Sibob

Still not tempted at £399 Wonder if they're making a loss on them, if not, clearly Gibson are building them for next to nothing. That said, based on some of the stories coming out over the last couple of years, doesn't sound like 'USA built' doesn't mean much anymore when it comes to Gibson. Si

Gotcha, thanks for clearing up Si

Just to confirm though, your Jake has more frets, so it's closer to the 20th fret than your '71 P? Si

Will be interesting to know! Si

I'm not entirely sure to be honest, I simply asked for the P pickup in the standard position, I made an assumption that their design would be pretty true to the original P bass dimensions. Remember that many Jakes (your sunburst included), are 21 frets, as opposed to the 'classic' 20 frets. So visually, because the fingerboard will have an extra fret overhang, the pickup will look closer to the fingerboard. Si

I"m not sure I've ever seen a bass that has the Precision pickup shunted out of position to maintain the spacing between pickups if the J is in 60's position?! Seems strange, I think most luthiers would understand that if someone ordered a P/J setup, they, at some point, would want a 'traditional' Precision sound.....not something closer to the neck. I guess they might be quite rare because many P/Js are just converted Ps anyway (people adding the jazz pickup). Whenever I've had a P/J made from scratch (a couple of different builds), I've always specified the P in the standard position and the J in 60's. Clearly both these basses (a Maruszczyk and a Lakland) will sound different to my '71 Precision with their Jazz pickups turned down, but there are so many variables at play that it's difficult to say what the extra pickup, even when off, would change. Si

All I can tell you is that if I didn't have my Enabler tomorrow, I'd find another one to buy....over all the other stuff about at the mo. I love it's relative simplicity, excellent sounding EQ and doesn't try to cram everything in one box, which I usually leads to concessions (a top-mounted DI on the GK??? stupid IMO). The Palmer looks good to be fair (although the Fuzz/OD is likely a waste of space for most people), but I'd want to hear it first. Si

I really love my 3Leaf Audio Enabler, does everything you need and sounds great, although they're discontinued now. The new DHA VT1-Pro does all you need too, with optional added tube distortion, but it's not exactly compact. Si

I mean, it's ugly as hell to start with ;). But yeah, I've seen them crop up on Instagram etc, although doesn't surprise me that an unknown Brazilian luthier isn't commanding decent used money in the U.K. Probably decent enough, but yeah that neck joint is a cut-corner for sure. Those Chinese copy basses are horrendous, that one linked above is a catastrophe from what I can see, and a mate previously ordered a really shoddy Fodera copy. Wastes of money even at £300. Si

I just checked with them, and their full builds are on hold whilst they source where to get vintage correct Mustang bridges from, however they're still making bodies & necks from what I can see. It seems that a full build would come in at just under £1K Si

A Ken Lawrence

Possibly haha, but still, I reckon you could probably count the amount in existence on one hand, and I reckon Tye had 4 of them, and 1 was your mate haha. Si

I guess the history is a bit of a grey area, found this in an Ebay listing for it: "There were apparently only 2 of these basses made. This bass comes to us from Michael Grajewski, former bass player for Puddle of Mudd. He purchased this bass directly from Tye Zamora of Alient Ant Farm for whom this bass was built and named after. In Tye's words regarding the first of two of this model bass: "The original intention of this bass was to go into production, and this is the bass the templates were made from. Only two neck through versions of these basses exist, and the second one came off the template of this bass. Fender valued this bass at $28,000 in 2003" Masterbuilt by Jason Davis" Si

With regards to the Tye Zamora bass, it wasn't strictly a signature bass, it was a one-off custom made by one of the Masterbuild team. You couldn't buy it as a model, they won't make you one etc etc. But still, certainly one of the stranger instruments to have 'Fender' on the headstock. I've owned a couple of signature basses, a Fodera Matt Garrison standard, which was amazing, and a Lakland Skyline Darryl Jones, which was also excellent. Both of those players had a hand in the engineering of those basses (design, shape, specs etc), although Darryl's was essentially done with A basses first, then Lakland effectively just licensed the shape when Albey started getting more busy as a player. Si

I doubt he'll have a stand (doesn't need to), but he's usually there just for the hang. Si

Almost forgot, no-one beats Mega Ran if you like your Rap with a tinge of 8bit video games: Si

Ozomatli, whilst not strictly a hip-hop act, have some excellent 'rap' tunes with guests usually, their best is probably with Chali 2na: Listener's first album is also great, very different from their recent stuff, much more hip-hop and less grunge-poetry as it is now (which is still great): Jonwayne also writes some great stuff:

Very cool, yeah he's a good guy! And definitely a cool bass. It's a good idea to have the mess of a rout tidied up to actually accommodate a Precision pickup. But if it were me, I wouldn't do this until I thought I might sell it, just so you could then use it as a 'feature'. As it is now, enjoy it, can't see it under the scratch plate, and actually probably makes the bass that little bit lighter haha. Si

What?........Fender? Si

It's not going to affect the bass, still a sweet bass, but could affect resale value. He'll likely say that he didn't check under the scratch plate.....I always find that a difficult line to follow for a vintage specialist. If it's not true, it's not honest, if it is true (most likely as I think Andy is a nice guy), then why isn't that happening at a vintage specialist?! Si

As has been said, Flat's won't ever be 'clanky'. I use Chromes on a Precision, and they have some mid character, which is nice, means you don't get lost in the mix, but in no way resemble the Roto 66 sets you reference. If you want a bit of a curve ball, perhaps check out the La Bella White Gold sets, they're golden Alloy (80/20 Brass apparently), wrapped in white tape. So basically metal strings, tape-wound. I've not tested them, but they seem like they'd be somewhere between brass (acoustic) strings and flats. Si

Might have been added perhaps, but because the routing around the mustang pickup is so shoddy, I'd probably suggest that the mustang routing and plate are original.....could be wrong though. Yeah, it's still listed on his website lol Si

Looks like an original Mustang routing to me, especially considering that plate on the bottom, but someone has done a really awful job of perhaps trying to fit a standard Precision pickup in there at some point. If this routing wasn't on the original product description from Mr Baxter, I'd perhaps be having a quiet word, because if I'd known about that at point of purchase, I'd want a few extra quid off. Si