Jean-Luc Pickguard

[quote name='Jono Bolton' post='395392' date='Jan 30 2009, 01:46 PM']...and you can pick them up for about £400 new too - bargain![/quote] Shame they don't import the california blue ones though I think mine looks alright in vintage white with with aged pearl pickguard though. I didn't like the original tort pg much. [attachment=19417:mikeys_mustang.JPG]

[quote name='tauzero' post='394620' date='Jan 29 2009, 02:52 PM']Only now it will be three, one for IE7, one for IE8, and one for proper browsers.[/quote] Assuming MSIE6 will finally die. Looking at the stats for some of the sites I have developed, I see that people are still using that old heap of sh*te.

My CIJ one is my no 1 gigging bass. It sounds deeper & punchier than my precisons (all using TI flats - the 'tang has a 32" set), but I really love it for the super slim neck and excellent playability.

How about using an [url="http://www.o5b.co.uk/ashbory-bass/"]Ashbory[/url]? I play mine in a blues band for acoustic sessions.

Mine doesn't do that.

I own that one. A copy of the book that is

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I have a few keepers: [list] [*]my '81 Precision I bought new from Rockbottom for £260 with my wages for working all summer in Bejams. I recently refitted the eighties EMG pick up I fitted andtook out a few years ago, but this time running it off 18v - It sounds massive now. [*]My Black Ashbory - no idea why it should be any better than my blue one, but I prefer it as it just seems nicer to play. [*]NS-Design CR5-M. lovely lovely electric upright. I bought it new when the exchange rate was better and it was just blummin' expensive. If I hadn't bought then I certainly wouldn't be able to afford one now as they have since gone up to f'kin expensive. [*]My white CIJ mustang might also be a keeper as its been my favourite gigging bass since I bought it (& I have bought one or two others since) [/list]

I'm always surprised that the instruments hanging up in a lot of small shops are often not set up at all and would put non-savvy purchasers off, so it must be a unique selling point to have new & secondhand instruments that play. Boxed encores from Argos won't be able to compete with that.

If you need a web site for the shop, give me a shout. I've just started in that business. I might even be able to do a special "basschatters rate" Good luck.

Nice. I alway wonders gibson/epi don't just put the front strap button at the neck heel like I did with my alpine-white epi tbird, then people won't keep going on about neck dive.

I have examples of both - I bought a secondhand CIJ mustang for £300 and in terns of tone and playability it knocks spots off my 1971 musicmaster which was a lot more expensive.

[quote name='Happy Jack']Neat-looking, but I'll bet they're buggers to take off again ... not enough material to get a decent grip on.[/quote] They are a bit more flexible as they are slightly thinner so are no more difficult to put on & take off, but in my experience both types work best if, like me, you tend to keep them on when the bass is hung on the wall, in the gigbag, on a stand at a gig/rehearsal and (of course) when playing. [quote name='Happy Jack']ah but ... half the point is to have that cool "Grolsch waser" look, isn't it? [/quote] You could paint them red & dip them in beer

I used to use 'em, but these days I much prefer the understated looks of shower hose washers. I use them on all my basses (from the Heavy Ash '81 Precision to the Ashborys). They're smaller in diameter and slightly thinner than Grolsch washers and are a matt black rather than bright red, so are better for a stealth or vintage look. They hold just as well as the grolsch ones, and similarly are best if the strap is left on the bass more-or-less permanently. [attachment=18492:rubberwasher.jpg]

one of a big upright banjos would be on my shopping list as well.

Just when I though being made redundant had completely cured my gas, I had to see a pic of a great big f**k off mandolin. I really want one now

Some early viols had loops of gut tied around the neck as frets. I saw one somewhere, but can't remember where - might have been at the Victoria & Albert museum. Not sure if that's what this one has

I just carry my mustang bass in a standard fender gigbag. fender do make a rectangular hard case for mustang, musicmaster and bronco basses, but its ridiculously expensive - something like £140 last time I looked. When I bought my danelectro honghorn I was surprised that it fits perfectly in a telecaster hard case.

The domain is registered in Denmark to tcelectronic, so perhaps its a bass version of whatever they released for guitar last year. Like the nova system or something?

I have a Stentor student (model 1950) - The one with a solid top & ply back & sides. It does seem a bit rough & ready, but was nice & cheap, it seems to be tough and sounds decent with a K&K pickup & Thomastik Spirocores. I don't take it out much though as its not as easy to carry or play as my NS CR-5M EUB.

I'm into shortscales, my favourite gigging bass is a CIJ mustang, but I also own a couple of musicmasters ('71 US fender & Squier Vista), a danelectro longhorn & a 32" daisyrock elite. My daughter also has a '71 musicmaster and a couple of daisy rocks, so she's a bit of a shortscales connoisseur as well and would be able to comment on the "cool factor" from a teenager's point of view. The best thing about my mustang for me is that, even though it is a 30" scale, it has through-body stringing, so a set of 32" Thomastic flats fit on it perfectly. Also the neck is very narrow & thin (a guitarist mentioned recently that it feels like a particularly comfy strat neck). With my ideal strings (TI JF 324) I can still get an optimal amount of relief in the neck. I nearly bought a mini precision when Fender made them a few years ago, I think it was around a 27"or 28" scale, but I was put off by the lack of choice of strings that would fit. I'd like the opportunity to try a prototype and I'll be more than happy to report back about what I like and don't, giving reasons and suggesting possible improvements.

I'm crap, but the chaps in the band don't seem to have noticed.

[quote name='AM1' post='364116' date='Dec 27 2008, 12:08 PM']I vowed not to go down the road of playing purely by ear because I want to develop my reading as well.[/quote] I'm not sure how using tab is going to help with reading

My 81 Precision has an EMG active pickup, but no actual eq/preamp. I have made a conversion clip to run it off 18v rather than the standard 9v. Unfortunately theres no room for two standard 9v batteries, so my clip uses the 1.5v cells from A23 12v batteries. There are eight 1.5v button cells if you open up an A23. Twelve of the cells fit perfectly onto an AAA holder. It definitely sounds better, a lot more alive almost as if all the oomph was being compressed out of it with only 9v.

If you use standard tuning, have you looked at the ultra cheap Planet Waves Bass SOS tuner? It very quick to tune up wih it & much more accurate than the other tuners I've used.