Muzz

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1470943289' post='3109567'] Better than US, I'd say. I can't fault either of mine, and knowing they were built by people gives them the edge (IMO, of course!). Just out of curiously - what sort of style / config would appeal to you? [/quote] Well, seeing as you're asking , I don't like Jazzes, not even the real thing, never have done, and the only P-copy I'd be interested in would be a black double-P with a 1.5" nut, birdseye maple board (no fret markers), Nordys, Schaller 3D, Hipshot Ultralights and a P-Retro, around 7.5lbs. Oh, and Dunlop straplocks. Nothing too specific, then... But before that I'm really wanting a Fenderbird 76-lookalike with the same neck as above. I'm most of the way there with that, just need the neck sorting... It's what comes of decreasing bass-GAS...you just get more and more picky... The [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Maruszczyk stuff is really good, though, and not just 'for the money': it's really good.[/font][/color]

I feel your pain - I had a Fortress One, which I loved playing, it was one of the most ergonomically well designed basses I've ever held, with a fantastic wenge neck, but the colour was even worse than yours; it was a kind of greeny-browny-grey, which, much as I liked the bass, I just couldn't get over. The finish was gloss poly a foot thick, and after a lot of research, I just gave up the idea of a refin and sold it. I'm so shallow... Good luck with the refin on yours, and remember...pics, or it never happened...

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1471599452' post='3114304'] That's it isn't it ? Technology is far more likely to fail than something as relatively simple as a bass guitar. [/quote] Yeah, but it won't be MY fault at that point...

I always take 2 basses, and I've never played anywhere there wasn't room for the spare - and I've played some khazis. I have spares of all the small stuff, but not a spare amp - I take a cheapo DI box for that eventuality. I use more than one cab. Yep, I've snapped strings before - not often, and not for years, but it's happened. All very belt-and-braces, but it also depends on the situation: if you're playing down the Dog and Duck, then you can restring a bass while the singist (or, gawd help us, the guitard) waffles on a bit, but thought of suspending the brides First Dance* for that long because your bass has gone ping is an arse-clencher and then some. * I know, I know, what are the odds? But Sod's Law makes it all the more likely...

I've got passive switches on all my gigging basses but one, which also has an 18v circuit. Was playing a private party, pretty much last song of the night, all very leap-up-and-down busy, when I noticed my sound was getting very quiet and fuzzy. I thought one of the revellers had put a stiletto through the cable or something at first, but it turned out to be a battery dying. Guess which bass I was using? Yup...

It ain't cheap, I do know that... Sorry, I'm not helping much...it'll bump the topic up, tho...

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1471029378' post='3110154'] Nice info -great pics Karl, much better than your for sale ads!! [/quote] They'll come in handy for when the inevitable happens... Karl, that's virtually weightless compared to a lot of late 70s Jazzes. I had a 78 which weighed a gnat's crotchet under 12lbs... Well played.

Possibly: they're like Stingrays for me (and I've had four of them) - I love the idea of them, but the reality's always a let-down...

Horses/courses and all that, for example, I've just moved my second Walkabout on, beaten by a Class D...imagine that And yep, definitely agree about cabs sounding better on a gig: I think the older angled-baffle Schroeders are the best example of that - they're kinda aggressively honky at home, but work very well in a band. I've said it before, but if anyone likes the best bits of a Streamliner, with none of the bad bits, and a whooole lot more...try a Magellan. The only thing wrong with that amp is fretting about how to pronounce it...

I dunno, it worked for me with a lot of cabs, and I'd imagine it'd be good with the S112s if they're a bit shy in the very low end (in a good, giggable way, like Schroeders).

Yep, I struggled with the BB2 and the Streamliner - in fact the only downside to the Streamliner was it needed a tighter cab in the lows, otherwise it bloomed like nobody's business. Hard to EQ out properly, too. It worked well with Schroeders, but the BF cabs are too transparent, I think. It worked well with Berg 112s, though the Magellan's much, much better.

Even though I didn't get on with the one I bought, at that money it's a chance to try it without it costing you much (if any) money, at least.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470939660' post='3109528'] If there HAS to be a fifth member, I'd like him/her to play the washboard. [/quote] I'd have liked to see a theremin player, who went 'woooooOOOOoooooo' every time Bono approached the mic...

Yup, I've an old Celebrity, and it's a very nice acoustic. Never played a 'real' one, though, so I'm afraid I can't give you anything more definitive.

Actually got to lay hands on one last night, (it was a sunburst P5), and the build quality was exemplary: certainly as good as a good example of the real thing from the US, if not better, and delightfully, erm, light. Wasn't too keen on the Delanos, but that's just me. Have just spend waaaayyyyyy too much time going through every pic on the site, and unfortunately there's nothing that appeals visually, but again that's just me, so I can say as someone who won't own one (and therefore without axe to grind) that I was very impressed by the quality of the one I played.

I can't be: I checked with everyone on here first...

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1470834647' post='3108803'] To most Jazz aficionados, this is like calling Europe's 'the Final Countdown' a Heavy Metal classic or 'Rockin' All Over the World' a Rock anthem. It shows a lack of idiomatic awareness. That's all. [/quote] Except that both those tunes are just that. For a given value of 'classic' or 'anthem'. In the same way that, to an awful, awful lot of people, Moondance is Jazz. For a given value of 'Jazz'. Lord save us all from a lack of idiomatic awareness...

I paid £1600 for a brand new Rickenbacker which went back the next day. I'd had a 4001 years ago (my first 'proper' bass) and rose-tinted glasses prompted the purchase, but I just hated it. Still a stunning looking thing, though. I'd bought it from a retailer with a returns policy just in case (they're a very Marmite bass), but if I'd tried it in a shop I'd have known straight away I wasn't going to like it.

Sooo, I have a friend who wants to acquire a 5er (sounds like a confession, I know, but it really isn't me ) for a studio project. He's a 7-string guitard and wants to play around in drop tunings, specifically down to A/Ab. He's asked if I can recommend a budget (£300 or so secondhand) 5er that would suit, and my first thought was that if he can find a 35 scale he might have a better shot at detuning the B without it basically falling off the bass... Sooo, any budget 35" scale 5ers worth recommending? Any 34" scale basses that'd suit a detuned B? All suggestions welcomed...

So much to enjoy there, but I particularly liked the sentence that makes it sound like an unwise decision at ten to two in a nightclub: "[color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3]Moreover, this bass guitar adopts superb wood and synthetic material, so you can trustingly take it back home for entertaining!"[/size][/font][/color] [color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color][color=#333333][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=3] [/size][/font][/color]

Our singist has an entirely arbitrary approach to whether he's gonna do a song in the original half step flat or not, so I end up playing a good half dozen songs in one or the other, depending. None of them are exactly Rhythm Stick, so it's pretty easy to transpose on the fly. The main challenge is finding out on the gig which one he's gonna launch into. To quote the wonderful Victoria Wood in the persona of Stacey Leann Page, cruise liner singer extraordinaire "My accompanist is wonderful: I can start a song in any key, and eventually he'll, you know, hunt me down..."