ossyrocks

Pete bought a gig bag off me this week. Paid promptly, good comms, a pleasure sir! Deal with confidence. Cheers, Rob

Well, they're on the bass now ('73 Precision). They are going to take some getting used to after playing flats for a long time! Also had to have the neck off and tweak the truss rod, as well as action and intonation. I've stuck a bit of foam under the strings by the bridge to lessen the difference until I get used to them. I got a message last night asking if I was free to be house bass at a funk jam tonight, so I'm thinking of taking this bass. Nothing like being dropped in at the deep end! This is potentially 2 hours of playing, so that should give me some idea. Rob

I have LaBella Low Tension Flats on my jazz basses. They sound great.

I was talking to Jon about having my '73 Jazz refretted, I just need to get it to him, and I haven't passed that way in some time!. Someone else on here (maybe it was you) had an early 70's Jazz bass refretted by him and the work looked spectacular. Rob

I've not heard of anyone doing this before! One of the reasons I like the Labellas is for how smooth they feel. I've had a few sets of Thomastiks too, which have a wider gap and feel less smooth, but I don't like the sound of them as much. The LaBellas are just DEEP. I'm going to fit the rounds to the mellowest of my P basses, it really is a very mellow sounding bass, so I'm hoping they will still work for me. We'll see very soon! Rob

Hmm. Did G4M buy out all the PMT stock? I bought a used RM-500 Evo (first gen) from PMT, which arrived similarly poorly packaged and not working. I returned it for a refund. I wonder if this is the exact same one they are attempting to sell again? Rob

That's just it, I love the sound of LaBella flats, and most of the time I love playing them. It's just occasionally they get sticky the experience gets difficult. Rounds just may not work for me tonally, I'll just have to see.

I'm using D'Addario XLR8 for lube....ooo err, but sometimes it's just not enough. I have three early 70's P basses, so I figured it's no big deal to string one of them up with rounds. Given that you seem to prefer flats, how do you deal with the rounds?

I've been a die hard flats kind of chap, and currently my Fender Precision basses are strung with LaBella Low Tension Flats. 80% of the time I love them, but on sweaty summer festival stages, and hot pub/club gigs, they can really get sticky and grabby, and feel the opposite of smooth and glidey. Also, on some of those gigs, the amps provided are a bit hit and miss, and at our latest gig this weekend, I was far from impressed by an Ampeg SVT-3, which in the hurried set up I just couldn't dial in to my satisfaction despite starting from a flat EQ. The resulting tone was "wooly" at best, and bear in mind, I do like an old school tone!. Think Sean Hurley and Pino with John Mayer and that's my target. So, I've decided to carry a bass strung with rounds. I may even use that bass over the others at first to give them a fair go, and see what I think. For the more nerdy among us, the strings I've ordered are LaBella RX-N4D 45-65-85-105 I would like to know if you play both, and in what situations you choose one over the other. Anyway, thanks for listening. Rob,

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That's a shame. Mike has been ok to deal with for me. I've met him a couple of times, and when I bought my first vintage Precision from him, he knocked a good chunk off the price without much haggling at all. I still have that bass, and still really like it. Rob

https://www.markbass.it/artist/keira-kenworthy/

Just the thought of that is weird. We're all in our 60's and I'm pretty sure she's younger than my children. Urrgh.

Really clean ones do carry a bit of a premium, so I would say for a private sale £4250 - £4750. Dealers will want quite a bit more. "These are just my thoughts and should not be relied upon when making serious financial investments" 🤣 Rob

My band played The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival yesterday. We travelled down in a van together, with all our gear in the back. The gig went well, great crowd, but changeovers were tight. We had 30 minutes to get the band before us off, and for us to set up and start. After the gig, I had the least to do, just put my basses away and rush to help out on merch. Anyway, stuff got piled up in the corridor at the back of the venue ready to be loaded into the van. It seems Keira had arrived to play with the band on after us, and put her stuff down in the same corridor. Our rather enthusiastic singer/harmonica player had been diligently carrying gear out to the van, including hers, and some of it was already inside when Keira came out looking rather panicked and then annoyed. There was a Mono bag with her bass, a pedaltrain board (already in the van) and a Markbass TTE amp in a bag. Thankfully, we didn't drive off with it all ! Rob

Yes, the '78 I had was a B width, but the neck was significantly bigger in the hand than my early 70's P basses, it felt too big for me in the end, despite the bass being super lightweight, and sounding great, I did let it go.

I "think" that the A width neck on a precision was an option right through the years, but as a special order, and are therefore rare. The B width neck became standard on P basses in '68, but A could be ordered, and I assume therefore a C width too, although I've never seen a C width neck from after '68. I too like an A neck, but my early 70's B width necks are just lovely, it's not just the width, it's the profile too. Mine are around the 41mm mark at the nut. Rob

I agree Tony. Mike is good to deal with too, he knocked a surprising chunk off the price of the last one I bought from him. Even more hmm......!

I really like the vibe of this '66 Precision that Mike Long has at the moment. It's tempting me to try a C neck again. It's all there, all original, even the case, and the weight is great. I have a guitar here which he would probably straight trade for........ hmm. https://www.atbguitars.com/1966-fender-precision-bass Rob

Lots of people here recommending masking off the board. Yes, I would do that, but only if the board is lacquered maple. If it's rosewood, then fine wire wool works well for cleaning up the board too. Sometimes there's a lot of gunk accumulation either side of the fret and the wire wool helps to remove it. For really bad gunk build up, then a new stanley blade, scraped very gently from the side of the fret, in the direction of the grain can help. Once done, a bit of lemon oil will feed the rosewood and make it less dry. Rob

I got a message on Thursday asking if I could cover a gig tonight. I was away in the Western Lake District and only got home last night. First time playing with these people, and hadn't met two of them before today. All I had was message with a set list and keys, plus a bit of back and forth on whatsapp about which versions etc. The gig went down really well, nice place, nice people, and lots of positive feedback. Bluesy covers, but very few 12 bars, even a Christina Aguilera tune, which I never thought I'd be doing at the age of 60! Two singers, male and female, guitar, cajon, and me on bass Travelled light, BF One10, GK Legacy 800, '73 P bass. One trip load in. Oh, and I got paid in cash! Rob

Welcome to the club !

Andy, I had a '73 Jazz bridge pickup rewound by Ash at Oil City Pickups. He has a spool of the exact vintage wire and recreated the pickup as it was originally manufactured, right down to the nitro lacquer afterwards. He turned it round in less than a week and it cost very little to do. Just sayin.... Rob

And I'm usually the spelling and grammar pedant too! I hang my head in shame, I will correct my spelling. Rob