Jean-Luc Pickguard

I have heard of Mexican Squiers previously, but I've never actually seen one & I don't know whether they were every officially available in the UK.

They also have Les Paul & strat versions for sale. They all look like they're either cheap instruments stripped & ruined with something hot or assembled from cheapo kits which have been ruined with something hot. Either way they look like a failed experiment that wasn't worth the effort. Decorating the back of the neck like that is not the kind of idea you'd get when sober.

The grolsch ones work so well that Fender decided to get in on the action

I don't use any metal ones since I had a schaller diconnect itself and drop my first Fender bass onto the floor during a rehearsal in the early 80s. Since then I've only used grolsch stopper seals and rubber shower hose washers

It depends - A band can sound exciting with an average singer, keyboardist, guitarist etc but playing with a drummer who can't keep a beat is unbearable..

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSxzBxuRte0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=zSxzBxuRte0[/url] This looks just like the polytune clip, but tuning one note at a time & should be a bit cheaper - its currently available to preorder for £30 at g4m. No mention of one with a black casing, but if one is available I will be getting one. I use my polytune clip all the time & was planning to get another one in black, but the unitune will be more approriate for me on bass & uke.

yup - I got the 'shipped' email today

I put a kent armstrong enclosed cool rails strat pickup in my '72 musicmaster which sounds much better (dark & punchy like a mustang) than the original bronco 6 pole pickup or the 'exposed' hot rails pickup I put in another early 70's musicmaster. Every squier I've owned has had crappy mini pots & socket, so making a new CTS & switchcraft loom is worthwhile.

Cheers - I just ordered one. Not expecting it to replace my trusty polytune clip but it should come in handy.

band of gold - especially when played at a wedding

The Rock/Americana band I was in for many years split up a few years ago so I retired the CMS site I built, and hand-coded a single page responsive static site that requires no ongoing maintanance. http://o5b.bandrocks.co.uk/ I also made one using much of the same code but with a different design for the blues band I was in after that: http://junkyardrocket.bandrocks.co.uk/

I wouldn't agree to do a gig at a pub if we knew it to be frequented by a-holes or p-heads.

Looks fantastic. These are great basses for modding. It looks like you swapped out the control plate as well - is that a single volume & tone? I have the same bass in candy apple red with black headstock. I added a hi-mass bridge as I had one in my bits box and swapped out the pickups & electronics for an EMG PJX set which I'm running at 24v off a pair of car keyfob 'plipper' batteries for additional headroom. The EMG pots have solid shafts so I used a set of USA vintage style knobs which add a bit of class. Unusually for a squier, the neck on mine is made from a really nice looking bit of flame maple.

If you just want to even out the level of your playing you might actually prefer a limiter. I like my green behringer BLE100 pedal a lot for this & normally just set all four controls to twelve o'clock & forget about it. The current model, the BLE400 looks to be functionally identical & can be found new for about £20.

I love the ampeg SVT/B15 sounds - I usually record using either the ampeg amplitube virtual bass amps or logic's built-in equivalents. I've fancied getting a VT bass for a long time but it has always seemed out of my price range (£200+ for a new one these days) I put a lowball bid on one (VT Bass v2) in the closing seconds on ebay expecting to be outbid, but won the auction & got it for under £80 inc postage, so its a good opportunity to try it out without too much risk of losing money if it doesn't work for me. It should be delivered tomorrow. I use an LMII & schroeder 2x12 neo cab (without a tweeter) & have been using a Zoom B3 or Behringer BDI21 to add a bit of oomph to the sound. I saw it mentioned somewhere that the VT Bass works best with passive basses, so I expect it'll sound great with my CIJ mustang, danelectro longhorn or a precision, but one of my other favourite basses to take out is a squier SS jag with an active EMG PJ set (standard EMG electronics - no fancy eq) - is there any reason why the VT bass might not work so well with this? I'm also looking forward to seeing how it works with my NS-Design CR5M upright and Kala U-bass - if anyone uses a VT bass with something similar I'd be interested in any comments or tips.

my 1972 daphne blue musicmaster bass has a white pearl pickguard.

The squier 'vintage modified' short scale jaguar bass is a very good bass for the money. I have gigged my candyapple red one a lot. A secondhand one it should hold its value if she doesn't get on with it. The sunburst version is available as a pack with a decent practice amp & strap, tuner, cable, gigbag etc

must have been a typo - its 5.99 now

I prefer gigbags most of the time but I do have a peardrop guitar hardcase from brandoni music which is a nice solid case with tolex covering. its currently in the loft with a casio midi guitar inside. There's a similr bass version and they're pretty cheap at £45 [url="http://www.brandoniguitars.co.uk/cases.asp"]http://www.brandoniguitars.co.uk/cases.asp[/url]

I really like the LaBella 'danelectro' stainless steel flats I have on my longhorn - as they are specifically for danos, they're exactly the right length and the smaller ball-ends work perfectly with the bridge. They're also long-lasting - I've had the same set for over 10 years, so they were a lot cheaper than the current cost when I bought them. These ones: http://shop.labella.com/c/bass_specialty-sets_danelectro

Any bass you're comfortable with. In my americana band on various gigs with several root-fifth type songs, I used my precisions (fretted & fretless), an active jazz, a mustang, a musicmaster, a danelectro longhorn, an ashbory, a dean pace electric upright, an NS-Design CR-5M electric upright, a white epiphone thunderbird, and a natural epiphone thunderbird pro-v. I'm not aware of anyone ever being offended by my choice of bass. Not that it would have bothered me.

My favourite bass is a vintage white CIJ mustang to which I have an aged pearl pickguard & a tug-bar (treble side). I also have a Daphne blue '72 musicmaster which looks fantastic but not in the same league as the mustang. A '66 daphne blue mustang with 'lollypop' tuners in good condition would pretty much be my ideal bass. If they made an undamaged or aged but not abused 'closet classic' version of the JMJ I'd be all over it, but the relic job looks awful.

I got a fantastic unlined precision neck with ebony board from brandoni guitars when I built my fretless precision several years ago. I think it was about £100 then, so replacing the neck could be a much cheaper and easily reversible option to modifying the existing neck. In your position however I would keep the lines & get used to them.

have you checked that the battery isn't on its way out? How about the strings? Are the pickups too high or too low?

Cinnamon girl by neil young https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdtUDaBfRA