bassaussie

[quote name='MB1' post='457331' date='Apr 8 2009, 12:04 PM']MB1. Cant be that great!....he's selling it! [/quote] That's a very interesting point, and I'd like to address this. I'm not a regular contributor to this forum, however, I've noticed that you're a person who likes to contribute to a lot of the Ebay threads, as well as quite a few of the For Sale threads. With that in mind, I would assume you have a fairly wide knowledge of the basses that are available to us in the current market. Do you think it's possible that, at some point in between the time these modifications were done and today, that various bass models have appeared in the market place that have now made this bass, with it's modifications, somewhat redundant? That maybe the seller has now found a bass that does a better job than this bass, and meets his requirements more suitably? That maybe the market has actually caught up with the needs he has from a bass? Naturally, I'll add a , so that you know I'm not trying to ridicule your post. In fact, I'll add another so that you know we're just funnin' with one another!

[quote name='donhills' post='457114' date='Apr 8 2009, 09:58 AM']Yes but £6.99 for a 70's guard delivered - pretty good eh?[/quote] An amazing price. I'd say the seller is mightily p*ssed off.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a story I've heard over and over in relation to guitar repairs. It seems bassists in particular are susceptible to rubbish service, as a lot of repairman are OK with handling a guitar, but haven't got the first idea how to set up a bass. I think what you've said near the end is correct, it's important to see the work the guy has done recently to get some idea of what his skills are like.

Has anyone had a chance to try this brand, in particular the steel roundwound sets? I'd appreciate any feedback you guys could give.

[quote name='donhills' post='455886' date='Apr 6 2009, 09:33 PM']Well he could have just added a jazz pup with a normal size hole to accomodate it without that awful hole he made that he then needed a black platsic surround to fill.[/quote] Why? It was his bass, he could do what he wanted with it. Have you ever heard of Billy Sheehan, or Marcus Miller, or Berry Oakley, or Steve Morse, or Eddie van Halen? These guys did whatever they wanted to their instruments to achieve the desired result. They weren't worried about collector values, or, God forbid, how someone would view their work on an internet forum in the year 2009. They were musicians working with their tools to achieve certain results. Sure, the bass has lost a lot of it's desirability as a collectable instrument, but lets assume that the guy who did this turned his good bass into a great bass, and went on to make a lot of great music with it. Isn't that the purpose of a bass, to make music, rather than to sit around looking good, waiting for the right collector to come along?

[quote name='BigRedX' post='455664' date='Apr 6 2009, 04:49 PM']The glib answer would be "because they could". The seller doesn't say when the extra pickup was added, but what you have to remember is that back in the 70s this was not a particularly special bass. The desirable Fenders were all pre-CBS so this was just another instrument with the same perceived value that mid-range modern Ibanez or Yamaha has now. There wasn't the same massive range of basses in every conceivable configuration that are available nowadays, so if you wanted something even slightly different from the norm you had to do it yourself. Also decent power tools were strictly for professionals only so I wouldn't be at all surprised to find a fairly crude hole for the pickup made with a hammer and chisel. It's a product of it's age. Get over it.[/quote] Took the words right out of my mouth. Back when this was probably modified, the guy who did it wasn't thinking "gee, in 2009, dumbass people will be paying a lot for 70s Fenders because they can't afford 60s Fenders". He was more likely thinking "gee, I really like the feel of a P bass, but the Jazz has more tonal options - what can I do?".

I'm gonna go with "scam" on this one. Look at the feedback, the whole thing doesn't add up. Also, in the description, near the end, the use of "we" always sets off alarm bells. Call me a paranoid Aussie, but I wouldn't touch that one.

This is a bit rude .... "Those musicians who have played the headless bass are The Jam, The Stranglers, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Geddy Lee (rush), Sting and reggae master Robbie Shakespeare to name but a few... " Completely true, yet misleading enough to make it seem that this is the bass model that was used. I hate dealers like this who prey on a buyer's ignorance.

I dealt with V&R some years back. The range of instruments is very impressive. As for the staff, always found they were quite helpful, and reasonably knowedgable provided you got one of the experienced staff members. I also had my dealings with a few less experienced staff members, who seemed more than happy to pass off their advice as expert opinion, when I in fact knew they were incorrect. I find that happens a lot more in basses than guitars, as vintage basses is probably an area that less people become expert in. Anyway, as said above, it's the sort of place to go to when you know exactly what you want, and don't really care how much the price tag is. However, I then noticed the comments above about the consignment sales they do, and how they structure their commission. It seems things haven't changed much. I tried selling a bass though them, and rather than give a specific percentage for the commission, they simply plucked a number out of the air. I think the figures were similar to those mentioned by Happy Jack. The bass would sell for around £1600, and I'd get £1100. I asked them how they arrived at that figure, and it was similar BS about a difficult item to sell etc etc. The bass in question was a refinished late 60s Precision!!! Sure, they don't fly out the door, but I'd say it's hardly a difficult item to sell as far as vintage guitars and basses go!! Thinking about it now, it seems V&R want their cake and eat it too in relation to consignment sales. In the past, the way I viewed selling a bass or guitar through a store was like this. If I wanted to sell the bass outright, then I had to accept a lower value as the risk was now placed on the store. If I sold it on consignment, I got a higher return, but I had to wait for the bass the sell to get my money. It seems V&R use a third category, where they get a higher percentage, but don't accept the risk of an outright purchase.

[quote name='BlackElan' post='437994' date='Mar 18 2009, 09:28 AM']I have seen Metallica live at almost every single show from 91 to 2000 here in the Bay area. I even got to see the S&M show in person. The best Newsted sound I have heard was from his Alembics with Series II electronics from the 91-93 era. It was a very "lead" sound. I would have to say the best sounding show overall was there 91 show I saw at the Cow Palace. I never saw him use his Wals in person but I was never impressed with their sounds of the bootlegs I heard from 88-89. When he was using the Spectors for a short time I could not really hear them so I will withhold judgement. The Sadowsky basses I would say were his second best overall sound. Justin Chancellor was the one that really got me into Wal basses as well as Geddy.[/quote] Very comprehensive, thanks!!

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='437342' date='Mar 17 2009, 03:48 PM']I'll tell you why... the description is actually an image hosted outside of eBay. Once the image is deleted, the description is gone - there'll be no record of it anywhere. Now, why would the seller want to have that option?[/quote] Okay, I didn't notice that. It's an interesting point.

Hi Jason, welcome to the forum. Something I've always been curious about. Jason Newstead is known for his use of top end instruments - Wals, Alembics, Sadowskys etc. Which instruments do you think gave Jason his best sound with Metallica?

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='436390' date='Mar 16 2009, 07:02 PM']I'll also wager it's the world's most optimistic scam.[/quote] Really? How come? The seller looks to have a very good reputation on Ebay, and he's got a lot of experience in dealing with high value vintage guitars.What do you think looks wrong about it? Personally, I have no idea!

Have you cleared your cookies recently? You might want to get rid of them, and start afresh.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='430971' date='Mar 10 2009, 09:38 PM']Same that happened to Tobias, Steinberger and countless others - they were bought by Gibson. Kiss of death. Alex[/quote] Absolutely!! It gone "Gibsoned".

[quote name='Mr.T' post='425841' date='Mar 5 2009, 11:01 AM']Thanks for the replies. I assume that Roto's and Elites DBE strings will fit? (I tend to always use 40-100 Roto's on my headed basses).[/quote] Yes, definitely. Other options are LaBella, Picato, D'Addario and GHS (off the top of my head). I'm sure there are more, I just can't thin of them right now. I've used Elites recently, which were OK. Picato were OK as well, not as good as the Elites, and I think they only do 45-105. As I said above, I currently use the GHS set, which I'm quite happy with.

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='425351' date='Mar 4 2009, 06:45 PM']I'd personally go for double ball ends, speaking as a long-time Status player... Best to get in touch with [url="http://www.status-graphite.com"]Status[/url] - their own brand `Hotwires' are superb strings and can be purchased in bulk hence cheaper pricing...[/quote] I've never had the chance to try the Status strings, but have heard heaps of people rave about them. Do you know who the manufacturer is? Or is that a trade secret?

[quote name='Golchen' post='425247' date='Mar 4 2009, 05:25 PM']Sounds trivial, but I don't think I'd like the sharp ends sticking out off the front of my bass. I totally love the ease of swapping double ball strings anyway.[/quote] Far from trivial, they can leave some nasty cuts on your hand. For some daft reason, I bear those scars!!