Sandberg appreciation society

[dmccombe7]

10 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Hi Dave,I've been working out for a couple of years, focusing on strengthening my core. I still have limits to what I can lift and carry, but it does help. I feel much better and am more agile than I've been for years. Good luck with your exercise plan.

100% Chris

4 yrs ago while working in the garden i was so out of breath while digging a hole to bury one of our cats that had passed away i had to stop and take a break. I was just under 15st but covid era just made things worse.

I decided i was either very unfit or something seriously wrong. I decided to start the gym and within 3-4mths i had lost 2st and was feeling a lot fitter. Went for 2 yrs to get myself fitter then took on a personal trainer for 10 sessions every 6mths just to push me a bit and give me new ideas to try on my own. (my wife also goes so we work together) A year ago we were asked to attend the ABS class and loved it altho quite hard work, that class changed to a circuit training class which was seriously hard work and then a friend we knew in the gym just thru going 3 times a week became a PT doing weight lifting and we thought we'll go to the first class to show some support for him and loved it.

I'm now 12st 11lbs but still love my crisps. 

Now i do the Barbell Blast class on Monday morning, Circuit class on Wed evening and on a Fri morning we do our own thing which is a combination of everything really.

I feel fitter now than i have done for 20 yrs. I dont have any issues doing jobs around the house and lifting gear at gigs isn't a problem now. Yes i do get the aching back when standing for long rehearsals and should definitely sit down more.

At a young 65 i'm doing good tho. 

Dave

[scrumpymike]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

I'm now 12st 11lbs but still love my crisps. 

 

Join the club!! That's the Savoury Snack Fanciers' Club btw.

 

Maybe I should join the fitness club.

[dmccombe7]

13 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Join the club!! That's the Savoury Snack Fanciers' Club btw.

 

Maybe I should join the fitness club.

As my older brother keeps telling me "i don't eat unhealthy crisps, i eat potato snacks" 

Dave

[Highfox]

Thought I'd post a photo of my trio.

 weight wise..

 

TT 3.6KG

VS SL 2.7KG

And the monster TM 4.9 KG. Which is loaded with a SD humbucker!

 

The old style TM is the winner for sound and playability for me, slightly fatter neck than the California ii's , but a bit too heavy for regular gig use.

Interestingly it seems the TT is loaded with splitcoils and not singlecoil. Kind of darker sound for a jazz to my ears.

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, Highfox said:

Thought I'd post a photo of my trio.

 weight wise..

 

TT 3.6KG

VS SL 2.7KG

And the monster TM 4.9 KG. Which is loaded with a SD humbucker!

 

The old style TM is the winner for sound and playability for me, slightly fatter neck than the California ii's , but a bit too heavy for regular gig use.

Interestingly it seems the TT is loaded with splitcoils and not singlecoil. Kind of darker sound for a jazz to my ears.

How do you find the SD Humbucker compared to the original Sandberg one.

Dave

[Highfox]

9 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

How do you find the SD Humbucker compared to the original Sandberg one.

Dave

It was already in there when I bought the bass.

I can say I had a VM that I didn't really get on with sound wise. It was a bit too clean and polite sounding with the Delano's it had in it and the p pickup was in the wrong place for me. I was so used to the Fender sound.

 

The 3 I now have all seem to work for me by contrast.

 

[dmccombe7]

I'm not keen on changing a bass but i'd like to get a 2nd VM4 or TM4 and change the humbucker just to see how it sounds. I love the playability of my VM4.

Dave

[ead]

In terms of the TM style basses, I bought this last year.  One of the Thomann 70th Anniversary Electra basses but a B stock item so really good value and, Brucie bonus, I couldn't find a single thing wrong with it.

 

The only difference I can see between this and a full fat German-made bass is the matt black finish is solid rather than transparent so maybe the Alder body is not quite as good, the tuners I think are probably slightly cheaper, the controls lack the switch to split the coils on the MM pickup.  The gunmetal hardware I believe is not available in Germany (maybe you can ask for it).

 

The neck pickup is humbucking and the EQ does have the volume that you can pull to get the passive option with the treble acting as a rough and ready tone control.  Plenty of options and actually a real Swiss Army knife of a bass and weighs in at just under 4kgs.  Mandatory pics.:

 

 

[mikebass456]

11 minutes ago, ead said:

In terms of the TM style basses, I bought this last year.  One of the Thomann 70th Anniversary Electra basses but a B stock item so really good value and, Brucie bonus, I couldn't find a single thing wrong with it.

 

The only difference I can see between this and a full fat German-made bass is the matt black finish is solid rather than transparent so maybe the Alder body is not quite as good, the tuners I think are probably slightly cheaper, the controls lack the switch to split the coils on the MM pickup.  The gunmetal hardware I believe is not available in Germany (maybe you can ask for it).

 

The neck pickup is humbucking and the EQ does have the volume that you can pull to get the passive option with the treble acting as a rough and ready tone control.  Plenty of options and actually a real Swiss Army knife of a bass and weighs in at just under 4kgs.  Mandatory pics.:

 

 

Nice! 😎👍🤘🤘

[BabyBlueSound]

Augh, I finally managed to decrease the action by almost 0.5mm, while keeping the intonation correct. The bridge config is fussy but not terrible once one understands which of the many screws does what exactly. I feel like a true Sandberg owner now 😁

[dmccombe7]

45 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Augh, I finally managed to decrease the action by almost 0.5mm, while keeping the intonation correct. The bridge config is fussy but not terrible once one understands which of the many screws does what exactly. I feel like a true Sandberg owner now 😁

Its weird but my VM4 arrived set up perfectly for me at 2mm altho i think it was done by Classic and Cool guitars. I think its down to 1.8mm at the moment.

My MarloweDK which i had assumed would have a very low action arrived at 3mm at 12th fret. It was 2nd hand. When trying to set it up i had some major issues with the saddles bottomed out it was still high no matter what i did. I eventually had to shim the neck very slightly and its now around the 2mm at 12th fret too.

 

I usually start at 2.5mm right away if its not there or lower and then slowly work my way down to 2mm. Anything less i tend to get some fret buzz when i play harder which is something i'm trying to remedy. Play lighter, save my fingers but 2mm is usually my target figure. The VM4 was tweaked a bit further by mistake and it was fine so i left it there.

 

NB : i play fingerstyle.

Dave

Edited Sunday at 16:25 by dmccombe7

[BabyBlueSound]

I mostly play fingerstyle as well these days, and yeah this one started at 2.5mm at 12th, I got it down to almost ~2mm. No buzz, even after I straightened the neck a bit, still leaving a very light bow. I prefer even lower action as well (1.6mm - 1.8mm) for soft home playing, but the Sandberg feels so smooth even on ~2mm, I can't even explain it. Consistent tension on all strings and everything, impossible not to love!

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, BabyBlueSound said:

I mostly play fingerstyle as well these days, and yeah this one started at 2.5mm at 12th, I got it down to almost ~2mm. No buzz, even after I straightened the neck a bit, still leaving a very light bow. I prefer even lower action as well (1.6mm - 1.8mm) for soft home playing, but the Sandberg feels so smooth even on ~2mm, I can't even explain it. Consistent tension on all strings and everything, impossible not to love!

Yep that's the Sandberg bug. It sneaks up on you and when it bites you get it big time. Just great basses.

I've never had a bad sound using my VM4. Its why i tend to take it to every gig these days. It just never lets you down.

Dave

[fretmeister]

I never measure when I do a set up. Every bass needs something different so I always do it by feel alone.

[dmccombe7]

3 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I never measure when I do a set up. Every bass needs something different so I always do it by feel alone.

I guess that's really how i do it, until i'm happy with a bass but being an engineer i like to measure the end result. That's probably why my VM4 is slightly lower than other basses. I adjusted it after changing to Elixir strings which have a little more tension and it just felt right and when measured it was 1.8mm no fret buzz.

Some basses i've tried taking lower but i either get fret buzz or choking and when i reach that point i just bring it back a touch and then measure it. Its more a reference point in my head.

Dave

[TRBboy]

53 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I never measure when I do a set up. Every bass needs something different so I always do it by feel alone.

I'm exactly the same, there's too many variables, and the measurements don't tell the whole story. Feel/sight/sound is the best way to go.👌

[BabyBlueSound]

It's not like I set it to a certain height, I just measure it at the end. Why wouldn't I measure what I have done?  To me, not measuring anything that's measurable is like... I don't know, wearing a watch with a dead battery 😁

 

I might want to reconfigure at some point in the future, and if I don't like it, it will be nice to know where to go back to, without playing back and forth with these fussy bridges until I get that right feel I know already had before...  

[Raslee]

On 17/04/2025 at 15:56, Highfox said:

Thought I'd post a photo of my trio.

 weight wise..

 

TT 3.6KG

VS SL 2.7KG

And the monster TM 4.9 KG. Which is loaded with a SD humbucker!

 

The old style TM is the winner for sound and playability for me, slightly fatter neck than the California ii's , but a bit too heavy for regular gig use.

Interestingly it seems the TT is loaded with splitcoils and not singlecoil. Kind of darker sound for a jazz to my ears.

Stunning! Is the VS SL a special order? I really want a super light P. 

[Raslee]

Anyone using a detuner/hipshot on a California II ?

[TRBboy]

33 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

It's not like I set it to a certain height, I just measure it at the end. Why wouldn't I measure what I have done?  To me, not measuring anything that's measurable is like... I don't know, wearing a watch with a dead battery 😁

 

I might want to reconfigure at some point in the future, and if I don't like it, it will be nice to know where to go back to, without playing back and forth with these fussy bridges until I get that right feel I know already had before...  

I hear what you're saying, but unless you have an accurate way to measure the amount of relief in the neck, as well as the saddle height, the measurements will only ever give you a starting point. 

[JazzyJ]

34 minutes ago, Raslee said:

Anyone using a detuner/hipshot on a California II ?

Fitted a BT7 last week. Very slight ream to accommodate the ferrule and drill holes for the mounting screws.

[BabyBlueSound]

15 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

I hear what you're saying, but unless you have an accurate way to measure the amount of relief in the neck, as well as the saddle height, the measurements will only ever give you a starting point. 

 

Very true, just like the fact that the same measurements will feel very different on two basses. The Sterling shortie I am trying to sell has a very similar string height to the Sandberg, and while the Sterling feels very hard to play for me, the Sandberg feels like butter!

[TRBboy]

31 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

Very true, just like the fact that the same measurements will feel very different on two basses. The Sterling shortie I am trying to sell has a very similar string height to the Sandberg, and while the Sterling feels very hard to play for me, the Sandberg feels like butter!

When I got my first Sandberg, it made all my other basses feel hard to play 😅 (I sold them all in the following months, even my old faithful US Jazz I'd had for nearly 20 years, to buy more Sandbergs 🤣)

[ead]

I think it's a missed opportunity that Sandberg don't offer a detuner as I think there would be a good take-up.

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I hear what you're saying, but unless you have an accurate way to measure the amount of relief in the neck, as well as the saddle height, the measurements will only ever give you a starting point. 

I use feeler gauges on the 7th fret while using a capo on 1st fret and holding down 12th fret (i'd need to confirm the 12th fret as its been a while and might be where the neck meets the heel)

Generally i just eyeball along the neck and make sure it has the slightest relief. Once happy with that i'll measure it and move onto the string height and intonation.

 I usually reference a set up guide i found on Fodera basses.

Dave

Edited Sunday at 21:07 by dmccombe7