Fat Rich

Not for me to tell anyone how many basses to have, but for me I'm finding half a dozen about right: A modern sounding five string A versatile fretless or two A good Jazz Bass (or maybe a 60s and a 70s) A good P bass A Stingray is kind of fun too I have about twice that number at the moment and some just aren't getting played because I've something that covers all it's sounds but better. One of the lesser played basses had been played heavily by me for 20 years and I'm pretty attached to it but the others are going to go at some point. I seem to end up playing the one that has the newest strings, have to keep an eye on batteries to prevent leaks and tweak the setups on the wooden necked basses if I've not played them for a while. A dozen is too many for me, but I would always need at least one fretted and one fretless.

A light touch is a good starting point, kinder on your fingerboard, kinder on the frets on your fretted basses, less likely to get tendonitis, probably play faster too. I use halfwounds / groundwounds on my fretless, D'addarios on wooden boards and Status Halfwounds on synthetic. You're going to get some marks on the board whatever strings you use. I'e heard of some people using coated strings on fretless, the idea being that the coating is softer than the fingerboard. I've not tried them for long enough to test this theory but you might want to give that a try. They're generally pricey but they last much much longer than uncoated strings so actually work out good value.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1334919704' post='1623415'] I am thinking about my next Warmoth build. I think I want a J neck with ebony board with pearl block inlay and binding... BUT I have never played a bound neck before. I can rarely see the fingerboard when I play as I tend to hold the bass low and tend to lean back a bit. I am used to using the side dots as reference when playing. As far as i can tell a Warmoth bound neck has no side dots....is this true? Do you people with bound necks have a lack of side dots? Do you find it a hinderance? [/quote] Had a quick look at the Warmouth website, can't see anything that says they don't come with side dots. What makes you think they don't?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1334851946' post='1622403'] You need to get a nice pre EB then [/quote] Don't tempt me!

Tried them on my Jazz and they're everywhere I want to be, it results in no thumbrests, no palm muting, no variation in tone depending on where I pick. They couldn't be more useless unless they'd put one over the first 5 frets too.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1334781225' post='1621304'] Wow Rich your Stingray sounds very high maintenance - you must be very unlucky - I'm surprised your old Fenders don't have the same neck problems as they're a similar design. Perhaps you don't have the Fender actions so low. I've never had to tweak a truss rod - I've chosen to and to lower action once or twice, especially on my fretless, and then with very low action you can get buzz if the weather changes from v warm to v cold - as you say, dead easy to fix by a quick turn of the truss rod wheel - but it's hardly a fault of an instrument if I set my action as low as it'll go - more a strength that you can do this, and maintain it so easily because the manufacturer's enhanced the design over the years. I've never come across a pick up/string balance problem on a Ray - I think it is possibly one of those internet myths - plug one in and record it directly and see if you get a problem - I've never had one. As long as it's set to manufacturer tolerance (which is dead easy to do) it should be OK - however the Ray, especially in 2 band form, gets a natural mid scoop - if you apply the smiley face principle and EQ a lot of the mid out on a amp (or on the EQ on the bass if it's a 3 band, or over boost the bass pot - or over boost the bass on the the amp) you may well start to perceive the G string is quieter when stood in front of the amp. This is not the fault of the instrument........... I think the Ray is a plug in and go instrument - rock solid and gives a good range of sound for any player of any ability - what more can you want? [/quote] My Fenders do move but not so much or so often, I think because the neck is fully sealed with thick lacquer rather than the oil finish on the Ray. As you say, it's easy to adjust and I'm ready to go in 10 minutes, unlike my 60s style Fenders where I have to undo the neck bolts and tilt it out of the pocket to get to the truss rod. And I actually have my action a little higher than average too so I can dig in if I feel like it. I can tell you 100% for definite that the pickup problem isn't a myth, I couldn't get much out of the G string through any amp on any EQ settings no matter what I or the shop I returned it to did in terms of pickup height and angles. Any notes on the G string quiet, same notes 5 frets up on the D string ballsy. And it wasn't the amps or the rooms or the mixing desks as my 6 Fenders and 7 Status basses all worked fine. 14 basses and 4 amps and only the Ray had a problem. However once I pushed the pole pieces for the A and D strings down to the same level as the E and G strings I got great string to string response and the Ray now works well through every amp I try. I've noticed a similar problem on a few other Rays I've used but mine was the worst... but now it's the best!

I've spent up to £2k on a custom bass but somehow I think that's my limit. I might possibly buy a vintage bass for £5k with half an eye on it's future value but a boutique or custom bass is probably going to lose you money if you sell it. So probably several cheaper basses, my favourite at the moment is my Japanese 62 reissue Jazz closely followed by a custom built Status S2 Classic headed 5 stringer.

Must admit my Stingray is the bass I play least at the moment, I enjoy it when I do play it though. Mine had the fairly typical pickup string balance problem that made it unplayable in my opinion, but thanks to Basschat I found a free fix for it and now it's all good. I do find mine is very sensitive to moisture / seasonal changes and needs it's trussrod adjusting a few times a year which is a little annoying although not difficult. My go to basses at the moment are a couple of battered 70s Jazz basses, plus a Japanese '62 reissue which is the best by miles.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1334698673' post='1620088'] Weller weren't bad, but the rest? Must be getting old [/quote] Wasn't bad, but wasn't particularly good either in my opinion. After watching that show I've come to the conclusion I now know nothing about the modern music scene and should probably give up, maybe do something more useful with my spare time. Hopefully there will be some better acts in future shows.

[quote name='barnettiuk' timestamp='1334310084' post='1614125'] ......yet my perception (and I accept I may be wrong about this) is that it's never been quite as popular as the Precision and like for like seems to fetch a bit less on the market.......... [/quote] On the vintage market the old Jazz basses generally fetch better money than a similar age and condition Precision, I'm not sure about newer bass prices but I suspect it's a similar story. On Basschat the P bass seems to be more popular (although I've a feeling it's just that most P bass players are more vocal about how "perfect" it is for all music ), generally though I'd say there are plenty of Jazz basses out there, plus the P bass had a ten year head start. I prefer Jazz basses but I would never part with my P bass.

Excellent, and nice and close to the zoo. I hope to be there assuming I can sneak past my keeper and get out of the monkeyhouse.

I voted bass since it's the first instrument I wanted to play, although I was forced to play piano when I was a kid but was too lazy to get anywhere with it. I also dabble with drums, guitar and saxophone but just don't seem to have the motivation to get to a reasonable standard on them. I always seem to come back to bass to the exclusion of everything else.

I hate the control plate and the stock Fender preamp is junk, I run mine passive through an old Sadowsky outboard preamp. With DR Highbeams it's instant Marcus if that's the sound you're after. It's a well built and great sounding bass and sounds much better than my ash body / maple necked '74 and '78 Jazzes which are frankly pretty disappointing by comparison and have terrible build quality. With hindsight I think I would have been better off with a Jap 75 reissue since I don't use the MM preamp plus it has a standard control plate which looks much better to me, however I got mine cheap so I shouldn't complain.

[quote name='daz' timestamp='1333903991' post='1608015'] My old Westfield needs a new nut (and a good set up) Was gonna try and make my own. So I'll ask the butcher for a shinbone, but before i do has anyone out there got a bit they can send me?? Cheers [/quote] Sorry, I need my shin bones to stand on.

[quote name='Floyd Pepper' timestamp='1333731612' post='1605877'] Thanks for all the input. Struggling to attach a piccie in a reply, but in the meantime, I did find this Series II on ebay and it looks like mine (shape, controls, headstock) [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Status-Graphite-S2-Bass-Flamed-Maple-Excellent-Condition-/320880541343?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ab5f87e9f"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4ab5f87e9f[/url] Cheers, Jim [/quote] Ah well, it's one of those then! I reckon your all graphite finish is pretty unusual, probably won't affect the price much though.

[quote name='Floyd Pepper' timestamp='1333560059' post='1603612'] Question for all you Status experts. When I originally posted these pictures, there was some debate as to whether this was a Series II as it had been sold to me or that it was possibly a Matrix body. As I coming to the decision to possibly move it on, I just wanted to make sure that I sold it on correctly. Can anyone confirm? Thanks, Jim [/quote] I don't think it's a Series II or a newer S2 Classic. It could be a Matrix but it has humbuckers and 4 knobs. It could be a Series 1 Matrix with a custom circuit out of an Empathy, or a custom all-graphite Empathy. I think it could be some kind of custom spec based on the Matrix but with Empathy preamp and pickups. Edit: Do you have any pics of the neck joint? Is it a single moulding like an S2000 or a set neck?

Also on youtube: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_3d-GHiVNs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_3d-GHiVNs[/url] What a waist

It wasn't just the 1000 thumbs a second brigade that gave slap a bad name, it was everywhere for a while in the 70s and early 80s and a lot of people got tired of it. As Anthony Jackson said it became the ketchup of bass playing. For me a good slap bass line will also sound great played with fingers or with a pick, if it relies purely on the slap technique it's probably a wasted opportunity to do something more melodic or relevant to the song. There can be a few exceptions though, but not too many!

Clear pickguard maybe?

Saw an interview with Marcus Miller, can't remember the exact details but something along the lines of him flying into Tokyo and going to the gig, his crew have sorted everything except sound checking his bass, why's that he asks? Because you took it back home after the last gig..... It's a small gig and he doesn't have a spare (seems hard to believe) and says at this point Marcus Miller on stage in Japan without a bass is totally worthless. He then breaks into an apologetic tap dancing routine to illustrate the point. So he has to do the gig on a borrowed bass an audience member brought in to be autographed.

Or like this: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_THEC6hbnI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_THEC6hbnI[/url]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1333039620' post='1596662'] Did you notice how empty most of the shops were? The word you're looking for is "[i]desperate[/i]". [/quote] They actually seemed pretty busy, Wunjo was doing a brisk trade while I was in there. Not to say they're not desperate though

Was pleasantly surprised today, had a nose round most of the shops in Denmark Street and almost all of the staff were friendly and helpful. Maybe it's the sunny weather, plus a couple of the shops seem to have changed hands but it seemed a world away from my last visit just before Christmas.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1332529339' post='1589742'] Is that another one of yours? [/quote] Yes, probably my favourite bass at the moment. Although the blue one feels a little more worn in and comfortable after 20 years of playing it.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1332519125' post='1589538'] Yeah I don't want LEDs either, if I was going to buy a Status it would have to not look much like a Status so maybe black, with a headstock. [/quote] I tend to agree: [IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx159/richardmatthews_photos/forum%20stuff/AllGraphite.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx159/richardmatthews_photos/forum%20stuff/AllGraphitecloseup.jpg[/IMG]