Sandberg appreciation society

[VilleT]

Few weeks ago I was struggling between standard TT5 and TT5 Superlight. I finally bought standard TT5 from BTM-Guitars, and it arrived today. Looks and sounds great! Weight is only 3,7kg.

Edited June 28 by VilleT
Added one picture

[Pirellithecat]

Very Nice!! 
This is one of those "Doh" questions but .... can anyone confirm - the bodies on the California TT MKII's (4 String) are different to those of the California VT MKII's (4 String)?  
I'm almost sure they are ..... but thought I should check  .... !
Ta

[juanbcn83]

2 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

Very Nice!! 
This is one of those "Doh" questions but .... can anyone confirm - the bodies on the California TT MKII's (4 String) are different to those of the California VT MKII's (4 String)?  
I'm almost sure they are ..... but thought I should check  .... !
Ta

I'm not sure if I understand your question but the TT models are like a jazz bass and the VT are a Pbass with a single pickup in the Bridge position

[Pirellithecat]

Yes - it's a daft question!  I guess I'd like a Jazz bass, (2x jazz pickups) in a P Bass body, but with a (relatively) skinny neck.  I recently bought a jazz bass - but I much prefer the P Bass body style (weight/balance/less cumbersome/stands on a stand easily).   I also have my fantastic VM4.   It would be very hard to resist a Sandberg TT if the body were P-like ... hence the question.   I guess I need to go and see one (again - now I know what to expect from a Jazz Bass) so that I can judge.

[warwickhunt]

22 minutes ago, Pirellithecat said:

Yes - it's a daft question!  I guess I'd like a Jazz bass, (2x jazz pickups) in a P Bass body, but with a (relatively) skinny neck.  I recently bought a jazz bass - but I much prefer the P Bass body style (weight/balance/less cumbersome/stands on a stand easily).   I also have my fantastic VM4.   It would be very hard to resist a Sandberg TT if the body were P-like ... hence the question.   I guess I need to go and see one (again - now I know what to expect from a Jazz Bass) so that I can judge.

 

You need to do this!  

[Pirellithecat]

16 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

You need to do this!  

So that's a VS next to a VT with the Split Coil removed a Jazz Pup replacing it?  Or 2 VS's the blue one with an added Jazz Pup at the Bridge position and a reworking of the Split Coil recess hidden under the pick guard to accept a Jazz  ............. or .....  

[jrixn1]

5 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

the bodies on the California TT MKII's (4 String) are different to those of the California VT MKII's (4 String)? 

 

red = T
blue = V

[Pirellithecat]

Thanks - that's good - not too much difference then - I could probably live with that ......... !

[warwickhunt]

Both VS (originally) but the Marley Blue had the extra J inserted at the bridge and the P re routed for a J.

 

[juanbcn83]

10 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

Yes - it's a daft question!  I guess I'd like a Jazz bass, (2x jazz pickups) in a P Bass body, but with a (relatively) skinny neck.  I recently bought a jazz bass - but I much prefer the P Bass body style (weight/balance/less cumbersome/stands on a stand easily).   I also have my fantastic VM4.   It would be very hard to resist a Sandberg TT if the body were P-like ... hence the question.   I guess I need to go and see one (again - now I know what to expect from a Jazz Bass) so that I can judge.

Sandberg has two models that coud work for you:

 

Sandberg Ida Nielsen: One of the basses I desire the most. Is a Pbass shape but with a single pickup and MM pickup configuration. I love everything on this bass.

 

Sandberg Martin Mendez: 2 jazz bass delano pickups in a Pbass shape. It has two finishes: matte black with maple fretboard and black block inlays and white with ebony fingerboard (I prefer white in this case). Is a passive bass but I only have a doubt with this bass. Both pick ups are a little bit closer to the neck so I'm not sure if that's the "vintage" sound I would want.

 

My vote is for the Ida Nielsen model, if you want that kind of sound.

 

Theorically the pick up configuration of my Enigma 5 is closer to the bridge than the normal VM (correct me if I'm wrong) but for me I get a very good Pbass sound using only the neck pick up. I can compare with my 68 P and even when it's not the same is a very close and usable sound.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, juanbcn83 said:

Sandberg Martin Mendez: 2 jazz bass delano pickups in a Pbass shape. It has two finishes: matte black with maple fretboard and black block inlays and white with ebony fingerboard (I prefer white in this case). Is a passive bass but I only have a doubt with this bass. Both pick ups are a little bit closer to the neck so I'm not sure if that's the "vintage" sound I would want.

 

I've just been putting a photo of that alongside a regular Jazz — did you mean that both pickups on the Martin M are a bit closer to the bridge? Because that's how it's looking to me from the stock photo

[warwickhunt]

If you compare pics of Sandberg / Fender be aware that the overall dimensions of a Sandberg are less/smaller than a Fender.

[juanbcn83]

40 minutes ago, Munurmunuh said:

 

I've just been putting a photo of that alongside a regular Jazz — did you mean that both pickups on the Martin M are a bit closer to the bridge? Because that's how it's looking to me from the stock photo

Yes I think It has.

I read somewhere that's the configuration and the sound Martin Méndez was looking for

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

If you compare pics of Sandberg / Fender be aware that the overall dimensions of a Sandberg are less/smaller than a Fender.

 

I put a square grid over the photos, with guidelines at going over exactly the same frets, thus ensuring I'm comparing like with like — I'm taking no notice of the size or shape of the body, purely looking at the relationship of the pickup to the scale length. The Jazz neck pickup is closer to the neck than the Martin M neck pickup, by approximately the width of the pickup 

 

I used the same method to double check that the California Central has its pickup in the Stingray spot. Which leads me to this request.....

 

*

 

Has anyone got a Central strung with nickel plated rounds? If so, by gently backing off the bass and treble, and by pushing the mids a little, is it possible to get a nicely rounded tone? Or do the pickup and the preamp have a baked in tone that fights against that sound? I've read that the pickup is wired in series, so I have hope.....

 

(The few demos there are of the Central are not very interested in exploring that sound, which isn't a surprise.)

Edited June 29 by Munurmunuh

[chris_b]

Hi guys, updating pickups seems to be a thing with Sandbergs. . . . has anyone put in a set of Bartolini Jazz pickups, B-Axis or any other?  Cheers

[colleya]

I quite fancy swapping the pickup covers on my Cali VM5 to a cream colour.

 

I've checked the sandberg online store, and googling also hasn't turned up any useful results.

 

Does anyone know of somewhere to get them?

 

Cheers!

 

[TRBboy]

17 minutes ago, colleya said:

I quite fancy swapping the pickup covers on my Cali VM5 to a cream colour.

 

I've checked the sandberg online store, and googling also hasn't turned up any useful results.

 

Does anyone know of somewhere to get them?

 

Cheers!

 

I've seen Sandbergs with white ones, but never cream.... May be worth asking them? 

 

If you know someone who's good at 3D printing they may be able to scan yours and print some cream ones?

[ead]

Are the Sandberg casings not the same as Delano?

[BassApprentice]

Stuck my head into GuitarGuitar for a nosy, not a bad selection of basses overall for once but I was amazed to see the Electra series are now £999. I know it's the same with everything but I remember full fat Sandberg's retailing at £1200ish.

 

Mad.

[BassApprentice]

I had another look at this and I may understand - this seems to be the Electra III VS4 at £999 whilst the Electra II VS4 retails at £749.

 

So....anyone know the difference? 😅

[Aidan63]

Electra III now £749 at GuitarGuitar

I'm guessing the price was just old stock being priced to sell/differentiated to make room for new stock, but now new stuff actually in stock, and Sandberg have ordered too much stock so need to sell the new ones at a lower price and have discounted to the dealers - the whole industry is overstocked and so much competition from all the used stock for sale - hopefully used sellers will get a bit more realistic about the worth of used instruments

spec wise I can't see much difference

[martthebass]

Has anyone on here got experience with the Cali 2 TT shortscale? I’ve got 2 VS Lionels that have quickly become my go to gigging basses (after a couple of historical misses with Sandberg basses) and would like to know how it compares to the VS.

[Trevthebassman]

Just got this Superlight, and it’s a joy. My back thanks me 😁

[scrumpymike]

Jumped on Thomann's website to check out their short-scale stock -  just out of interest as I already have my 'ultimate' s-s Sandy. They're listing 19 basses but only have 2 in stock! In my experience over recent years, that's an all-time low and they're showing the popular base-model Lionel BB not expected in stock until next June!!

[TRBboy]

38 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Jumped on Thomann's website to check out their short-scale stock -  just out of interest as I already have my 'ultimate' s-s Sandy. They're listing 19 basses but only have 2 in stock! In my experience over recent years, that's an all-time low and they're showing the popular base-model Lionel BB not expected in stock until next June!!

I think Sandberg are constantly stuck in the position of being very popular, but not wanting to majorly expand the business, as it would mean big investment and high risk, and may take away from their small-company, handcrafted ethos. It seems that waiting times are getting longer and longer as they struggle to build instruments fast enough for demand.