JohnFitzgerald

9 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

 

It's a bit odd they didn't go the whole hog with the stereo thing. I've always been fascinated by Jaydee  - they're a bit like the British Alembic, an appearance but also in their slightly mythical quality 😁

I'd love to actually play one. @JohnFitzgerald 's looks incredible. Unfortunately all of the YouTube demos I've seen are slapping or super tight 16ths down at the bridge so I've got no idea how they would sound for me.

The neck pickup, being where it is, does a decent Rick sound. If you use both pickups, with a pick, into a  gritty preamp, they're more than capable of doing a passable Geddy / Squire sound.

Apologies for lumping both of them together.

1 hour ago, Grahambythesea said:

Are the stripes down the neck also a paint job?

Graham,

The neck has a real maple stringer down the centreline with mahogany either side. They are now augmented by a painted / stained dark mahogany either side of the maple with the mahogany left as is either side of that.


 

7 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I've always admired these basses but have never seen one. Considering the Alembic influence, can they run in stereo?

Nope,

just a straightforward mono output. 

Mine has just had the XLR out added, for not greater reason than it being a Jaydee 'thing' and a Roadie didn't originally have that. 
When I sent it down for the refinish, they contacted me back and asked if I'd want that and a new headstock facing, for a very fair price. I couldn't honestly say no.

Just now, 4000 said:

The purple tint is awesome. Loving it! 👏

It felt quite a bold move, but once I saw it...

 

3 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Stunning! Up until now I assumed that the body was a laminate sandwich, I had no idea it was paint job; that’s some precision painting, right there. This is going to look so awesome.

I'd never have dreamt that was possible.

It's a way to make my Roadie look like a higher end Jaydee with the real laminate construction.
He's done that previously and also did another bass with the purple tint around the edge.

I asked him to combine both and I think it's turned out well.

It also has a new bookmatched Walnut - Maple -  Mahogany headstock facing now, whereas before it was painted black.

Done,
To be polished and reassembled now.

 

48 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I’d still love a Starchild Jaydee. Always wanted one, ever since I first saw Level 42 on the OGWT (I play nothing like Mark King though 😉).

I can play 'some' of that stuff, but choose not to.

That job's already taken and I find it borderline cringeworthy when people put their video up playing one of his lines with their Jaydee or Status under their chin.

It does many other decent sounds, given that when they were first designed, it wasn't actually for him.

1 minute ago, AndyTravis said:

Yeah, it went back to Jaydee after I bought it. Wonder if I still have the emails 

Edit - no I haven’t, it was about 12 years ago hahah

Sent a PM.

8 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

So happy the bass I loved but didn’t gel with has a new lease of life. Did you find the serial number - was it 1180880 or something like that?

I have a pic of it somewhere. '87 I think.

1 minute ago, AndyTravis said:

Oh my. I saw that on Instagram...how intriguing.

The colour scheme will split opinions, I think.

I love it though.

I already have pics of it painted, but I understand the value to a small business in sharing your work on social media so won't jump the gun and share before Toby does.

Now it has to sit for two weeks whilst it fully cures before buffing out and reassembly.

Some progress underway on this I'm delighted to say.

The stringers are now painted in.

 

21 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Nothing is sacrosanct.

True,
It will however be a dark day before I sell this.

I'm realistic enough to recognise my career high point when I see it, hence my reason for thinking I never see me selling this.

28 minutes ago, outtaseezun said:

Oh maaaan! 

I used to have a Fame Baphomet 6 string 5 years ago & it's the only bass i regret selling.. well maybe that Rockbass Starbass too... but i am swapping my SR506 for a defretted neck-through Baphomet this week.. 

The basses i have & would never sell are basically the two i own:

- RMI Quantum Dominic di Piazza Signature 6-string by Mark Ramsay

- Ibanez BTB846SC 

 

They're fantastic basses. 

My fretless 4 string is a neck through.

2 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

What do you say to trade for a Hohner Jack bass ?

David,

I had a Wal Pro Bass around 1990, really didn't gel with it and took it back to the shop and the boy gave me credit on the amount I'd paid for it, which bought me a new Hohner Jack. Cost £350.

I'm that craddock that did that , that everybody hears about.

I then chopped the Hohner in for an old Fender Jazz  in Daphne Blue which I eventually sold for £650. Go and look up what years they made a Daphne Blue jazz with non painted headstock and consider that I selt it for £650. Another instance when I was a total fud. 

29 minutes ago, DarkHeart said:

Mine has to be the Alpher Cobia I got myself for my 50th, Chris even used my birth date for the serial number, to me it`s perfect in every way.

That's a work of art.

5 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I don't think I'll ever part with my cherry sunburst '81 Precision even though it weighs as much as a small planet.

I bought it new in 1982 when I was 18 and worked all summer in bejams, hating every second I was there, to save up the £260 it cost from Rockbottom in Croydon.

Wow, £260 !!

I think you'd get your money back again.

6 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

My two Franz basses are absolute perfection in every way. I've owned around sixty basses in over forty years of playing, but to me they are everything I want in terms of playability, build quality, and above all tone.

The fretted bass has a chestnut top from a tree that grew in my parent's garden, so that makes it extra special.

 

 

Beauties and a great story too.

5 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I played there too 15 years ago. What a great festival and a beautiful place!

Certainly an event I won't forget.

4 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Really ?
I was more curious about your reasons for having a keeper, but seeing as you asked...

Somewhere down there, I'm playing my Fame 6 string. Loreley 2017. 
Yes closed the festival that day.
That's why I'll never sell that bass.

But what about your stories.



This is the bass. I'll have it forever.

 

It's fair to say that many of us in here easily have our eye drawn by new and shiny things.
But is there a bass, or basses, that you simply couldn't now sell, for some reason ?

What's the bass and why couldn't you sell it ?

My Fame 6 string did many great gigs with me a few years back so I have to keep it forever because of that. I must keep the bass that's in those pics of us playing at that venue. My matching 4 string fretless is here forever for exactly that reason too.

My MPU 6 string did some brilliant gigs more recently so that's here forever as well. Great pics from great gigs.

My Jaydee is special because I first had one in 1987 and always wanted one back again. That's here for keeps too. (It's away at Jaydee now being refinished).

2 minutes ago, FDC484950 said:

You’re not wrong about pricing up used basses. IIRC The Gallery isn't much different in that respect. Having sold 3 basses on commission at BD, people seem fine to pay the higher prices. If I had a bass to sell on commission in future I’d probably take/send it there rather than advertise here as I’m almost guaranteed to get a significantly better price, even after commission. All 3 sold within a month too. I probably got lucky.

I have had one “discussion” with them but it was over the amount of time something took to come from the US - I then contacted the company direct in the US and they explained why, which given COVID was around was understandable, and not really BD’s fault.

To the OP: I didn’t know you’ve phoned them. I was tempted to say follow it up with an email (sorry, couldn’t resist!) but there’s nothing much to say, is there? Maybe give them another ring, but if you don’t hear back they’ve lost your business. 

In the grand scheme of things we can all beach and moan about poor service but music instrument retail is high risk (it’s very likely a large business loan paid for all that stock you can see), low turnover and very small profits, which is why there are so few businesses around. I was in the industry for a while in the 90s and you wouldn’t believe how small fry it is in terms of money compared to almost any other kind of retail. Being the music business it also attracts a lot of “interesting” people! IME for most if not all music shops I’ve done business with until relatively recently, customer service and making money really didn’t seem to be priorities, precisely because there is so little profit to be made. Having said that, I really do welcome the quality of service from more professional businesses like GuitarGuitar and Thomann. I’ve bought 2 basses from each in the last few months, and had minor issues that were quickly and efficiently fixed, and a feeling that they actually cared about getting things sorted. However it’s very unlikely I will ever visit either business, so it looks like online is the future.

I ride motorcycles and I see a parallel with many bike dealers - there’s a lot more money to be made but nowhere near as much as cars (both volume and profit margin). The staff in almost every dealer I’ve been to/communicated with are arrogant, rude, don’t respond to emails, are impossible to reach on the phone and take the gypsy's kiss when offering part exchanges. I managed to build a decent relationship with one dealer, who now always give me discounts on everything I buy there (accessories, service, gloves etc) without asking and don’t lie to me or overstate problems which aren’t when servicing. However, even then, when I was visiting regularly they would drop the ball for probably 1 in 3 transactions. It’s incredibly frustrating given the money I’ve forked out there over the years, and I still go back there, because when I go to competing dealers I get an even worse level of service. It puts discussion here about BassDirect into perspective...

I'm kinda glad that I've got to a stage where most of what I have I could now never part with so am virtually done with any new acquisitions. 

I think...

I've never bought anything from them but have friends who go there as first choice and have had no problems and will certainly continue to use them because of their great focus on more unusual stuff that you likely won't get anywhere else.

I can't get past that from what I can see, they charge top dollar for everything they sell, especially pricing on used instruments which does seem to be 'all the money'.
Good luck to them and I hope they continue to do well, but for that reason I'm out.

8 hours ago, 4000 said:

I’ve had John work on a few things over the years. He certainly knows his onions, but rather marches to his own drum, so to speak.

I sent my first (used) Jaydee to him for a fretstone. I rang him a few times to see how it was getting on, and eventually it was done, so I asked him to send it and told him what day I’d arranged to be off work and so would be at home for delivery.

The day arrived, the bass didn’t. So I rang him and he said he hadn’t sent it yet. So I arranged another day, same thing. So I rang him again and arranged another day, same thing. Eventually I rang him up, pretty irate, and reiterated I’d had to take days off work (i.e. my holidays) each time (I lost I think 4 days in the end), which I had explained at the very start.

So the bass finally arrived and he’d changed the pickups. I rang him and asked why and he said the old ones had low output. Which would have been ok except I really liked the sound of it before and didn’t like the sound of it after. I sold it soon after. I later spoke to the guy it had been built for and he said the bridge pickup had been built completely differently, not like a normal JD pickup, so I’m sure that was a factor. That bass had one of the “wafty” necks. 
 

I bought another Jaydee later on but it was far too heavy - my back had gone by then - so that went too. That was a good bass otherwise. 

 

 

Just now, AndyTravis said:

What finish will it be?

After a discussion with Toby this afternoon, it's getting a new laminated headstock face.
It's also getting the multi laminate / cherry red treatment.

These pics aren't my bass, but the before and after colours are the same as I have planned.
(If you look at the figuring in the wood, you'll see it's the same bass.)
 

This bass is now back home in Birmingham where it's undergoing a refinish. 
That's after getting it into the waiting list for the work.

I always like giving work to busy people.