Jono Bolton

Approx. £40, which is what I paid for the 84s I had previously. That said, I'd listen to all recommendations, so £40 isn't an absolute limit. If someone could point me in the direction of a decent pickup set for £50 for example, I'd certainly have a look at it. I'd rather not go as high as that though but if I felt it was worth it I'd see if I could make the cash available.

Hi all, I've got a Fender MIM Jazz Bass that's currently sitting with no pickups in. I used to have Wizard 84s in there but sold them a few months back as I was a bit strapped for cash and the bass wasn't getting used much. I'd toyed with the idea of just selling the bass sans pickups but it was a birthday gift from my folks when I was still in uni way back when, so I think it'd be disrepectful to punt it. But I digress. Funds still aren't great, but after refurbing my P Bass I'd really like to do the same with the Jazz. I was narrowly beaten in an ebay auction for another set of 84s last month and they don't come up on there too often, so can anyone recommend a set of new Jazz pickups with a similar sound that I could get on the cheap? I've kept an eye on the 'For Sale' section but nothing's come up, has anyone tried some of the no-namers that you can find on ebay and the like? All suggestions welcome!

[quote name='pst62' timestamp='1338476197' post='1675162'] Got this 2007 Squier VM Precision for £50 on Monday, It's immaculate, there's not a mark on it. The neck had been given that much relief you coulda got a double decker under the action at the 12th fret After a few adjustments with the truss rod and a few days to let it settle, it's now looking and feeling great. The only downside is the Rosewood fingerboard, it woulda been better Maple, but for £50 I'll cope with that http:// [/quote] £50! I've fancied one of these for ages, that's a bargain! I agree with Uncle Psychosis tho, I'd put a tort scratchplate on there. If you want a maple neck, Gary Mac has one on here for a very reasonable £80, I think it'd look cracking.

[quote name='stelios82k' timestamp='1337360385' post='1658874'] [attachment=108215:P5121901.JPG]Home made Precision Bass! [/quote] I don't like red finishes, I don't like gold hardware, and I don't like white pearl scratchplates, but somehow when the three of them come together it works! It reminds me of an old Squier Protone I saw, except that was a 5er and had a rosewood neck. Great work!

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1336744912' post='1650359'] Hey Jono, As said above ^^ If you're not confident in doing the job, feel free in sending it down to me & I'll do my very best to repair it for you, it'll only cost the postage. [u][b]OR have a word with Andy at Wizard [/b][/u][b] [/b] Cheerz, John [/quote] Hi John, Cheers for the kind offer, but I've only just seen your post now, and I've already had a handful of brave pills and done it myself The connection seems solid enough, and was fairly straight forward, once I've got my new scratchplate I can hook it up to your wiring harness, if there's any problems I'll be in touch

Could you get one of those spacers for putting between the body and the neck plate so the screws don't go in so far? That said, I don't know if that'll work, I'm not actually sure what those wee cushions are for! Without wishing to hijack the thread, can anyone enlighten me?

I've got a Wizard Thumper in my P Bass and whilst I was changing the pickup covers on it the wee wire that connects the two parts of the pickup together became disconnected from the treble side. It's always looked a wee bit flimsy, to be honest I don't think the person that did a lot of the "upgrades" to the bass before I got it really knew what they were doing. Anyway, should it be straight forward enough to just re-solder the wire back to its original place? I was ready to just grab my soldering iron and put it back but after reading something in another thread I thought I'd better check first! The other thread is here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/175687-selling-fender-american-passive-jazz-bass-pickups-2-volume-controls-1-master-tone-control-and-accessories-price-drop-l40/

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1336689063' post='1649701'] They were wooden. [/quote] How early did they change to plastic?

What are thumb rests (or tug bars) generally made of? I've got one on my P which is hollow plastic and appears to be the same as those used on Fender re-issues, but were they always plastic, or were they made of wood on the early Fenders? It's one of those things I've always wondered but never got round to asking!

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1336649191' post='1648843'] Oooh - err don't go there! There is no way another musician is going anywhere near my bass gear. [/quote] If a musician pitches up at a gig asking to borrow your gear, then a musician they certainly ain't. I've loaned amps and basses out to friends who I know would take care of them, but if some snotty-nosed kid comes up to me at soundcheck and asks to use anything, they'll be politely but firmly be told to do one. Any gig I've played, I've always known which bands I'm playing with, and with the likes of Facebook and Myspace it's easy to send a message to the other bands asking if it's ok to share equipment, which I've been happy to do in the past, especially in small venues. I just don't agree with the expectant attitude of some people I've played with in the past.

I bought an American Standard Precision about 3 years ago on here from Clarky, which he'd bought from Nick (Old Horse Murphy). The two of them had done a fine job of keeping it looking pristine, and such was my fear of being the first to scruff it up, I barely played it. I like to keep nice things looking nice, but not if it's interfering with my use of it. I've got an MIM P Bass now that I previously owned and received back in a trade, and I'm much more comfortable with it. The original owner had it in a bit of a state and I preceded to clean it up and make it servicable, and someone who's had it between when I first owned it and when I received it back last year has added a few more dings and done a terribly sh*tty job of trying to drill the bass for pickup and bridge covers, which ruined the scratchplate and left a 5p coin-sized chip out of the finish by the bridge. This "mojo" (or whatever its called, I like damage)means I now have a bass that's great to play, and I'm much happier playing something that's a bit battered-looking, because I don't have to worry as much about damaging it further. Obviously I'm not going to go Pete Townshend on it or anything, but if it picks up a few knocks here and there, it's no big deal

My Jazz. It never gets played, it's sitting in the corner of my room just now and doesn't even have pickups in it at the minute, but it was an 18th birthday present from my folks so it'll never go. I was playing it the other night and it's brilliant to play with an excellent neck and great action, so I plan to save up over the course of this year and fix it up again.

Have you taken the sctrachplate off to have a look? If you can hear something loose inside the bass it can only really be in one of the cavities under the scratchplate. There certainly shouldn't be anything rattling about inside it at any rate.

Is that what that is? Hopefully there's a 'stiff as f***' setting.

Nice! I remember I saw Bedouin Soundclash a few years back and the bassist was using one of these, sounded great!

I'm sure The Bass Doc would be able to sort something out for you, drop him a PM

Great stuff, thanks everyone! These are the tuners I was looking at, but I found them from a seller on ebay for £42.95: http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/Vintage_Style_Bass_Tuners_Open_Gear_Nickel_GB-2LN Looks like a purchase is going to be scheduled in for payday, good job that this is our month off with the council tax!

Perfect, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear!

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1336067173' post='1640487'] I've a few different Gotoh sets on the go here. You tune up, they stay in tune until you decide you want to change that. Don't know what else to tell you. [/quote] That's all I really needed to know I suppose, I've had Hipshots in the past and they were excellent, but about twice the price of the Gotohs, I think I paid £88 for a set of 4 HB-2s a few years back, they've since gone up in price. As the Gotohs were much cheaper I didn't know if there would a great difference in the quality, you get what you pay for as they say.