Merton

Enjoy it dude, still mighty jealous (tho Nic does say I can do it next year if I have the money ) I'll give you a bell one evening to have a chat re. the proto, sorry I haven't managed it tonight but broken bones kinda needed to be attended to first!

Three crap pics from my living room:

OK, here's a very short review, as I've only had 5 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes just now of playing with this - the real test is still on Saturday - but two words: FECKING AWESOME. Mikey, honestly I don't want to rave too much but if this is your first attempt then in years to come Jon Shuker, Mike Iceni, Robbie MacIntosh and Alan Crignan (sp?) et al will have a hell of a competitor. This is all based on playing this thing acoustically. It is sooo easy to play, the notes fall under my hand beautifully and the fanned fret is just not an issue at all. The wood, albeit cheap, sings really nicely and the bass speaks nicely from the very bottom to the very top of its range. Top work buddy! As I said before, I can't wait to plug it in, but I, and everyone here, has got to remember this proto has cheap ebay pickups whereas mine will have custom wound Wizard 84s for the series/parallel switching so will sound mighty different even before the wood difference are taken into account. Exciting times

That wasn't me playing the bass, that was my colleague Phil! We don't look that similar do we?? Love it Mikey, can't wait to plug it in and gig it on Saturday. And, (hush hush), I think I quite like the fat neck. Sorry.* *let me gig it on Saturday before I give this comment 100% credence.

A sort of plus 1 for OBBM's post - my Status Retroactive has never had a trussrod tweak and I only ever tune during gigs to be safe rather than rely on the fact I *know* it hasn't moved. Fantastic necks, and IME I don't find the same tone problems which Wil was referring to.

I'm in Redhill so if you wanna pop over sometime to have a look/listen/play with the Vintage then gimme a shout

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='540463' date='Jul 14 2009, 04:52 PM']There is a very good reason why the letters SVT turn up so much on pro stages.[/quote] And a very good reason I hate to see them behind me Ahem, sorry.

[quote name='Mikey R' post='538437' date='Jul 12 2009, 12:51 PM']I also (re)discovered Master of Puppets is a fine album for sketching basses to, closely followed by Ride The Lightning.[/quote]

lojo, whereabouts do you live? I'm gigging a Vintage next Saturday in East Grinstead if you're anywhere near...

It'll even out the peaks and troughs in your playing. Might help even out between the high and low, might of course be barking up the wrong tree.

Oh Mikey you are a star! I am like a kid at Christmas waiting for this baby PM me so I can sort out the monies...

Perhaps a compressor is what you need?

Yes, a world first. Honest. All being well, the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21386&st=80&start=80"]singlecut fanned-fret 5 string proto[/url] will make its public debut next week at the Crow's Nest. It'll be going through the rather fine combination of a hartke LH500 and a Barefaced Vintage cab. Come along and ogle the coolest looking bass this side of Mars, and the coolest looking cabinet ever. Oh, and wear ear defenders, the Vintage is LOUD So, Sat 18th July, the Crow's Nest in East Grinstead, music from 9ish from [url="http://www.bitd.co.uk"]Back in the Day[/url]. That's my band, innit. We might even play a new song.

It's been a long time since I posted on here, but I'm very pleased and excited by my new rig, this one is a keeper: [attachment=28580:DSC01950.JPG] Yet to gig this - first gig is Sat 18th in East Grinstead for anyone who's around! Might have the 5-string multiscale prototype too

Alex is indeed on holiday - he dropped my Vintage off on his run back tot he office to tidy everything up before heading off... BottomEndian - good work on the photos and weighing! it's lighter than my old Trace 1518, which is startling! Regarding the speaker grille, I too agree that the cloth seems strong enough on its own, but I have lookied into three potential solutions should this become an issue: 1) a strip of wood across the middle of the cab to minimise the area of biggest deflection. 2) a metal or nylon grille behind the cloth 3) acoustically transparent foam, like [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=ADH019505&browsemode=category"]this[/url], hidden behind the grille. I am not about to mod the cab in any way but I've got these three in mind if I feel later down the line that I need to.

[quote name='peted' post='534527' date='Jul 7 2009, 11:24 AM']Very nice indeed! I knew that yours would be ready well in advance of my Shuker More photos and sound samples please![/quote] This one isn't mine, it's the prototype, so you're still in the lead! Mine has the neck being laminated at the moment but no further on than that cos Mikey's waiting to see what (if anything) I want to change based on playing this. The three changes already decided upon are that mine and his will have a narrower, thinner neck than the proto, the body will be slightly larger, and the fan will change slightly to have a parallel 4th fret rather than 3rd fret....

Is the Toyota Yaris actually the Tardis? No idea how the Vintage fits in the boot without putting the seats down, my Focus can't manage the same feat. Bloody Ford - make your boots bigger! It's annoyingly only about 2" narrower than the cab is long but there we go Good excuse not to take the guitarists or drummer to the gig I suppose

Well here is the finished prototype: [attachment=28369:bass_amp.jpg] I gotta say that this looks awesome, can't wait to get my mitts on it.