Jean-Luc Pickguard

Yep its £70 for a fretstone (inc setup) at the Gallery. I had one done recently & they did a good job on sorting out my Mustang.

[quote name='paul, the' post='187759' date='Apr 29 2008, 03:25 AM']Hot gear. It's great to hear that a Mustang is your workhorse. Why do you prefer it? I want to try a short-scale again soon.[/quote] I bought it as I wanted something very similar to the musicmaster which could be used with my string of choice, thomastik flats. I've put a set of TI JF324 on it which are too long for the musicmaster, but are perfect on the mustang doe to the thru stringing. The neck seems to be thinner than the vintage mustangs I've tried, very much like a short jazz neck making it very fast & effortless to play. [quote name='paul, the' post='187759' date='Apr 29 2008, 03:25 AM']How does the lipstick'd jazz sound?[/quote] Its very versatile and it seems to be impossible to dial in a sound I don't like. I think this probably has more to do with the John East circuit as the pickups though.

[quote name='paul, the' post='187467' date='Apr 28 2008, 06:53 PM']I might watch that guild, myself.[/quote] mmmm that is nice. I'm going to try to resist commeting on this pic though:

[quote name='jono b' post='187320' date='Apr 28 2008, 04:10 PM']Is that a neck pocket on it a little too wide too? I have a similar problem on my Jazz.[/quote] That's how they made them in '71 - doesn't seem to make any difference to the playability though. I wanted to get a CIJ mustang in the same blue, but ended up getting the vintage white one instead.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='186414' date='Apr 27 2008, 12:15 PM']... so I kept going in a pool of coke and broken glass.[/quote] Sounds like a night out with Pete Docherty

[quote name='BassManKev' post='186689' date='Apr 27 2008, 07:46 PM']i love the 81 p [/quote] You probably wouldn't if you felt the weight of it The body is made of heavy "baseball bat" Ash so it could be effectively used as the anchor for a medium sized fishing boat. Lovely colour & grain pattern though.

I've finally got around to taking some pics of some of my basses. A couple of guitars crept in as well. A 90s Danelectro Longhorn, just like the 50s ones (but with a trussrod) '81 Precision cherry sunburst Bitzer fretless built from a brandoni neck & body with fender hardware & kent armstrong pickup 1990 MIJ "jamerson" style '62 RI '2003 Highway1 Jazz with Badass bridge, Kent armstrong Jazz lipstick pickups, J-Retro, Tort pickguard & Hipshot D-Tuner (why do red basses not photograph well?) '71 Musicmaster CIJ Mustang with Chandler "aged pearl" pickguard - currently my main gigging bass Epi TBird Alpine White CIJ '72 RI Tele Thinline with Chandler B/W/B pickguard Stratacoustic - great fun and plays nicely once shimmed

I always use an RCD, but Pete in o5b was getting small earth differential shocks off his mic when his guitar amp isn't plugged into the same circuit as the mixer. It doesn't happen if the mixer and amp are on the same extension cable. This isn't always possible, so to stop him touching the mic he uses a big blue foam foam clown nose thing on his SM58. [url="http://www.o5b.co.uk"][/url]

It'll be much more cost effective to get a fretless P neck with ebony board from Brandoni. When I bought one it was about £100 - so you should cover your costs by flogging the fretted neck. I built my fretless with a brandoni body as well as the neck and hardware from various places.

walnut oil?

[url="http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/"]Touchstone Tonewoods[/url]

Can't get much lighter than an Ashbory.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='180196' date='Apr 18 2008, 10:37 PM']They any good? Also do they work for drop tunings? say drop C or D standard?[/quote] 1. Yes - It is certainly the easiest, most convenient and most accurate tuner I've used. 2. No its not designed for that [indent]There's a [color="#708090"][b]guitar [/b][/color]one that does [b]E - A - D - G - B - E[/b] and a [b][color="#FF0000"]bass [/color][/b]one that covers [b]Low B - E - A -D - G - high C.[/b][/indent] I have one of each, but I really need to get a spare red one for gigs. I've seen stupid people try them once at the LGS a few years ago and dismiss them as useless because they didn't RTFM. It needs to be held over the 12th fret with the dial turned to the correct. Pluck the string and tune up until the lights reflected off the string stop moving. If the movement gets faster you're turning the wrong way. It takes about ten minutes to get used to using the SOS, but once you have the knack you can have your bass tuned while the guitarist is still tuning his Low E.

The string spacing is narrower on a bronco than a single coil tele bass, so the poles won't match up to the strings. This may or may not cause uneven output from string to string, but it wouldn't be an issue with a lipstick or rails pickup. The bobbin is bigger on the telebass pickup than the standard strat size pickup used on broncos - hence the pg needing to be modified to make it fit. A good upgrade bridge is the 90s Squier musicmaster one. I think they're still available as a spare part. this has four saddles and is a string-thru design, so a set of ferrules will be needed.

I can tune accurately in well under a minute with noise all all around me and my bass unplugged. I don't have perfect pitch, or probably even 'good-enough' pitch - just a Planet Waves SOS tuner.

[quote name='theosd' post='179993' date='Apr 18 2008, 05:34 PM']They are just always really boomy - only buy if you're a plectrum player.[/quote] What? Mine isn't boomy & I use flatwounds & fingers. It doesn't neck dive either - after ten minutes well spent relocating the strap button.

[quote name='thewalruswaspaul' post='175559' date='Apr 13 2008, 10:47 AM']Have not done pickup swap yet , have just got some new machineheads coz the squier ones suck , will fit pup in next week or two , am currently trying to decide between the [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/basslines/vintage-1/scpb1_vintage_f/"]Seymour Duncan SCPB-1[/url] and the [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/stratocaster/vintage/lipstick_tube_f/"]Seymour Duncan Lipstick Pick up[/url] , both seem to be in the vintage ballpark , will let you know once I have done the swap[/quote] 'm not sure if the SCPB-1 would fit. You need a strat size pickup unless you are cutting a new pickguard. Kent Armstrong also do a strap size lipstick pup. I'd go for a Brandoni enclosed cool rails though. Mine sounds massive in my '71 musicmaster.

I stopped using roto flats when I got three bad sets together. They may have improved since, but they were total crap five years ago when I last bought them.

[quote name='nickcarey' post='178887' date='Apr 17 2008, 02:46 PM']The other thing I was wondering about are the types of strings Musicman fit to fretless Stingrays by default.[/quote] Just a guess, but I'd be surprised if they fitted anything other than Ernie Ball strings

I'd send an alternative set list and ask if he actually wants a bass player onstage. What an idiot.

I have one somewhere, but hid it from the kids and forgot where...

I have several different tuners and only ever use a planet waves SOS - It costs next to nothing and is easy fast & accurate, even on a low B. And its possible to tune in noisy surroundings in total silence.

Go for it - There's nothing wrong with modding a cheap bass - if nothing else it builds up experience, so working on a more expensive bass later will be less daunting. I have put a couple of rail humbuckers into 71 musicmasters. My daughter's has a Brandoni white hotrails with explosed blades and mine has an enclosed black brandoni cool rails. The cool rails sounds (& looks) much better to me, although my daughter likes the zebra effect of the hotrails. I think the coolrails is more suitable as the hot rails sounds a bit too zingy for my taste. Last time I looked either pickup would set you back about £30 from brandoniguitars.co.uk

Donny Hathaway Live, for Willie Weeks groovy p-bass solo on voices inside.

[quote name='Macko1968' post='170163' date='Apr 5 2008, 11:02 AM']I remember seeing one of these circa '84 & not being allowed to touch it by some misery guts shop owner.[/quote] I remember going to Denmark Street in 1986 looking for a Hohner B2A when they were first available. Rose Morris had one in the window, but the chap there wouldn't let me try it out even though I said I would buy it on the spot if I liked it. I went a few doors down where I was allowed to play one and bought it. I knew the B2A hard cases weren't available - the first shipment was a couple of weeks behind the basses for some reason, so as soon as I bought he bass I back to Rose Morris it and asked the same chap I spoke to earlier if he had a case "this" holding it up.