skej21

Looking forward to seeing which limelight basses pop up in this thread in 2015 :-)

Out - Fender CIJ '62 RI Jazz bass Aguilar DB112NT In - Limelight '64 Precision w/jazz neck TKS S112 (Black w/Oxblood Grille) All in all, the happiest I've been with my gear collection in a LONG time (although I'm missing that '62 RI a lot already!). An Ibanez SR605 is next on the cards. Going to string it E-C and switch the pickups for a set of Aguilar super singles and I'll be set. I'm also going to get a Way Huge Havalina fuzz to complete my pedal selection. Not too much to save for this year :-)

Booked into the cramped corner of a hotel run by a close friend for a little jazzy trio gig as 'meal music/warm up' from 7pm-10:30pm (before a faux Hootenanny kicks off at 11pm - glad I'm not involved with the logistics of THAT!) and even get to play some original stuff too, some of which the pianist and I are still writing! I'll be off to celebrate at my friend's house who have just had their first baby after that. A good hour to get into the party, wet the baby's head and have a much heavier pocket. Looking forward to it :-)

25 Miles - Edwin Starr Penguins and Polarbears - Millencolin

[quote name='thebassist' timestamp='1419175001' post='2637207'] I think I'm going to have to get a 5 string version one of these in the new year. I'd like a sunburst, rosewood with tortoise shell pickguard but unfortunately the sunburst model only comes with a black pickguard and it looks as though you can't actually buy spare pickguards for these basses from Fender? [/quote] Sure can... http://intl.fender.com/en-GB/guitar-bass-parts/pickguards-backplates/?series=jazz_bass_pickguards Just give the "model" number on the 'plate you want to any decent, authorised Fender dealer and they can order it for you :-)

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1419601001' post='2641180'] As for life expectancy, if you think about the mechanics of the plug construction and the cable stress, the straight plugs will be less prone to failure. [/quote] +1 I don't understand how so many people break cables so regularly. I've had the same cables for years and had no problems... but I do actively look after them (don't tie them in knots and chuck them about, stomp on them all during a gig etc!). Surely if you're clumsy/careless enough to continually break cables, you would just buy a decent wireless and have done with it? Anyway. I use right angles at both ends (for front plate jack on my Fenders) into bass and amp as it keeps everything tidy :-)

[quote name='Dubs' timestamp='1419585446' post='2640991'] The Kauai ES7 is top of the list at the moment, just need to try it! [/quote] If you're lookint at the these models, maybe look at the Korg SV1. The keyboardist in my band swears by his and it sounds perfect for everything we play! http://youtu.be/H_BPiScinrk

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1419521650' post='2640636'] Hello, where did [i]this[/i] come from all of a sudden? This is Painy's NBD thread! In any case, MMR announced a while back that he's no longer using F-decals on his basses. [/quote] Merry Christmas and a happy NBD?! Nah, needless rant about an 'issue' that no longer exists with a product not owned! Classic basschat behaviour unfortunately... On the flip side, Merry Christmas and a happy NBD to the OP :-)

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1418761073' post='2633120'] Someone who doesn't use a music stand... ...or does [/quote] And spends the same time practicing that most members here do discussing pointless stuff... Such as the use of music stands! :-P

The OP claims that the second a Fender decal is applied, it becomes a 'counterfeit'... What a load of rubbish! At the end of the day, a limelight PLAYS and FEELS like a vintage Fender. It DOES NOT, in any way, stand up to a thorough test. The pots are not date stamped, neither is the neck or body and there is nothing that is trying to trick anyone into thinking it is an actual vintage Fender when it is being sold (by Mark or by basschatters). Anyone with even the slightest knowledge would pick it out as a non-Fender miles away. Unless it was sold on gumtree/ebay etc as a vintage Fender and someone stupidly payed £3000+ for it without asking for any info that would show it to be non-original (which in my opinion is very stupid!) then I'm pretty sure that there will not be a situation in which a Limelight (even with a Fender decal) would ever be missold to another person as a vintage instrument. Anyone looking to buy a vintage original Fender would have enough sense to do some basic checks to see if it's genuine before parting with their money that a Limelight would simply not pass.

With the accessibility to and inexpensive nature of metronome apps and gadgets these days, there are NO excuses for a drummer having timing issues IMO. Our drummer uses a set of IEM and just has all of the set tempo tracked into a free metronome app and follows that. It costs him nothing but a bit of battery charge and does us the world of good and keeps a solid foundation. Simple really and makes you instantly just sound well rehearsed and tight.

[quote name='bassintheface' timestamp='1419258328' post='2638072'] well, this baby arrived in perfect condition on friday. Mark from classic and cool had packaged it brilliantly. It's sure is a beautiful bass. Great condition and played brilliantly straight out of the box. Made a couple of minor 'tweaks' after soundcheck, then used it for the gig. It sounded ace. Had many compliments off the band and sound engineer too, so all good. [/quote] Glad you like it (and my set up!). It is a lovely bass and I'm glad it found a good home :-) enjoy!

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1419172013' post='2637176'] I'd pick harmony as you either have good groove or you haven't... Not really something you can get ... sure you can focus a bit better but study..?? Soloing over changes is something a lot of bass players never get and that would add a string ..but groove is what you feel so I am not sure you can learn it as such. Having said that...groove playing gets you more gigs, IMO, but jazz harmony wont hurt you to have. I'd be interested how you can learn groove off the bat..??? or in a classroom and who would be teaching it... [/quote] There's an interesting section in Victor Wooten's groove workshop where Anthony Wellington talks about where to place a beat and how that changes the feel. A bassist with 'no groove' could follow this approach and find a way to create a groove from a theoretical approach. Groove is about note placement and it's very definitely something you could learn. I do agree that some players 'have it' but I believe that this just means they know how to place notes to give a groove feeling without needing to consider that note placement. However, I also believe that it is possible to teach a player who doesn't 'have it' to understand note placement and where to place notes for certain grooves or feels. Maybe if the OP feels they are a player who doesn't naturally have groove, looking at note placement to create a groove would be worthwhile before jazz harmony. Both vast field that'll take a lot of hard work though! Sounds like fun to me :-) Here's the video if anyone fancies a watch! http://youtu.be/8Sw_trDFJw8

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1419191078' post='2637452'] £200 more than usual though - ouch. They're probably the best looking aged fenders I've seen but if you look at what you're paying for; the parts are probably £500 if you were to buy them yourself - I can almost swallow paying £265 for someone to relic it given the time & attention to detail, but almost doubling that? That would be more difficult - I'm sure someone will snap it up though, they are very popular around these parts. [/quote] The parts might be £500. But the time and expertise for the relicing, the pickups (which are much better than a cheap Mexican Fender set!), the freedom to specify a custom colour and (in my case) put a jazz neck on a precision body, is just something that Fender don't offer. At all. So it's relevant how much Fender *would* charge. They don't. A hypothetical option is not a viable option. Also, I would say about 400-500 Fender basses have passed through my hands working in a music store and I have not seen any (including mex, US, Deluxe, Selects, AV and Custom Shop!) that I prefer to my Limelight. It's absolutely stunning and if anything, worth MORE money than Mark charges for them. There's something about mine that I've never found in anything else. Just superb!

[quote name='Weststarx' timestamp='1419079850' post='2636300'] Hi All, Before I start I would like it to be known that I play bass and play guitar. When it comes to buying and selling gear why is it that guitarists are so eager and keen to be rude to one and other? Constantly on these Facebook selling groups I see guitarist bashing each other about gear and being generally downright out of order in some cases. What caused me to write this post is recently a girl put a guitar up for sale on one of these groups who clearly had no idea about guitars and listed in the description that it was 'pre strung'. Now I agree from a our point of view that is funny because that's what we all expect when we buy a guitar, but the amount of unnecessary abuse and bullying I witnessed in the comments boxes coming from guitarists was absolutely disgusting. It made me appreciate how nice and friendly this community is as we don't get this sort of silly behaviour - every dealing I've had with a bass player has been pleasant but with guitarists there's always some sort of problem or you're dealing with an asshole. I hate these types of posts I've just made as it is (as per the title) a sweeping generalisation of guitarists and I know its not everybody, but I just find the more I look the more I see guitarists being rude to each other and I just don't understand it... [/quote] Opinionated individuals ranting and being rude to others on the Internet?! Whatever next! I must admit, I find Facebook, youtube etc to be just as bad as places like basschat at times. Everywhere has its dark corners. That's why I much prefer to meet for sales/swaps etc in person as people tend to be less outrageous and more polite in real life than when they're sat behind the security of a computer screen :-)

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1418937197' post='2635089'] I went for the brown 7w pattern vinyl, with the beige/brown cloth. I like to keep things understated [/quote] Ah, I so nearly went for that!! I do love my S112. Not even tempted to get another as the one is more than enough for what I need!

I use delay all the time when practicing. It removes the dryness of bass on its own and stops practice becoming boring. I also find (depending on the setting) that it can carry over harmony you can play against which I also find useful. Never used it at a gig before though...

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1418835369' post='2633898'] I'm not really into the whole relic thing, but it's just a cosmetic preference I'm not opposed to the idea or anything. What I do find a little odd is those who have bought a vintage instrument bemoaning the "fake" aspect of relics... A bass with someone elses "mojo" is arguably even more of a "fake". [/quote] It's definitely a philosophical outlook. I personally don't see the difference between someone slowly relicing a bass over 45 years through use and Mark compacting that same process of use into a shorter time period. I'm still buying a bass that someone else has reliced either way! It just happens that apparently, some people think that their opinion somehow allows them to tell us which kind of 'someone else's relicing' is the acceptable and which one isn't... Well it's my money and I'll do what I want with it :-)

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1418821538' post='2633652'] The Limelight debate could run and run. By all accounts they play very well, and if people are happy with them at that price (and many bassists are), then I guess that's ok. I'm not sure the base instrument is a £150 dog though. The bigger issue / con - is the insane pricing of genuine vintage instruments. Just because it physically survived the last 40 years, doesn't mean it's worth £1,500. I'd wager the average Limelight bass is a better instrument than the majority of the £1-2k J's / P's being offered out there. [/quote] Completely agree. Also, calling them 'fakes' is more of a con than the bass itself. Limelight basses are never described or presented as genuine vintage instruments. They are replicas that offer a vintage aesthetic, tone and great quality to players who don't want a Pre-CBS Fender to take gigging down the local WMC every weekend. I understand people don't like them and therefore won't buy them. Others will buy them. To go around calling them 'fakes' and a 'con' like the OP is unfair IMO. Nobody says that Fender's Road Worn basses are trying to con people with 'fake' instruments. They are a similar replica for a certain customer's taste and are never close enough in detail to be able to fool anyone into thinking they're an original vintage Fender. You would have to be incredibly naive to put £3000+ in to a vintage bass without checking pots, date stamps and other details that original vintage instruments have and the replicas do not.

[quote name='bassintheface' timestamp='1418824153' post='2633699'] So, after selling on JV P last week, I've had the money burning a hole in my pocket. I had a few ideas of what I wanted - I was seriously close to making offers on both Limelights that are currently on sale here - Michael's '63 and 'Threes' '61 - and I mean close! I was also giving proper thought to ordering a custom Limelight - a 70's style, aged Oly white, RW board, blocks, bound neck, 3 ply back plate.... Finally, after much deliberation and weighing up all options, I've finally just pulled the trigger on this baby: http://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/basses/fenderjapan62rijazz.htm Looking fwd to getting her on friday, when coincidentally, i have a gig!! We've also got our favourite sound engineer on FOH - Edgy - he's been the Maccabees' mons eng for years and has just got back off the Kasabian tour with them, so looking fwd to the inevitable stories! [/quote] This is the bass I put in part ex with mark to get my limelight. I can promise you it's one of the nicest jazz basses I've ever played. Stunning! I was actually debating whether to try and get it back after my Christmas gigging funds go in but looks like ive missed out :-) nice to know it's gone to a good home though! I also bought the stacked knobs and hardcase from members of this forum. A real basschat bass :-) Here's a pic from when I had it

Who's Mike and why is he opening himself up for the evening? In all seriousness, go. You're more likely to find out how much of what you know and practice on the bass is useful for when you're playing with other people, if you actually go out and try it out by playing music with other people!

In our band, three of us are confident and (just!) able enough to cover the singing for the entire set (split between us)... If the singer comes down with something with advance warning (a few days), we get a dep. if we don't have much notice (48 hours or less!) we just drop a harmony and take lead on the ones we find easiest. We've rehearsed this as preparation for such a situation so we don't have to cancel and let anyone down. Never had to cancel a gig because of a pesky cold and hopefully never will :-)

Nearly as poorly managed and overpriced as R***********s these days!! ;-)

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1418207589' post='2627895'] Luthiers wont import the woods..they will go to a company who specialise in that. They may also ( hopefully ) subscribe to an ethical policy... and that may even be law, but mostly you are paying for a one-off customised hand crafted instrument. I've had 3 and they've always delighted me in a way other production basses just can't.. [/quote] Yes but the company the luthier will go to for the wood will add the importing costs of the woods into their prices. That's the point. Someone, somewhere along the line will pay that cost and a big corporation like Yamaha or Fender or Gibson can absorb it a lot easier than an independent wood specialist selling to a handful of luthiers, producing small numbers of basses. That why a lot of 'cheap' manufacturing is done in Indonesia, as there are a lot of exotic woods that are indigenous to Indonesia and the guitar can be produced with woods without importing the wood at a cost before exporting it and it incurring import charges upon arrival in the next country. Luthiers MAY be able to produce a nicer quality bass but you'll pay a premium for it. Some people don't like that. Also, that's not always true. I have seen, first hand, a lot of basses from UK luthiers that mostly go for £2k + and I can honestly say that I've only ever found that one of those custom builder's products to be consistantly worth the money. I don't want to get into who as most of them are active on here and I don't want to offend or affect anyone as a result of my opinion but I've played production line Ibanez basses for £800-1000 that have been better quality than some of the custom build £2k+ UK builds. It's about what YOU want to spend your money on and what you judge as good quality. There isn't a sweepin generalisation that is the 'right' answer for everyone. It might have been total luck that the Ibanez I played was loads better than the X custom built UK bass I played. You might have a totally opposing experience and spend your money on something else instead. That's fair enough. But there isn't a blanket answer that 'luthier is best'... It's not science. It's subjective opinion.