Leaderboard

This modded 2010 Matt Freeman was on sale here for a bit, and then got withdrawn, but when I asked nicely, @hooky_lowdown very kindly sold it to me anyway. I think these were built alongside the original Squier CVs — CIC, with a CGS serial number. In transit, the jack had slightly rotated, which in the narrow cavity stopped its spring from allowing a lead to be plugged in — which tbh was good, because it made me get on with taking it to my local tech, Chris at Wintaura Guitars to be set up as I like it and have a Dimarzio pickup fitted. I got it back last night. The neck has developed a tiny bit of an S at the first fret, so we decided to give the bass a new nut as well, to give the strings the chance to get clear over the first fret easily. That means that, aside from the neck and body, the tuners and jack are the only original parts left. So: 42mm / 1.65" Tusq nut 9.5" radius, 'modern C' profile action 1.60mm - 1.90mm Dimarzio Model P pickup unknown pearloid pg & black knobs @KiOgon loom Wilkinson bridge Fender 7250M 45-105 rounds slightly over 9 lbs I've been playing a BB424 the last six months. Relative to that, the P has a lighter body and a wider flatter neck. What struck me first though was the difference between the two split pickups. The BB split is slightly nearer the neck, and much less hot, making a soft dark tone, so that the stern, guttural sound of the P came as a complete contrast. With the TRBX I bought last summer out of the way, on sale at Bass Direct, I now have a pair of similar-but-different basses, both right for me but with characters that are clearly differentiated in feel, sound and looks. I feel very nicely set.

Hi, I posted a thread several months ago asking for views of Shuker's bass/guitar building course. I've spend last week doing this and thought I should let you all know how it went. The short answer - it was great and I'd recommend it to anyone. I went in to this course with almost zero woodworking experience. I can build a flatpack or put up a shelf, but that's about it. I know my way around basic guitar maintenance – I can do a setup, electronics work or a swap out a bridge for example. But I had never used a bandsaw or router before! Jon Shuker is extremely knowledgeable and patient. Nothing seems to phase him – he’s a great teacher! He was assisted by Tim, who is also very good. They were both happy to help resolve any shoddy workmanship, ensuring you come away with a quality end result. It was a very busy week. Within minutes of arriving, we were selecting our body wood – alder or mahogany – swamp ash is impossible to get at the moment. By the end of the first day, I had something resembling a bass body. The next three days, the focus was mostly the neck – which really is a huge amount of work. Cutting the basic maple shape and rough fingerboard, routing a truss rod channel. Sawing the fret-slots was far less daunting than I thought it’d be, aided by a nice tool that ensures it’s done precisely. Adding dot inlays is quite a fun job – although one ended up marginally off-centre due to my inability to mark a centre point! It definitely felt rewarding to spend time sanding the fingerboard until it was shiny smooth – it seems a much better finish than any bass I’ve owned. Between neck jobs, we were sanding the body, which seemed to be the one job that was never finished! The final day was mostly fretwork, soldering and assembly – and was definitely the busiest day, we were finally done by about 6pm. It's worth noting that all the hardware is top quality - Seymour Duncan pickups, Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners. Jon even ordered some straplocks for me, rather than have me get home and replace the normal ones. The only job we couldn't do was spraying - apparently he's not insured for it. Given the short time, the choices of finish are quite limited anyway - I just opted for clear lacquer as I quite liked the grain. This is the final result – I’ve very pleased!

Having spent the day playing the new P, I'm delighted with it, and I'm also delighted to find that there's just no overlap in character between it and my BB — they've both got clear personalities and voices of their own. Now, please can I stop throwing my money around? 😖

For info Dave, this is the one that escaped my cull. It’s been modded with a Jon Shuker neck gloss makeover and stainless frets. Plays very nice and not stupidly heavy.

All is right in the world…

I have a 2017 USA EBMM Sterling 4HH It has the slim neck and smaller body and a 5 way switching of the HH ceramic pickups. It totally killed my GAS

More pics !

Just soldering, intonation, setup and usual tinkering needed…

Inspired by the discussion on the thread about hilariously bad songs, can I invite you all to submit your nominations? Here's mine: The Flying Lizards - Money - YouTube

My latest

Deep breath’s everyone. Keep calm. Talk to someone if needs be but please try not to overwhelm the Samaritans. There could be a guitarist trying to get through admitting that he doesn’t know everything….. about everything 😂

In recent years i limit to circa £1k for gigging basses. My Warwick ive had since 89 and Overwater was for my 50th 11yrs ago. Those 2 never leave the house these days. Warwick was my only bass back in 89 and gigged a few times until work got in the way. I started playing again circa 2009 and never been busier. Dave

KiOgon loom will be a good improvement, much better quality parts. That’s one area where Squier keep costs down, whereas the new loom will most likely be same parts as what go in US Fenders.

Therse are thought to have probably been Matsumoku - there's a Vox Standard guitar which is near-identical to the Matsumoku-built Westbury Standard, so that provides a link. Pickups were definitely DiMarzios: I should say there's a tendency for people to assume all late 70s/early 80s through-neck or laminated body stripey guitars were Matsumoku, so it's good to remember that was a period in time when everyone was ripping off Alembic!

I can’t comment on the current Sterling series basses and neck widths but I have a Sterling SB14 which I think would have been a forerunner of them. If you can find one they’re an absolute bargain but you don’t see them often. It’s an Indonesian built Sterling with the smaller body, headstock, pickup switching options and jazz neck from a few years back which I believe were sent to the USA factory for final set up and QC control. Having previously owned and sold a ‘proper’ USA Sterling (amongst various other USA Stingrays) I much prefer my little SB14. Sound wise and quality wise I can’t tell the difference between it and it’s expensive USA big brother but I much prefer the neck. It’s still jazz width but it’s less full in the hand and has a satin finish rather than the waxed MM one. I used to cramp up on the old one but I don’t with this.

Sure - it's difficult to photo as it kinda wraps around my wrist...but here's my attempt.

One of my fave post punk toons evah

Oooo, never rush that sort of thing, for as we all know, 'Fender Precision' is an anagram of 'Reinforced Penis'... 😐🙂

I have removed the nylon tapewounds and installed an old well-worn in set of TI Jazz Flats off my Fender Jazz bass. Wow! They speak with more authority than the original Chromes and the tapes. Do they sound like an acoustic bass? No. Do I care? No. I have an acoustic bass for jazz and rockabilly gigs. The UB804 is just the beez kneez for my blues, americana and latin/gypsy gigs. Tinyd: I play a lot lighter on the Upswing than I do on the acoustic. It's a natural thing for me as the Upswing doesn't actually physically allow me to "dig in."

If I could go back in time to the mid 80's and give myself some advice when I first started playing that would be invaluable as a bass player, it would include but not necessarily be limited to; Pick up a short scale and stick with it. You're a short arse and 34" scale basses are way to big and cumbersome so don't waste the next 25-30 years fannying about with them. A 30" P or PJ is all you'll ever need. Do not - under any circumstances - buy that Trace Elliot SMX rig in the early 90's. Just don't. It's a gutless, one trick pony that will do your head in for years to come. Stick with the Marshall Jubilee rig instead. Or a Peavey of some sort. Learn some theory sooner rather than later. A little goes a long way. Don't play with loads of crap drummers, your timing is bad enough without those idiots hindering you. Learn more covers even if you don't like them. It will push your playing more than doing your own thing ever will. Don't gig on opium. Ever. I repeat, DO NOT buy that f@cking Trace rig no matter how cool it looks.

It's getting there 😊

No, bought it with the standard ‘oil-wax’ neck but I’ve never been keen on that finish (grew up on a 1990 Ray with a gloss neck) so I had it refinished with a vintage tint. As it’s a maple board this meant the frets had to come out so I had stainless replacements.

One of the best, yes that's what I said, live albums ever.... You know what "Live and Direct" means?

I'm getting one in tomorrow to review for De Bassist (Dutch bass magazine); a fiver with maple fretboard. I've read up a little about the MetroExpress series and am now extra curious about this one. I was actually considering buying a four string as a backup for my vintage Fender.

Here it is. Just looks like a white P bass. It has a Tonerider pickup, Gotoh tuners and bridge and a Kiogon loom. It was the original red, then black, natural, white, black and white again. Never again! It`s nothing special apart from the neck but for some reason it`s like putting on your favourite pair of slippers

I'm gonna have to start talking to the people I live in a house with 🤯

I’m gonna need a helpline of some description 😥

First time at this so this time next year I might have built a Chunk Systems 00Funk Envelope Filter clone (JedsPeds 'Funkin for Ja Morton' kit).

The only neck type on the US Sterling is the narrow version. As that bass also has a 5 bolt neck joint and one extra fret (goes to high F - 22 frets), it was completely different from the Stingray with 21 frets, 6 bolt neck joint and wider profile. There was a narrower SLO Special neck available on a Stingray but also 6 bolt and 21 frets (as opposed to the version on the US Sub). The Stingray Special has 22 frets, a 5 bolt neck joint and the wider profile. All that said, I don’t know how Musicman achieve what they do with their necks but they are simply incredibly playable, slick and have a profile which is, IMO, a combination of a flat curve (11 in radius except the Classic series at 7.5 in) with (on the Stingray 4), a 43 mm width at the nut and rolled edges - the latest Specials have the added roasted maple and the slickest finish you could imagine - a lot of this is down to the level of hand finishing applied in the build. The main differences with the SBMM models is standard of hardware (which is different for the higher priced ones compared with the Subs). In terms of sound, because they’re all covering the same design concept, there are similarities, but like with a comparison of P or J basses across a vast range of price, there are differences. I think some of the SBMMs have ceramic pick ups (but I’m not up on the differences). The SBMM models provide great basses at the price points. The US basses these days are into the exquisite sort of playing experience. It’s also worth bearing in mind the US Sterling is essentially a 4 string version of the 1992-2008 SR5 - my 2003 SR5 remains my favourite 5 string - part of that is to do with the sound available, which is influenced by the ceramic pick up and series/parallel /single coil switchability. @dmccombe7 the SBMM SB14 is, as has been indicated, an offshore version of the US Sterling - been out of production for some time but do pop up used occasionally. The main difference (apart from hardware) is the body is, IIRC basswood (it is normally ash on the US Sterling). However that’s no bad thing, the Bongo bass normally has a basswood body and sounds great. These are worth looking at if you find one. That said, US Sterlings pop up used quite regularly.

I should have started with 5-string fretted and fretless as well as a double bass right away in my teens. 19 mm string spacing (fits my fingers), less slap, more analyzing, less flashy stuff. Some learning with effects (fuzz, comp, envelope, x-over). I would have had to learn meat and potatoes so well that everybody would have wanted me to play exactly that. Amps, a GK micro combo for double bass and a Glockenklang Soul and a lightweight 2 x 12" for electrics. Listening to Marc Johnson, NHØP, Edgar Meyer, Tom Kennedy, Pekka Pohjola, and Abraham Laboriel for flashy stuff and numerous no named heros for the functional and important meat and potatoes. Learning from BASSCHAT decades ago! This is so good place, Thank You All! I still try to grab ideas from you, although I learn slowly. It is never too late.

I totally understand those who find P's kinda clunky , flat and horrible....but its in that awkward simplicity where the gold lies. Fresh rounds and a pick with the tone rolled off a hair you get that beautiful archetyple punky/metal clang. Sling on a set of old flats and then play fingers with a light touch a hair south of the PU and you've got that low mid punchy tone that fits a million tunes. But play it like your not sure whats going on and it will sound lifeless and dead.

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Maybe the new Trace cabs will suit… hope they’re lightweight as (for me) a lighter cab is more importanterer than a light amp. What’s the point of a lightweight head if the cabs are heavier than the sun?

Good luck everyone

Option 1: You’ll get around 300W into the internal speaker. Best thing is to go for the 1x15 RM can to match as it is the same. Plenty on here about the potential issues with mixing different drivers/driver sizes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a lottery. Option 2: I like the OriginAL 500 head, it’s lovely. Less bells and whistles than the RM so it’s really a toss up on what you want the amp to do. For example the drive and compression on the RM head both give the tone something “more” in the mix. FWIW, I’d be looking at the RM800 which @FinnDave is selling on here. You’ll never need anything else power wise. EDIT for link:

I had the M87 I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Very transparent, attack/release controls seemed to have very little effect and by far the noisiest comp I've ever had. All purely IMO of course as the pedal has its fans. It sounded nothing like the Cali76 which adds a nice subtle sheen to your tone, (as described in ovnilab like adding a high quality preamp) its just light years ahead of the MXR in every way. I think the MXRS control set is similar to the 1176 and that's it.

Possibly Mensinger? I had this until recently - whilst not fully chambered, it had a lovely rounded tone with some acoustic content

I had an early-mid ‘80s Vox 3002 Custom that my dad bought from the guitarist in his band. Learned to play on it then got my first Precision and didn’t touch it for years. Then, about ten years ago, I sold it here to fund an Ampeg SVT. Sounded decent, from what I remember. Weighed a ton though!

Not sure that the 2 or 2.67 ohms options are ones that many punters in TE's price bracket will be looking to make use of? There will of course be some (e.g. with two 4 ohm cabs), but I'm guessing for most of us a 4 or 8ohm load is what we're dealing with. But the TE 1200 putting 600W through a BF SC or, in my case, a BF BB2 or Fearless F112 means that those rigs can now give you a fantastic compact rig solution with all the headroom you are likely to ever need in situations where there is no FOH or PA support. Colour me very interested! Anyone have any ideas on price point? If it's Peavey gear I would be expecting it to be pretty competitive (i.e. not at the Bergantino / Mesa end of the scale).

I'm surprised its into 4 ohms. I assume it won't go down to 2 or 2.67 ohms, which is surprising as they will be competing with the likes of Bergantino, mesa Boogie and Gallien-Krueger, who all do amps of 800-1200 watts into 2 and 2.67 ohms. Still, the TE 1200 through a super compact should mean 600 watts through the 8 ohm load so still lots to be excited about.

Received, many thanks!

In spite of everything suggesting that I would probably prefer the US Sterling to the US Stingray, I don’t. But if you liked your mate’s, that what matters. I happily defer to DrT above in matters Musicman, but of course only you can decide which you like best. FWIW, Sterling by Musicman are all Indonesian, as opposed to Musicman basses, which are built in the USA. Also FWIW, I haven’t liked the ones I’ve played any less than the majority of the full fat US MusicMan basses I’ve played. In fact I like the US Classics I’ve played quite a bit less. Of course YMMV. If you want a Jazz nut width, just make sure that’s what you get. I think most of the necessary info is actually on the individual sites, it just takes a bit of wading through. https://intl.sterlingbymusicman.com/pages/about Maybe somebody should do a potted Musicman history/primer for MM newbies.

I shall be resuming my cross-stitch map of Wantage.

And a massive boost in bass sales on eBay no doubt….

Employers are reporting Thursday as the most productive day in years....

Body taken to 600 grit, cavity painted with conductive shielding paint, first layer of tru oil applied. Have read many different accounts on how many coats of tru oil people use. I'll try and be patient and see how far I get. Latest plans looking like chrome hardware, hopefully a roasted maple neck and then pickguard dilemma's!!!