Nostromo

Hi there, Bit of a trivia question here . . . . caused a big debate down the pub the other night ! ! . . so hoping someone may be able to shine a light on the answer ? Having been been watching all the vintage Rolling Stones stuff on the TV over the last couple of weeks we've all noticed that on the really early film clips (63 - 65'ish) Bill Wyman is often seen playing a striking looking bass - with a single cutaway (almost sort of Les Paul Body shape) body only bigger of course and also appears to be a zebra wood top or something similar . . difficult to be sure from the B&W film clips but its definitely got a striped top ? . . . I think it might be a Framus but I'm not sure . . . and several of my mates say otherwise ? Anyway . . . does anyone out there in Basschat land know for certain what that bass was / is ? ? . . ie make / model designation ? There are a few beers riding on this down my local ! ! ! cheers

Hi everyone and thanks to all who have contributed to this topic. Well . . . . . . GOOD NEWS ! . . . . . . my Rumble Bass is fixed and working again. My problem was different to any of the issues mentioned within this thread so here's what my Amp Tech told me in a recent email on the subject:- "Very simple in the end, really - the bias sensing resistors were significantly out of spec, which meant that it was running way too hot when it seemed to be correctly biased. This is actually difficult to check because the resistors are only 1 ohm, which means that you can't meter them directly because a normal multimeter isn't accurate enough. (My test probe error alone is at least .3 to .4 ohms.) I found it by comparing the apparent reading from the sensing resistors to an accurate measurement using the output transformer - after realising that the power valves did seem unusually hot even for 6550s. Being out of spec was almost certainly just caused by heat over the years. So - I've replaced all the bias sensing resistors with wirewound resistors which are immune from this problem. (The originals were cheap carbon comp or carbon film, hard to tell which.)" . . . . "The amp is running fine now after a 6 hour soak test at full volume indicated no overheating or noise problems apparent". So, if any of you guys lucky enough to own a Bruce Zinky Custom Shop Rumble Bass Head run into any overheating problems then do consider the bias sensing resistors as a possible cause of the problem. . . . It was obviously a very cheap fix for me ! Cheers all.

Thanks for that, Yea . . . . . I guess I'd like the fender logo ! . . . dont know why really . . . ? .. . . but over the years I have realized I do really like USA and equally Japananese Fender Jazz necks . . its the neck shape profile I really look out for ? . . . . . . and I like the USA Jap stuff . . . though I've never ever felt the same about the Mexican Jazz basses . . . their necks generally feel hevier and bulkier to me . . . though it may be just the ones I've actually played and not representative . . . who can say ? . . . . . anyway . . . . I'm into fine / thin / narrow / shallow Jazz bass necks so thats what I'm looking for to fit to this Fretless ? . . . . . I do like some of the indonesian Squier necks, they are really fine . . . . but I'm not really thinking of putting a squier neck on a USA body ? . . . . . . . . .

Yea . . . . . guess what . . . . its a Maple fretboard on this one. I really fance the idea of option C) ie, fitting a replacement fretless neck . . . . but I know finding a worthy one is going to be a very very difficult task ? ? ? I found a site on ebaY where they appear to break guitars and sell the parts (reliable fender / the SRTATosphere) but their prices dont seem all that cheap, and then theres the problem that they are in the US so there would be the international postage and import taxes to factor in, so that would be a very expensive way to do it ? Real shame Fender wont sell replacement necks ! ! . . . . ironic really that they wont . . . . since that was why good old Leo designed his instruments with bolt on necks in the first place . . . so they could be easily changed ! ! !

I love the Made in Japan JBS's and the PJBS's . . . . . and I am proud to say I have one of each ! . . . see sig below. Does anyone know the history of why some examples of these models have got varnished maple necks whilst others have got Black painted necks ? ? (the back of the necks I mean not the Headstocks). Both my JBS & PJBS have got maple necks, but a mate of mine has got a JBS with the black painted neck and I used to have a power version with the black neck myself many years ago (another one I should never have sold ! . . . . . . .) My mate reckons its because the UK / Europe ones were imported with Maple necks whilst the USA ones were done with the Black painted neck job ? . . . . Does anyone know if thats right ? ? Cheers ps . . . . the new Duff model by Fender has got a considerably wider nut than the 80's originals so beware before you order one of those . . . the current Duff model neck is more like a P Bass neck than a Jazz neck . . .

[size=5]Hi there, I have a mint condition hardly played Fender USA Standard Jazz Bass (1997 year - Model Number #019 -2400), it’s a 4 string fretted model and I want to convert it to a fretless bass. Wondered what people thought the best option would be between:- a ) Selling the bass and buying a fretless bass – noting that selling & buying usually equals loosing money ? b ) Having the frets removed to convert the neck from fretted to fretless ? c ) Removing the neck and selling it to fund towards buying and fitting a fretless neck ? Any advice on which option might be the best and why ?[/size] [size=5]Cheers,[/size] ps: I've put an add in the for sale section re option C) if anyone is interested ?

Thanks guys . . .I get it now Cheers,

Guess I may have put this iin the wrong Forum ? . . . . not my day today ! Anyway, any advice much appreciated ? . . . maybe one of the moderators might clue me in sometime soon ? Cheers all,

I have a deal of sympathy for you, re the neck profile issue. I tried a Precision and a Jazz before I bought my very first bass (id been playing guitar before I took up bass) and was always, from the first moment, happier with a finer Jazz neck. Like you're now finding, I've always gotten cramps and aches when playing long sets with a Precision whilst I never get any of that stuff when using a Jazz, many might suggest my playing technique is probably wrong, but, my technique is what it is and I'm sort of stuck with it ! . . I've spent a long time over the years searching for a comfortable Precision, closest I got to that holy grail was the Highway Precision you'll see in my Sig Block below . . . only one I've ever bought . . but, to be honest, I've never really been completely comfortable with the Highway, though it does have the skinniest neck of any Precision I've ever picked up - not sure if that’s how they all are or just my particular example ? . . . . So . . . . I went the Frankenstein route . . picked up a nice Made in Japan loaded precision body and put a jazz neck on it . . . it all fitted perfectly . . no woodworking skills needed to set it up . . easy job . . . highly recommend it . . . more recently I've added a SD Antiquity pick up . . and thats the icing on the cake ! So that’s my gigging Precision these days . . . only draw back is it don’t say “Precision” on the headstock - I was gonna get that sorted but haven’t got round to it and maybe never will. Good luck serching for your holy grail "P" ! ! ! Cheers,

Hi, Was just going to put a bass up in the for sale section . . . . . . . Immediately under the "Topic Title" is a second box labelled "TopicTags" and a note saying Select a maximum of 10 tags ? ? ? I guess I ought to be a bit higher up the food chain than total pond life considering the time I've been a member of Bass chat, but, for the life of me, I just cant work out what a “Tag” is supposed to be . . . and I also cant find out how I'm supposed to "select a tag" . . . . In my experience with computer stuff, when you're told to "select" things in computer programmes there's usually a drop down menu to select from . . well that’s my experience anyway? . . . maybe the word "select" is used differently here ? . . . anyway, bottom line is I don’t have the slightest idea how to select something to enter into the Tags field ? . . . or, if its just a case of typing something in myself, then what is a "Tag" ? ? . . . . . I don’t know what words I’m supposed to type in and/or why ? . . . are these Tags some sort of search function ? . . I’ve no idea ? I await my enlightenment with interest ? ? ? Cheers,

Any recommendations, or experience with a good Bridge Upgrade would be much appreciated ?. . . . . .

Thought I'd give this one a bump ? Ive got the fretless stripped down and now have to decide whether to refit the existing bridge or get an upgrade ?. . . has anyone out there got any thoughts on a good upgrade for a Jazz bass ? . . . . I was thinking about investing in a Fender Vintage High Mass Bridge . . . but they aint cheap . . . . ! any thoughts much appreciated cheers.

If you ever decide to sell, do let me know ! . . . . what a lovely bass.

Welcome Chris, Good luck as you progress on bass . . . this forum has some real friendly and helpful people looking in . . . so I'm sure it wont be long till something comes up, you'll be surprised how much help and advice you get and you'll be glad you joined. ps . . . don't underestimate how good starter gear is these days . . . your home rig looks fine to me . . .you should have seen the gear we started out with in my day . . . . about a hundred years ago ! . . ha ! Cheers and Welcome,

Hi there guildbass . . and welcome, Good advice above, the seperate "for sale" forums get lots of interest and a lot of sales here ! Out of interest, you might like to know that I'm desperatly seeking a "Guild Bass" . . . . . an original clean 70's Guild M85 Bass to be precise ! So, I guess this is an odd sort of a "bump" . . . if you can offer me any advise in the M85 department please do feel free to reply in my M85 topic . . . then it'll be a real bump ! Seriously, welcome to the club here, I've found there are lots of friendly and very helpful people on tap here and I'm sure you'll be glad you joined.

Welcome Ian, Youve hooked up with a friendly and amazingly helpful bunch of people here . . . ! . . . good luck with your bass scales ! ps . . I was guitarist too . . . . was . . . . cheers,

Hi Stew, How did the gigs go and how did your split finger hold up ? . . . I was gonna get down there and listen in . . . but work stuff got in the way so couldnt make the St.X slot . . . but I just made it to the Deltics gig in Frome on Sat night instead . . . they were good but shame I missed your outing. cheers

One of my mates recently bought a Shine second hand and its quite good. he paid around a ton for his I think so the price looks ok. I think theTele bass model is about £169 on the evil ebaY ? ? ? Someone told me Shine have a factory in Korea and a factory in China, and that the stuff that comes out of the Korea factory is the best, so, I'd check that its of Korean origin if I was gonna buy mail order ? . . . but really with a cheap bass like this its going to be a bit hit or miss . . . IMHO, at that price some are gonna be ok and some not so ok ? . . . I wouldn't think you could possibly expect the consistent quality control that you might resonably expect in a mid market priced bass if your only paying just over a hundred quid for it . . . and for that reason, I'd probably want to play the actual one I was going to buy before I got it. But hey . . thats just my humble take on it ? Bottom line the one I've played is ok and I've heard good things about them. cheers,

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1277848' date='Jun 21 2011, 10:29 PM']What amp are you planning on using this with? Might suit older amps with less power/lows, and the 'deficiencies' might be more significant with modern amps.[/quote] Hi, Good question . . . . Well . . . I sort of assume my big valve amps (as listed in my sig block) would be risky to use to drive a vintage cab as one wrong turn of a Volume knob and I'd probably blow the D140F's ? ? ? I guess I'm quietly thinking that once I've got the vintage cab done, I'll look round for a vintage 50w valve amp to drive it with. Bassman 50 comes to mind (probably tooo expensive ?) . . and maybe some others ? . . It'll probably come down to what I can find / afford . . . . . . . but the amp is all academic until the cab is built ! ! ! As discussed I am still keen to see any plans of vintage cabs. So do get in touch if you have any useful info ? Cheers,