dlloyd

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1332095225' post='1583172'] I'm not trying to force people to like Marcus, but I think this version of 'What Is Hip' by Tower Of Power is just incredible. Technique, sound, feel, timing, dynamics...it's all here. [/quote] It certainly showed a lot of technique and timing... For me it's like watching somebody defeat the final boss on a video game for their hundredth time. It's clearly very, very difficult to do and he gets to the end without losing a life, picking up all the bonuses, without raising a sweat... but there's nothing on offer for me as a viewer. He looks bored, as does his band.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1332115475' post='1583637'] Thanks, guys! Yeah, I'd seen the Thunder likeness. To me, the Boogie looks like a cowardly Thunder. :^) What struck me especially about this Boogie was the very special form of the body bottom (or whazzacalled). Never seen anything like it, and can't find pics of anything similar. [/quote] It [i]could[/i] be that a previous owner took a Thunder III and restored/customised it:[list] [*]the lower bout has been carved on the body [*]the headstock has been carved to increase the depth of the "scallops" [*]an aftermarket Boogie logo has been applied [*]the neck has 24 frets instead of 22 [*]the fret markers are dots rather than snow flakes [*]the thuners are cloverleaf heads rather than the usual Westone design [/list] It could be a genuine Matsumoku custom built for a Boogie advertising campaign or as a kit-bashed prototype for a range of instruments that never came to fruition. It could be home-built. Who knows?

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1332062421' post='1582581'] But for the logo on the headstock, and the P/J pickups, it looks like a Westone Thunder... [/quote] The pickups are what you'd expect on a Thunder III... but the controls are different, there are extra frets, and there appears to be some wood missing at the bridge end of the body.

I know nothing about them, but the logo is identical to that used by Mesa for their Boogie amps in the 80s/90s.

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1331894396' post='1580473'] about 1.5 mm by my estimate... maybe 2mm. I play with a pick, often quite hard, so i don't really want a super low action. I'm going to get a tool for adjusting the tross and see how it goes if i set it 'dead straight' as they say. [/quote] Are you sure you're measuring relief? Relief is a measure of the "bowedness" of the neck... if you capo the strings at the first fret and fret at the highest fret, the relief is the distance between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret at the midpoint of the neck (between fret 1 and the neck/body join). The correct amount of relief will depend on a number of things, but it's usually around 0.3 to 0.5 mm.

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1331763420' post='1578652'] Worked ok actually. [/quote] How much relief does the neck currently have?

Okay, I misunderstood the link above. The bass you bid on is a Vintage V4... http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagebass.html with a MIJ neck in bad condition, a US Fender neckplate and who knows what else... my guess would be that the rest of the bass, including the pickups, is original to the Vintage V4. I see the bass was "won" for £271... ouch.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1331813346' post='1579230'] I would not have spotted that one...The corona neck plate that is [/quote] I deleted my comment about it, as it's clear the actual owner is upfront about its status as a parts bass.

[quote name='max363' timestamp='1331759980' post='1578590'] I also thought that it was pre '97. but it seems it is not: [url="http://www.fender.com/en-RU/support/articles/japanese-instruments-product-dating/"]http://www.fender.co...product-dating/[/url] it is 2007-or younger, my guess '10. One thing is for sure - fender got very complex serial number sistem [/quote] I stand (or sit) corrected.

[quote name='max363' timestamp='1331757626' post='1578502'] Made in japan [/quote] Made in Japan is pre-1997. Are you sure it's a Geddy?

Brilliant stuff... I took guitar lessons from John Whyte for a while... fantastic guitarist.

[quote name='max363' timestamp='1331743557' post='1578162'] Oh, i guess i suck at dating fenders >.< ...And i feel a bit of stupid now ...neck says MIJ and T 035 (cant make out last 3 digs)... EDIT: it seems japanese fenders were running MIJ T series in '94-95 AND '07-10, AND geedy + miller basses ran T series through '11 too... [/quote] Does it say "Made In Japan" or "Crafted in Japan"?

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1331741167' post='1578109'] looks like the main resource (joeys bass page) has pulled all his info... bummer. Can't find much other info. Might just lower the bridge and see if that helps, and leave the truss rods for now. [/quote] It won't... if you go further up the neck, you'll start to get buzzing and perhaps the strings choking out.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1331729161' post='1577803'] It looks just like the neck from my jazz 93 cij so I'm sure it's genuine . Seems the pup is genuine I know the tuners, bridge and knobs are aftermarket but good lookalikes The tuner holes look slightly enlarged at front but only close up [/quote] Parts bass. I wouldn't pay more than £150 for it... if it sounded good.

[quote name='max363' timestamp='1331727560' post='1577754'] A bit of topic hijack, so pardon, but would you guys know how much geddy lee jazz '94-95, MIJ release cost? condition 9.5/10..just wondering if i overpaid [/quote] I don't think the Geddy Lee existed in 1994/5.

By itself, I'd say the neck was possibly worth £150-£200 depending on what was done to it to get the new tuners to fit.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1331726753' post='1577723'] The one I'm being offered has a replacement body with an aged effect. Thoughts on replacement bodies generally - do they affect value much if reasonable quality? [/quote] Yes. How much depends on a few things. You say the tuners have been changed and the body has been replaced. What else, if anything, is original? Where is the body from? What other hardware does it have?

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1331725605' post='1577692'] Replaced a very old set of elixir strings with some earnie balls of the same guage and now find a lot more taugtness in the action, and the action also raised a little. Nowhere near as comforable to play, even though the guage is the same. Not sure what my point or quesrtion is here. I want it to sound as good as it does now but play as good as it did before I changed the strings. I know nothing about strings btw. clearly. [/quote] A truss rod tweak would seem to be in order. The biggest problem you'll be experiencing is from the increased neck bow. Have a read of this for a basic setup guide. It's actually very easy to do. http://www.fender.com/en-GB/support/articles/bass-guitar-setup-guide/

[quote name='legoman' timestamp='1331687594' post='1577331'] I've been the owner of a Musicman Cutlass I for over 15 years now (having stumbled across one for sale at the Gallery in Camden) which has proven to be one hell of a servant over the years (and probably one of the nicest basses I've ever played) but I recall some years ago that it was mentioned to me that only 10 Cutlass I's ever made it over to the UK and that one was destroyed in a fire so only 9 remained in circulation here?? [/quote] I'm not sure how credible that claim is... I've an infrequent visitor to guitar/bass shops and have seen a couple for sale.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1331639534' post='1576250'] Also, the beautifully figured neck woods they were using around the time... because of their inherent nature didn't always settle into nice straight pieces of wood like a simple grained neck would. Quite ironically these are generally the most sought after necks.... aesthetically that is. It's fair to say though that the ones that have survived this long without going skew-whiff are the good 'uns. [/quote] It's interesting that the non-functioning truss rod issues immediately preceded the release of the Musicman Cutlass in 1983... I imagine the decision to source necks from Modulus had something to do with having a stockpile of basses with unadjustable necks. It could be the case that relatively few of the 2,500 wonky necks actually made it out of the factory.

[quote name='clarkpegasus4001' timestamp='1331619833' post='1575847'] Is that right? I had never heard that said about the Stingray before. and I had been toying with the idea of buying an early MM but that's quite worrying. MattM's 88 looks the biz! [/quote] [url="http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-basses/7512-some-music-man-history-george-fullerton.html#post74974"]http://forums.ernieb....html#post74974[/url] [quote]Here is the problem...most of these guys are dead so trying to correct the record becomes more and more difficult. Tommy, Leo, Forrest and quite a few more are no longer with us. I can tell you that Leo was very disappointed that his stingray and sabre guitars didn't sell and that was the basis for G&L. G&L (GEORGE AND LEO) was started at CLF behind Music Man's back and coincidence or other CLF made 2,500 Music man bass necks with straight truss rods. Tommy was forced to go to a young upstart Grover Jackson to make the basses. Grover was the one who introduced the trans finishes. I often asked Tommy why he didn't sue over the suspect necks and he replied "My daddy didn't raise me like that"[/quote] A little more about it here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/what-diiferent-special-about-pre-ebmm-stingrays-602262/index3.html#post8291397 and here (interesting as it's from a pro-G&L point of view): http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=101&t=5371

Yep... EBMMs of this age tend to have really nice figuring to the necks.

Not sure about these, but I still want a fretless with a granite fingerboard:

It's a really nice looking bass, by the way... what's the figuring like on the neck?

[quote name='Paul_Heys' timestamp='1331555762' post='1574604'] Thanks for the quick response! What price would you put on it? Just want to be as near as possible when I put it up for sale. [/quote] It's difficult to know... the early 4 bolt EB basses are some of the best Stingrays out there, certainly better than some of the dodgy pre-EB, early 80s instruments with wonky necks. But for reasons unrelated to quality, they're not as collectable as pre-EB models. How much you get for it really depends who's buying on the day. If it's viewed as a bog-standard EB Stingray with mutes, around £800. Possibly £1000 if someone is really after a four bolt (they're difficult to come by). First thing I would do is to take the saddles off that bridge and put them back on the right way round (strings should thread through the bridge on the left of the saddle bolts).