Grand Wazoo

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='823503' date='Apr 29 2010, 10:38 PM']You're welcome, GW - I find the early Fender history fascinating. I have a lovely reference book called, "The Fender Bass - An Illustrated History" by Black & Molinaro.[/quote] Yeah got that one. Cheers good book

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='823489' date='Apr 29 2010, 10:30 PM']When they moved the rest in the 70's, they put it here on the Precision of the time... [url="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t180/imzadi-7/75Precisionpk.jpg?t=1240591643"%5dhttp://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t180/im...pg?t=1240591643"]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t180/im...pg?t=1240591643[/url][/quote] That is EXACTLY where I would like to fit mine. I will use that pic as a reference, thanks OTPJ

Well [size=3][b]PauBass[/b] [/size]should have received the strap by now, I haven't heard a word from him yet, oh well...

I would like to fit a thumb rest to my 51 Reissue Precision bass, but unlike the other one I have I want the thumb rest to go over the E string and not below the G one here is the comparison between the 2 basses However I would like to fit this new thumb rest which Guy Lewis made as a special order for me out of maple which has been aged and tinted to match the fingerboard [url="http://www.bassguitarthumbrests.com"]Guy Lewis Thumb Rests[/url] so instead of having it on this side I would like to fit it on the opposite side as in this pic with a very rough sketch Is there anyone that has a template or an idea of where I should place it allow me to rest my thumb over it so I can anchor it as I play with my index and middle finger over the pickup and comfortably close as possible to the neck for those more mellow tones? Thanking you all in advance if you can provide some indications. Also what is the best way to drill the 2 screw holes both in the pickguard and on the body without causing a a horrible mess? Cheers

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='822627' date='Apr 29 2010, 05:39 AM']Where to buy? I've not seen these before. Edit : oh right I'm a dumbass! I'll have to pick some up next time I need some booze.[/quote] Well if you are like me i.e. a t-totaller you can walk into a pub and ask for some free discarded ones.

And dare I say they are also the safest, I have tried with plenty of force to pull the strap off the strap button with the washer in place but the bugger just won't give hence they get the [size=4][font="Book Antiqua"][b]Grand Wazoo's seal of approval!![/b][/font][/size] 10 points if your bass colour is Fiesta Red as it matches perfectly with these!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-51-Precision-Bass-/270569230079?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3eff2eceff"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-51-Precision-...=item3eff2eceff[/url]

later that week... One week later into the life of this bass chez moi, I must really sing praises for it, aside being a gorgeous instrument, I am loving the fact that a concept so simple works so well, it's so meaty, so very well built, I play it through a Little Mark Tube combo, and the sound just oozes hair raising warmth. Think: 1 x single coil, 1 x volume and 1 x tone!! That's all you bloody need! Last weekend I took this and my usual workhorse (Bongo 5 HH) to practice, and I never take my amp, I play them directly into the PA with a D.I. Box, usually with the 4 bands on board preamp on the Bongo that is really all I need to make my sound come true with definition, and I never use any effects except for a compressor, when I got there it suddenly hit me that the 51 reisse was a passive bass, so I got worried that it might come across weak in the mix with the singer going through the same PA, surely in comparison the Bongo shells out 18V of power more than this bass but when you set the D.I. and the compressor levels as high as you can before it clips, this bass is just as good, and as powerful as I need it to be. I am really impressed, I am finding it difficult to put down. Gee I am thinking on looking for another one of these to have it made fretless, as I am imagining it to be the blx as a fretless instrument. Happy days!

Fender does this one [url="http://www.fender.com/uk/products/search.php?partno=0190086805"]http://www.fender.com/uk/products/search.p...rtno=0190086805[/url]

I was also going to suggest the Ibanez SDR series

[quote name='Telebass' post='818549' date='Apr 25 2010, 10:07 PM']20. Only one of which came from here (Mickeyboro), and which is still my main bass! <<<<This one, in fact.[/quote] gwan, show's a better pic of it then? please

Same as you more or less 45 odd and I am down to 10 keepers. As for amps, you name it they've been in and out of these doors like punters in an Amsterdam knocking shop but I am down to two keepers a Trace Elliot Vintage valve combo and a Mark Bass Combo CMD102P modified with a Little Mark Tube head

This is a true and very funny story, through a friend of a friend I was asked if I wanted to play a gig at a wedding. This was a desperate case, the band had only 4 days to rehearse before the wedding, the last bass player walked out and others had all turned down the gig. The money was too good to be true £500 all in food and drink, I thought why me and not someone else, why have other turned down this gig? This was back in the early 90's, the venue was to be the Red Lion in Brentford. But what who and was the band and what was the music to be played? The band consisted of "Pete" the "husband to be" on Electric Guitar he had at the time a fruit and veg stall on the Northcote Road, west London known to always have a rockabilly or gretch type of guitar in the back of his van stacked between punnets of strawberries and the iceberg lettice, his best man was to be on drums, his father-in-law on sax, and his co-worker on rhythm guitar and keyboard, together all market traders with a passion for rockabilly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and that sort of thing. The bass player required was to be able to play upright or similar sounding instrument however... here is the catch! For the gig they had matching suits designed in seafoam green with silk shiny lapels and fake diamond cufflinks, two-tone black/white ganster shoes, you get the idea. take it or leave it, 500 smackers on the day 100 in advance, I was going to walk and tell them sorry Pete, can't do it, but I told him look if you find another bloke to do it then fine but if you get desperate and you want to use me, I will not wear your matching suit but I will use a seafoam colour bass to match and I will wear a tidy black shirt over black jeans, I will stand away in a corner and with little lights over me you'll only see the seafoam bass and everyone's a winner, you know it makes sense. Pete agreed and the rest is history, a few years later Pete asked me if I was interested to gig regularly with him as a trio with the drummer, himelf on geetar, and me on bass but I told him I was already busy. phewwww!

Strap is packed and ready to go PauBass

Jazz basses are the real deal Jaco, Marcus, Victor, and many many more artist gave them an individual voice but at the end of the day it was the same instrument.

Ok the strap is now been adjudicated to the first pm which was received at 06:19 - [size=4][b]PauBass - (WINNER) pm received 06:19[/b][/size] the runners up were discreet - pm received 08:27 - sorry carlito71 - pm received 08:35 - sorry discreet (again?) said he didn't want it after all, - cool thedonutman - pm received 10:59 - sorry

Ok here is a free BASS CENTRE Comfort strap foam padded and nylon cordura construction, the first pm received gets the free strap, the reason I am giving it away, is I myself got it free with an amp I've bought mail order from the bass centre in London and they threw it in free in the deal. These come in 2 sizes - short and long, this one happens to be the long one, and you can't really shorten it a lot so... it's up for grabs, all you pay is postage (about a fiver for a large padded envelope). Good luck!

I can vouch for both, I have a Q/Pounder in my 51 reissue Squier and SPB-1 in Squier Precision, well the Squier needed the beefy q/pounder because the original pickup didn't do it justice at high volume, and the Precision's perfect match is the SPB-1 for all things period correct and vintage like. Oddly enough my most recent purchase a Fender 51 reissue CIJ has a pickup that to me is fantastic and the best thing for that bass. Well done that Fuji company in Japan for selecting the perfect match.

[size=7][color="#DDA0DD"][size=3][font="Comic Sans MS"][i][b]Nice.... Do they come in boys colours? [/b][/i][/font][/size][/color][/size] ... says the man with a pink bass in his avatar lol

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='817349' date='Apr 24 2010, 05:15 PM']PM Howie 'the bass doc', he should be able to sort that for you... not sure of cost but a PM will give you a yay or nay! [/quote] Warmoth make anything you like for the dollar [url="http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowcase.aspx?Bass=1&Body=2&Spotlight=1&Path=Body"]http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/ClassicShowca...1&Path=Body[/url]

Yeah but I am not to be trusted I love all of these

[quote name='Clarky' post='816815' date='Apr 23 2010, 11:12 PM']According to my bathroom scales, my one is about 9lbs (it actually says less but I don't believe it and I always round upwards)[/quote] Yeah I've also used one of those scales, not sure how accurate they are, really. I'll have to find a different way to weight mine, I know it's heavy but I am not sure if it can really be 9.9lbs

[quote name='Clarky' post='816558' date='Apr 23 2010, 06:59 PM']But do you like it? Glad you are loving it, looks beautiful and I agree the chunky neck is nice[/quote] Yes... Clarky, I'm lovin' it! 'Tis a good'n, heavy though. is yours nearly 10lbs too? can you check pls?

[size=2][b]Additional review notes: The Slab Body thing:- seen as the bass is a slab body, and it's the only slab body guitar I have ever owned, it makes very little if no difference at all in terms of comfort, actually I've found that with the top body edge being more or less square cut, it helps steadying your right arm position where you would normally rest it on a slippery contour, this makes you play more anchored to the instrument than it would if it was contoured, so... for me at least I don't see it as an hinderance but rather an aid. "Like a Slap Machine":- having set the action with the correct neck curvature it allows plenty room between the strings and the scratchplate hence it provides a very comfy landing space for your popping fingers on the D & G strings, which means low and behold this bass is a very handy slap machine, now I am not a slapper (lol) by trade, especially after my half thumb mutilation accident but with whatever stump I got left I have managed to have a good hour of fun this morning practicing Dune Tune (Level 42) and Teen Town a la Marcus Miller on it. The neck profile:- Guess what? chunky is good and thin is for wussies, this is a fast neck, despite being well chunky once you run up to the upper frets, fingering those high notes is a breeze. The neck template from which this was carved must be a work of art, I don't know the technical reasons for this but somehow the chunkier the neck the faster the fretting up top register, someone please explain that to me. We are always led to believe that a slimmer neck makes for faster playing. But then I think there is a lot to do with the fact that this neck sports some very slim and shallow "vintage" fretwire which my only worry is that with these being so thin, how long are they going to last with roundwounds strings? Reverse tuners:- Ut-oh! this is different. I had a JV Series Squier in 82 with reverse tuners which was nicked off me in a house move, never had one like that again until this RI 51 and it takes a little getting used to, specially when your other 9 basses are all conventional grooved, but there is one thing about these tuners they are stiff as **** I hope they'll losen up a bit with time as it's hard work to turn them, perhaps one of these weekends I will get them off, strip 'em up and service them with a few drops of gun stock oil in the bushes and in the winders slots. [i]A little dab'll do ya[/i], as they say. On the plus side they keep the string well in tune and they are extremely accurate even with fresh strings in the bedding-in stages. The tone control:- A very clever tone control I should add. On most conventional basses the tone control dims the highs and progressively reduce power as you scoop it off. This one instead, it rolls off the hights ok but it doesn't make you loose power or volume, on the contrary it puts its foot down on the lower register with a much more defined presence and tonal magnitude. Fact is unless you are playing rock tunes, it's safe to say that it's better to have it almost off at 1 or 2 max than to have it wide open. I have only recently established that flatwounds are not for me so if I want the deep dark tone this is the best way to achieve it for me while maintaining the option of a brighter sound should I need to, whereas flatwound strings don't allow me that option. Add on bits:- Ashtrays? No thanks Iam giving them up! Yes they look bling and in tune with the period thing but they are a right nuisance for playing up the bridge or bang over the pickup so I won't get any, I prefer it this way, the only thing I will add for my own personal preference is a nice thumb rest but over the E string and not under the G as in the vintage ones. While it is understood that these models have been discontinued, there are still a few available out there, specially in the 2nd hand market, ebay, craiglist and gumtree. If you consider that despite 4 strings, one pickup, a volume and a tone control only this is a very versatile instruments for many music styles: it's great for jazz, blues, funk, rock and even a bit of reginald. (reggae) So if you are considering pulling the trigger on one, don't hesitate, I doubt you will regret it and even if you do, this will sell on fast while keeping their value sealed for years to come, until Fender decides once again to re-reissue them for the mass. Ok that is it for now. I can't wait to disembark off this cargo ship and fly back home for a weekend of fun, rehersals and general immersion in my music fetish. Oh yeah in all that, I'll have to make time to see the gf at some stage, 30 minutes should do it, I reckon, then back to my basses. HAHA! Tara![/b][/size]

This morning I went to work on setting up the bass, I have to say, a new set of strings and a whole set up made this bass extremely playable, the neck is awfully nice, and also I am very impressed with the pickup!! Many many years ago I took a workshop and learnt how to maintain, set up and fix my own basses and guitars, I am surprised how well the 2 saddles bridge is designed, so much so that while still being arcaic compared to modern bridges, the intonation can be set 99.9% accurately hence I don't really see the need to replace it with a badass III or other. The pickup is very good too, I've compared it against the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound on the Squier and they are very much in the same spectrum, which pleases me no end as I won't need to replace it with an after market one. So no Lollar, Fralin or Duncan Antiquty will be necessary, the way this p/up sounds, I believe a "boutique" pickup won't really make a lot of difference, all the bass and mids are there aplenty, and the only thing I will replace on this bass is the wiring: under the hood we have the same cheap flimsy little wires as found on the Squier series, the pots are not CTS or similar decent quality, so max 14 quid will see that right. I now need to leave again and go to work, so no much time to play, but I am looking forward to take it to rehearsal on the weekend and see how it fairs in action. As I've mentioned earlier, this is one hefty lump of a bass just shy of 10lbs, it weights 9.9lbs!!! I guess I have to get fit, but I am sure the exta weight in a bass like this means more mass and warmer punchy sound. In conclusion: well it's early days yet but judging by how well it responded after a nice set up and new strings, with no hidden surprises, I can confidently reassure myself that this is yet another keeper and so I welcome No. 10 to my collection with open arms. Some pics...