uk_lefty

I think I've ruled myself out by buying a jazz bass yesterday. I know they're worlds apart but I'm trying to limit myself to 4 basses or less.

So some strange twist of fate happened last week. I had been toying with selling my MIJ 1970 P bass reissue because I have three single pickup basses and it was too good to not be played, but I think my Stingray knocks the P bass out. I had seen an MIJ Jazz, 1970s style, butterscotch finish and pearl blocks a while back. I thought they only did the 70s reissue in black... Anyhow I'm thinking of this bass so I email a dealer of Japanese guitars asking about lefty basses. Then I see the for sale forum here and Kevham is selling the exact bass I want! I message Kevham straight away. Then the dealer gets back to me saying he's got a 70s MIJ lefty jazz, but it's been modded and not very well and he still wants almost a grand for it. So I list my P Bass for sale on Facebook and it gets some interest but no bids so a few days later it goes on Reverb at an optimistic price and I get an acceptable offer within an hour! Kevham is a gent and great to deal with. So the Jazz. Its butterscotch which you can see the woodgrain through. The neck has a lovely vintage tint and thick cream binding. The blocks are stunning, not too shiny and colourful, quite creamy. I'm not sure the bridge pickup is actually in 70s position but that's OK. There's a three screw neck plate. The whole feel is solid, pure MIJ build quality. The pickguard is pre drilled for a thumb rest and neck pickup ashtray cover. I've only had a few minutes playing through a practice amp but it's familiar jazz bass sound in a luxurious body. Decisions coming up include to ashtray or not, and if so both or just one pickup? If I don't ashtray the bridge pup do I put my Badass bridge on it? Do I put flats on for some warmth or use bright zingy rounds to get the snappiness from the maple board? I'm a very happy left handed bassist.

I don't see the point when even the left handers come up quite often and at affordable prices considering the quality. I'd rather trawl ebay or the Facebook groups for a reasonable condition 2nd hand one, or as I did an absolute wreck that needs cash investing in it. I reckon my 1984 with a neck repair and a brand new replacement pickup will have cost less than this Eastwood. They should get back to making the lefty flying V bass I have no issues with that whatsoever!

I would love one of those!

Sires are awesome. Can't speak highly enough of how much you get for your money with the V7 range. I don't know much about the V3 but it won't be rubbish. It's the active preamp that really sets them apart. Mexican fenders and even the Chinese squires (really, Chinese made instruments can be excellent and these are) are all very good too. There's a lot of choice out there for you, and as already mentioned the Sire P7s. What pickup config do you want or what sound(s) are you after?

Thanks everyone, got it set up, left it to settle then next day had to give a minor tweak again but all resolved. Nice low action as I want it and the best playing neck I've ever had.

I had a German Warwick Streamer LX around 2007ish. Components, build, looks, all outstanding. Am sure you will be getting something similar in terms of feel. In terms of sound I struggled with the 2 band EQ at the time but I'd not had a bass of that quality or active EQ before, so it was most likely user error. I still can't get on with 2 band EQ but find 3 band really intuitive, so I am the problem! Gorgeous looking and feeling bass though, it's one I wish I'd persevered with, if anything just for the job of waxing it regularly.

Not sure if it's in the realms of what you want to do but Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has time sig changes. Will follow this thread with interest because my drummer has his toys out the pram about having to play four on the floor all the time instead of just thinking about how he can make it more interesting for himself.

Exactly! I wanted a jazz bass because I had 3 single pup basses... I know how good Sire basses are and could do with a five string. I spent a few hundred more and bought a Japanese Fender J because... I did. I sound like my daughter when she's been caught doing something she knows is wrong.

Certainly a lot of praise for the mexican made fenders these days. Thing is if you're gigging somewhere you don't have control over sound or it's a quick setup you could be playing a Fodera, a knackered Ashton acoustic and later a Hofner, the audience might see the difference but if the sound man isn't bothered that day they'll just hear a low end mushy rumble. I went to a Marcus Miller masterclass and he was talking about the Sire basses. At the time the V7 was the "bottom" range and he was saying, I'll paraphrase, about the V9 and V10 range that all the details like flame tops etc doesn't make much difference to sound its for you to enjoy looking at the bass, holding it, inspire you to pick it up and play it. But he's happy playing his V7. I thought that was anti-marketing! Same principle applies across the board: get a good tool for job, and if you want bells and whistles the differences are for your enjoyment more than any conceivable difference to others.

Thank you! Made a very minor adjustment and tested, there is less string on fret rattle already. Going to leave it a bit, I should be working tbh, then do another minor adjustment... And so on until I get there. Thank you all for the advice and the patience with the "my left or your left?!" questions.

Holding down the first and last frets the strings are flat against the frets, so this a loosen job... I think?

Here's the problem so I've put a photo in...!! From Bass Cultures mail I need to loosen the rod. There is a wheel at the bottom of the fretboard. If holding the bass as I am in the picture though I've pulled my legs out of the way the headstock is resting against my chest, which way do I turn the wheel? My left (towards E string for me cos I'm a lefty) or my right? It's such a stupid question but the whole left and right handed perspective thing can get v confusing!!

Is there a whole thread we could do on existing Volvos?! My first car was a Volvo...

So here's a noddy question... I've got a USA Stingray with the wheel adjuster for neck relief. Three and a half weeks ago, a very hot day, I picked this up from my repairs and luthier guy who does a lovely bass set up. I have not had the bass out of the case until today and there is a noticeable bend in the neck and the G string is unplayable on frets 1-6 and the other strings rattle when played on frets 1 to 6. I think this must have been caused by heat in the period in between set up and today, with the bass being stored in its hard case but unfortunately in my office room which gets very hot and we had a very hot week after picking up the bass. With the bass I didn't get a special tool for truss rod adjustment but can get a smaller Allen key in there and move the wheel. I'm thinking I need to tighten the truss rod to straighten out the neck and get rid of the string rattle? I. E. If I am standing up with the bass resting back on my legs, strings facing outwards, get the tool in the wheel and pull to my right... Is that correct? It's not something I usually dare to do, especially with an expensive bass but I'm thinking to make small adjustments and keep coming back to check.

My old jazz bass had two stickers: one of my band logo, one of another band logo (originals) where I dep sometimes. The bass was beaten and worn and I was OK with putting stickers on it. My precision, leaving my stable tomorrow for a new home, had a sticker of the snake from the Gruffalo on it. Partly because my daughter loves the Gruffalo and my guitars, and partly because I was writing some songs for a new project and had a really seedy one called "snake" so I thought it all added up. Song didn't get finished, project never got started, bass just got sold. A former colleague was the daughter of a semi pro bassist. She remembers as a child putting googly eye stickers on his bass and after he passed away she inherited the instrument, opened the case and the stickers were still on it. A lovely story when she tells it as it obviously meant a lot to her.

Expectation vs reality. For me at least, I lust after a particular bass or bit of kit and when I get it I'm somehow not the lab created hybrid of Bernard Edwards and Marcus Miller. I recently spent months agonising over selling a bass I don't use to fund some new acquisitions. Now the bass is boxed up and ready to go I'm missing it already and slightly regretting it. I also saw what I thought was my dream bass for sale a while back but couldn't afford until now, so I messaged a dealer saying "hey if you get this or anything similar I'd like to know" and he had something I'd never seen before that really tickled my fancy... And the bass of my dreams came up for sale on the same day. And 24hrs later while I'm thinking "wouldn't it be great to have twin fretted and fretless basses" the fretless twin of my number 1 came up for sale. Can't have them all! But all this time not playing in the band and working full time at home plus being more available to be "dad" means I can only dream about gigging and not I'm not practicing, hence every loo break involves trawling classifieds, Reverb, Gumtree, eBay...

I won't change my RM500, there may be "better" amps out there but this is an uncomplicated and high quality way to get the job done! I found with my Sire V7 I was bypassing the amp EQ but mainly because the on board EQ was so good on the Sire and I didn't want a clash of EQs. With my Precision (which goes to a new owner tomorrow, sadly) I used the amp EQ, bit of mid boost and dig in with the fingers for some clank. With my MM Stingray I do use the amp EQ but I pretty much set and forget the inboard EQ for that bass. Just need to spend the time finding what's best for each bass and then it gets easier. I'm not a knob twiddler when playing live, pretty much like to have a good tone and stick with it unless I need a drastic change for any reason, but then it's very easy to forget to change back!

Not far off, geographically. The actual Road to Hell is in fact the road to Hull. Now known as Kingston Upon Hull as its "rebrand" sought to confuse the incoming heroin smugglers. As a young lad with sporting ambitions that could not be met in tiny, backward North Yorkshire towns, I used to frequent Hull, or Ull as the locals call it, and would regularly pass the shell of burned out cars in a similar spot near a tesco while Viking FM, the local radio aired ads to warn us off the dangers of "Ridin't' White pony".

Ropey rehearsals are good for you, they make you focus on what you need to improve on and I actually quite like being a bit shoddy in the last rehearsal before a gig for that reason.

I saw it as an option on Warmoth years back... Haven't looked there since the exchange rate got less and less attractive. I remember thinking it would be interesting to be a bit flashy but I just can't think how I would personally use it at all except to muck about while guitarists fart about between songs in rehearsal.

The Sire will be excellent quality, they're just great instruments and not just "great for the price". Of course a Hofner would be nice to have and quite resonant if you can't be bothered amping up, then there are the "gold tone micro basses". Not sure if you can get them from a UK Supplier but they look lovely, short scale acoustic basses, I've seen more fretless than fretted, for a home noodle bass it would be excellent, though not cheap if you had to import from the US.

Well I have, with the help of some friends, once lifted up one of our group so he could scuff his feet along the ceiling of a small nightclub during that song. Needless to say it wasn't a great feeling for him, neither was it when the bouncers grabbed us all by the neck.

Haha well it was a hot day... I've played in shorts since but definitely not "action sandals". Lesson learned. The bass has since been sold but only because I couldn't get on with the string spacing.