Bitsa stocktake

[Beedster]

Gathered together various basses in various stages of construction today, all but two will be heading out (I'll let you guess which two). So many parts, so little time! There's a further two I couldn't be arsed to get out of the pile in the shad also 🤔

 

[Rich]

If it were me, I'd be keeping the Jazz with the Status neck, and the fretless with the maple board.

[Beedster]

Just now, Rich said:

If it were me, I'd be keeping the Jazz with the Status neck, and the fretless with the maple board.

We are aligned 👍

[TheGreek]

Personally I'd be keeping the fretless with the maple neck and the Ninja black P.

Maybe add a J or H to help it kick more bottom. 

[Rich]

17 minutes ago, Beedster said:

We are aligned 👍

You sir are a man of exquisite taste. I bet those two are absolute ársekickers. I've never tried anything with SimS pickups but I'd very much like to.

[oldslapper]

A gentleman is someone who owns a bass with a maple unlined fretless board. 

[oldslapper]

I bought this back recently as I realised how ungentlemanly I had become.

[Steve Browning]

Rather like the look of the fretless at the top.

[Beedster]

5 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Personally I'd be keeping the fretless with the maple neck and the Ninja black P.

Maybe add a J or H to help it kick more bottom. 

 

The maple neck fretless is 100% staying, the ninja Precision, which has a rather special Warmoth neck, nay or may not......

 

5 hours ago, Rich said:

You sir are a man of exquisite taste. I bet those two are absolute ársekickers. I've never tried anything with SimS pickups but I'd very much like to.

 

Took me a very long tine to get the hang of SimS but now I have I can't help thinking they are possibly among the best production basses out there

 

5 hours ago, oldslapper said:

A gentleman is someone who owns a bass with a maple unlined fretless board. 

 

No argument here  

 

5 hours ago, oldslapper said:

I bought this back recently as I realised how ungentlemanly I had become.

 

The David Niven of basses 👍

 

5 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

Rather like the look of the fretless at the top.

 

The body (and the neck), is rather lovely Steve 👍

[AndyTravis]

That sunburst Enfield/Status has “Trav” written all over it - JESUUUUSSSS!

[Beedster]

So I have ten basses, 8 of which are projects and two (the Enfields) are staying. All are Fender fit necks/bodies, which makes it a wonderful exercise in mixing and matching to find what works. The maple fretted neck on the third bass up is interesting as it was pretty much dead on an ash body (not pictured above) but sings on the ultra lightweight Squier body it's sitting on now, a body that didn't sing especially well with the block and bound neck, which sings on the Jazz body.....

 

I don't doubt that I'm projecting some of what i hear and feel when I play them in various configurations, and some necks just fit some pockets better than others which will be a factor, but it's bloody good fun finding the right neck for the body, it's Blind Date for basses  

[jonno1981]

Love the jazz with the two sims pickups in it. How do they sound? I’ve been tempted by these before as the concept is brilliant but I’ve never heard a demo that I was really impressed with. 

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, jonno1981 said:

Love the jazz with the two sims pickups in it. How do they sound? I’ve been tempted by these before as the concept is brilliant but I’ve never heard a demo that I was really impressed with. 

The SimS PUPs are lovely, as are the basses themselves. Took me a long time to appreciate how to use the PUPs, easy to forget that when you play a Precision you address is differently to how you address a Jazz or a 'Ray, and I've tended to use dead flats on Precisions, zingy rounds on Jazzes and lively flats on 'Rays over the years, plus of course the baked-in tone in a 'Ray circuit is very different to standard active Jazz circuits. I started out with an Enfield FL where so much of the tone is in the fingers, moved to fretted where the differences were more tangible, and now with both I see the PUP switching as pretty awesome bunch of preset options that may not replicate the three basses 100% but provide options way above what you'd get from any single preamp (and of course on both instruments I get to to choose both PUP and preamp settings). 

[jonno1981]

23 minutes ago, Beedster said:

The SimS PUPs are lovely, as are the basses themselves. Took me a long time to appreciate how to use the PUPs, easy to forget that when you play a Precision you address is differently to how you address a Jazz or a 'Ray, and I've tended to use dead flats on Precisions, zingy rounds on Jazzes and lively flats on 'Rays over the years, plus of course the baked-in tone in a 'Ray circuit is very different to standard active Jazz circuits. I started out with an Enfield FL where so much of the tone is in the fingers, moved to fretted where the differences were more tangible, and now with both I see the PUP switching as pretty awesome bunch of preset options that may not replicate the three basses 100% but provide options way above what you'd get from any single preamp (and of course on both instruments I get to to choose both PUP and preamp settings). 

Thanks for the info. I’ll consider a pair of these for next bonus! I love the versatility and endless options. Might go passive only and see how I get on. 

[Steve Browning]

On 29/04/2023 at 17:17, Steve Browning said:

Rather like the look of the fretless at the top.

Its twin is waiting ... 🙂

Edited May 1, 2023 by Steve Browning

[Beedster]

5 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

Its twin is waiting ... 🙂

Lovely 👍

[Beedster]

So following the stocktake I have done some experimentation

 

The rosewood neck on the blue Precision (second top) works best on the natural Enfield

The ebony Jazz neck on the natural Precision (top) works best on the 3TSB Enfield

The Status neck works best on the Blue Precision, in fact surprisingly well

The maple fretless neck works best on the natural Precision 

 

The rest all work very well as they are. Neck body combinations are like rhythm sections, more about magical chemistry than objective quality 👍 

[Bolo]

Very nice collection! I'm curious how the block'n'binding neck (bottom) would work on the natural P body (top). Would love to see a pic of that combination.  I've recently developed GAS for the fat 62 precision sound and am kind of looking for a bass I can haul around.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Bolo

[Shaggy]

5 hours ago, Beedster said:

So following the stocktake I have done some experimentation

 

The rosewood neck on the blue Precision (second top) works best on the natural Enfield

The ebony Jazz neck on the natural Precision (top) works best on the 3TSB Enfield

The Status neck works best on the Blue Precision, in fact surprisingly well

The maple fretless neck works best on the natural Precision 

 

The rest all work very well as they are. Neck body combinations are like rhythm sections, more about magical chemistry than objective quality 👍 

 

OK, that’s definitely a cue for more pictures......😉

 

[Beedster]

7 hours ago, Bolo said:

Very nice collection! I'm curious how the block'n'binding neck (bottom) would work on the natural P body (top). Would love to see a pic of that combination.  I've recently developed GAS for the fat 62 precision sound and am kind of looking for a bass I can haul around.

 

Will do 👍

 

2 hours ago, Shaggy said:

 

OK, that’s definitely a cue for more pictures......😉

 

 

Will do 👍

[PaulThePlug]

Blocks... on a P... I thought they were the reserve of a J?

Edited May 18, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Reggaebass]

I’m sure fender did a 70s precision with block inlays once 

[AndyTravis]

10 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I’m sure fender did a 70s precision with block inlays once 

Yeah - an MIJ/MIM “70’s Reissue” limited run

[LukeFRC]

There are a lot more frets on show there than I would expect for you sir!

 

like that blue body

[fleabag]

5 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

Yeah - an MIJ/MIM “70’s Reissue” limited run

 

 

They also did the Big Block but the pickup was nothing like a P  pickup

 

https://bighouseguitars.com/products/2006-fender-mim-p-bass-big-block-inlays-black