Jean-Luc Pickguard

When I made my Fretless precison I got a 'free' pre-slotted moulded nut with it that seemed to be a bit cheap & nasty with slots that were too wide for the TI flats I use. This was not usable, so being a cheapskate I looked around for a suitable material to make my own and found some ivory-style plastic chopsticks in the kitchen. I sawed one into short lengths and filed & sanded one length into a nutblank shape to fit in the nutslot, then I cut & filed the slots using needle files. Smoothed everything off with fine wet & dry paper then glued it in with two tiny drops of superglue just so that its strong enough to hold it in place but easy to remove in future if necessary.

I have a Precison with a S8 serial & the same style of logo and that came with the covers, so its surprises me that yours isn't already drilled for the cover (& thumbrest), unless of course its already wearing a replacement pg and the body is already drilled, although I can't see bridge cover holes in the pic. I use both covers on mine (the original ones that came with it), but I particularly like the pickup cover as it is the perfect hand rest for Jamerson-style playing. I prefer the stock bridge on a Precision as a badass seems to take away some of the thump, however I do like a badass on a jazz. As already mentioned a badass II uses the original screw holes, however as its bigger than the stock bridge there may be an imprint of it on the body (usually seen as a line behind the bridge) when you take it off several years later. I can't see either mod affecting the value unless its in mint under-the-bed condition, but its a gigging tool not a museum piece isn't it?

Behringer already make guitars with this kind of thing built in: [url="http://www.behringer.com/IAXE624-BD/index.cfm?lang=eng"]http://www.behringer.com/IAXE624-BD/index.cfm?lang=eng[/url] Their similar "dongle-style" interface is about £40 [url="http://www.behringer.com/UCG102/index.cfm?lang=eng"]http://www.behringer.com/UCG102/index.cfm?lang=eng[/url] I still can't see the point in installing it inside a guitar though; the hassle and limitations seem to outweight any benefits.

My tone comes from: NS-Design CR5M Little Mark II amp Schroeder 1212L (& My fingers ) Everything seemed to fall into place when I got the Mark bass & Schroeder. These are the most expensive bass, amp & cab I've owned so I guess while expensive doesn't necessarily sound that much better, sometimes it certainly is. I'm also really loving the sound of my '71 musicmaster with this rig which in its day was a very cheap bass.

I'm afraid I can't see the point.

They seem to get priced up at about £700 these days in shops, but I got my one for a fair bit less than that. They seemed to be going for around £400 on ebay last time I investigated. My daughter's '71 was £100. It was bought from an ad in loot. It needed a lot of hardware replaced and was stripped of its finish. Its lilac and is a lovely little bass now. I also managed to get a shell pink '97 Squier Musicmaster for £110 out of loot a few years ago, this is much more like the Fender ones than the cheapo bronco basses - these seem to go for around £180 these days on ebay.

We already know he's a complete liar as he admitted he previously lied about it being packed up. I'm sure he just tried to save on ebay fees by not setting a reserve, then was disappointed not to get what its worth, but thats the nature of ebay and why I wouldn't sell my stuff on ebay. He's commiting fraud as the ebay auction is a legally binding agrement to sell at the price & terms stated. I'd INSIST on paying the sale price for the bass as is and demand the address - it won't be broken that story is so obviously BS (I'm sure you know that already). You've nothing to lose by telling him you know he's lying and put the ball in his court.

There was one in Macaris on Charing Cross Rd a while ago. I think it was £299. It looked great, but a bit rough & ready. I didn't try it though as I was worried I'd want to buy it if I played it.

That's more or less the same colour as my '71 musicmaster, although mine hasn't been scribbled on. The black pg would have to go - the original aged pearl one on mine looks luvvery.

This chap is wasting his time and making himself look silly. I thought he was talking about a seller with the name 2 gnomes in the attic. I have seen tune-o-matic's auctions in the past and never made the connection. If he can't name the seller properly he might as well stage a sit-in in his own bathroom for all the difference its going to make.

That kind of music is right up my street (& my 6, 10 & 12 year old kids are into it as well) but unfortunately I'm too far away in Surrey/South London Otherwise I'd be offering you bribes to let me join.

Its now sold, I hope I don't regret it

You could let him stay in the band but tell him he's been promoted to senior percussionist - buy him some bongos or a tamborine and get a 'trainee' drummer in to do all the 'fiddly' stuff.

I'm going to put a pair of my dad's old pants on my head and stretch some strings right now - it looks like fun.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='72071' date='Oct 10 2007, 11:32 AM']Wasnt the Jag s'posed to be the 'ultimate' bass at the time, a higher quality bass?[/quote] At what time? Its a new design, not a reissue based on the jaguar/jazzmaster guitar.

[quote name='phsycoandy' post='72221' date='Oct 10 2007, 03:42 PM']as the guitarist in the band said on Sunday. "it looks like crap but sounds as it says on the tin"[/quote] I hope you hit him over the head with his white stick.

I got a Peavey Millennium Active 5 string for £199 recently just to play about with. Its a very nice bass for the money. It looks great as well with a lovely quilted maple veneer top and dark purple finish.

[quote name='Machines' post='71997' date='Oct 10 2007, 08:47 AM']Looks quite good actually - certainly better than the Dean Pace which to me is just a normal bass with the body cut off.[/quote] I can assure you that the Dean Pace is much more than that. Unless of course you play a fretless bass with a 6" fingerboard radius, slotted headstock, 35" scale length, piezo pickups in the bridge, a very deep neck profile (like on an URB) where the body and neck are a continuous piece of maple.

I made a lovely fretless precision using a '62 style sunburst body and a neck with ebony fingerboard from brandoni, plus a bunch of fender parts. The Brandoni parts seem to be less expensive than others I have seen and are on a par with MIJ fender. A lot of the hardware they sell seems to be generic Korean cheap stuff so it may be better to source Bridge/tuners etc elsewhere (as I did). One benefit I had of making a fretless of course was that I didn't have to worry about stoning and crowning any frets.

Willie Weeks's bass solo from Voices Inside "(Everything Is Everything)" on Donny Hathaway's live album. Got to have some James Jamerson so something like Bernadette by the Four Tops.

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='71443' date='Oct 9 2007, 09:52 AM']Er guys, that's not the high road. The high road is not responding, or sending a response like "Thank you for your comments - we appreciate fan feedback". I'd just let it die.[/quote] But where's the fun in that?

[quote name='bassman2790' post='71413' date='Oct 9 2007, 07:37 AM']Has anyone owned or tried one of these pedals? Cheers Mark[/quote] I doubt it - they won't be available for several months according to the web site.

I don't know about Guitar Hero, but Jam sessions on the Nintendo DS is fun - it turns the DS into an acoustic guitar where you select the chord with the + pad and strum with the stylus. You can even define your own chords and use it as a songwriting tool. Shame it doesn't have seem to have backing tracks to play along with though.

I couldn't read the music live emails they kept sending me - Dark grey text on a black background.

I can't get over the sounds I get with my new combination of Little Mark II & Schroeder 1212L. It sounds particularly good with my Ned Steinberger CR5M, but also works wonders with basses that were difficult to get a really good sound from with other amps such as a '97 Squier musicmaster and an Ashbory.