Mokl

That's stunning Mike. It looks and sounds fantastic! I particularly liked the bridge fingerstyle tone you were getting in that vid - lovely!

If you can find an original 70's Jazz that appeals to you then I would say go for it. I recently took a real gamble and bought an original '77 on ebay from a guy in the US. I was a bit nervous having heard so many bad things about poor quality build, but I had always wanted a 77 (being my year of birth - silly reason, I know). I have to say that buying that bass is probably the best musical purchase decision I've ever made - it is simply an outstanding instrument! It plays so nicely with a rich smooth sustain - the slap tone is also ludicrously great. It is reasonably light which surprised me, although it is definitely an ash body. Sure, the neck pocket is a little generous but certainly not terrible, and overall I would say it is a well put together instrument. I get no trouble at all with the 3 bolt neck, in fact I have tried moving it by pulling at the neck and it won't budge. The bass has quickly become my number one gigging and practising bass. The cool thing is that it actually cost me less than the price of Fenders US reissue and hopefully won't lose any value.

Oddly enough I want a ramp to sit at the end of my fingerboard. I find the gap at the end of the neck too high when popping the strings so would like to reduce the height with a small ramp (there's no pickguard on the bass). Has anybody else tried this? I have a feeling it will look a bit weird, but I feel I need to do something about it on this particular instrument.

[quote name='Kongo' post='500014' date='May 28 2009, 04:36 PM']+1 they go way too far with the prices! Myself I'm a bit standofish about going ahead with a USA jazz as one I played @ Reverb had a raised fret! For a bass over £1000 that's a bit much but...I'd love a Deluxe Jazz V...gah! I'm currently saving to go on a hunt for the Jazz 24 V...That's worth chasing for me and it's Korean LOL! So that's MIK? LOL![/quote] In all fairness you could get a raised fret on any instrument, no matter what the quality (I had to rectify one on my Fodera recently). You were probably unlucky to find a duffer amongst the current crop of US instruments IMO, and I would be surprised if it left the factory that way. In terms of neck shape and tone I'm not crazy about them FWIW, but having sold quite a few over the years my impression is that the quality is generally very good for the price point - certainly much more consistent than it has been for some time. The factory setups don't tend to do them any favours, but generally you can get them playing very nicely with relatively little fuss. If you like the idea of a USA Fender, then I wouldn't let the one bad experience put you off.

I use ASIO4ALL with Reaper on my (cr)aptop, and it makes a big difference. The latency is massively reduced, but I am thinking of getting one of those Line 6 UX1 interfaces which should do a better job.

I work in the MI and unfortunatley we are seeing ENORMOUS price rises from most of our suppliers. 20 - 30 % increases in trade prices this year are about the average, some are far more.... I sh#t you not. Come to think of it, I can't think of any distributor that hasn't had to increase their prices. You may not have noticed much change in online prices, but I think this is mainly due to people trying to sell through the old stock. Believe me, you will see prices rise very soon across the board. I had one customer come back to me who ordered a Roland Bass Cube online and then latterly received a call advising him that he would have to pay nearly an extra £100 on top due to price increases. Blame the credit crunch/falling pound/ increasing cost of Chinese manufacturing blah blah blah...

Big Cat, I was reading Ou7hined's post and was looking at his tracking details thinking they were yours! I've just read your last post and it looks as though your bass has been sat there for a long while. If I were you I would try and ring the main Parcelforce number (not your local depot) and see if they can do anything. It might well be sat at the airport for a few days before anything happens - I'm sure it won't be returned to the US on a priority service so you might have time to catch it. Sorry to hear your woes, it must be very frustrating. I hope you get it sorted.

[quote name='big cat' post='422035' date='Feb 28 2009, 10:31 PM']OMG!!!! Parcel Force sent my bass back to USA.....They didn't write me any letter or email to inform me for the payment things in the past 20 days.....jesus [/quote] Are you sure? That doesn't make sense at all. As far as I am aware they only send the letter detailing the duty charges once the item is at your local depot. Wasn't that only on wednesday?! Have you rung the depot or are you relying on the online tracking? P.S. When you type in the usps number into the Parcelforce sight, the Parcelforce reference will show. This is what you need to quote when dealing with Parcelforce.

I have literally just received a '77 Jazz Bass that I bought via ebay from the USA. It took quite a few weeks to get here, yours seems to have been fairly quick by comparison! If this helps at all I paid about £1100 for it and was charged £220 odd in duty. However, I was prepared for this! With the drop in exchange rates you really need to be careful when buying from the states otherwise you could actually end up paying more than you would for the same item in the UK (as someone has already indicated). When buying from abroad I always assume that I'll have to pay at least 22% on top of the purchase price. I have only gotten away with no charges once, and on that occasion the item was sent from Japan. I imagine it might be due to the carrier. If you haven't had the letter detailing the charges, just call or turn up at the depot with the parcel number and you can pay right away. Hope you like the bass!

Yes, I think he's a wonderful player, and people can at least admire his playing even if they don't dig his music.

I think it's quite surprising that there isn't more vitriol aimed at Marcus Miller, given that he plays jazz, and is most well known for his slap style. Or maybe I just missed all the negative stuff on him?!

A few years back I took one of Marcus' Foderas off him (a nice VW Monarch, hello Marcus!), and my journey with this bass has been an interesting one so far. It does have some annoying flaws, the lacquer has cracked in a few places (and continues to do so), and initially the neck needed very regular adjustments to keep it where I like it, although it has settled now. There are a few high spots on the frets too, although I have been working slowly on the setup over the last few years and it is close to where I want it now (I say slowly because it is the mother of all masking jobs to protect the board everytime I fancy a tinker with the fret file!) . To be fair though, the action as I have it is barely over 1mm - 1.5mm at the 24th fret, so a little choking and buzz is hardly worth condemning the instrument for! My bass has a slightly unusual fingerboard wood too, which I think has exacerbated the problem. These things might bother me if I thought I would ever get rid of the bass, but frankly, there is no chance of me ever doing that. I rang Fodera when I first had the bass with a query and spoke to Vinnie himself. He could not have been more courteous or helpful, and he seemed genuinely concerend with my enquiry. One thing I have found is that the bass has required a lot of "playing in", and has only recently started to really show it's pedigree and true tone. It was only about a year old when I got it, I think, so this might have something to do with it. I have gone through periods of really being unsure about whether I liked it or not, but now I have really gotten used to the feel of it, and the instrument seems to have "opened up", I really do love it. The tone and playability, for me at least, are outstanding. So far as the comments about gigging this bass are concerned, this is by far the most versatile bass I have owned, and the easiest to get a consistently great sound out of, both onstage and front-of-house. I would never have invested so much in an instrument without doing my darnedest to get my moneys worth, so it get's played out at every opportunity with my functions band and anything else that crops up. It would be a crime to have this sat at home doing nothing IMO. I do worry about it getting stolen, because I know that I would struggle to replace it, not least because of it's value, and also because I don't know what I would select as an alternative. On a final note I must say that I also like the way it looks; it looks classy without being oestentatious. I don't feel a complete twit when I pull it out of the case and strap it on, like I'm trying to make a statement or something. When I turn up to band practise with with the Fodera the band often comment on how great it sounds, whereas with some of the other high end stuff I've had they've mabye noticed the looks... but not always in a positive way lol!

Looks great! How are you getting on with the Audere, was it worth the dosh in your opinion? I'm waiting for Parcel Farce to deliver mine to me as we speak. I've heard good things about it, especially the pickup blend feature.

There is that guy who manages to play the bass one handed, he is absoultely amazing! The problem you will face is that you'll have to flip the bass over (or buy a lefty bass) and learn to fret the neck with your dominant hand. I wouldn't hold out much hope of being able to use your left hand for plucking if it is giving you as much pain as you say it is - it is often the plucking hand which experiences the most tendon and wrist problems.

[quote name='AM1' post='360457' date='Dec 21 2008, 08:23 PM']F_ck that - doctors are C*nts![/quote] errrr....

I'd lay right off the playing and get it checked out by a doctor asap. Trying to play through it may just exacerbate the problem and make recovery a much more drawn out process. It may be something very minor, but I would urge you to get it looked at - for peace of mind if nothing else. Good luck!

Thinking of you, Sister Sledge.... for an audition I've got coming up. Great bass line.

Apparently Chandlers have recently installed a new and improved plek machine. I haven't tried it but am seriously considering it for one of my basses.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='315185' date='Oct 26 2008, 04:47 PM']Personally i dont think it was rude and i would have had a come back to it, but then i wasnt there. If you go in to a shop with an attitude (and im not saying you did but im sure you had an idea about what people think of that shop) then you probalby will be on your guard and we all know the BC is a very easy target. Walk out by all means and i wasnt really haveing a go at you for doing that, it was more the way everyone chips in with "brick the place" etc. I find threads like this tend to escalate with people who werent there or have never even met these people giving opininons on everything form how they should die to whether his perents were married before he was born. Im all for reading about good and bad shop staff but when it gets personal and i find it then looses the point. I find you above post very childish though. so you expect people to be polite to you but you would go in to a shop with that attitiude. Im guessing you wouldnt really do that but im also guessing you would like to. How about this. Dont go back there. That way you have the satifaction of not maiking them any profit. This is just my opinion. I know im the only one with it so ill bow out of this. Hope you get the bass you wanted at some point, It will help make up the numbers ;-)[/quote] I happen to agree with you, FWIW. If we don't calm down there's gonna be a basschat lynch mob descending on the Bass Cellar soon lol!

I know there has been a lot of bashing of The Bass Cellar on here recently, and it would seem that most of it is rightly so. However, do you think you might have misconstrued a joke? I mean, I think your bass collection is amazingly cool, but if you wonder into a shop and start talking about the huge number of instruments you own, then perhaps it is only realistic to expect that you might expose yourself to the potential of a couple of cheeky comments - especially in a music shop!? Of course I wasn't there, but I have worked in retail. Dude, I can tell you, sometimes it blows. EDIT - just read your above post re the converstation, but still wondering if the guy may just have been joking (perhaps he's not a natural comedian!) lol!

Hmmm, I think I prefer the look of this version to the original one. I think the headstock looks great, I think it nicely balances the whole appearance of the instrument.