Rick's Fine '52

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1384636421' post='2279094'] Went and tried a few today, and none felt magical That magic is very much what I'm after. If my RW Precision can do it for me, surely another can? I'm not going to buy anything that doesn't speak to me in that 'magical' way. [/quote] You'll find it, just keep looking, and playing them, or maybe it will find you, as also happens.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1384635462' post='2279068'] It's a piece of wood and metal, and a little plastic. They are all different. On their own, they are nothing. If they fall into the hands of the right players, who the wood and metal and plastic fit perfectly with their bodies and minds, then the wood and metal and plastic can facilitate the magical feelings in the bassists who hold them. Everything good about a bass is in the player. I have the bass that makes me feel like this, it's a 1983 USA Fender Jazz. I have played some '60s Fenders, they were all bad for me. Oddly, a beat up old Ricky 4001 really made me feel magical a few years ago, and I hate Rickys. It's spiritual man, no bass has a spirit despite what vintage sellers tell you. The spirit, and the magic, is in the player. It's just wood and metal and plastic. It has no soul. [/quote] No-one said it had a soul, I think your getting a bit excited. It's simply about how it feels in your hands, nothing more. Vintage sellers don't tell me anything, or need to tell me anything, I know a great bass when I play one. Nothing spiritual about it, and that wasn't implied or intended, your words. As for your quote "Everything good about a bass is in the player", with respect, I think that's a total load of old balls, in fact, its probably the biggest load of old balls I've ever heard whilst talking about guitars. But we all have our opinions.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1384243130' post='2274266'] But the magic will be coming from you mate, not the bass [/quote] I've just read the rest of this thread, after posting something at the beginning. I think a lot has gone off-track a little, but had to reply to this post. I disagree entirely with this. I'm a very average player, and whatever bass I play, I'm still very average, there's certainly no magic in my playing. I have however felt the magic in many basses. There are basses out there that I've played, and they have felt effortless to play, with dream tones, and simply ooze magic, and make everything, including my playing, sound amazing. I've only experienced this with old, good example, original, vintage Fender basses though, haven't even come close to that emotion and feeling with anything else, and its certainly not coming from me. So no, if you find an instrument that oozes this magic, then its a rare thing, but it happens, and I usually buy it, and rarely part with them (A rare exception happened recently actually, when i sold a very rare, magical original 50's Precision, to a friend of 'chilliwailer' on here, who came with him to check the bass out, this was one of those magical basses, and hopefully chilliwailer will testify to this, as he's a subscriber to this thread, and he will confirm, i'm sure, that magic does come from some instruments). You cant explain it, but if you've experienced it, then you know what I mean, if you haven't, then you haven't, but hopefully you will. You also said in another post " If a bass is decent, one can find oneself through it. The best bass is the bass you don't even notice you're playing". I agree with this, which makes your posts confusing to me, and contradicting. I suggest you play as many pre-cbs Fenders as you can find, and odds are, you will find a magical one, and then you'll know.

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1384627503' post='2278955'] Hi Rick, Im not dumb but I wouldn't know the first thing about fender necks. How about sharing your knowledge so its more 'common' and I can feel less dumb. thanks. [/quote] I wouldn't say its 'my knowledge' that's important here, but a Custom Shop '60's Jazz reissue bass, would have a period correct, flush, crosshead trussrod nut. Not a protruding monstrocity this one has. Google 'fender bass truss rod' on google images, you'll see what I mean. There's other points, but that is so obvious it needs no further evidence to show it's not real.

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1384164436' post='2273306'] Interesting thanks for the reply, I always thought Rotosound invented the roundwound, I never knew rounds were around in the 50's . 1/ What gauges are they out of interest? 2/ These Fender strings you have, do they have made by Squier (Squire) anywhere on the pack per chance? [/quote] I dont recall from memory, but i will endeavour to look this evening,a nd try and get some pics of the packets. Rick

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1384160819' post='2273259'] Ok, what strings were being used back in the day and can they still bought new today..... otherwise its all cork sniffing isn't it from my laymans view? Theres oodles of threads on strings effecting tone even that flats dont all sound the same....I know it was all flats back then and but i'm guessing there wasn't much choice around? cheers [/quote] Definitely not all flats. I have a set of unopened strings from the 50's, Fender originals, and they are rounds. I also have a 60's set, again Fender, and rounds. I dont think there was much choice around, up to about '57, as there simply werent the basses, but after 1960 there were oodles more, and therefore more people making strings, and different types. .

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1383832968' post='2269734'] Oooh ... guess what I found? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/129227-crinson-telebass/"]http://basschat.co.u...inson-telebass/[/url] [/quote] I have that Crinson now, great bass, and the relic work is amongst the best I've seen. It isnt hand built by them though. Its a japanese '51 reissue. Since buying it, I've had the rear of the body routed to accept the period correct larger string ferrules, fitted an original set of '52 tuners and screws, original '53 bridge with serial number and bakelite saddles, and an original '52 single screw tug bar. Looks the balls. Plays great too. The body and neck have clearly been completely stripped and refinished, relic'd. But it wasnt made by them. Hope this helps. Bravewood basses are fantastic, in my experience (I still have one), but some of the reviews on here have been less than favourable, so worth a read i think, to form your own opinion. Fender CS - Well made basses, but they ahve about as much vintage feel and vibe, as a Lexus hybrid. They are just modern instruments. The strings are way too tight, the sound is too responsive and bright, the necks are thick lacquered, and very hard to play, when compared with an original. They are very well made guitars though. If you want something that looks old (At a distance), but plays and sounds new, then these are for you. A limited or masterbuilt would be different, but you are paying considerably more for that luxury. For vibe, feel, playability, and cost (c£1500), I'd go for a Bravewood, or an '82 JV, or '82 Fullerton. They will all be fab basses to play and look at, and will hold value. As has been said though, a Roadworn will cost less than half, look almost as good, have a much smoother, sanded neck, which will be nicer to play, and probably hold its value too, and you get to keep £800 in your pocket.

Highly possible. My '58 P has a birdesye neck, and so does my '61 Jazz. I've also seen dozens of others. If I knew how to post pics (Hasn't worked on here for over a year?), i'd show ya. Rick.

If theres none, or no tone difference, then somethings wrong, simple as that. There should be a great range across the sweep of the knob, from dull warm tones, to big bright trebly response. This is the case on all mine, from original '52 to eighties JV.

Nothing wrong here! The neckplates are generally the last piece of the jigsaw, and they just reach into a box, and pull the neckplates out, so when a batch are pressed and put in the box, the earlier ones could be at the bottom. This is well documented, so serial plates are the last resort when dating a bass. Other characteristics (Aside from obvious neck/body/pot dates), such as decal styles, decal pat numbers, screws, holes in pickguards, bridgeplates, saddles, wiring are far more accurate ways of dating a bass than serial numbers. Even the early P's with the serial number stamped on the bridgeplate vary considerably. I've seen 2 year gaps in those (As in a '54 bass having an earlier serial number than a '52), so a few months apart is nowt to be concerned about!

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1381263284' post='2236771'] Fakey wakey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i already posted this one geezers - now we got it twice! [/quote] You were 15 hours later actually.....but whose counting?

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1381277032' post='2236976'] but he is! the ad heading is '[color=#333333][font=Trebuchet,]Fender Jazz Bass neck'[/font][/color] so I think that constitutes calling it a Fender [/quote] [size=4]You're right, I didn't think it did, I was thinking of his description where he says "....very like custom shop 1994", but yes, he is advertising it as a fender jazz neck. He's even edited it, to say the neckplate is a V0****** serial number, further adding weight to the fact its a real fender American vintage reissue. Quite shocking. surely no-one will be so dumb as to think a fender neck looks like that?[/size]

[size=4][color=#000000][font=Calibri]The worst bass I’ve ever owned was a bass I bought about 6 years ago, because I thought it looked cool, and was quite unique, and it was cheap enough to have a flyer with, it was an Ozark fully steel bodied Resonator bass. The sales pitch said it was LOUD without being plugged in. It wasn’t loud at all; it weighed about 16kg, so you could never play it standing up; the intonation was terrible, and completely unable to be adjusted; it constantly went out of tune, had no variety of sound, despite having vol and tone knobs. The most unplayable bass I’ve ever had.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri]The most disappointing?, I have 3;[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri][font=Calibri]1.[/font] Rickenbacker 4001. I hate the look of them, always have, but every time I see them in vintage shops, I think I must try it again, because I must have just picked bad ones, and so many people can’t be wrong. So I always pick it up, play it, and quickly hang it back up, because they are just awful contraptions, in every way. [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri][font=Calibri]2.[/font] Gibson Thunderbird, it was a ’76 Anniversary model. Let’s be honest here, Gibson make amazing guitars, they do not [i]m[i]ake good basses, never [/i][/i]have. Neck dive was uncontrollable, unless you started drilling, and fixing strap buttons where they apparently shouldn’t go (Otherwise they would be there in the first place?), you couldn’t play it sitting down, because the shape was all wrong (Not as bad as a Gibson ‘The Vee’ bass I had though), and it wouldn’t balance. The body was too thin, so kept tipping forwards, meaning you had to actually hold it to your body with your forearm, making playing impossible, and if that wasn’t enough, the necks weren’t very comfortable to play, and the tone was one-dimensional. It’s a shame, because I still think the tobacco sunburst 60’s ones, with the chrome pickups look really cool.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri][font=Calibri]3.[/font] This was the killer. As a vintage bass admirer, and collector, an almost mint condition ’63 Hofner Violin 500/1 (Yes, just like Paul’s), was always on the ‘wants’ list. One day, around 1990, I found it, it was stunning, all original, with the case, a beaut. I played it for 5 mins, to check the neck was straight, it could be tuned, the electrics worked, tuners turned (All the usual issues with these), checked the date marks, and took it home. It looked beautiful, but it was sh*te, weighed about half an ounce, so you never felt like you actually had anything to play, or anywhere any sound was actually going to come from, the neck was tiny, with midget string spacing, little tone control, the buttons made almost no real difference, and it felt like it was made of balsa wood and would break at any moment. I didn’t care though, because it was a’63 violin, and I loved it, even if it was useless as an instrument. I know people will say “..errr who are you?, if it was good enough for Macca, the most famous and successful bass player in the world, it can’t be sh*te!”, well, I won’t question the man, or his tone, or his success, but I don’t know how he did it, especially through those Vox amps, which were equally dreadful. Not for me, iconic gorgeous instruments though, but not for playing by me.[/font][/color][/size]

[quote name='clashcityrocker' timestamp='1381260980' post='2236715'] How can you tell,out of interest? [/quote] It all looks ok, apart from the truss rod, that is just horrific, how would that even fit into a body. At least he's not claiming it to be a Fender neck I suppose.