RhysP

[quote name='AndroWal' post='1202344' date='Apr 17 2011, 05:31 AM']I believe John Giblin moved from Wals to Zon for his fretless playing. I saw a more recent video of him in the studio playing a Zon.[/quote] Yes he did. His fretless Zon is unusual (maybe unique) in that it has a real wood fingerboard rather than the usual Phenowood board. [quote name='Conan' post='1202399' date='Apr 17 2011, 09:55 AM']He is certainly a difficult guy to find info on![/quote] He has pretty much zero presence on the internet, and in these days where every narcissistic dickhead feels the need to keep us up to date with their lives 24/7 & post pointless videos of themselves on Youtube I really admire him for that.

And of course Rupert Hine from Quantum Jump went on to produce Rush during Geddys Wal period. It all links together.......

This is bloody great! I'm not a big one for solo bass stuff usually but I'm loving this. Your basses sound superb & I love the horn arrangements - did you do them yourself?

Bought both my Zons secondhand from Ebay without trying them first & unless I'm in extreme financial doodoo's I'll probably never part with them. They are the best basses I've ever played. I bought a Musicman Stingray 5 last November which I tried before I bought - sold it recently as I just could not get on with it. I don't think trying an instrument for a half an hour or so before you buy it is any indication that you'll get on with it once you spend some time with it. I can't see why being an experienced bass player would make any difference when buying a bass you've never played before without trying it first. If it turns up & you hate it you're f***ed whether you've been playing for a week or thirty years.

The "Sunburst" comes from the first double cutaway guitar Hamer produced in the 70's - The Hamer Sunburst. Confusingly they were called "The Sunburst" regardless of the finish (though a large percentage of them were sunburst finishes). You do know that this bass is not made by the USA Hamer company, don't you? It's one of the cheaper import models that use the name. They're still meant to be pretty good quality though - I had a Korean Hamer 12 string bass & that was excellent. Can't help you with the neck dive question sorry - might be worth asking over on the Hamer Fan Club Forum.

You lucky bastard! Couldn't make it this time around, seen them loads of times over the years though - one of the greatest live bands ever IMO.

The top one is a total rip-off of a Gittler.

[quote name='parker_muse' post='1194100' date='Apr 9 2011, 09:59 PM']....Yet Yamaha have been around for 30 years......[/quote] Quite a bit longer than that actually!

That looks absolutely incredible! What did you do with the old Bartolini's?

Recently bought my Musicman Stingray 5 from me - prompt payment, great communication & a pleasure to deal with.

I've been playing for the same length of time as you & I've never owned a Fender bass (Precision or Jazz), nor do I ever intend to. I've never played one that I thought was anything more than OK. Quality-wise all the nicest ones I've played have been, without exception, Japanese models. If you MUST get one then I'd say go for a Japanese one.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1191727' date='Apr 7 2011, 01:54 PM']I'm browsing around Thomann and they're surprisingly cheap actually. There's a Harley Benton plywood one for £58 or an aluminium one for £75 or alternatively a Rockbass one (Warwick IIRC, I had one with my Thumb that went when I traded it) that's £84. They should be enough, right?[/quote] No, they won't be enough. The cases you mention above are cheap sh*t made to look like proper flight cases. Spend the money on a PROPER custom flight case. You won't regret it, and you can always sell it again when you finish with it & get some of your money back.

EBS NeoGorm 350w 2x12 - superb combo but not cheap.

He used to play bass for Echo & the Bunnymen?

[quote name='Lenny B' post='1190633' date='Apr 6 2011, 04:16 PM']I haven't found the Hamer forum yet, I think it may have shut...?[/quote] They just don't like strangers...... [url="http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/"]http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/[/url] It can be a bit temperamental - sometimes it'll say you are not permitted to access the site, other times you can get on there fine. Patience is needed. It's a great forum (VERY US-centric though). I haven't been on there for a while since I sold my last Hamer guitar.

Might be worth a look here too: [url="http://www.12stringbass.net/"]http://www.12stringbass.net/[/url] Also, Mark Egan used to play a fretless Pedulla 8 string - might be worth looking for some info on that.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1190579' date='Apr 6 2011, 03:11 PM']Isn't the gauge of the octave strings going to be an issue? I wouldn't like to have to stop notes on two Es at once with a single fingertip with the difference in string gauge.[/quote] I was going to mention this too. There have been some people on the Hamer forum who have had custom 8 & 12 string fretless basses made & they all say the difference in gauges with the octave strings was a real problem.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=130571"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=130571[/url]

I've been a member of the Gretsch Discussion Pages for years & have quite a few friends who play rockabilly & country music. The ones that don't use a double bass (which most of them do) all use Precisions.

I use them pretty much to the exclusion of all the other notes.