Leaderboard

Ha ha, that serves him right. I bid on a bass a few years back and every time I placed a bid, another few small bids went on until it exceeded mine and then stopped. This carried on for a few hours on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon during which I became increasingly confident that I was bidding against the seller. Of course, he put in a pretty big bid with about 3 minutes to go expecting me to go higher but I didn't, just sat there waiting for the inevitable 2nd Chance Offer. Amazingly, that landed about 4 minutes after the auction finished, and was at the price the seller had pushed it up to. He said the 'bidder' had emailed him immediately informing him that 'he had put in a bid by accident and didn't have any money'. So lucky me could have it at the sale price Mr No Money had bid it up to (allegedly). I said I would take it at the value of the bid I had on the bass when Mr No Money started bidding earlier that day, about £200 lower, at which point seller started to get really angry with me and said I shouldn't bid on things if I'm not prepared to buy them, and furthermore that I was morally obliged to buy it at the level of my final bid or what's the point in eBay? Made my evening, and I enjoyed the Sunday roast so much more as the result

Tom is the guy. had a full rehearsal tonight now Andy (guitarist) is out of isolation. some great stuff tonight. He has lyrics, suggestions and relaxed with the guitar - adding nice bits.

Thank you all so much for replying. I have just been very jammy and picked up a new Fender Rumble 100 for £250! I cannot wait to do some bass practice through a proper amp rather than through my 15w Stagg guitar amp!

I’ve had an entertaining afternoon shielding the pick-up and control cavities. I’ve never done it before and it’s quite satisfying, even if the shielding tape seems to have a mind of it’s own as soon as the backing has been removed. Loves sticking to itself 😬. Still have the wires to go in, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Looks bang on to me. Here's a pic of the bridge on my Pro for comparison -

Just bought this yesterday

It already sounds pretty darn decent. I'm now looking at either Nordstrand or Seymour Duncan (the Alnico version) but they do seem to be pretty similar. Anyway, here's a teaser:

Great thread! So one of my lockdown projects was to build a pair of isobaric speakers... managed to pick up four Seas bass units for not much, and built these cabs as a slightly more aesthetic alternative to rectangles - the bass units are 8" and there is one hiding inside the cab, so it can't be any narrower. Paired them up with some fountek ribbon tweeters. A bit of crossover tweaking and hey presto... huge meaty bass and drums, breathy midrange and delicate tops. My 5th attempt at speaker design, so a huge surprise at how great they sound. Upset my brother when we compared them to his very pricey Wilson-Benesch's. A shame those bass units aren't made any more, otherwise I might be going into production 😂

After some considerable time faffing with buying, selling, rebuying etc etc, I'm pretty happy with this now. Was going to sell the GK but it's just too good; it's very handy for ease of carriage and when I don't need the Fender. My latest bass purchase is included. I can't see myself wanting anything else anytime soon 🙂

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Do you think that they had as a technical adviser , "he who can't be named"?

We'll just have to buy British - Wal, Overwater, Status, GB, ACG, Jaydee. Terrible!!

It’s worth mentioning that when the original American Standards came out in 2008 you could have one new for about £830. They’ve more than doubled in price in 12 years, but are they really any better? I very much doubt there’s any significant improvements - given Fender’s sometimes ropey QA, probably less difference between a 2008 and 2020 than two from the same year... ...and considering the thousands of great, worn-in P-basses available used, you’d have to really, really want a new one to pay double.

Start Me Up (Stones, again) I notice it all went a bit pear shaped on the last page. Either that, or the connection is way too subtle for this bear of very little brain.

I've had my MM Stingray for 10 years now... The old sunburst finish was covered in dings and dents, so my friend and I stripped it down! Pretty happy with the results!!

Following on from the New England lyric above, a few more corkers from the Bard of Barking Sometimes when we're as close as this, It's like we are in a dream How can you lie there and think of England, When you don't even know who's in the team (Shirley) In the end it took me a dictionary, to find out the meaning of unrequited While she was giving herself for free, At a party to which I was never invited (The Saturday Boy) Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, Are here to make everything right that's wrong Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too, Are here to make it all OK for you (Levi Stubbs Tears)

There are still no serious opportunities in the UK to perform the music I'm involved with for quite a while. I look at peers in continental Europe who are playing shows (and arguably shows which are better events than pre-covid19). I've been working up a fully battery powered stage set up for the last few months in preparation of some site specific projects next year and decided to christen it yesterday by playing on the South Bank under Southwark Bridge. I should have brought a recording set up with me as the sound was absolutely incredible for my music! I've never busked before and was especially curious/nervous as to how post-classical/ambient originals would go down. I needn't have worried. People who weren't interested just didn't care, but those whose interest was piqued and had the time to listen really engaged. The experience was excellent! As long as it's feasable with the new and ever changing covid regulations I will do this again. For those in London who would be interested keep your eye on my Instagram as that's where I'll advertise on the day.

They don't call it heavy metal for nothing ...

@Eldon Tyrell - this is all the Motown you need. Stick a bit of foam under the strings if you must, but they will all do the job admirably. All built from top drawer components and finished by David Wilson. I would argue that the components are a clear step up from what the Fender production line are using, the paint is definitely better, more choice of colours (any colour you like in fact) and they're cheaper. No brainer AFAIC.

Well, a bit more progress. I decided to alter the outline to something more asymmetric, like a jazz, in order to eliminate some of my routing errors. I used the trusty jigsaw to cut the outline roughly, and then had at it with the Shinto rasp. You can see the body on top of the original template. I've taken about a centimetre off at the obvious Jazz type locations. This was very satisfying to do, and so much more controllable than the router. (I am going to modify my routing rig, more info on that later.) Some more pix:

Thanks man, I have 3 built and ready to rock too! I think building and spec’ if your own is a pretty cool way to get exactly what you want. Love making them too. I’m using black walnut for the bodies, the sound is killer.

I'd steer clear of that bass whatever it is. He's either got a shill account or getting friends to bid it up, hence the dubious actions on his behalf

Slayer - Reign in Blood. 28:55 of aggressive perfection. I don't think I could cope if it was any longer.

Here we go 🙂. https://reverb.com/uk/item/4071344-fender-8250-5m-nickelplated-steel-taperwound-5-string-bass-strings

You sound like Robert Fripp! (to a yank). We try not to exchange, but my g.f. does spring for the occasional set of Stick strings ($66US) and she hand-painted a guitar strap for the pawnshop Squire Strat I picked up on my birthday a few years ago. Anyway we're telling the nieces and nephews Santa didn't make it thru the first wave of COVID...

They won't be making their own stuff. If the strings come from a half decent factory, they could be fine.

I like The boy done good The girl done better Seasons pass and we're still together. Mr Bragg is exceedingly good

27m 27s

My scratchplate arrived from Brian today. I can't believe the quality for the price. He should charge more (don't tell him that). I wanted a MIM Fender Mustang PJ but without the hole for the pickup selector... no problem.

I will reserve judgement until I have played one, but it seems to me that Fender consistently shoot themselves in the foot by offering a "standard" range of American-made basses that, more often than not, are not particularly appealing both sonically and aesthetically. Part of the problem is that they don't want to compete with their own Custom Shop, part of the problem is that they are not very in touch with what discerning players crave from a Fender. All of this is compounded by their inconsistent quality control. The American Standard range was a lot more appealing than the subsequent American Professional range, IMO. The Am Pro are perfectly ok, but just not very exiting. They should have stuck with CS pickups , for my taste anyway. .

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It wasn’t edifying was it. From memory, the action at the end of the “restoration “ was awful, you would need to take a bus from the string to the fingerboard.

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Goodness, for some of the prog bands I enjoy that's about a song and a half

Nice them buddy 👍🏾👊🏾💪🏾

I may have drunk too much Jim Beam, but in respect of the OP, if you're looking for a 'Motown bass', why are you looking forwards instead of back? If you want 'that Motown sound' either spend some coin on vintage, or spec up something similar through our very own @walshy. All this 'American Professional II' stuff is smoke and mirrors I promise you. I seriously lost the plot with the Fender production range after the American Deluxe.

Is it me or does anyone else think this thread is not far from it’s inevitable demise? 😅

Oh ain't it the truth...

I don't think so. IMO most gigs are too long. IMO as a band you've got to have released a handful of successful albums before you can consider playing for over an hour and TBH most bands could do with trimming their sets down to around 30 - 45 minutes with a single song as an encore provided that it has been earned by both the band and the audience.

Good call on the Fender Rumble, for the budget specified you should be able to pick one up and it will fit the bill nicely. Also the Ashdown Studio 12, 100 watts, 22lbs and within budget new. Plus based in the UK so in unlikely event if any issues easy to deal with, rather than via distributors etc.

Well. Things have taken a spectacular turn. With the assistance of an exceedingly good chum (a Mesa endorsee) and the artist relations chap in the US, I am now super proud to be an official Mesa Boogie endorsee. I'm a bit too stunned to add anything to that!!

Seemed important to post this