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Hi guys, I have a second Jaydee on order... will confirm the model but it will be fully binded & sea foam green pearl colour. A few thoughts on my first Jaydee that i received in January: Being a Mark King fan since the first time i saw Level 42 on Top Of The Pops in the 80s, I always desired that distinctive Jaydee look & sound through out the nearly 30 years i have been playing bass now. So 3 years ago i put in an order for a blue series 3 Jaydee.. yep 3 years! When the bass arrived the first thing i notice was the beautiful craftsmanship & attention to detail, the construction was flawless. The neck was solid and super stable, so much so that i could get the most ridiculously low action. The paintwork was gorgeous, it actually changes colour depending how the light hits it, I would definitely recommend a pearl style colour if you like this effect. The negatives: Picking up the bass i did notice at first that it seemed a little heavier than my other basses which are all chosen for their lightness. This did bug me a bit (more on this later). On playing the bass for the first time sitting down, I found it a bit weird to balance on my knee as the shape of the contour pushes the bass backwards compared to say a Fender sitting position. Also, generally playing the bass after playing Fender Jazz basses for years, felt a bit strange, I couldn't get used to the tone controls, and the tone wasn't like my Jazz bass ...... 3 months later, negatives turn into positives: I soon got use to the slight weight increase, since lock down i had done virtually no exercise, after a few barbell curls I stopped to even noticing the slight weight difference. I soon got used to the shape of the bass in a sitting position, i experimented positioning the bass in between my legs (it actually helps your right hand finger style technique in the position) but also in my normal - resting just on my right leg position. One thing that has surprised me is how amazing these basses play and sound but - it didn't happen out of the base case, it took a few months to get use to the Jaydee sound and playability. Now, I can't even play as fast or articulate on my Jazz bass! Also, Jaydee basses are meant to be played mostly with the back pickup on, yep even for slap! But if you select both pickups you can get that Marcus Miller smooth slap sound as well. Also, It can handle an amazing Jaco style growling mid tone, perfect for staccato funk or reeling off bebop licks. By far this is my favourite bass I have owned, and iv'e owned quite a few. To conclude, my experience with Jaydee basses is that they are really professional basses for pro bass players. You have to make a few adjustments if you're coming from a Fender style instrument & probably need to play it in for a few weeks / months but once you do there's no looking back! I'd love to hear your similar stories & thoughts on your Jaydee bass experiences.

Al Dente was a Jazz musician who played the double bass, although he was never involved in any particularly famous recordings he was notable for being one of the first players to boil his strings. He was also known for his intricate macramé portraits of the Jazz greats and his detailed knowledge of the baroque harpsichord.

I learned to play bass in the early 1980s when I was a teenager. In those days, the only good bass (to me) was active with multiple pickups and preferably headless. My right hand would always have been close to the bridge, and I was chasing "the honk" as much as possible. I've returned to the bass in recent years, and through GAS ended up with a Jazz, a P, and a PJ. The P, in particular, has encouraged me to rest my thumb on the single pickup, further from the bridge than I was used to. What a revelation! I really feel the feedback I get from the less rigid string at this position makes me enjoy playing more. Much more. And the tone seems better there too. I can't imagine heading back to the bridge now, except on the Jazz, and that makes me want to play the Jazz less. I think I've been seduced by the P. Teenage me would have turned his nose up at a single pickup passive bass. Anyone else been through this?

This guy is very talented (which will probably put some people on here off) - but it’s very witty and the observations are hilarious in some cases - Pop Producer is a classic!! (PS forum software seems to have stopped detecting video links……correction - now doing it!! 👍)

Nope. 'Don't look back in anger'. Lagered lads singing "So-oooo Sally can wait, she sumfink or other, mutter mutter [cue: gap while waiting for the bit they know], but don't look back in anger, I 'eard you say'. While waving a can

Just thought I should share my great fortune/ honour in becoming the only the second custodian of an unmarked 73 jazz bass. Before I share the story, I know that the bass has the black scratch normally found from 74, but I've seen the original receipt from Carlsbro Sound in Mansfield clearly marked Sept 1973. So the bass is 100% original down to the case, original paperwork, inspection tag, owners manual and spare set of flatwounds ! Having saved his hard earned cash for years, the original owner, John B sadly passed away suddenly and his wife couldn't bring herself to part with the her husband's pride and joy, which has been sat under the bed until now. His wife decided to pass the bass on to someone else and I was recently invited to the family home to hear the story for myself. I have several photos of the John playing the bass in his band. I can't share them on here as they aren't mine to share but I can assure you the bass is visible clear as day, including John's initials on the lower horn, as was the trend in the 70's apparently and which are still on the bass now . . . . I promised I wouldn't remove them. Of course when I 1st saw the bass, apart from being floored by the stunning condition, I assumed JB stood for Jazz Bass! So an incredible, virtually show room condition beautiful jazz bass, preserved in time.

Play only songs that you have written yourself. If you end up writing an anthem taken up by stupid drunken punters, then at least you can take comfort in the amount of royalties pouring in!

Same here Chris. When we first got married in the 80's I had a day job and also gigged 2 or 3 evenings every week. Without that income it would have been much harder for us, and doing so meant my wife could look after my daughter at home for the first five years before she started school. When I went pro my goal was to gig until I paid off the mortgage. Didn't see me getting divorced though, so stuck with gigging to pay off the next one! ( Still playing as my only source of income, and eventually paid off the 2nd mortgage ). Things change in life all the time, and I've just rolled with the punches. I was never a big fan of the 9 to 5 / corporate thing, and not a day goes by when I don't think how fortunate I've been in having a job which I still love.

And so to the part that probably need the most care - gluing the fretboard back. First step, clearly, was to ensure that all traces of the original glue was removed from both faces. Then a couple of dry runs to make sure that when I started clamping, I knew where everything I was going to need was and where it would go. The board tends to float around on the glue layer and so positive location of its position is needed. One useful thing is that the original heel screw drill holes actually go into the fretboard a small amount - I will be able to use that with a drill shank as a locator! Note also the plywood strip running along the neck spline which will act as the clamping caul: The next way of locating checked in the dry run was a few spool clamps to clamp the side of the fretboard in line with the side of the neck. The main clamp cauls on this side is a variety of fretboard radius sanding blocks to give maximum pressure across the board and to the sides: And then, just before gluing, low-tack masking tape - I don't want to be having to scrape wood glue off the neck or fretboard any more than I have to! And, finally, glue, check all of the alignments, clamp, re-check: And it will stay clamped until tomorrow morning when I will see how much edge reparation will be needed.

If I wash my hands before I play, I can wave bye bye to my callouses very quickly indeed. I recall reading an anecdote from John Giblin of a session he did, where the artist made him change his strings after every second take.

Exactly what I said to Jabba last night but having slept on it I think I share his concerns about how the square top will look on such an otherwise curvaceous body. I think I've settled on knob A. with an aluminium marker line like C. but no veneer line. But he more I look at D., again, the more I like it but I am really not sure about the square top. Gah, why does he have to do such an excellent job? Because they are all lovely it's difficult to decide!

People often tell me covers bands dont earn money. We would have struggled badly with 4 kids without it.

Coil them, place them in a large plastic container and wait for the bin men to empty it. Then fit some new strings to your bass.

Blur were the most overrated Britpop band. I saw them at Glastonbury on their big comeback show. They were just boring, especially after Nick Cave

Rather than boiling, my solution now to keeping strings in top playing condition is to keep the bass in the corner of the room just as a piece of furniture. They now never get gunked up.

Wulfpeck are... oh, it's unpopular opinions that are wanted.

Dance and trance music from the 90's was to a large part instrumental

I've been trying to make some knobs for this bass - it's taken a little while to work out how to do it when I don't own a lathe. I've also made quite a few as I've been trying different things: I will post some picture of the process later but for now here's some different designs. I'm thinking of the one on the right with the marker but without the veneers as I think they are a bit fussy. I'm also waiting for my planer blades to come back from the sharpeners so I can get on with the second body. Cheers

Sandblasted blue American Special Precision Bass

I might’ve sent an email - need both current ray5’s to go to justify it

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm unimpressed by how many of the other opinions expressed here are far from unpopular.

I spent the first 10 years turning my nose up at Precisions and heading down the black-and-pointy 5 string path; BTBs, Warlocks, Vampyres etc. Then the P happened because I finally tried one and thought it was great, so I sold up and moved back to 4 string mostly-white Precisions for 10 years. Now for the last two years I've switched back to 5s, but this time it's smaller-bodied basses like Ibanez SRs and Spectors that look to be the likely flavour of the decade. I'm still keeping my favourite P (which ironically is a Maruszczyk rather than a Fender) so I can nip back for a bit whenever the mood takes me, but the others are shipping out. So yeah, it kinda happened and then un-happened to me, but I'll always like the sound of a P and don't regret giving it a good run as my main bass. Play what you're enjoying for as long as you're enjoying it, and feel free to have a change every so often.

Pull up to the bumper. Miss Graaaaaace Jones

And I'd agree with you.

need to pick if I want a fuzz or a expression pedal for the sy-200 in the space

Jump. Vah Halen

Mr Brightside and Dakota make me cringe, especially when the inevitable muppets take to the floor, all preening and pointing as the songs on their apparent inwardly ‘approved’ list come on. Once upon a time id’ve maybe voiced my dislike, but these days I have a different approach. Firstly, as a covers band I’m aware that the crowd mostly see us as essentially little more than a glorified jukebox. We’re there to entertain, and if they like the songs, then fine, I imagine they probably wouldn’t like my choices much! 😝 So I just crack on. My method to wring enjoyment out of those sort of tunes is to concentrate entirely on my tone and technique and locking in with mr drums, I make that my sole focus for those few tracks.. (Made easier by being in IEMs). It sounds odd, but I don’t enjoy the crowd going nuts bit, because it feels like ‘stolen valour’. Not my songs an’ all. Instead I guess I’m inwardly imagining that there’s someone in the room thinking something along the lines of ‘blimey, that rhythm section’s tight!’ Or ‘that bassist’s timing/technique/tone is bang on.’ it gets me through 😅😂

It's not a shorty thing. It's a set up thing.

Some Mothers Do Addam ～ Reuben

Before and after pics of the headstock on my PB50

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I think at this point, we need to hear from the good Captain Beefheart. In his "10 Commandments 0f Guitar", coming in at #8 is: 8. Don’t wipe the sweat off your instrument “You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.” I'm pretty sure this applies to the bass, too. Would you argue with Captain Beefheart? I mean, he died 11 years ago, but would you?

This was a biggie.

Yes indeed fkin Wonderwall, chant along dreck for football fans, which leads me to ShBritpop, a low in pop music history if ever, partly due it's association with Tony Bliar and that pathetic Cool Britannia schlock . Pulp were good and Jarvis is a top geezer but the rest of it was unmitigated c@ck. If I ever wanted to be American it was then.

I despise the Blues Brothers' 'Everybody wants somebody'. Not so much because of the song but due to its amazing power to cause a headlong rush to the dance floor from lagered-up lads (who normally prefer to booze rather than dance), knocking everyone aside, leaving a trail of death and destruction and lots of bro-hugging. (PS, Mr Brightside is the modern day equivalent)

BBC6 Music play some new instrumental tracks, Ezra Collective (jazz) Kamasi Washington (cinematic jazz) Mogwai (rock) and quite a bit of instrumental dance music. I think Mogwai's album got to number one earlier this year.

Dear Bass friends, attached a few pictures showing my actual Headless Bass on my workshop 😎

The replacement trussrod arrived yesterday and so today was about prepping the fit and getting ready for re-gluing of the fretboard. First thing was to widen the slot a mm for the new rod to fit snugly in the slot: The original 'traditional' rod required a curved slot carved in the neck for it to work. The modern rod I am fitting is straight. So two more things needed to be done - deepening the slot either end by a few mm and filling the over deep length in the middle. Here I'm using the 'I don't use this often but by golly am I glad I have it for this kind of job' mini hand router to shave the shallow ends down to depth: Technically, the over-deep part of the slot could be left alone - the new rod will bow upwards against the fretboard centre, not downwards into the slot - but I always think that the fewer voids you have in a neck the better! So I am shaving down some spare maple edge binding to fill the over-deep area of the slot: Removing the old, still reverse-tensioned, rod allowed the set bow in the neck to flatten. I can reinforce that by lightly clamping the flat face of the neck to my levelling beam while the glue on those infill strips is drying: I'll let that fully set overnight and then tomorrow should be able to insert the rod and re-glue the fretboard to the neck. And while that's drying, start fretting @funkle's Wal-ish neck, whose fret wire arrived this afternoon