5

Just seen it, looks like a fiesta red Precision and a nice seafoam green P5. Not doing anything to help my Sire GAS.

I remember being in Andertons and playing the Adam Clayton Jazz and being completely underwhelmed and disappointed by it. No life or character to it, the neck just felt weird and sterile for lack of a better word. Now some people may like a clean slate and blank canvas of an instrument to make their own and bond with, but it wasn’t for me. I put the AC down and picked up a Squier Vintage Modified PJ, and it had so much more character for some unknown reason. The neck felt nicer, it resonated more, the set up was better and it was just more fun. Wish I had bought it to be honest.

I remember when I was at Uni in 2002 walking around the small local pawn shops, when it wasn’t just cash converters. There was a tiny shop near where I lived and it was full of bikes and DJ kit and at the back some instruments. He had two early-mid 70s precision’s one fretted one fretless priced at £400 and £380 respectively. The fretted was sold but still in the shop and said I would take it there and then. Sadly he informed me some chap was paying it off at about £5 a week and he wished he could sell it to me. In 1999 I got a brand new American Standard precision from Cranes in Cardiff for just under £600.

No Zilla are based in Cornwall, well worth a shout.

It may be a long shot, but Zilla cabs may be able to do something for you.

There is a scene in a small bar? def not Abe Laboriel, although he sounds great too. edit...just found it at 6:30 in the film, great tone.

Watched this a few times, I find it quite calming like watching a David Attenborough documentary. There is a guy playing early on in the film, might be at the start actually, and his tone is just sublime.