The Burpster

[quote name='Prosebass' post='717646' date='Jan 19 2010, 11:34 AM']true, but in the early 17th century he was the pupil of Nicolo Amati of Cremona Italy noted as one of the greatest double bass makers ever to live. Watch this space for an MDF bodied plywood necked Picobass I am putting together as time permits. Fitted with a top pickup and top electronics courtesy of Silent Fly [SFX] it will be interesting to see how it sounds and maybe put this arguement to rest with some solid (well MDF solid at least) evidence. [/quote] PB that could actually be a stroke of genius. An MDF body will be very dense and providing its strong enough ( dont see why not) would provide a reasonable tone. Added to that providing it was finished in a solid colour (its not very attractive) who would know...? A massive bonus would be that its tone would be easily replicated as one piece of MDF is the same as the next unlike regular sourced woods. Watching interestedly!

Oh dear what a bag of poo. A de-fretted 5 string Cort thats been used as a Tali-ban barricade for £300....... Oh I think not!

I thought there was onlt 2 kinds of music...... Country and western....... (circa Blues Brothers!)

Whats the big deal with the finish..... Its a thin nitro cellulose finish that is supposed to be thin and also wear quickly to give it the " on the road " look (road =highway in the US) Its a US bass with US parts pretty much the same as the US std but with the thinner nitro finish. They are a very good P bass providing you like the used look. It is not an inferior or cheap finish it was designed that way.

Bloody hell I've just messed my pants...... I WANT ONE...!

Rich I genuinely dont like the look of that...... If it looks too good to be true, believe there is a good reason for that... That is a cheap price so I feel there is a 50/50 chance of it being real, if they are odds you like and you can afford to lose £250, have a punt, but dont be surprised if you get burnt..... I recently turned away from a chinese seller who was (allegedly) punting 4 PRS EB IVs. The pics looked very convincing but I am now in excess of 90% sure it was a scam. But then this is you and your money..........

My advice FWIW is keep your money in your pocket and wait for one ALOT closer to the UK - these come up frequently on gleebay in the US and the Ovation fan club, and I much prefer my chances of not getting off ripped closer to home!

Sadly like a few above I have 2 absolute doosies right now! I will (when I retire in 46 months) be ordering one of these..... [url="http://www.prsguitars.com/grainger/index.html"]http://www.prsguitars.com/grainger/index.html[/url] But it wont be disgusting puke purple and it will be a Maple Maple neck. Apart from a NS CR4M There isnt any others I want. I guess I'm very lucky.

Cant remember who above said it all makes a difference but I agree. Wood, hardware and signal chain all make a difference. You can get a very good idea how an instrument will sound by playing it unplugged but you can also massively effect its tone with strings and the signal chain. If you get all these right first time you are either i) Paul Reed Smith.....Joking of course, lots of top luthiers have the skill to select bits to work together to get close to what you want. Or ii) Exceedingly lucky. You can guess at a rough mental image of what a piece of wood will sound like but you will only KNOW when it is finished into the instrument. 2 bits of wood from the same tree are capable of sounding different so think of the number of vairibles. You can of course engineer out some inconsistancies with using very good hardware and electronics, but to say that the signal chain doesn't make as much difference as the wood or vice versa, is I'm afraid frought with self conflict. The only bass that I would be completely happy that I could spec and order one to replicate one that I already had, would be a one peice Carbon or Aluminium neck thru design (as you could gaurantee the density and diemensions of the finished article). Other than that, as soon as wood is involved, you pays your money and takes your choice.

It is kinda cool..... But its not for me...... (In a kinda Bjork is cool but I wouldnt want her hanging off my arm way!)

Very very tempting........ [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1989-PRS-PAUL-REED-SMITH-CURLY-IV-BASS-WHALE-BLUE-BRZ_W0QQitemZ190362608994QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item2c527ee562"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1989-PRS-PAUL-REED-S...=item2c527ee562[/url]

Sadly the early PRS basses were a bit flat tonally, and whilst they made good funk and reggae basses they didnt 'hit it' well in all the other genres. Mr Smith was a bit miffed with that, and they didnt sell very well. When he designed the EB IV (the ones that I have) he set about a fair chunk of the design himself and recruited LR Baggs to help design the electrics so that the new ones was more tonally versatile, whilst it worked to a degree the pre amp is still a wee bit limited and I have found slapping a Bartolini pre amp in there (and if I had more bottle a set of Bart pups) opens up the spectrum. The set neck Electric Bass 4 that Robbie is playing in that clip is a wonderful design and they feel great, some of them are works of art. Sadly they are sought after more because they are collectors pieces now than 'kick ass' basses which I find a shame. Also a shame that Robbie was never an official endorsee of PRS. Gary Grainger kinda makes up for that though having his own 5 string priavte stock design. Oh and BTW someone started a thread exactly the same as yours with another youube clip about a year ago....!

Isnt the Orange Terror dual head usable for g'tar and bass.....? I seem to remembr reading that somewhere...

[quote name='silddx' post='698830' date='Jan 2 2010, 04:50 PM']Thanks very much for the pinch on the Status fellas! Unfortunately, I am convinced it won't fit without major surgery. I leveled and dressed the frets and the action's down a little, I think I can live with it, possibly [/quote] Is it the whole action thats high or just one side....? Was wondering if a shim might help.....? B.

PM'd urgently!!!!!!

[quote name='merello' post='697559' date='Dec 31 2009, 08:28 PM']Now, the force still pushes me towards Fender but I'm not that bothered about style and fashion and have started looking at:[/quote] Just remember what happened to Anakin Skywalker when he was seduced by the Force..... Fenders can just be too hit and miss for me. You could end up getting a Korean Squire that plays and sounds better than a MIA. That would be just too much of a gamble for me. German or Jap would be my guidance from your list, but as said above - I would advise you try as many as you can and try not to think of the price. Sooner or later one will decide on you rather than the other way round.....

I've just had a thought..... If a slightly dodgy party gets in in the next election and we end up going to war, all of these will be confiscated by the government to make Spitfires......

Oddly, this place keeps me motivated as I have to log on every day. There have been days this year when I really couldnt be arsed to think about basses. However coming into the new year I'm into a new pimping project, I'm desperatly hoping my time has come for one of my necks to go on holiday to the US and come back fretless and superb. I have made a pact with my geetarist to play more and maybe record some bits... (oo er missus!) I am going to start jamming with a couple of guys from work too and see where that goes...! All thanks to this place...... Being a mod can be a PITA at times but you know what..? Its impossible to be negative for long around a community such as this! So I absolutely empathise with you Rhys, and I genuinely share your optimism!

Eeeeeeee lad, a Barnsley fightin' guitar......

[quote name='silddx' post='695840' date='Dec 29 2009, 07:19 PM']Thanks for that, I hadn't thought Status might be able to do something of that order so the suggestion is gratefully received. I thought i might struggle with this one to be honest. The existing neck isn't too bad but it won't take a low action, got a bit of a snake relief going on so a serious fret level is the only other option.[/quote] Yeouch that sounds ugly....... Would a fret level sort it? sounds like if its warped that much then a stoning job wont help...... If carbon neck is a step too far, maybe just source a Warmoth neck thats straight....?