Matt P

i'm expecting this for our next gig, we're playing for a friends wedding, they asked and we mistakenly said yes, the bride to be was under the impression that we'd just need a couple of practices before the big day but when they asked we were'nt really a band (we'd just jammed together a few times) we've all played in bands before but just not in this configuration, we've spent the last 3 months learning and practicing suitable songs, and it's been fun (we're going to keep on after the wedding), at some point someone (probably the groom) will shout "play freebird" (a long running joke with his best man who plays lead guitar in a rock covers band and refuses to play freebird) so we've worked out a version that works for us and we're poised to launch into it at any point. hopefully that should earn us a few pints to round the evening off. Matt

used this to go take some better pictures of my baby, this is my best acoustic, (I've got a Yamaha cutaway dreadnaught too but i have hardly touched it in the last 4 years) McIlroy AS25, Cedar top, solid claro walnut back and sides, bought 3 days before my wedding as a present to myself (with permission of course) that was 4 and a bit years ago, i still get a buzz when i play this guitar, i can't quite believe it's mine! at the time the single most expensive purchase i'd made, but the finest acoustic guitar I've ever played (and I've played some really expensive instruments from some big names including Martin, Taylor Takemine and Collings) Dermot McIlroy (pronounced mackleroy) learnt his trade at Lowden, and this shows in his guitars, i've played a few Lowdens and they're wonderful but the McIlroy has something special about it. a 40 year old (ish) Fylde has got close as well. [attachment=114128:P1020970.JPG][attachment=114129:P1020973.JPG][attachment=114130:P1020971.JPG] Matt

did i Pm you? can't remember if i did (and can't check as i'm on my mobile) if my name's not on this list should i pm to get in the queue? i'm up for either preamp as long as it has a blend pot (i would eventually love to have one of each but am a patient man and will happily wait my turn.) matt

nice, my first guitar was a red aria magna 20, if you ever need to sell this on give me a shout, I'd love to have a bass to go with it. Matt

Has no-one got a precision 5 string they could stick a ruler over? i just want to know if the spacing is close to the stingray 5 so the strings will run properly over the polepieces, then i can start the search for all the bits for my build. if the spacing is different to the stingray (more than 1/2 a millimeter string to string) i'll start looking at buying something from the classifieds. (sandberg is the current favorite) Thanks in advance Matt

the spacing doesn't really matter to me when playing as i find i can adjust pretty easily, i just want to make sure that both the pickups line up properly with the strings. i've got my eye on a number of possible basses but i really want a good precision tone, the added musicman pickup would be a bonus and hopefully quell the nagging thought that i really want a stingray as well. I also like the idea of owning something unique, i've never seen a 5 string jaguar with a p/mm pickup combination. Matt

i'm hoping someone can help me here, i'm trying to find out what the string spacing at the bridge is for the Fender Precision V and Google hasn't been much use. I heard a guy play one at a gig yesterday and it sounded just like my beloved 77 but with a great low b as a bonus. i'm Gas'ing for a better 5 string and have been toying with the idea of a P/MM pickup combination on a Jag body with either a jazz v or a stingray 5 neck (depending what comes up in the classifieds here). the pickup combo will be very much like the Pingray that Ou7shined built but on a jag body in sonic blue with tortie scratchplate. with fender and musicman usa pickups most likely (again it depends what appears in the classifieds) if it all looks too expensive or complex then i'll probably just wait for a sandberg PM/VM 5 to come up secondhand. (the build will be mostly secondhand parts with the probable exception of the body) Thanks Matt

last time i played a pub gig on bass i only had one bass so that was easy (about 300 quid's worth i think) but back in my guitaring days then it depended on the gig, i played a few acoustic sets with my Mcilroy where i was definately uneasy (very low stage and very drunk punters very close) i think i would have been happier with my old Yamaha and i'm darned sure the punters wouldn't have noticed the difference between 2k's worth of handbuild Northern irish beauty and a 25 quid argos special. i have had a cheap bitsa p/j built as an alternative to my 77, but that was mainly because of the weight, i can only play for so long with 11lbs of bass on my shoulder, so a short set will get the 77, but if i'm up there for a long time then i'll only use the 77 where it's needed for a song here and there, the bitsa will get most use. all my instruments are tools to be used and i try not to get precious about them, and i do pretty well most of the time but the thought of damage to my Mcilroy brings me out in a cold sweat. Matt

custom order would be well outside my price bracket, at the moment i could just about scrape enough together to pick up a secondhand one from the for sale section here (and that would involve selling whatever i could spare from my current collection and whatever else i could find in the house that i could live without!) the precision-musicman pickup combination is exactly what i want though, especially with the reversed p-pup, a nice natural basic vm5 would be absolutely perfect, a california vm5 would be beyond perfect (a great match to my natural '77 p-bass) i can sort the gas for a sonic blue bass with a can of nitro and my old squier jazz i'm off to stalk the classifieds. Matt

why did you have to post all those pictures? i've got serious Sandberg GAS now! a PM5/VM5 (am i right in thinking they are actually the same bass?) would suit me perfectly, people have mentioned that the necks are lovely and slim, anyone able to give me a comparison with the Ibanez sr 5-string necks? it's a good thing they don't do a sonic blue without the relicing as it would dent my bank balance pretty hard and pretty fast, going to have to wait paiently for one to pop up in the for sale section here in a finish i like. Matt

just finished watching the documentary, my favorite album of all time, the first time i heard it was when a friend lent it to me to try out my new record player, i sat on the end of my bed and listened to the whole album through twice, sat there doing nothing but listening, went out first thing the next morning and bought myself a copy. i only got the cd version 6 months ago, the re-issue with the alternate recording of diamonds on the soles of her shoes, with just the voices and Bakithi Khumalo's bass, sends shivers down my spine every time i hear it. Matt

that appears to be a t-amp (or a clone) there are plenty on ebay, that's the first one i've seen with a built in radio as well, to use it as a bass amp i'd put something in-between the bass and the amp, a pre-amp of some kind would be best but a small pad mixer would also work (and would have phono outputs as well) the choice of t-amps and thier clones is huge, some are available direct from the far east (like the one you posted) and some are available from uk re-sellers, these often have the bonus of a uk spec power supply and faster delivery but with a slightly higher price. i've been looking at these for a while to use with my computer but haven't got round to pulling the trigger as the current powered speakers i'm using are still doing sterling work and all the spare hifi speakers i had lying around have been sold to my mates. Let us know how you get on if you buy, i'd be interested in the sound quality that you get, Matt [size=2](edited for spelling)[/size]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' timestamp='1340802107' post='1709770'] 1. Most people will deliver, and the cost of delivery is vastly offset by the saving you will make over a new instrument. 2. You can't exactly trust the quality of new instruments either; fender are known for having had pretty shocking QC on their mass produced instruments in recent years. [/quote] This^ where do you live? if you're in a reasonably populated area then there should be plenty of guitars available within a bus ride, Matt

i know that you've stated that your not much of a fan of 2nd hand instruments but that's what i've always reccomended for first-time players, especially if the budget is low, you'll get something that will most likely be much better quality than a new guitar at the same price, especially if you buy from the classifieds here. if you want versatility i'd go for something vaugely strat-style, i'm a big fan of super-strats with coil-tappable humbuckers, you'l never exactly nail some of the classic tones but you can get 90% there which is usualy a good enough position to be in. as for brands, well the yamaha pacifica line is great, and squier can be fantastic too (but i'd take each guitar on it's own merits as i've played a few of the affinity strats which were below par) but my favorite budget brand is Vintage, i had one of ther les-paul copies with a lovely sunburst finish which i picked up for 90 quid in cash converters, played and sounded awesome, only sold it to make space for my '77 p-bass as my wife has a strict one in-one out policy, i sold it to a friend though so i have first refusal if he ever needs to sell (i'll sneak it back in somehow!) Matt

ok a quick check in the souviner programme and a google search leads me to this guy http://www.youtube.com/user/greyman45 Kevin Powell, he doesn't seem to have a public web page, he's played with a few big names and done quite a bit of tv work. No clear picture of his bass though, shame as it sounded great and i'd love to know what it is. Matt

i saw this show last week in Newcastle, i couldn't identify the bass as the stage was pretty gloomy and i was sitting in the upper circle. The gear stalking method only really works when the stage is easy to get to and not too high, at the theatre royal i would have had to climb onto the stage to be able to identify the gear. Matt

i bought quite a few klotz cables back in 97-98, and at least one of them is still going strong, possibly 2, the others i've either lost/had stolen or were broken due to my hamfistedness (shutting them in my cable box and severing the cable is my favorite method but accidentally burning through then with a soldering iron works too!) but any that have been damaged have had neutrik plugs put on and gone straight back into use, as they get shorter they get cut up for patch leads. a friend of mine uses then too and bought his before i started playing (early 90's i guess) and as he really looks after his gear all his are still going strong. oh and i bought a whirlwind cable in about 98 too and that one is still exactly as it left the shop, cost me 18 quid, i don't use it that much any more as it's a little long but when i need a lead i can trust it's the first in my hand. matt

done, hope it's useful, good luck with the dissertation Matt

I'm watching this with interest as i have a VM fretless jazz body sitting here that I'd like to re-finish, i actually like sunburst but this body has some knots in the wood that would normally mean a solid finish and i have GAS for a sonic blue jazz, I'd want to finish over the original sunburst so it would naturally wear away a little at the edges over the years (I'm not a fan of relics but i do like a little natural wear and tear) and i seem to remember hearing that Fender would refinish any sunbursts that went wrong in a solid colour or if they has an order for a solid colour they didn't have in stock they would just grab a sunburst and re-finish it so many solid colour basses have a sunburst finish underneath that comes through when they get a bit worn. Matt

I'd certainly look at a 32" 5-er corvette or fortress, It would need a great low-b and a slim neck profile though, (oh and i prefer a natural finish too!) Matt

Thanks for posting this, a great watch, i also watched one of the videos suggested afterwards which was of a factory in the USA making a certain brand of instruments the name of which i won't write, but it was a tour of the factory by their CEO (who has the initials JH, was surprised to hear him state that he was a bassist near the end too.) Matt

the yamaha's are very good at the budget end but if you can find an Aria i've always found then just a little nicer to play "out of the box" (my first acoustic was a mid-range Yamaha and i still use it and love it,) i'd look at second hand too, i bought a very nice solid top yamaha acoustic with a hiscox case a few years ago for 170 quid off the uni noiticeboard ,swapped it for my first bass guitar. i've found a couple of nice yamaha's in cash converters too for around 60 quid Matt

+100 for the freshman guitars, i have the pleasure of being the go-to man when my friends (and their friends) are looking for guitars and last year i had the pleasure of helping my best friend pick out his 30th birthday guitar, we had a budget of about 400 quid and we tried every guitar under that price, the brands that stood out were, (in no particular order) Freshman, Tanglewood, Yamaha, Aria, Recording King, Art+lutherie, Simon and patrick, Vintage the freshman was a remarkable instrument, picked it off the stand and gave it a go, couldn't believe how nice it was, then we asked the price, under 200 quid! we had it pegged as out of our budget. that was just day one as well, on day 2 we headed to a little shop that we thought would be full of cheap rubbish, how wrong we were, they had a Blueridge, last one in stock, it was absolutely mindblowing, sounded, looked and played like a Martin OM-21, but at a shade over our budget, we played it for an hour, swapping between ourselves so we could both hear it from a players and an audience position. We haggled our best and walked out with it in a hard case (the best freebie ever) the best advice has already been given, get the cash in your pocket and take a (guitar playing) friend, then play as many guitars as possible and haggle as much as you can, never assume you have to pay the ticket price, and if you do, make sure you get some freebies thrown in, at least some free strings and maybe a gigbag. are you thinking of an acoustic or an electro-acoustic? i always advise to pick an acoustic according to how it sounds unplugged, my friend was looking for an elctro but the blueridge was a straight acoustic, i bought him a secondhand pickup from t'bay and had it fitted properly, sounds a million dollars. also personally i avoid cutaway acoustics, they never seem to sound as nice as the non-cutaway models. I must also state that i've yet to find either a Taylor or a Takemine that i've liked, (at any price) i've played plenty over the years, from the most humble budget models right up to the limited edition ones, not one of them made me want to take it home. i spent the best part of 5 years looking at and playing top-end acoustics before i bought mine and even the top end Taylors didn't make me want to part with my money, i was all set to buy a Martin OM-21 when my local shop started stocking McIlroy guitars [url="http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/[/url] and that was it, have been the proud owner of an AS25 for a little over 4 years now and it's still the finest guitar i've ever owned (although probably not your definition of a decent Budget) and it cost a little less than the Martin Matt

another vote for a few trips to some big stores from me. if it was me with 2k burning a hole in my pocket i think i'd be looking at gordon smith (and maybe a strat or a tele too) and heritage, there are also the makers like suhr and tyler from the states and trussart maybe? if you can work out what you want though i'd be talking to some of the excellent custom builders working on this fair island, their work is some of the best around. local to me (and not a million miles from you) is PR guitars, based in sunderland i believe, making some excellent guitars which would leave you with plenty of change. [url="http://www.prguitars.co.uk/index.html"]http://www.prguitars.co.uk/index.html[/url] i have one of his early guitars (when he was building as A+P Richardson) and it's a stunner, the guitars he has on his website are more subdued than the one i have but they are excellent value IMHO. i can post pictures later if anyone cares (been meaning to add it to the Guitar porn page anyway) it's a superstrat with an original floyd Rose and a burr walnut top, plays like a dream. I must state though that i bought mine secondhand and have had very little contact with the man himself but my guitar was built when he was a teenager (i believe) and the fit and finish is as good as any guitar i've ever seen, i actually played a PRS not long after i bought it and it was nice but not nice enough to make me want to swap. Matt