machinehead

I bought one new and sold it to the second owner for £525 if I remember correctly. I think it would be about a year or so back. It was in 100% as-new condition though. Frank.

All the above I agree with. It's a bass (and 6 string guitar for that matter) desert. Bairds have always had a G&L Tribute L2000 every time I've been in recently but it's been a while. If you like acoustic guitars, a visit to the Avalon factory in Newtownards, Lowden near Downpatrick and the Guitar Rooms in Holywood are all worth a look. Frank.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1335908222' post='1638017'] Thanks Frank, that's very helpful. Are you saying then that you feel that P necks feel chunkier than the G&L? [/quote] No, not really. The neck on my L2000 Tribute isn't too deep but is wider than my P bass by about 2mm. It still feels very playable to me. What I meant was, I can adapt to any neck so J or P or G&L, I can play them all comfortably. It seems a lot of players prefer a J neck and hate a P neck or vice versa. For me, it doesn't matter that much. (Strangely, and I've never heard anyone else say this, I have more problems with the right hand ergonomics. I find the P bass PU sometimes gets in the way and I find myself moving the right hand to unnatural feeling positions on a P bass. This doesn't seem to happen on a J or G&L L2000. It's not a massive prolem though on any bass.) Frank. Sound wise, I love the G&L. The sound is just so ballsy, but you have to learn how to tweak the tone controls and even the volume, to get a more mellow tone It's all ther once you learn how to find it. They are just great all round bass guitars. frank.

I think the necks are the same width hence the 5 string feels narrow compared to the 4. Can anyone confirm this? The neck on my 4 string is wide, but not too deep. It's very comfortable but I find I can adapt to wide P necks or J width quite easily. Anyway, they are stunning basses at an amazing price, especially used. Frank.

Bairds Music in Belfast. Long established and experienced in PA and general gear hire. NIAVAC. Also in Belfast. They might be too big though as they do gigs for Van and all the big acts visiting Belfast. Frank.

Lovely playing, but I can bearly tell the difference between a Precision bass and the neck pickup of a jazz bass. Frank.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1333504319' post='1602692'] If you like that book you're going to love this one: [b][i]Fender The Golden Age 1946 - 1970[/i][/b], even though it is a general Fender history book and covers all the guitars made within that period, it has a great big section on all the Fender Basses (Precision, Jazz, VI, Jaguar, Mustang etc) containing 100's of good quality pics of rare and unseen basses. I think this book is a must for any keen collector and Fender affcionados. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-The-Golden-Martin-Kelly/dp/1844036669/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333503978&sr=1-2"]http://www.amazon.co...33503978&sr=1-2[/url] [/quote] Right, knock this on the head - you're going to cost me a lot of money. The Fender Bass book arrived yesterday. An excellent read. Cheers GW.

You need a BadAss III. It should fit straight on. Frank.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1333428935' post='1601484'] You need to get yourself a copy of this book: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Fender-Bass-Illustrated-History/dp/0634026402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333428876&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co...33428876&sr=8-1[/url] [/quote] Thanks. I just ordered this. Frank.

Very, very nice. Frank.

You have a lovely set up with the Markbass gear. You can handle any size of gig with the two bits of gear. I wouldn't shift those. If you prefer to have the cash, it's easier to have just the one bass in my experience. Having said that, I wouldn't sell any gear that I'm enjoying unless I was really strapped for cash. Did that before and lost a lot of money on the sales of three Markbass cabs, a Markbass head and a Markbass 121P combo. All bought new and sold in A1 condition. Bad idea. Frank.

I bought a Fender Precision off John. I'll admit that I was naturally a little bit nervous about sending cash to a new member with no known history but after a chat on the phone I had the feeling that John was a decent and honest guy. My intuition was more than right. John shipped the bass before my bank transfer was confirmed. Everything was as described and the whole deal was perfect and I got a lovely Precision in the finish I had been looking out for for a couple of years. I hope I won't embarrass John if I tell you that he also put a letter in the bass case and a gift of cash for my newborn granddaughter. What a nice gesture! This sort of thing restores your faith in human nature. Thanks very much John. John is a true gent. You can deal with full confidence. Frank.

The arrival of a new baby this week has prevented me from seeing the bass. I'm hoping to get a look before easter though, perhaps early next week. Any other advice on value, or insight into the bass is most welcome. Thanks. Frank.

[quote name='TomRichards' timestamp='1332951408' post='1595441'] Backup basses range in prices, no matter what the artist. A McCartney played Yamaha BB would sell for about 10% of what a McCartney played Ric or Hofner would. Since Lynott was known for the black with mirror P bass, any one of his basses authenticated that were in that color scheme would probably sell between $2K and $3K sight unseen. A plain old sunburst that there probably arent any pictures of him playing, not more then a '78P in good condition. Here in the US, about $1500-$2000 USD. [/quote] Very intersting and less cash than I had thought for sure. Any others like to attempt to put a value on it. BTW, I can't see it this week due to things at home but I will see it next week. or maybe even at the weekend. Frank

Thanks basshead56. I would have loved it if you'd said you remember a SB Precision but still interesting information. schmig. I've seen a few Noel Redding jass basses for sale where the seller claimed he went to Skibereen (?) and had Noel "refresh" his signature. Always seemed iffy to me. Frank.

Thanks for all the replies so far. To respond to some of the points made and questions asked: The bass was bought from the shop a few years ago when it was about to close. It's now in private hands. It wasn't for sale in the shop (Just displayed in a glass case) and the buyer knew the owner who sold it to keep the shop open and pay some debts. I also know the (ex) shop owner (Shop sadly closed eventually|) so that would be a good line of enquiry. I'll be chasing that one up at the weekend. The seller hasn't put a price on it. He doesn't know what to ask and I don't know what to offer. He doesn't seem to need to sell and he responded to a "wanted" ad I posted locally. Thanks to those who gave me names to contact. I will try to do that after I see the bass and get a general feel for the possible deal. Exciting times. I saw Thin Lizzy in the Ulster Hall in Belfast in 1972/3 I think. We were sitting on the side of the stage within touching distance of the band. The view was great but the sound could have been better from seats down in the main hall. I'll let you all know how this goes. Frank.

I have the opportunity to buy a 1976 sunburst Fender Precision and I could do with some help on valuation as I have no idea what to offer. The bass is described as in good general and original condition but with buckle rash through to the wood. Here's the hard part - it belonged to Phil Lynott as a back up bass, and has a signed letter from his mother to state this. I'm sure I can check this out but it seems genuine as the bass used to be displayed in a glass case in a local guitar shop. The guitar shop bought it from Phil's mother. So, if the bass was worth say £1000 as just another 1976 Precision, what value would the Fender experts put on this one? Impossible question I know but even your thoughts would help me as I have no idea what would be a reasonable offer. I will be checking the provenance of course. What a cool bass to own. I'm very interested in this. Help please. Frank.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1332622468' post='1590927'] Yep that's what I'm building too. This ebay one has J pups which (apart from the positioning) makes this build a bit of a mystery - why not just put a P neck on J instead of depriving the word of a lovely '51? [/quote] Yep. I agree. I wouldn't have removed the original PU either. In my case I was concerned to keep the original single coil PU concept. I know the most popular mod is to add a J PU but the other less common mod on post '57 Precisions is to add another P style PU. (Lee Sklar?) I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of the Ou7shined "double P". Frank.

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1332543428' post='1589996'] When you can buy every possible configuration of guitar you can think of, why do this. [/quote] But, but... you can't buy a Fender 51 RI with an identical pickup in the bridge position and that's why it was done to mine. The three way switching gives you the original sound plus two other sounds, both of which are lovely and very usable. Switching to both PUs gives a very sweet sound for the quieter songs and slaps well. The bridge PU isn't as close to the bridge as the ebay one and so it's not nasal sounding at all. The Seymour Duncan SCPB3 pickups are full and rich with a lovely deep thump. Mine is a brilliant bass. just how the ebay one would sound I obviously don't know. I was just surprised to see it because I really thought mine would be a unique beast. Well, it still is. Everyone will have different opinions on this and that's fair enough. Frank.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1332533111' post='1589821'] It a pretty strange position to lob that bridge pup in. I'd imagine it would add an extremely nasal quality. If he wanted a jazz sound why not just buy a Jazz instead of wrecking a perfectly good 51. Having said that I have a dual 51 pup project under way (better pup placement though). [/quote] Ohhh. I'm looking forward to seeing pics of that one. In my opinion, that ebay bass is just another experiment on a Fender bass. I don't subscribe to the view that it's either right or wrong. It's a one off, it might sound fantastic or it might disappoint. My own two PU 51 Precision, while different to this one, sounds fantastic, and I enjoy trying this kind of thing and keeping an open mind on what might or might not work. Rick. I can see what you're saying but in my case, I enjoy the mods to my 51 because I think it might have been done by a hard-up musician in 1960 to attempt to copy the jazz bass by adding a bridge PU. Each to his own. So far, all opinions are negative. Anyone like it? Frank.

I wonder how this sounds? This is similar to a conversion I have on my 51 RI Precision. Mine has a pair of Seymour Duncan SPB3 Quarter Pounders fitted which I think is more in keeping with the original concept of the bass. I wouldn't have chosen jazz style PUs myself. I opted to have three way switching on mine rather than the blend knob as I found the switching works very well on my G&L L2000. If this one is as good as mine it'll be a cracker and with no reserve, a possible bargain. I can tell you that there's almost £1000 invested in mine. (Including the £600-ish it cost new) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-51-Precision-bass-Made-Japan-2007-10-gigbag-new-pickups-Excellent-/290686015895?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item43ae3c9997 I'd be interested in peoples opinions on this. Frank.

If you really must go for a valve amp then the VHT special 6 is a superb amp and only costs £129.99 new. Even at 6 watts it can be far too loud for home use but it can be switched to 3 watts which is a useful feature. Dawsons in Bangor stock the entire VHT range. Someone else mentioned the Blackstar HT5. These are good too but the VHT is far better value and a bit louder on 6 watt setting. I prefer the VHT myself. If you can live with SS for a while, the Roland Cube range gives surprisingly decent sounds. Frank.