Fat Rich

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1337098698' post='1655444'] I suppose the counter argument would ask, 'Who's personality?' [/quote] When we see a heavily worn vintage instrument we like to think it belonged some kind of guitar god who's spent hours practising, many years gigging every night playing some kind of worthy music to an enthusiastic audience. But it's probably just had some averagely talented plodder who just didn't look after it very well and wore it out because they just weren't that into playing bass at all and couldn't be bothered to buy another one, or never earned enough from music to afford to.

Anthony Jackson puts fresh strings on for each take! Two weeks to a month is usually when I feel strings sound their best, not too bright but not dead either (well most brands anyway) I'd take a new set and some tools in case you don't get the sound you want.

Just to confuse the issue, The Gallery currently have a mocha 74 Jazz..... 4 bolts and body end truss rod: [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/Product_VintageGear.cfm"]http://www.thebassgallery.com/Product_VintageGear.cfm[/url]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1337079995' post='1654956'] ....... Just for the uninitiated, how does a bass feel 'played-in'? I have an old Jaydee, had it from new over 25 years ago, well played but apart from some wear on the ebony where I used to play slap, there's no actual wear on it. Certainly the edge of the fret board is just as crisp as it was when new, there's no way it will start to round off. I also have an old Fender Precision neck, this is VERY well used (ciggy burn and all!) and the frets are showing their age (especially around the key of 'A' - a blues neck surely!) However, the edges are a bit bashed but not worn to be more rounded, still got the lacquer. [/quote] Depends on your technique. I dig into the pickups quite hard where I rest my thumb on my right hand, the tops of my pickups are the first place that shows some wear. Eventually any sharp edges get worn off the top of my pickups, however Fender pickups covers don't really wear so I usually round off the bits my thumb goes and it feels much better. On my fretting hand I have reasonably good technique, thumb on the back of the neck and fingers fairly flat on the frets so I don't put much wear on the edge of the fingerboards. However if you use more of a base ball grip and/or hook your thumb over the top of the neck you're going to wear the edges of the fingerboard eventually and a brand new bass will feel less comfortable. I like the look of genuinely worn out Fenders but relic instruments always look fake. It's quick and easy to just round off the edges of your pickups and fingerboard to get that worn in feel without having to have a scruffy looking bass. Edit: And as Ou7shined says, some of it is probably psychological.

Nope, I'd need to practice a lot more often to play that well.

This might help you find the notes, it's pretty simple to work out but fun to play: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKQV8h81bEM&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKQV8h81bEM&feature=related[/url]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1336831841' post='1651686'] You've just proved that it's impossible to ruin jazz. [/quote] Genius.

[quote name='vax2002' timestamp='1336983475' post='1653391'] Is a fools collectable price, thousands of old shafted basses are in the hands of fools that paid a small fortune and now think they own an expensive collectable instrument, what they in fact own is sombeodys clapped out worn lump of junk. For an instrument to be truly collectable, think toy cars, unplayed in the box, same with basses, it needs to be 95% condition and in its case it was made for and the case needs to be mint as well. Now they are exceptions, say if the instrument is so rare that clapped out versions are all thats left, but that is hardly going to happen with a 70's Jazz bass. [/quote] By and large I agree with all you're saying, however there are a finite number of 70s guitars which ultimately pushes their value up once they're in short supply. Prices of pre CBS Fenders are so high people are buying CBS instruments as the next best thing (in terms of holding their value or going up in value in the future) From a financial point of view you can easily spend £2K on a new custom instrument that will maybe resell for £1200, or a 70s Jazz bass that will probably get your money back and more when you sell it in a few years time.

Looks exactly like my late 73 / early 74 Jazz bass, same logos, same neck plate, same everything. Assuming mine's genuine! I reckon the mocha brown may be a refinish as some of the scrapes go under the control plate, looks more like damage when stripping it than general wear and tear. I wouldn't call the 3 bolt system rare but otherwise I'm not seeing much wrong with it except maybe the price.

[quote name='BB3000S' timestamp='1336806377' post='1651239'] ....... The one variable that possibly could have confounded my conclusion is that I didn't restring with new strings in BEADG, but moved the EADG© strings one up, so the E string in the BEADG scenario wasn't brand spanking new (I think that restringing actually can be a bit detrimental at times). ...... [/quote] Pretty big variable there if you ask me!

My Precision bass had 5 strings on it when I got it, had a pretty good low B and a great E string. Now it's a 4 string again the E string sounds exactly like it always did despite a slightly slacker truss rod due to 1 less string. Similarly taking the low B off my old Status S1 with the totally rigid neck (no truss rod, the remaining 4 strings stay in tune) makes no difference to the E string either, something I often had to do when showing other bass players who got confused by 5 strings what to play. I think it's mumbo jumbo, if there is any difference in tone it's going to be tiny.

My Fenders were all second hand and with varying degrees of superficial damage already on them, I don't abuse them but I don't worry if they pick more dings and scratches. Some are looking pretty scruffy after 20 years of playing. My Status basses were all bought new and apart from some heavy finger wear over the pickups they're pretty much pristine, so I guess I take much more care over them. My amp has been bashed into all sorts of things over the years but it's tough and still looks like new.

I have blends on the Status basses and I generally keep the blend near the middle for a slightly scooped sound, and push it slightly towards the bridge for a bit more brightness, or slightly towards the neck for a less scooped sound. Fully neck does a fair impression of a P bass, fully bridge with some added bass EQ does a fair impression of the Jaco sound. V V T on the Jazzes, again usually start with everything wide open and back off one volume or the other to vary the sound slightly. A switch just wouldn't give me most of the sounds that I use, I find volume and blend are more convenient but it doesn't take long to get used to V V T.

My Japanese 62 reissue Jazz is getting played the most, I paid about £150 for it over 20 years ago. My 70s Jazzes sound and play like junk by comparison. Play the Status S2s a fair bit too, wouldn't be without them.

Great player, always amazed at how much he waggles his fingers about though

I paid about £1200 for a 2005ish S2 bolt on 5 string from the Gallery. For an earlier one maybe a little less, for a neck through maybe a little more. It'll also depend on how good the top looks and if it has LEDs, a lot of Status players seem to like a bit of bling which pushes the price up.

I'm slightly happier on a 5 string than I am on a 4. I don't use the low B much but it comes in handy sometimes. I've got a couple of 6 stringers too thinking I'd maybe get a few new chord voicings or do something interesting with the extra harmonics but I never have. I just don't use the extra string so I'll probably get rid of them soon.

[quote name='Mylkinut' timestamp='1335792851' post='1636069'] 1. '71 2. '00 3. '58. Number 1 sounds a lot like my '77, which is how I like my Ps to sound [/quote] Yup, I agree.... 71, the MIM and then the pre CBS.

[quote name='Austin7' timestamp='1335529358' post='1632677'] I wouldn't call what they're doing Southern rock. I view it much more as retro-soul. On the other hand, Duane Allman is the best representative of Southern rock that I can think of. He was directly involved with some of the best soul music of the 60s--the Muscle Shoals sound. So, the lines can be blurred. [/quote] Fair enough, I thought I saw something on the BBC website that labelled them Southern Rock..... maybe I dreamed it! It's pretty soulful stuff for sure.

I'm not a big fan of Southern rock but I thought they were great, one of the best acts on Jools for while. I reckon the bass player was pulling the faces because he probably came from country and western music and isn't used to playing such a busy bassline.

Yikes! That was a lucky escape. I was thinking about putting some of mine on the wall, I'm not so sure now

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1335475816' post='1632011'] [/quote] But... it doesn't even look old. I've never seen a scruffy pre CBS fender with a brown fingerboard, they're always pretty much black. And how hard would it have been to put browner looking clay dots in? It doesn't even look burned, it looks like someone has sprayed a bit of black paint on. I like the look of scruffy Fenders but almost all these relic jobs look wrong, although I played a Clive Brown refinished Jazz bass the other day that looked really convincing.

Can I have a go on yer bass, mate?

My tired old brain can't cope with anything but standard tuning at all, I get totally confused and mess everything up. But my five stringers have always covered anything I need to play.

My biggest problem with the Rotos is they go dead very quickly (at least all mine have) I've not had a problem with the D'Addarios feeling different, however I've had a couple of sets where the E and low B string aren't long enough for the windings to reach the nut despite being Super Long Scale sets. The other strings were plenty long enough, about 2 inches more windings