hooky_lowdown

RW and maple difference is a known fact, however the video I saw where two RW necks, one fender and one squire. Very different sound/quality.

So I am a p bass guy. I love both single coil and split pups. I have a split p bass, but am thinking of putting a single coil in it to replace or swop between the two, it has solderless electrics, so changing pup is easy. I don't want to buy a p bass with a SC pup, and have two basses. Obviously the pickguard for the split pup won't fit a SC pup, so need a new pickguard to fit a standard p bass which has a cut out for a SC pup. Does anyone know if there's anywhere I can buy one?

Flats with a dull sound, plus mudbucker will be a lot of low end. Steel rounds being brighter will give more definition to your sound, and nickel rounds sit near the middle, brighter than flats, but my choice would be half rounds or pressure rounds.

If you think it looks great, and it's a keeper, go for it.

Heavy metal?

What style(s) of music do you play? Once we know what you want to achieve we can offer better options. Otherwise you will just get a list of strings people personally like or prefer, which probably won't be what you are looking for.

Changing strings or the capacitor will have the biggest impact to make your sound brighter.

This is not true. I thought the same, until I recently watched a video where a fender bass was played with its own neck, then a squire neck, everything was the same, but the sound difference was very obvious and different. The fender neck sounded far, far better.

Maybe a Vintage v4 reissue icon might be an option. Decent bass already reliced from new, think it has nitro finish, so can relic it further if you prefer.

The India made ones are well made and don't feel cheap at all. I've owned several mim fenders which feel cheaper than this, and not sound as good. I've not played a later encore, so can't compare, but the neck on this thing feels so good to me, just it's personal preference.

Picked up a 90s Encore E83 for a pony a few days ago with the intention of modding it. I was told it had an intermittent fault with the electrics (which is why it was so cheap), so my first thought was the wires to the jack probably need a resolder, no big deal. When I checked the electrics it turned out there was a little rust on the jack, so carefully cleaned it off, and electrics work fine again. Needed a full set up, the bass even came with a new set of half decent nickel wound strings (all for a pony!), so slapped them on and set it up to how I like. When I set it up I checked the wood grain, which looked like ash to me, and the bass has what I call a reassuring weight to it, I'm guessing around 9lbs. I've played other Encores which were heavier, but this one is a little lighter. The best thing about the bass is the neck, which unlike other Encore E83's I've played is really chunky (baseball bat style) and is incredibly playable. I keep finding myself picking it up to play, I play rock, indie, blues stuff and the deep neck lends itself to those styles of music. The chunky neck also helps the sound, and in combination with the (hot) stock pickups sound pretty decent. So now I've decided I'm going to keep the whole bass stock, and just play the s**t out of it. For a cheap "student" bass when it came out in the 90s, I'm amazed at the quality, with a few tweaks it could be a giggable bass, but for now I think I'll keep it at home. For a bass around 25 years old, it's in decent condition. Even the "Made in India" and serial number stickers are in great shape.

Short scales are easier and to some more comfortable to play. Genre wise I would say rock, blues - that sort of stuff.

The BB basses are very good basses, though they are heavy. The 270's are nice and lightweight.

Baseball bat necks I'd reference as being very deep.

Recently I've found I'm a fan of big "baseball bat" necks, especially on P basses. I know original P basses had them, but what other brands/manufacturers make or made a P bass with baseball bat style necks? I know the Harley Benton PB50's have them.

Agree with others about a boost pedal. You can also increase the height of the pups so they are closer to the strings - this will also increase the volume.

Mojo = Character Beat up = Roadworn

Peavey t-40? Only kidding. What budget do you have and what styles of music do you play? Clearly you are looking for a pj bass for p and jazz sounds. The jaguar has a very good rep, good build and p pickup is good, jazz is weak. Inexpensive alternatives I'd suggest looking at would be Ibanez tmb100, very similar to the squire. Or if you don't mind second hand, Yamaha rbx270 are very well made, decent sound with the jazz pickup slightly better than the squire or Ibanez. Also Revelation basses have a good rep and are similarly priced.

Have you owned/played an older Gibson, would be interested how you'd rate quality between them both?

Would be interesting to read some reviews once available as I've read modern Gibson's (last 5 years or so) are generally poor, and far inferior in sound and build quality than older Gibson's.

Beautiful. So, were the tuners the only nickel part on the bass?

Were the bridge and pickup covers chrome in the 60s?

Brown. Red looks cheap next to it.

+1 for washing up sponge. Used them (rough side) before and worked brilliantly, also cut them up and used under pickups instead of foam, and if you have flatwounds, I've also put them (sponge side up) under the strings next to the bridge to dampen the sound for old school thump!