LemonCello

Back here again after a longish lay-off due to flogging all my gear a couple of years ago. My hands got really quite sore (thumb joint right hand especially), but the lay -off plus my recent discovery of glucosamine mean't an improvement in my hands to the point where I can get through a classical concert on Cello (last was Mahler 1st Symphony just before Christmas). I haven't started gigging the Bass again yet, we will wait and see if that will happen. Will I enjoy dragging my derrière off the sofa on a cold February Saturday night, drive to some god forsaken half empty boozer for forty quid? To be fair, I used to do some slightly better gigs like Upton Blues etc so it wasn't all bad lol. I've just had delivered a Sire V7 V2 which seems to be a better proposition than a Squier? Build quality looks really good, Alder body, Ebony Fb etc. Just need to play it in and see if I still like it after a couple of weeks. Anyway, enough of all this. Good to be back here, I always found the forums a great source of info. Keep up the good work and hello from South Wales!

Pete, thanks for the reply. A while back a tribute band called the Explosive Light Orchestra played quite near me, unfortunately I couldn't make it but heard they were top notch....not your band by any chance? Long shot I know, but I'd be willing to make a charitable donation (charity of your choice) of say £20 for the first cello part to Evil Woman and Ma Ma Belle? Cheers, Gary

Site is saying cassapete cannot receive messages? Any clues?

So my band, me and my electric Cello want to do some ELO. I've already got a Piano reduction but want to avoid playing the bass piano part if I can as it differs from the string parts hugely. Does anyone know if the Cello parts were ever published? Ta, Gary

Afternoon fellow musos. I've just bought an electric Cello and my band will be doing some ELO going forward. Does anyone know if the Cello (or string) parts are available? Thanks :)

I've had a VM Jazz and a VM Precision. Jazz was good, Precision poor and sold it on quite quickly. I've also had a poor MIM and a good MIM (Roger Waters) so it very much depends on the individual instrument down the lower end of the range as the QC is probably not of the same calibre as at the other end. My favourite budget Bass was my Chinese made CVP, spot on quality and playability, but I've just bought a Revalation Jazz for under £200 and it's really really good.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1501182212' post='3343208'] No photos... No basses [/quote] Fair comment...working on it

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1501181451' post='3343195'] Two new basses, what a great day for you [/quote] Cheers Gary, yeah had lots of fun today!

[attachment=250104:20170727_200632.jpg] So the Blockhead is a Bass Collection copy of Norm's '62 Jazz (the reliced one), and very nice it is too! The relic job look authentic and the shoreline gold looks good. It has a relatively low action and is very resonant - 'zingy' like a Jazz should be. I think the PUP's are Seymours and the relicing even includes the slight rounding off of the corners of both pups I'm guessing to replicate Norms finger wear? Whatever, it makes them very comfy to rest on! All in all as good a Jazz as I've played and better than most. Right now onto the Revalation....For under £200 quid delivered (Rich Tone Music) its amazing. I went for the aged white version, Maple board with blocks, lovely looking headstock and the build quality is I'm pleased to say very good. Out of the box, the action is medium to low and it slaps like a good 'un! The entwistle pups appear to be high output, I had to turn the amp down after switching from the Blockhead. The only slight issue is that with the bridge pup rolled right off, so neck pup only, the output on E and A strings is very weak almost inaudible (D&G fine) but with both pup's all fine across the range? I'm looking forward to giving them both an outing on Sunday to see how they compare to my P basses in a gig situation. Honestly for the money the Revalation is just that!

As a fan of Orange Amplification and having just become aware of the Orange O Bass I was naturally wondering if any of the good peeps of Bass Chat had any experience of them - good, bad or indifferent? Ta LC

+1 for Mark at Classic and Cool Guitars. My '63 P heavy relic is a peach!

If you make a mistake - glare at the drummer, works every time! I don't generally drink alcohol at a gig coz it makes me need a slash at the most inopportune moments! Remember Pino Palladino is unlikely to be in the audience, stick your shoulders back - SMILE and enjoy!

I've bought a few basses from Mark over the years including a Vigier Excess (which I subsequently decided I didn't like and let go), and an astonishingly minty '79 Precision (which I subsequently.....you get the picture. I recently went back for a lovely P/J which was advertised as a US. Played it, loved it, bought it. After getting it home and 'showing it off' on here (as you do), one erudite gentleman informed me that Fender hadn't made an active US P/J since the early '80's. Got on the phone to Mark who told me he'd done some research after taking it in and learned it might be a bitsa. Advert wasn't changed however and still said US. I e mailed Fender customer relations (didn't expect a response), but got one in less than 48 hours. Turns out the neck on my bass (which is US) left the factory on an Am Stnd. Only later was that neck 'aquainted' with what has to be a Mex body. Back on the phone to Mark who said if I wasn't satisfied I could take it back and get a full refund. I wanted to keep the bass as it's the best Fender I've played by far so he gave me some money back. Two points to make 1. Mark should have changed the Ad when he discovered it was probably a Bitsa but chose not too - draw your own conclusions about that and 2. I'm happy that I have a cracking Bass with some money back.

Caught them on the half hour Jools. Something about 'locks'? thought that track was meh.

Fenders are cool....watch Jools Holland and you will see loads of them... particularly basses. They have also been around for over half a century and have been in the hands of some of the worlds most talented and famous (in some cases infamous) musicians. Think Fender and think Strat/Tele and Precision/Jazz. Think Gibson and think Les Paul.............??? you get my point. Someone above will cane me for that but it's true, Gibson nailed the guitar thing with the Les Paul, but couldn't quite compete with Fender on the Bass front. Over the years Fender has managed somehow to thrive by issuing hundreds of variations on a theme, stnd, deluxe, RI, PJ, Cowpoke, Blacktop, Modern Player, FSR, hand stained, the list goes on and on and on. I can't think of another brand (of anything) which has done what Fender has done quite so successfully.

Is that the one that was for sale from Scotland? Very nice, I have the same bass and it is a lovely thing! I too have shielded the cavity and fitted some Wilkinson Alnico pup's and changed the control plate for a black one, 500K pots and new drop cap. As Jazzes go, it has the classic burpy jazz sound and I like it a lot. At over 10lbs it's not for weak backs, but I don't mind heavy basses!

Update: I e mailed Fender customer relations and got a reply the next day - great service as I really wasn't expecting a response! The serial number of my P/J relates to an Am Stnd which left the factory in 2010, the neck from which became 'aquainted' with what must only be a Mex body on my bass some time after. I forwarded the mail from Fender to Mark at Bass Direct where the Bass was advertised as a USA. He had assumed it was a (full) USA as it was told to him that way when the previous owner Px'd it for a Sandberg. Mark e mailed the previous owner to try and get some more info and the chap told Mark he had bought it off a mate as is. When I originally phoned Mark about the provenance of the Bass he told me he'd done some research after taking the Bass in and come to the conclusion it was a US/Mex mix. I made the point to him that really that should have been pointed out in the advertising. To be fair he's been very good about it and has refunded part of the price I paid and I am very happy with the outcome. It has the best Fender neck I've played and overall the action is perfect for me. It is a beautiful instrument and the addition of the Seymours and Gotoh bridge really do improve things no end. Mystery over!

E mail to Fender sent....I'll keep you all posted Thanks for all your comments.

The headstock clearly says made in USA and the neckplate says Corona California. This still doesn't explain the fact it's a P/J however, but this might. I have heard that Fender have built 'some' instruments , not often, using mixed parts (MIM/USA) which were assembled in Corona and this may fit into that category? I spoke to Mark and although a bit vague did say if I wasn't happy he'd have it back. To tell you the truth, as it's such a good instrument I'm minded to keep it. I might e mail Fender customer support for a definitive answer.

The following from Fender website which (I think) clears it up [color=#000000][font=robotoslab, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]A new serial numbering scheme was adopted toward the end of 2009 using the number “10” as a prefix, followed by a space, followed by seven digits. The “10” prefix was designed to identify the first year of the second decade of the new millennium, and while it appears on the instrument decals, it was not captured in Fender’s operating system. Only the seven-digit suffixes were actually entered into the database. These serial numbers did not identify the country of origin in the body of the number. Instead, the instrument's country of origin appears on the decal on the back of the headstock, near the serial number.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=robotoslab, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]This new numbering scheme was short-lived and was replaced only a few months later by an improved scheme that identifies an instrument’s country of origin and year of manufacture in the body of the serial number.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=robotoslab, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]This new scheme uses the letters “US” as a prefix to designate an instrument made in the United States, followed by an eight-digit number. The first two digits of the number identify the year of manufacture, (10 for 2010, 11 for 2011, etc.). The following six digits are the unit identifier, although it should be noted that these final six numbers are not sequential and do not provide any other identification information about the instrument. This new scheme is now used on the majority of U.S.-made Fender instruments, with exceptions including the American Vintage series and certain special-run instruments.[/size][/font][/color]