99ster

[quote name='flip' post='96597' date='Nov 30 2007, 12:14 PM']I'm really hankering after a fairly light weight passive precision style bass and wondered if such a thing existed? I know you can get aerodynes but I really want something with a p style neck as opposed to a jazz, as the thicker neck suits my hands better. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...[/quote] The 60's and early 70's Precisions are usually light weight - my '66 Precision is particularly light. But of course one of these will cost you a lot of money... I don't know how the modern Fender re-issues compare for weight...

Well done all concerned - great work!

[quote name='thedonutman' post='94710' date='Nov 26 2007, 07:14 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STRATIVARIUS-STINGRAY-STYLE-5-STRING-BASS-GUITAR-New_W0QQitemZ300173614699QQihZ020QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STRATIVARIUS-STINGRA...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] Anyone ever seen/played one of these, from the pictures its just a no-name SR5 copy (or rather a 5 string SR4) I'm just wondering how badly wrong I can go for 110 quid. I want a cheap 5 string with a maple fretboard, I guess its either that or waiting for Rondo music to get some back in stock, so I can import one.[/quote] Makes you wonder what he must be paying for them - to make a half-decent profit it would have to be around £50... Surely it wouldn't be worth the effort for anything less? So then what is it actually costing to get them made in China, then shipped (even by sea in a container it must cost something) into the UK... ? Crazy really - cos they do look OK!

1) Is the '65 Jazz bass with flats - thru vintage Ampeg B-15n. Track 2) is the modern Jazz Deluxe with rounds into a Line 6 Bass POD. This was quite easy as... I have both a 1965 Jazz bass and a 1965 Ampeg B-15N (tone heaven - you haven't lived until you've played bass through one of these - the best there is). People are often shocked by just how 'alive' old Jazz basses can sound - the warmth is there, but somehow folks expect them to lack the full range of tones of a modern bass. My 1960 jazz is even richer... And this is why original 1960's Jazzes are so valuable & sought after!

[quote name='ashevans09' post='93820' date='Nov 24 2007, 04:38 PM']So there I was, happily jamming away on my 'ray to some CD's and the part of the nut roughly in line with my E string snaps off. What the hell just happened? I've babied it since I got it (from Presoulnation - awesome dude) and kept very good care of it, and now I can't use my E string... Is it something I've done (so I can ensure it doesn't happen again) or do these things just happen? I'm pretty gutted at the moment to be honest, I know it can be fixed easily but still...I like keeping my basses nice and healthy y'know? any help appreciated [/quote] [url="http://www.andyviccarscustom.co.uk/"]http://www.andyviccarscustom.co.uk/[/url] and get a full a set-up while you're at it. He's a top man - highly recommended. A bit of a drive from Oxford - but worth the journey.

[quote name='Toasted' post='91622' date='Nov 20 2007, 05:15 PM']99str is the only man for this.[/quote] Thanks Joe... For whatever it's worth - & if I can help at all - I'm always happy to give my opinion on any vintage Fender basses (60's to early 70's) to anyone looking to buy one... But - there's also a load of other guys on here who know plenty more than me I'm sure!

[quote name='bassaussie' post='93938' date='Nov 24 2007, 09:00 PM']I own a number of old Fenders, and have also had quite a few through my hands. That doesn't make me an expert, but I'll share with you how I approach it. First, what the guys are saying above is correct - there's no fixed guide, it's really a matter of keeping in touch with the market. What I will say, though, is that when it comes to modifications on a bass, some have more impact than others with regards to price, so I thought I'd try and break that down for you. If any of the real vintgae experts what to add to what I say (or, for that matter, simply correct me!!!) then I'd welcome the additions. I think that you can break mods into two categories - those that can be reversed, and those that can't. [u]Reversible[/u] If a bass has changed hardware or electronics, this is all reversible (to a certain extent - read on). If a pickguard has been swapped over, there's always a chance that you can find a replacement. Same with pickups, pots, neck plate, bridge, tuners, screws, thumb rest, string guide, strap buttons (I think I included everything!). However, there's two things to consider here. [list=1] [*]Those parts a become increasingly expensive, as the market knows they may be the difference between an upgraded bass, and one that is "all original". Pickups and pickguards are especially expensive, but basically any of these parts will set you back far more than buying a modern replacement. [*]When it comes to pickups and electronics, there's also the issue of "original" soldering to consider. The reason it's important is because it goes some way to indicating that the bass isn't a "parts bass" - that it's not a bass that's made up of various parts that a seller may've put together, plus it's a simple test for whether the bass may be a refin. This mentality probably originated with original Les Paul Standards and L Series and pre-L Strats, but as the vintage market has pushed things like stack knob Jazzes and custom colour L series basses into the 10,000 plus bracket, people (ie. collectors) are becoming more choosy about what they part with their cash for. [/list] [u]Non-Reversible[/u] This is where the bass has been modified in such a way that you can't get it back to it's original state. Refins, body routing and fretless conversion are probably the most common, but since a lot of the instruments originated in a time when mind altering drugs were pretty popular, the sky is definitely the limit! Of the sorts of mods we're taking about, I tend to think that a refin, when well done, is probably the least offensive (for want of a better word). Basically, the bass is still as it was intended, just with a different colour. As for the others, anything that involves altering the structure of the instrument is going to have a huge impact on value, and really, it's destroyed a lot of the collectable value. Body routing, neck modifications, new fingerboards, and anything else that involves cutting into or altering the basic structure of the instrument. One thing I'd add is a refret. I've heard different views on this. Some people advertise the fact that their instrument has the original frets, and I guess it's a desirable quality if the frets are still in decent condition. However, I've heard it suggested that frets tend to be considered as a part of the instrument that will need to be maintained and changed at times (I guess in the same way as strings), and that provided the refret was done professionally, and that (again) it maintains the original character of the instrument, it can be considered simply as instrument maintenance, and not as a modification. Again, it's the buyer who'll make this call.[/quote] +1. That's all good stuff - an [b]excellent[/b] summary! I could add that a good general price guide for refinished vintage instruments is that they are worth half of the value of an identical guitar/bass - this is how the dealers value them. And why it's always worth thinking VERY carefully before re-finishing a vintage guitar, no matter how worn the paint looks. Some missing parts are incredibly expensive - especially early 50's & early 60's all celluloid pickguards as many of them deteriorated badly over the years. (Also stack knob Jazz bass controls - the last set on eBay sold for $2.5K. I suspect this was because they could be used by a dealer to 'upgrade' a 3 control '61 Jazz to a far more valuable '61 stack knob Jazz.)

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='94301' date='Nov 25 2007, 09:29 PM']In a word - yes. It was never an official colour and was the result of a batch of Fiesta Red paint that faded. So you need a Jazz from whatever year it was that paint faded - sometime in the '60s. Jet Harris had a Fender bass - not sure if J or P.[/quote] +1. There was never any such colour as Salmon Pink - it's a mythical colour that was perhaps a 'version' of Fiesta Red that was peculiar to Fender Strats that ended up in the UK in the 1960's & were re-finished here. This is from the provide.net site - (& that guy seriously knows his stuff on Fender paint/colours) : [i][b]The English "Salmon Pink" Story and Nail Holes and Sunbursts.[/b] In the early 1960s, due to the popularity of Hank Marvin of the band the Shadows, the Stratocaster was THE guitar to own in the United Kingdom. In 1961, Fender was imported by Jennings (the makers of Vox amps), and in 1962 Fender was also imported by Selmer. Both Jennings and Selmer gave way to Arbiters as the sole UK distributor in the Summer of 1965 (perhaps because Fender didn't like having their products distributed by successful UK amp makers). But all the importers seemed to have brought Fender guitars into the UK *without* cases, probably because local cases were available for less money than the Tolex Fender cases (the Canadian Fender importers did the same thing). This in turn increased the possibility of damaged finishes as the guitar were imported into England, which helps lend itself to the following story. Urban legand has it that English guitar shops found it easier to sell guitars that looked like Hank Marvin's Fiesta Red Stratocaster, than the standard sunburst finished Strat. Therefore, a lot of Fender Strats were rumored to be refinished from Sunburst to red on arrival in the UK to match Hank Marvin's guitar. The resulting color used by the Fender UK importers was not as red as Fender's factory "Fiesta Red", and was more of a "Salmon Pink" color. This of course added more to the confusion about what exactly Fiesta Red was, and the Salmon Pink color rumor. Most of the red UK painted Strats where done right over the original sunburst. Also the UK painters did not seem to use the "nail hole" method of painting these guitars (lucky for us). Hence these 1960s refinished-when-new UK Strats will usually have painted nail holes, red-over-sunbuarst, and non-Tolex/weird cases. Therefore they are pretty easy to identify. So is this "English refinished Fiesta Red" story rumor or fact? I personally tend to believe the story, as I received an email from an english gentlemen that claimed he worked for Selmer in the UK, and he in fact did some of the refinish work. I also owned a red-over-sunburst 1961 Strat in a Selmer case. But that's the only real proof I have that the story is true. Otherwise the jury is still out on this. But if the story is true, regardless, these English-refinished-red Strats are *not* factory original Fiesta Red guitars, and hence must be considered a "refin". Now if the nail holes are clear and present, I would consider it "original". But if there's no nail holes (or painted nail holes), by definition it's refinished and not original.[/i] And an original Fiesta Red 60's Fender Jazz or Precision will set you back many £££ thousands - if you can find one...!

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='93751' date='Nov 24 2007, 01:42 PM']I wouldn't be able to tell a good soap from a bad one - are there any good ones? Aren't they all hastily written and badly acted tripe with trite plotlines to push the right buttons for the great unwashed with the single intention to get ratings? Soaps aside, the eldorado straps do look like a good deal I quite like a Durango one. Did you get stung by customs + vat?[/quote] Customs? Let's just say that Mr Eldorado was very 'helpful' with the customs declaration so there was no duty/vat... A top guy.

I've just got an [url="http://www.eldoradostraps.com/"]Eldorado[/url] strap - a 'Vintage' style one: [url="http://www.eldoradostraps.com/products2.htm"]http://www.eldoradostraps.com/products2.htm[/url] and it is absolutely fantastic. Hand-made from really high-quality leather, with a sheepskin shoulder pad - it looks like it will outlive me it's so well made!!! It cost me $98 USD (incl. shipping) & took a week to arrive. So that's less than £50 at the current exchange rate. It came really well packed, with great email comms - direct with the guy that runs the company. Highly recommended!

I've just got an [url="http://www.eldoradostraps.com/"]Eldorado[/url] strap - a 'Vintage' style one: [url="http://www.eldoradostraps.com/products2.htm"]http://www.eldoradostraps.com/products2.htm[/url] and it is absolutely fantastic. Hand-made from really high-quality leather, with a sheepskin shoulder pad - it looks like it will outlive me it's so well made!!! It cost me $98 USD (incl. shipping) & took a week to arrive. So that's less than £50 at the current exchange rate. It came really well packed, with great email comms - direct with the guy that runs the company. Highly recommended!

[quote name='markytbass' post='93586' date='Nov 23 2007, 11:56 PM']“distressed” mortified more like, smashed with a hammer.[/quote] Yep - it looks very much like he's just gone at it with a claw hammer. What a twat.

[quote name='elom' post='93027' date='Nov 22 2007, 10:26 PM']I know that this is not the build thread, but could you cobble up a side-by-side before and after pic please...[/quote] Here's a quick comp using some of the original eBay pics - of the splendid orange paint-job & matching nasty pickguard (we didn't do any better quality 'before' pics): [attachment=3723:60_jazz_comp.jpg]

[quote name='Muppet' post='93070' date='Nov 22 2007, 11:36 PM']Fender don't supply replacement logos in packets! They only supply them to approved dealers and there's a process in place to authenticate any neck before a replacement is provided. It's a complete forgery.[/quote] +1. You have to jump through hoops to get Fender to supply a replacement decal - & they never sell them as a replacement part. This is a v.sad attempt at a forgery.