PlungerModerno

You could even do a multiscale if you fancy it!

I would say it's anything that makes somebody think it's great! I think it can't be one thing since two basses may be equally loved by two different players which hate the other bass entirely.

Ultimately I think if it sounds great it is great.

Looks sweet as a nut. 

4 hours ago, Muzz said:

I think it's safe to say that 95% of the talk about tonewoods is still nonsense... 😁

At least 95% is marketing and people hearing with their eyes not their ears in my opinion. It might not be nonsense but I find it unconvincing, outside of acoustic instruments, where even there it is usually less important than construction/design. I think the biggest difference is it's psychological impact. You'll play a pristine bass differently to a really battered, sticker-covered workhorse (at least I would). I think we drive differently depending on the cars interior (pleasing looks, ergonomics, feel of the controls etc.) same with instruments.

39 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

Those 60's P basses were built with plentiful and/or cheap wood, not carefully selected wood. Fender were and are in the mass-production game. Besides, all the old Fenders seem to be good ones these days, even the ones which barely had a note played on them. How has their molecular structure changed?

The basses whose necks have survived under string tension were clearly pretty decent, especially the skinnier Jazz profiles had to be fairly good timber. Most of the bad ones are gone within a decade I'd imagine.

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

No instrument manufacturer, save perhaps the worst El Cheapo merchants, uses unseasoned or green timber. It will all be kiln dried at the very least.

I imagine it would all be kiln dried, not for long term stability, but so it'll not shrink too much before it reaches the customer and will take the paint reliably! I don't think it'll be all that consistent in terms of how dry it is all the way through. I doubt they do a Ken Smith (I seem to recall) and leave the neck blanks sitting for months or years in a climate controlled environment to ensure perfect stability!

9 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

P/J pickups and a preamp will cost you quite a bit - £200-£300. Is the instrument worth it? Remember you won't get much of the money back when/if you come to sell it. "Upgraded" instruments rarely fetch good money. Would it be better to put the money towards a new bass?

Excellent point. Especially if the bass has bad dead spots or serious trouble (shifting neck, bridge, or other trouble that might be a pain or expensive to make right).

11 hours ago, Maude said:

The above is good advice, but if you do end up deciding you want new pickups then maybe look at the Entwistle PBXN and JBXN. I've always said the PBXN is very much like the SPB3 but with slightly more mids, and although I haven't tried the Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pound J, the Entwistle J has that same vibe going on as the P. 

Absolutely go with the 1/4 Pound range of that's what you want as they're great, but the Entwistle Neo's are just as great at a fraction of the price. 

Good suggestion. Entwistle are massive tone for a modest price, always worth considering for bass or guitar.

Coming together beautifully. Those woods look ace!

Is this roughly what you got:

https://www.musikhaus-korn.de/de/vintage-v800bk-black/pd/111405

First thing I would recommend (I know it's obvious) is to check the pickup height, preamp battery level, and how dead the strings are. If all are good you may wish to switch out one or both pickups, and/or the preamp. I'd definitely want to try the pickups wired directly to the output before changing anything, see if there's an issue with the preamp (even in passive mode) that's "suck"-ing the tone away. Could be you like the stock pickups & pre better than most others if you got it working properly. Or it may suck and you will end up dumping it lol.

It's been a while, but I think it was these fine people I got some great stuff off before. Not bad postagewise either, but definitely check before you order with the current situation!

https://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/Catalogue/index.asp

https://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/docs/Timberline-Exotic-Hardwoods-General-list-2020.pdf

58 minutes ago, Drax said:

You assume serious truss rod fails early on are so rare for any manufacturer they will fix on goodwill, not debate blame with their customer.  

*Not saying Maruszczyk don’t do this btw, have not trawled past examples 

Even if we had dozens of documented failures, we'd need to compare them to the failure rate of another manufacturer to do a fair comparison (we'd need an idea of sales vs. breakages for both). I think yee are right about reinforced necks - takes some of the unpredictability of wood out of the system.

1 hour ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Would a bridge with width adjustment get you there? depends on how close to the fretboard edge at the dusty end you can go, or tolerate

Excellent suggestion. As long as there is a little room either side of the outer strings, especially from say the 12th fret up, going from 18mm to 19mm spacing should be a simple bridge swap. The pickups will probably be almost completely unchanged in evenness across the strings.

"...this is not going to be a short or easy process"

Um, take your time. Art takes time, and this is as much a sculpture as a tool for making music. Wow.

28 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Fender used alder for purely pragmatic manufacturing reasons. It was inexpensive, readily available, easy to work, took finishes well and was not too heavy.

Alder was chosen for efficiency alright. Not the cheapest or easiest working but a lovely balance. Fairly cheap & plentiful locally at the time. Cheap & quick to work (didn't eat tools by blunting them too rapidly, or burn with power tools as easily as maple, or require too much grain filling). Plus it's a decent hardwood and holds screws very well. Density and other concerns were much less important. As long as it didn't impact sales margins or production.

On 26/02/2021 at 08:14, ped said:

Good to see the old ‘tone is in the fingers’ comment doing the rounds again. It’s true that varying your attack and hand position can alter the timbre of a given sound, but you simply cannot make a P bass sound like a 70s Jazz with your fingers unless you use said fingers to install pickups 😂

Unless you run it through so much dirt you can't tell much but the approximate note you've hit!

On 26/02/2021 at 08:51, Bigguy2017 said:

Yup, pickup position and type are a major factor in how a bass sounds.

I think of that as the "voice" of the instrument as much as the strings or the preamp.

On 26/02/2021 at 08:53, binky_bass said:

Within the realms of what's possible on your bass, fingers can alter THAT tone/timbre, but obviously you're not going to get a double bass to sound like an Alembic no matter how much you claim you have magic fingers! 

Thumb muting and a filter pre will get you close enough for most situations, but you're right. Especially if it's a bowed part! 

On 26/02/2021 at 20:03, 4000 said:

The problem with the ‘science’ of this is that other science, that everyone hears things differently. Which means you’ll never get agreement either way. 

This. We play the instrument based in part on how it feels to us. So it's no surprise some people will prefer the "sound" of thicker necks, or any other property - they find them better suited to them, even a blind tester can feel the bass. 

On 25/02/2021 at 23:58, yorks5stringer said:

Should be 'no veneers in here'

What about tonewood dentures? for singers of course

9 minutes ago, Cato said:

That's what I figured.

And you'd be getting something truly unique built from the blocks up.

Or maybe somethings truly unique: A fretless and fretted pair might be had for a wedge that big, might even be able to get matching tops & all sorts of wonders...

2 minutes ago, Jimothey said:

You just made me be sick in my mouth a bit!! 🤮🤮

Why would you do that and ruin a perfectly good picture!?! 

There's only one place Tort (I've just been gagging even typing the word!!) looks good and thats in the bin!!

I had a feeling it might not be appreciated. I was curious what it might look like... it's a lovely shade of red judging by the pic. Goes really well with a nice jazzy tort to my eye.

14 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

If ya going to get it from Andertons...

Give em a ring, see if you can order both... Have a day or two to get to know em... then return the one ya dont want?  Hopefully with a free return...

Excellent suggestion. There is no substitute for holding & playing the instrument you're thinking about buying.

Some exquisite timber there, should be wonderful!

I'm reminded of those "Human Base" fretlesses they come with the Delano oval, but neck through construction and a more angular headstock. Your headstock is a little more Ritter (in a good way, I know they are a little marmitey).

Very nice*. I can see having two coming in handy for any fretting, or working on a neck by itself.

*

15 hours ago, ikay said:

It depends on the type of pickup poles. Pickups with a 'double pole' configuration (eg. standard Fender) give a fairly broad and even magnetic field so string alignment isn't that critical. Pickups with single poles are far mores sensitive to string alignment. See vid below - if you jump to 3m 40s he demonstrates the effect of sideways displacement of the pickup which is quite significant.

 

Cool vid. I imagine if the pickup was a little farther from the strings the effect of being above or off the poles would be a lot more subtle, as the field will be more even farther from the poles.

Black 'guard goes nicer with the hardware, I must admit.

Tort would look ace too though!

WARNING! I did something you may not appreciate!

16 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Thanks

I meant to add that.  It's spot on 7 lbs

I imagine without the weight of the wood and tuning machines at the end of the neck, it's a lot more neutral on even a scrawny strap, even with such a short upper horn.

I imagine even if it must be a custom one off, at that price (or close to it, including more local shipping) somebody would be delighted with the business.

I would recommend the creamery if you want something custom. I haven't made an order like the above, but I would imagine he can get pretty much exactly what you ask for.

I was going to suggest a 3-ply White - then I remembered this: