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So after considering my options with short scale basses I actually ended up going the opposite route, I found a lovely used Fender precision bass, I think it is a Vintera. Anyway, I tried it out and not only is it a looker but the action was setup nice and low (just a hair above 1.5mm at 17th fret), the neck is also one of the nicest feeling necks I have played and with a gloss finish which is nice because I'm not crazy about satin finishes, the neck is definitely chunky at thennut, the hardware all seems solid and the overall build quality is impressive. The strings on the bass are flatwounds and I am fairly sure they are TI Flats as despite being flatwounds the strings feel low tension and very flexible for flats, not sure whether to keep to flats or change to rounds yet, if I go for rounds it will probably be nickel rounds as I want to keep the frets nice but I may change them to Labella low tension flats as they are slightly stiffer but are close enough in tension that I shouldn't need to adjust the truss rod One question I have that I am hoping someone can help with... The truss rod is at the body end rather than the headstock end, does that mean the it operates opposite to a headstock end truss rod ie on a truss rod that is at the headstock end turning the truss rod towards the E string side of the neck tightens and turning towards the G string loosens the truss rod, is it the opposite of this with the truss rod as it is at the body end?

I've always liked the look of the Gibson Rippers and Grabbers, and in turn the 70s/80s Japanese copies. That's why when this popped up on facebook not too far from home I had to have it. After a quick message to our resident expert on Japanese basses, @Bassassin, for some much appreciated info I'd agreed a price the seller and I were both happy with. These are the sellers pictures. I picked it up yesterday and had a chat with the seller. He acquired it forty years ago in a swap for a 4x12 guitar cab, the seller is also a guitarist so it's spent the last forty years hanging on his wall, with the occasional play just for his own fun so it's in really nice condition. A couple of dings that were there when he got it and a couple of little issues that have been sorted but obviously have left it non original, which is a shame but can't be helped. Firstly, the original scratchplate was a celluloid one and had started gassing off and crumbling, so he has fitted a replacement. The original would've been a very dark tort, as per the early Gibson Rippers, the later ones were black (I think). I was going to make a single ply black one but I actually quite like one on there now. Secondly, the original three point bridge had snapped and this is a generic replacement. It seems a pretty good copy and looks the part so it'll probably stay as well. The only issue is the strings are higher than I'd like but the bridge is bottomed out, something I'll address. I've pulled it apart for a good clean and polish, and to sort any little issues such as the pots which are a little crackly. Very clean in the cavities and nice, tidy routing. Maybe newer manufacturers could learn something from the Matsumoku workers as I've seen some more modern basses that are much rougher. The electrics look good and all original so just a squirt of some cleaner/lubricant will hopefully quieten things down. You can see the 'burn' marks where the celluloid scratchplate had started to react. It's constructed in a kind of butchers block fashion but build seems really good. The rear with a rather nice grain to it. Three piece neck construction so should be stable. And a set neck. All the wood joins are nice and tidy and in all honesty most of the woods match really well. I'll update in a couple of days when it's rebuilt, set up and been put through it paces with some new strings. Hopefully the pickups will have the same edge to them as the Gibson ones.

Up in Scotland, we'll batter and deep fry anything!

For three of the four screw holes, they were close enough for me to drill out the original screw holes with the larger holes needed for the screw inserts. However, one would have left some of the original screw hole there and so the better thing for that one was to drill it out and plug. For inserts, dowel isn't strong enough and so the better thing is to use a plug-cutter and cut a piece of rock maple: This one will be drilled for the insert last. The other three went in OK. Note - if anyone is ever fitting this type - that although they have an allen-key hex, it is still a lot safer to use a screw and nut with a spanner to insert them and leave the relatively weak hex socket just for removal if that is ever needed: With the plug chiselled flush, the neck was fitted with the three machine screws to ensure the neck was straight (using the top dots as the guide): Then tomorrow, I can just pop a brad-pointed drill in the final hole and give it a tap to mark the centre point, then drill that out to take the final insert. Then, of course, repeat the whole process for the fretless neck

I've got this old Trace AH250 and had decided to move it on. It used to be the hire amp at our local music shop, Hollywood Music. Battered to funk and a weighty beast. So I took it to rehearsal yesterday to make sure it was all working and wow - just blown away with the tone. Solid, clean and amazingly loud! The guys immediately berated me for considering selling it so it looks like it's staying. It's nice and quiet now as I've had a new fan put in and the UV, which caused a crackle, has been replaced with LEDs. Just need to figure out a way to protect the front and back in transit and she'll be good to gig. Next rehearsal I'll be testing the much smaller Series 6 SMX250. If that sounds as good, this one might get the push but until then I've made some room in my life for it!!

Played The Bodega in Nottingham for a Bowie 75th Birthday Celebration gig. We headlined it with a support band and a solo guy on guitar all doing Bowie. Fabulous night, place was sold-out and absolutely jumping. People were coming up post gig with their eyes shining saying what a fantastic gig it was. Some night just gel and this was one of them.

And so to the slightly scary bit - fitting the machine screws In principle, it is straightforward - -machine screw fits nicely in the ferrule: - and screws into the threaded insert which, itself is threaded into the neck: The challenge is that, whereas with wood screws you can get away with quite major misalignments, with machine screws you can't. They have to be square to the surface and in exactly the correct position...or you just aren't going to be able to screw them in. To illustrate "whereas with wood screws you can get away with quite major misalignments" - Mike Lull basses are beautifully made basses. But on the original neck - with the two bottom screws in place and the neck fully seated and straight - this is where the two top screw holes are: See how offset the hole is to the edge of the ferrule? With a wood screw, this is no problem - it will be tight but will screw in. With a machine screw, you simply wouldn't be able to get the screw into the insert in the first place. And so I have to reposition any holes that are out of line. Which is the scary bit Still, it could be worse. It could be my own bass's neck

And some more pictures, because, well why not

It's worn Elixir nanoweb coating, no?

That’s had a bump while wrapped in something (I call them guitar socks) and when bumped, it’s trapped some of the packing material and “grabbed” it… They did poly in black fiesta red 2 colour burst honey blonde and a nitro finish on the “lacquer” models in White Blonde Black these came with a tweed case.

Did our first show of 2022 last night at Hull New Theatre. Always our best/favourite gig so we were doubtful as to how things would be. Anyway, had around 1000 people turn up, and despite not playing or being able to rehearse for nearly 2 months due to illness in the band, things went just fine. (Pics taken by our sound tech Rik and audience members.)

Much more elegant than just screws! In the interests of future generations, are you going to write on "Inserts by AJR Guitars"? Otherwise in 20 years people are going to be arguing that "Mike Lull never used inserts so it's a fake neck". Or some such rubbish 😅

Not quite. What actually happened was I asked Alexa to add this to my shopping list (my wife's a fan of a bottle or two on a Tuesday night):

Fixed for you

My Zon Legacy Elite Imperial was probably the closest I ever got to my perfect bass.

I have gathered a few basses around me that have certain qualities or tones I want and they all play beautifully. But the one I find most pleasing and easy to play is this Musicman Cutlass. It just feels so pliable and easy. Fingers just flow across the fretboard, It’s comfortable, it’s familiar, I can find no fault. Don’t get me wrong, the other basses I have have been sourced selected and are all great. This is the one I reach for subconsciously though.

71P and 83J (Fullerton AVRI 62 RI)

I'm sure the future owner will be delighted when their sister-aunt buys them that bass for their birthday.

This (plus the fact that it looks absolute 💩)

To be honest, if you have so few basses that your partner is able to notice that you've got another one then you haven't got enought basses in the first place. You only have yourself to blame.

Dig deep, you're all on the home stretch now! 😂

They were, but I really find that I thrive more when living within a set of limitations and don't have every option in the universe available. Also, even though the HX Effects was really easy to program, there's just something about having knobs available. I tweak things all the time now, and experimenting is fun. The downside is that pedal GAS is kicking in again, so I really need to keep that in check.

Absolutely not, got nothing to use it on, but I was curious as to how far @bassfan would allow the boundaries to be pushed… I’m just not looking at the pics @walshyhas sent me 🤤

Me!!! 😂😂😂

I've done tests to see whether these manky strings are good for metal and the results were very specific, they only worked for sludge metal

Yes this would be wrong Ive has loads of 70’s precision basses and have kept just two that both happen to be early 70’s sunburst basses - a rosewood and a maple I sold most of the others to Martin Petersen at the Bass Gallery My observations based on these precisions is that on average there is a deterioration through this decade and in to the early 80’s in the following areas:- 1. Weight increases from the ideal 8 to 8 1/2 lbs to over 10lbs 2. The tightness of the neck pocket diminishes 3. The natural resonance when played acoustically diminishes 4. Cost cutting measures increase - single ply guides, three hole bridges, less substantial tuners, etc 5. Problems with body finishes especially black 6. Decreasing attention to body contours so that bodies become more angular Its against this background that I find the early vintage reissue series started in 1982 such a breath of fresh air and a return to form at fender For anyone interested in AVRIs I started this gear thread here And this thread on Talkbass https://www.talkbass.com/threads/fender-fullerton-reissue-club.511899/

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Yes. A Marleaux Consat Custom 5. Unfortunately then I had loads of surgery and couldn't deal with the weight anymore. It was an entirely reasonable 9lb (maybe 9.1lb) for a 5 but I just couldn't do it anymore, and I was not in a position to keep it just for playing sitting down. Needed the funds to get something I could play all the time. It just had the most amazing sound and was very easy to play. Never played anything that came close no matter what the price. I really hope it is out there gigging somewhere.

I've been through way too much, but in this mod I've gotten the best feeling player and one of my favorite sounds ever. Old edition Hamer Cruisebass, chopped and modded with Rickenbacker 4003 p'ups and guts. A friend who was at art school did the graphics after I asked her for something "psychedelic"... I was a little taken aback, but I liked and appreciated it pretty quickly. I've gotten a lot of grief over this particular mod, and sometimes I do regret it somewhat... But I love playing it, and it is kind of a trademark now in my circle. Anyway, I bring you the Heckinhecker. Played it last night through the new-to-me Fender Bassman 300 Pro and confirmed it's place in my Favorites Ever list... I'm doing a new pickguard...

I thought the Direct recording of the p bass with the jive circuit built in sounded great. I doubt I’ll use it for distortion, just want it to fatten the sound and get slightly gritty. funnily enough, it’s just arrived, so I’ll report back if you’re interested. Check out their business card - looks like it’s an actual functioning PCB board - pretty cool

Just keep buying, selling & trading gradually over a long period of time until you have a large number in hard & soft cases which can easily be added to or swapped without them ever noticing. I'm up to 75 basses and 10 guitards. Once I got past about 40 she didn't notice anymore... 😂

I saw this announcement over the weekend. It does seem a shame, any good UK-based craftsmen shutting down production, for whatever reason, is a big shame a loss to us here on these isles. As with other posters, I always felt like the Super Quads were the least attractive part of the package. I much preferred the look of the old Enfield basses where Martin was making what was effectively a single giant ramp cut from the top wood, with the pickup pole pieces exposed on the ramp. That's purely an aesthetic consideration, of course, but I wasn't such a fan of the giant black square looks of the Super Quads. I was also never totally blown away by the sound, but did love many other things about the basses so had considered asking whether they might have been open to building a bass with other pickups of my choice. Alas, it looks like that custom build will never come to be. To be fair, I have been lusting more and more for a Sei bass and if I were to commission a custom build, it would likely be from them or an ACG as I love their modern styling and sounds. Perhaps however, I lack the patience for a custom build, as every time I want a bass I end up buying one quite quickly. If I placed an order for a bass with 6, 12 or 18 month waiting time, I'd probably want something different by the time it was delivered. Still, good luck to Martin. He obviously knows what pays the bills and offers the best balance of stress, workload and income. There comes a point in all of our lives where we may want to consider paring back our responsibilities, freeing our time and if we're lucky, not losing out substantially on income, or even possibly increasing our income. I wish Martin all the best with the pickup and LED business, I'm sure he won't be short of work.

On the contrary, many of the more extreme "woke" are themselves bigots, displaying very high levels of intolerance for those whose views differ from their own.

“You had a pink fender?!” ”yeah, for years! You really don’t pay attention to me do you? Pfft, typical. Pink fender - played half my gigs on it for the last ten years…” ”er…” It wouldn’t work in this house. Funnily enough, she wouldn’t allow me to have my kingbass on show. ”that thing, looks like a coffee table with bike parts stuck on. And where’s the head?!”

Current No.1. Had a 4003 a number of years back, but had to sell it. Tried a few different basses to replace it, but nothing came near til I got a Rockinbetter. Lovely bass, but not a 4003. This came up on FB Marketplace at a reasonable price and not too far away, almost missed it, but that deal fell through and it was offered to me. Happy bunny.

Dang, the control cavity on the VM4 is tiiiiiiight! I bought a John East Uni-Pre de luxe preamp a few months ago to install on this bass... and I don't think I'll be able to fit it in. My original plan was to make it passive because I am liking much better its passive sound and the preamp is 'meh' for my liking. I thought I would just manage with it as it is, since in passive mode you still get a passive tone control, but its action is pretty limited. The Uni-Pre deluxe combines a 3-band EQ with semiparametric mids, and you can tweak the bass EQ points too, as well as having a passive tone control... agh, I'm going to have to buy a different bass now to fit that in Anyway, back to the original plan, fully passive: volume blend Tonestyler tone control additional control for the 'intenity' of the Tonestyler, as I have a spare hole... Watch this space...

The One there is not. The Chase only there is.

This is doing a good job recently…bit of everything I like. Give it a month 😉

I've never had any issue with the bottom horn at all with any of my Bongos (can I say that on a public forum?)

Back to individual pedals after a long stint with the HX Stomp and then the HX Effects.

"How do I tell my wife I just bought another bass?" The OP has misspelt "why".

I wonder if there are a bunch of women somewhere talking about expensive purchases, and one is saying, I just wait until he buys another sodding bass — he's so worried I'll flip that he doesn't notice the new etc etc