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[quote name='XB26354' timestamp='1358189849' post='1934594'] They didn't used to, at least with the binding. When I was teaching a student bought one of the first 4-strings. The binding was painted on. You could see this because at the headstock end someone had forgotten to paint the thickness of the binding into the curve - unless they took the trouble to apply 0.5mm binding. A very close look confirmed that it was one piece of wood on the fingerboard. I always assumed the inlays were real, though. Good basses for the money but the Squier Classic Vibe is on a different level IMHO. [/quote] Controversail!! A

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1357869958' post='1929941'] there was a lot of this argument early on "they are inlays" "no they are painted!". It turns out they ARE inlays, not painted on, despite appearances. Google search, you will find pictures demonstrating this. [/quote] [quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1358176752' post='1934277'] I stand corrected, but how can proper inlays and binding look so "transfer" like...? In fact I'm going to go and closely look at mine again! .......Well in the cold light of day, what looked shiny and ersatz is in fact "proper job"! [/quote] Here.................... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/155849-squier-vm-jazz-love-story-question-of-pickups/"]http://basschat.co.u...ion-of-pickups/[/url] Can we all agree now?? A EDIT: and for all the trouble Ive gone to sorting all this bickering out heres an unashamed plug for whare that neck ended up...................... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/189935-lucie-uber-deluxe-jazz-v/page__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/189935-lucie-uber-deluxe-jazz-v/page__fromsearch__1[/url]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1358165527' post='1933965'] Wichita Lineman is one of my all time favourite songs and lyrics. Should be a good doc this. Thanks for the nod. [/quote] abolutely! "and I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time." One off the best lines ever. String arrangment is beautifull to. Amazing song. Ill be watching. A

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1358104756' post='1933238'] and that piccy shows it's proper binding too [/quote] Maybe I took the roadworn look a bit too far A

Squier VM 5 Maple neck with plastic inlays..................... [IMG]http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q491/apasher/21052012102_zps34b880ab.jpg[/IMG] A

[quote name='D.I. Joe' timestamp='1357984821' post='1931262'] Rotos do have red silk at both ends, and TIs do as well. (Not helpful I know!) Now, call me geeky, but I believe that the Rotosounds taper under the silk and the ball end, whereas the TIs don't and are hence thicker at the ball. Edit: I need to get out more [/quote] Just checked again and yep they taper on all including the G. Brass balls to. Heres a pic I did if it helps................ [IMG]http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q491/apasher/DSCN0133.jpg[/IMG] A

Roto Jazz 77 Flats have a bright red silk at the tail end but dont think they have them at the ball. I cant see, its a through body! A

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1357529434' post='1924089'] you misunderstood me. I didn't mean grinding the polepieces, they don't bother me "physically". I meant grounding them, as in connecting them to ground. That's as simple as running a strip of copper foil on the underside of the pickups, touching the bottom of each polepiece, and connecting that to ground with a wire. That way I will not get a buzz when I touch them (even if I rarely touch them!). [/quote] [color="#282828"]Doh!! [/color] [color="#282828"]A[/color]

Dont fancy dusting that lot every week A

why dont you pad the underside of the case so the poles are flush. Damn site easier than grinding magnets!! A

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1357469530' post='1922911'] I find it fills the band sound out more, I use fingers mostly but also a pick and mute the strings with my RH palm on a couple of songs where I want that old fashioned flat wound sound. I think most of us spent the first week on fretless sliding around, after that I started just to use it for playing properly but with a different feel/sound. After a few years of experimenting (having tried and moved on from active acoustic,Precision, MM style) I settled on passive jazz as my weapon of choice. What I hate is when (usually none bass players ) say " have you trued that with a chorus pedal?" - No, I don't wish to sound like every band from the 1980's that I hated. And remember - the slide is still there for when you absolutely need it. [/quote] Agreed (Although reverb is nice!) The slid is like slap. Wonderful when used at the appropriate juncture but otherwise just cheesey. A

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1357423903' post='1922594'] I play my fretless as I play my fretted bass. No cheesy slides or vibrato. I love the way it plays and the feel. If you came to a gig and closed your eyes you'd be pushed to tell it was a fretless you were hearing most of the time [/quote] A very good point to. You do, to a certain degree, get two basses in one A

Feel, expression and looks. Its like driving a manual after an automatic! Got to be unlined though. Oh! and finger style always. A

Your getting old before your time mate A

Check the seating of the wires underneath. This may cause the lopsidedness. Are the pickups tight in the holes? And yes stick some more packing underneath so there is pressure. a few mm's at a time so you can still adjust. Or get some springs instead. A

Toby fare there is a pic of the kit below! A

Are you going to try and recreate that 'Quarrymen' sound? A

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1356813947' post='1913999'] In answer to the preamp needed to sound like a MM. No. I have a Sandberg basic and it sounds like a Stingray. (not exact, but very a like) and that has the pickup placement but has passive mode and a glockenklang preamp. The pickup placement gives the very flat response, full of harmonics, making the strings sound tight and full of bounce and punch. The preamp on a stingray gives rays their typical 'open' airy top end, bright but not shrill. Due to the treble pot being high at about 7khz. Tim Commerford fooled me in thinking he was using a Stingray for songs like People of the sun, I think it's a jazz on the recording (could be wrong) but he utilises a preamp with it too. [/quote] Thanks for that Prime BASS. That does seem to be the general concensus. Ill concentrate on the pickups for now and then pick a suitable pre A

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1356642081' post='1912023'] Hi [b]Wizard wouldnt even make me a standard 5 string P pickup !!![/b] There is a guy here on BC (sorry forgot who) who got Nordstand to make some custom replacements for his Dingwall. I did think about tapping up Jon Letts as he makes his own. The 2 x std jazz blade type idea would get you very close to a MM and you could get something off the shelf. [b]If you do go ahead with the build I could draw it up in CAD for you (no charge obviously) to help workout the pickup sizes etc, it's makes light work of laying out the frets as well[/b] Ta Dave [/quote] Actually I know the trouble there is at the mo with Wizard so probably wont use Andy. Thanks for the offer Dave but I work in CAD design for a living myself. AutoCAD / Solidworks / Studiotools / Maya / ProE...... take your pic [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1356649706' post='1912139'] IIRC, I'm sure I once saw a bass using two regular jazz pickups with their inner mounting lugs ground off to allow them to be placed directly adjacent to one another. I seem to recall that they'd epoxyed the two halves of the casings together to form one unit. Bizarre, but it would work. [/quote] Twin J pickups are pretty common arent they? I wont have the problem of esthetics. All the pickups will be hidden in the body. A

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1356633947' post='1911888'] I've been looking at making a 5 string fan fret also!! I hope this makes sense, it does in my head but i cant quite explain it... I've just drawn up fan frets with std pickups rotated in CAD. IF you say that the position of the jazz pickups are a percentage of the scale length, then apply that percentage to each of the strings on the fan you get where the pole pieces are for each string, you then draw a line through the pole pieces you get the jazz pickups in the 'correct' jazz position This gives you the angle that the pickups should be at (dingwalls angle doesnt calculate out to be 'straight') For a standard 5 string jazz bridge pickup to have the strings running over the pole pieces the string spacing work out at approx 13mm which might be a bit tight? If you go with 18mm sting spacing the bridge pickup need to cover approx 92mm between the outer stings and thats more of a 6 string blade type pickup (delano 6 string pickup only works over 95mm so even thats close). Of course you dont have to have the pickups angled as if they are 'straight' but they may sound different if they aint Dave [/quote] Hi Dave This is the crux of (one of) my dilemas in a nutshell! I understand exactly what your saying. An angled pickup needs wider spacings. Coming back to my MM/JJ debate: If I wanted an MM pickup there is no stock one that has angled poles since they are in pairs. So the J+J would be an option if they were bladed. I do wonder how things work when fanned frets dont have angled pickups! Its like a standard fretted with pickups angled the wrong way! The only way is custom I think. Mine is all still in my head but Im sure there are many small winders who could cut a bobin to suit. Wizard being the obvious one. Interesting you say that Dingwalls dont calculate out at the correct angle. Are they over angled (To emulate the angle you get on some Single coiled set ups) or under angled? I wouldnt go lower than 16mm spacing on any bass myself. My Bitsa 5er is 17mm and thats as close as I like. Ive also read a few things about the frets themselves. Banjo frets seem to be the prefered size. Also an important detail I realised is that when marking out/calculating the fret positions its under the strings not at the edge of the fretboard. A

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1356454808' post='1910325'] No. It helps, but no. A MM pickup without a preamp already sounds very Stingray. A Jazz pickup at the MM position... can do a Stingray-passable tone in the mix. A MM pickup outside the MM position does not sound like a Stingray no matter what you do to it. My G&L L2000 with a Stingray preamp does not sound at all like a Stingray... etc Position is the most important part. You are not going to nail the sound using two J pickups... but if at the right place, it's going to to sound nicely Stingrayish. Use whatever preamp you wish. I'd prefer the John East MMSR, of course [/quote] Cool beans Yep Im not expecting two J's to sound exactly like an MM but something akin to it will do so Ill stick to that. Now its only left to decide whether to use an East MMSR with a passive blend or keep it simple with a U-Retro. Id rather try something different to a Retro though. Ive got two already Oh and see my reply to subthumper. A

If the main thick bit of the E and possibly the A strings can fit in the machine head slots then yes. If they dont then, well no! A

Could be rewired as a Vol Tone Blend? The VM's do have crome knobs all the same size. The VM 5ers came in the standard VVT setup. A

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1356195883' post='1907861'] Mec twinjazz. Covered blade polepieces, so no alignment issues. Essentially two j pickups in one housing. Worked fine in the Warwick fortress masterman basses... [/quote] Cool. Added to the options list A