bassaussie

Thanks for the info Bassassin. I find this period of manufacture so fascinating, but it's a little like trying to research some parts of ancient history - there's these gaps in information that'll never be uncovered. I actually have a friend locally who's also really into this sort of investigation, and a while back he said "wouldn't it be great to write a book on this", and I remember thinking "sure ..... if you want to go insane"!!!

I've seen a few of these basses, both in real life and on the interwebs. One thing I always noticed was that the pickups are very rounded on the corners, and I remember that this shape was the same as the shape that some of the earlierr Cimar basses had. I don't know if this gives any hint to the origin of the instruments, as it's possible that different companies sourced their pickups from a single supplier, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I'd love to own one of these. The first time I ever saw one, the instrument was offered to me for sale, however, the effects weren't working at all, and the seller said something like "oh, I'm sure it's an easy fix, probably just a wire needs to be re-soldered", and I thought what I always think in situations like that - "if it's so easy, why didn't you do that yourself"?!!!! So I passed on the sale, but always hoped I might come across another.

Thanks for that. You're right, it's not 100% conclusive, but it certainly gives a feel for what they were doing. And they were definitely doing a good proportion of fretless basses.

Hi all, I've been fascinated in watching a number of Wal fretless basses pop up in the classifieds area, and it got me thinking. What proportion of Wal basses were fretless? I'm talking about that late 70s, early 80s period. I don't know how accessible this information would be, but thought maybe there might be someone on here who'd have an idea. Part of the reason I ask was my experience with an Australian brand, Maton (obviously from my name, I'm Australian). Back in the late 70s and 80s, they made a bass called the JB4. I think all up, they made about 1000 instruments, but the interesting part was that around 40% of these (possibly slightly more) were fretless. I think this was a comment about what was happening in the bass world at that time - Jaco had hit the scene, and a lot of good fretless players were appearing, and these smaller companies were making good quality instruments in response to that. When I look at Wal, they remind me of Maton - not the instrument itself, but that they were a smaller company responding to the need for good quality, yet local instruments.

I thought the same thing. It was so expensive to get their gear in Australia. I ended up getting a Mark V AH250 and a 4x10, and they were incredible. Never had a Status until many years later, and I had the priveledge to own fretted and fretless Series II basses from the 80s. Amazing basses, but I foolishly let the fretted one through my fingers - I could live without the fretless, I'm rubbish at fretless, but I should've kept the fretted one.

I forgot about him! I remember seeing him in another video, and he was using a Fender P, and I thought "what's he thinking?!!!!" In my mind, at that time, if you had a Status bass there was no reason to use anything else. After I put that post before, I decided to look up "Love Like Blood", and there's Raven with his Status in front of the classic Trace stack - AH500,, 2 quad boxes and 2 15s. The mightiest rig.

Mate, I was exactly the same! Henry Thomas and his cool basses! I always remember when they had Larry Graham on, explaining the funk. Absolute God. I think by the time I got to see the series (this is in Australia, mind you), a few years had passed since it had been made. So by that time. I'd already discovered and fallen in love with Status basses. I remember the episode seeing the Status guitar, and I was absolutely gobsmacked. This was after years of gluing my nose to the TV every time the video of Tears for Fears "Shout" came on, which had some of the best shots of a Status bass ever in a music video. Or Killing Joke's "Love Like Blood", with Raven rocking a Status Series II. God the 80s had some cool bass gear!

If you want to see one of these in action, try to find some episodes of a BBC show called "Rock School". It's from the early 80s. It was a tutorial sort of series, I think there was only about 6 episodes made. Anyway, in at least one episode the female guitarist used a Status guitar. I did some research on these at some point, and if I remember correctly, there were only a handful made. OK ..... so being the OCD person I am, I found the video on Youtube! Go to about 2:00 for a good view.

I used a 3 band eq live for a long time, and I think there was always a temptation to use the mid control to cut that part of the sound when it wasn't necessary. It's what I call "the bedroom sound" - a bass can sound amazing in the bedroom when you're just playing by yourself, but in a band scenario, a lot of the bandwith you tend to cut in the solo scenario is exactly the bandwith you need to be heard when playing with a band.

I agree with this. The 3 band eq is a great bass, no question. But if you think "nah, this is not for me", don't write Stingrays off until you at least try a 2 band, as it's a different animal. The same basic sound is there, but there's something about the 2 band eq that seems to have more oomph than the 3 band. Having said that, another poster above suggested that maybe it's just not for you, which is also a possibility. Nothing wrong with that, that's why the bass market is full of so many great options.

Thanks ikay. Clears it up a bit, probably as much as Hofner want it cleared up!

Hi. Could someone give me a definitive answer on what the difference is between the Icon and Ignition basses? Thanks.

There was a brand called Quest that made an Explorer/Destroyer shaped guitar that could've been what you were looking at. To be honest, I can't recall if they made a bass version, but might be worth checking out. For some reason, I think Quest was related to Daion.

This sucks. Have a bump. Probably won't help, but truly, my heart goes out to you. I don't condone theft in any form, but there's something particulary sh*tty about stealing instruments from a muso. We battle to get these instruments, they're not cheap, and we make all sorts of compromises to get them, then to have someone treat it like a bloody high end TV or laptop is infuriating.

Do you think this beaten up look is something that only applies to used Fenders, or maybe basses that look they they come from the 50s and 60s? For some reason, I can't imagine a seller advertising a Warwick Thumb or a Sadowsky and saying "and it has that beaten up look".

Robert Palmer's cover of "Early in the Morning". The bass is amazing all the way through the song, then there's this blistering solo that comes from nowhere! It's around 3:20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZyD_b3xSzI And this guy does a great job of breaking it all down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pQHRInI8pY

That's exactly my point. Often it's about a certain instrument speaking to the individual. I might think it's a dog, but you think it's great. I actually thought about this recently, I was watching one of those Youtube clips where they talk to a famous guitarist or bassist about the rig they use. So they go through all this recent gear, then ultimately, they'll pull out some guitar from the player's childhood, and they say "yeah, my mum gave me this guitar on my 16th birthday, and it's the best one I've ever tried". And it'll be some instrument from a year that most collectors go "oh .... no, that's a terrible year"!!! But for whatever reason, that instrument speaks to that player - whether it's truly a great instrument, whether it's simply a matter of the player and the instrument growing old together, whether it's the nostalgia associated with the the instrument, something about it speaks to that person. While that's a little different to what we're discussing here, I think it still showcases the fact that you need to have the instrument in your hands before you can truly know if it's right for you. We can make educated decisions based on collectability, value, all those things, as they're simply numbers. But the feel of it, whether it's going to be an instrument that works for you, that's all down to the connection that happens when the player tries the instrument.

Thanks for all the responses guys. It's great to get both sides of the "if it's in good condition, it's never been played" argument. I think it probably proves, more than anything, that each instrument has to be judged on a case by case basis. ead - that's a stunning example, and for me, that would be the sort of condition that would appeal to me. I own a 1966 P at present, and the condition is about the same as that, maybe a little more beaten, but not much. It was actually another Precision that's being advertised in the classifieds currently that prompted this thread. It's a beautiful old bass, at a very reasonable price, but the condition is a little beyond what I am looking for. Reading the thread, though, lots of people love the condition, even saying it's the perfect example (or something to that effect), and it just got me thinking about what appeals to people these days.

Hi all. I haven't participated on here on ages, but always love checking out the classifieds. I'm contemplating a purchase shortly of an older Fender, and have been watching what's available on the forum. One thing I've noticed is the apparent love of "mojo" - basses that might still be all original, but display a lot of signs of use. I'm just curious about what people's thoughts are on this, why they prefer that beaten up look over a more pristine example. Just to be clear, in my mind, there's no right or wrong, I think it's all very personal, although myself, I prefer something that's reasonably clean, with some signs of use.

[quote name='Musky' post='1350728' date='Aug 24 2011, 08:59 PM'][url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Right-Handed-Semi-Acoustic-Bass-Guitar-/190568454172?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c5ec3d81c"]Old semi[/url]. I've seen basses like this branded Commodore (I think Nick has/used to have something similar) and it appears to be a Mat build. It's got a BIN of £150 at the moment, but I'd suggest someone within easy reach of Aberdeen goes for this - I don't like all this talk of bubble wrap and brown paper! [/quote] That's really nice. My first bass teacher had one just like this, and it was branded Commodore. This was back in 1980 or so. I can't really remember if it was any good or not, but I remember liking the way it looked. We always did lessons on his Fender Precision, so I only played it once or twice.