Leaderboard

Been very content with my Squier 40th anniversary P and Warwick Corvette for quite a long time but had a sudden hankering for a Stingray that I just couldn't shake. Never tried one before and just loved that sound. This Ray34 came up at a good price on Reverb, just a shade over £500 after some negotiation, and had to pull the trigger. The colour is unbelievable. I love that blue sparkle, and the roasted maple neck is really smooth. Not totally au fait with active basses but put it through my pedalboard with a Solidgold Beta V preamp and a Jam Pedals Rat and I'll need to do some serious tweaking, sounds wildly different to the setting I use for my P bass. Now the conundrum of trying to justify having 3 basses around the house...

Absolutely second those sentiments... DONT get Jon to build you a bass... get your money back. He is not a skilled luthier. The bass he made for me was unplayable. The intonation was WAY off and because he built it with a fix, wholly unadjustable Bridge, (not what I ordered) there was no way to remedy the intonation and it had to go back to him and when he sent it back (uninsured to save himself a few quid) it was damage in transit due to the poor way he'd packaged it. DO NOT GET JON TO BUILD YOU A BASS. Get you money back and put a deposit down on a trusted, skilled luthier such as ACG, Shuker, Overwater, Zoot etc.

Eddie, you're obviously a far more patient man than I (and I do mean that as a compliment). All I can say is that I hope it works out for you. Given what you've just said, my instinct would be to close the thread for now and await further developments -- as I said, it can always be reopened if you wish.

For the past couple of years, I'd been looking for a lightweight 5 string bass. My current 5 string is a little on the heavy side for 3 hour gigs where I often dance about like a prat. I've been mostly just sticking to my 4 string 'P', weighing in at 4kg and tuning down when required. Overwhelmed by internet research, I popped in to Guitar Guitar on Saturday to actually try some and get an idea what I wanted to buy. I was expecting to find something like a Spector to my liking, and to make the purchase down the line a little. I've got a steady enough income that I don't need to scrimp on something substandard, but dropping four figures on a bass isn't my top priority at the moment. I browsed the bass department - which was a little less well stocked than my last visit - and nothing jumped out at me. I was on my way to the exit, when a sales guy offered assistance. I explained what I was after, and he convinced me to try a £370 Ibanez SR305. I seen it when browsing, but didn't even consider it - a 5 string costing so little couldn't be up to the job. I immediately noticed it was very light, and I was blown away with the quality of it. Active preamp, nice sounding dual humbuckers with a coil tap - very versatile. A really slim neck with no high or sharp frets. Well set up too - intonation bang on, just enough neck relief and action only a tiny bit higher than I'd have liked. (In contrast to the Fender Vintera I bought a couple of years ago, which wasn't set up at all and had to spend hours on it) Anyway, I left the shop with the bass. I had it at a rehearsal last night, and I was very happy with it. I'll need to tweak the pickup height a little to balance the volume across the strings, and maybe tweak the action - but other than that it's good to go. I've not weighed it yet, but it's a similar weight to my Strat - around 3.6kg. I've learned a valuable lesson! George

Just a quick update. I put the side tape on today. Normally a Danelectro would be painted and the the white side tape applied, and it usually ends up shrinking and pulling away in valleys and edges. As I did on my Longhorn, I've used a wide centre tape with two thinner outer lines to look like a binding, the whole body including tape will now be clear coated which will seal everything in a help prevent any lifting of the edges. I really like the wood effect centre tape and I've gone for a very creamy 'binding' tape. It gives it a kind of hollow body vibe, which it is anyway. Just clear coat and a quick rebuild now.

Also available as audio only from the usual places. An interesting listen.

Hey folks. Just to keep everyone in the loop, Jon Letts emailed this morning and agreed to accept and adhere to a proposal for a bass. Not a demand for a Stradivarius or anything over what I'm owed, but not a cheap option to get him off the hook either. Now, I know that a lot of folk will be hanging their heads and saying "he's f**kin' mad" , and the Stockholm Syndrome comment did make me laugh!🤣 All I can say out in the open just now is even though it may not look like it, there's a definite method to this madness, having weighed all the factors both past and present and knowing exactly how this could have ended up. And when this finally has ended, I will break things down in detail on these boards. I've no doubt most of you will agree with this action once it is all done and dusted. Just stick with me and trust me here, guys. No matter what happens, it's going to be worth it.😉 And thanks to you all for the support, between here and TB, it really has lifted my state of mind very much. It's easy to get caught in a loop of expecting the bad and being surprised at the good.

If it was me I wouldn’t want a bass from him now, I’d just want my money back and move on to an alternative builder , if there’s something wrong with it you’re back to square one, I’d buy another bass

Two stories from the stables of AgedHorse come to mind that bury class distinction. When he was a more junior engineer he got fired for fooling all the audiophiles that they were blind auditioning a bunch of amps when it was the same amp the whole time. Later he was involved in developing the GenzBenz class D lined up to replace the class A/B. Iirc it was the same old preamp with both amp sections. Nobody could tell which was which no matter how hard they tried. Some amps have more heft than others but it's not the class of the amp doing the hefting.

21 basses and three amps in just over 1 square meter. It's all about height! They are normally in their cases, but still in the rack.

Played a 'blues and brews' night at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket. Lovely venue - we've played there before - easy load in/out, big stage, lights, great sound system with a team of sound guys. 3 bands, we were on last or 'headlining' as like to call it, a selection of local beers on offer. I wasn't confident anyone would turn on a chilly thursday in February up but apparently 60 souls made it - far more than I imagined. Bands were Red Sky High, Jamie Williams and the Roots Collective - who were especially good, great set of originals delivered in some style. Their bass player had a bitsa short scale Bronco/Mustang/Jazz hybrid that sounded awesome. Good player, too. Having been nicely warmed up and lubricated the crowd appreciated us and we went down very well, despite some left of field errors on a few songs we have played faultlessly for months (why does that happen?). We played a longer set, just over an hour, and it was all round a damned fine evening. No traffic there or back, in bed by 1am. My gear was my SG > new Trace Elliot Transit B pedal > desk which sounded pretty fab from where I was standing. Guitarist Alan's pic, taken from the mezzanine 'green room' where the performers hang out - Jamie Williams et al on their last song.

I've just submitted video reviews for the V7 Vintage, V5-25, P5 and P5R (Bass Gear Magazine) and have already asked that Sire let me know when the new models hit these shores so I can review some of those too. So, keep an eye out for some decent in-depth footage!

One of each

100% this. I'd look for a way to move on. I struggled for about a year to recover a debt I was owed. Did everything I could, and in the end, it never came to anything. I've had to write the debt off and move on. I'm concerned, like the rest of the guys here, that you're exposing yourself to more heartbreak, upset, and disappointment. I think we all hope that isn't the case.

I'm in agreement with my esteemed colleagues. Once bitten twice shy and all that.... I can't help feeling you're setting yourself up for a long road of pain, frustration and anger. I appreciate everything you've done so far and I admire your doggedness and determination. I think you've conducted yourself admirably but please don't forget to look after your own sanity and mental health too.

Glutton for punishment springs to minds. The Ball has been in Jons court for 10 years and now you are prolonging your own agony. You seem to have ignored all that has been said here and on TB warning you away from Jon - not just as someone who is untrustworthy, but also someone who has questionable skills to build a fully functioning bass, nevermind what would happen if you need after sales support. As for following your specs, you have chastised Jon previously for his inability to follow your specs. Now you expect that to suddenly change? SMH

This is a lovely bass and I'm thrilled to own it 🙂 While nowhere near as pretty it's this £80 Harley Benton which gets played. The Benton neck is far more comfortable than the Fender's and it sounds better too, thanks to that brilliant (discontinued) Wilkinson single coil 🙂 Apart from changing the strings for TI flats this PB-50 remains as it was when Thomann shipped it, April 2014 😎

What a great place Basschat is. A goldmine of information, support, conversation and of course GAS. I’ve been on here a long time, like many of you have. Some of you may be new, if you are, you’re welcome. I’ve had a lot of help here, parts, advice, insights, opinions and all given with a real sense of a community, even if we don’t always agree with each other, which is often part of the fun, as long as it’s healthy disagreement and not nasty, which it rarely is here. There is no better resource on the internet for all things bass. Ask for help, you will get it, ask for advice, you will get it. No questions are stupid, all answers are welcomed. No opinions are ignored, all views are observed. Thanks to everyone who run the site, long may it continue.

here ya go....

I recently bought a Boss wireless and I needed a larger board so it doesn`t get damaged hanging off the small board so got this one off of Amazon for £36. The cool thing is it has a cover on the bottom to store the power supply. Exc value for the money. Anyway I usually use the Sadowsky plugged into the ART tube amp into my RCF, I had the space for the Sansamp so stuck it on there if I fancy a change. The Beringher was cheap as chips and I was gonna spend a few bob on a better one but it does the job and I might not notice the difference anyway! Sorry for the dust.

You might get a few volunteers to help store some bits for you...

My gigging bass for one of my bands is a G&L Tribute JB and I love it. I've replaced the pups with Fender Pure Vintage 74s and guts with a Ki0gon loom. Was it a good bass and entirely giggable before the mods? Yup. Did I do any sort of test before and after to hear the difference? Nope. Do I think it's a better bass now? Yup. Am I slightly deluding myself to justify tinkering? Probably 😂

RE: Snobs - ignore - they are annoyed because you are achieving with pennies what they shelled pounds out for and are looking for a way to make themselves feel better by trying to bring you down. Don't let them, pity them instead and the crushing insecurity they live with on a daily basis.

I was behind you all the way until I just read this. Are you mad? After all he’s put you through you’re going down the ‘finish the instrument’ route? Even if he does complete something similar to what you’ve specced, it won’t be 100% and it’ll just sit there as a reminder of all the crap you went through and that you still didn’t get what you want. Plus, you’ll never be able to sell if you need to. Might not even be able to give it away at this rate. I’d rather wave goodbye to the money forever.

It’s as if you want to keep it all going another 10 years?

Good luck with that

Home On The Range ～ Gene Autry

if I ever get better at playing than my Squiers are at being basses then I might consider something more expensive. 😁

Come on, we all know that the most important thing about a bass is the logo on the headstock.

All true. One of my favourite gigging bases is my Harley Benton short-scale P bass. £79, brand new. Any snide comments from band members about whether I could afford a ‘better’ instrument is met with “it would have been a waste of money playing with you.”

I just took delivery of my Masterbuilt Alusonic J-Supreme. These are outstanding basses and definitely worth checking out! It has a great modern hifi sound and doesn’t need lots of tweaking with the 3 band eq. You guys have the luxury of going to Bass Direct to check them out, but I took a chance and totally relied on many discussions with Polly the owner of Alusonic to get the custom spec I needed. I’m going to sell my Sadowskys to finance another!

So, late May this year with the prospect of lockdown ending I was invited back to my old band to do a series of DB gigs. Absolute pleasure to be playing music with great guys after almost two years out. Problem was that they're not the most organised in terms of sound management and playing a 4/4 DB in what was a pretty chaotic soundscape at times was proving challenging in terms of feedback and hearing myself. I decided I'd get an EUB, and while ideally searching for an SLB-100, I was very happy to find a Clifton, and even happier when the owner offered to drive from Yorkshire to Kent to deliver it in person. Long story short, we had a great chat, turns out he'd played bass with a lot of musicians I listen to, and it was both entertaining and educational to hear the tales of Nashville perfectionism. I told him a about what we do and he said "Sounds like you're after a Wood Brothers sound", and I seem to recall thinking "Never heard of 'em". He left, and I thought I'd take a quick listen to these guys and see what I think. Bloody hell!!!!!!! No joke, this was the band I'd been waiting to hear all my life. Lovely bluegrass/Appalachian feel, extraordinary musicianship and some fine songwriting. And then there's Chris Wood on bass. The first thing I thought was "Wow he's good". Then I thought "Wow, he get's a lot of space in the mix (what a conversation on Talkbass described as high levels of 'acoustic real estate'), but what I really loved is that he plays a very Jazz oriented style in an ostensibly blues/Americana band, and does so with great style and with great technique. I tried to find stuff on here and wasn't surprised to find that @Clarky had discovered them years ago But it's not just the DB sound he gets, he plays a lot of electric also (a Hofner Violin Bass) with the same style and flair. Do check them out folks, as Clarky suggests, the recorded BD tone is pretty impressive, but so's some of the live playing. Check out some of this for example... I'll post some more when work eases down a little

This is a must listen to for any Matumbi fans like me

My wife would go nuclear....it's only hypothetical but I'm really already very scared

OK, restringing helped. Thanks a lot 👍

Sounds like a nut/break angle issue. How many turns on the tuner post is the A string? Making the max number of turns (three to four) will force the string to the bottom of the tuner post and may be enough to fix things... if not the nut slot may need some work.

Another concern you should consider... If you do commission another bass from him this would constitute another contract and could nullify your County Court action against him. As others have said, there is no guarantee of the quality of the new build. Unlikely that you'll be a returning customer so what's his motivation to do a good job? I'm with the majority here, get your money back and get in contact with @Andyjr1515 to build you what you want. There's a reason why he's always busy.

Interesting stuff SB, thanks for posting ! 😎

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/10-essential-japanese-reggae-releases-with-kay-suzuki/

Yep, sounds cracking. At rehearsals Guitarists in band have mentioned it has better oomph and sounds better than my Genz Benz amp. That’s plugged in to effects return on provided amp.

I don't believe that Customer Satisfaction is a marketing tool anymore. Once they have your money you can go whistle.

Indeed. I'm a placid guy too and dislike confrontation, but it really winds me up when a complete stranger dares to make snide comments about my gear. I'm the one with the gig. If you're so great, why are you here watching me play on a Saturday night when you could be gigging yourself?