squibs

Cheers for the reply, its pretty much as i expected. I had assumed that sanding the bridge was the only way to adjust the action, i guess the upper half will be the most forgiving. I didn't realise that the saddles/wires could be lifted and changed, but i'm afriad that would be too much of a shift in either direction. What i have noticed now is that my E string is touching the edge of the upper half, dampening it slightly, so I'll have to take that edge down. Overall i hear what you're saying. Even though its a Chinese re-issue, it still feels, looks and sounds great. So i'll not get too wound up about a little intonation. Cheers

I bought a brand new Hofner verythin bass a few weeks ago. Overall i love it (maybe i should do a proper review) but i'm not inpressed with the bridge. Its only adjustable up and down, and in fact its currently all the way down but the action is still too high its annoying but I can cope with that i guess. The real problem is that its not adjustable in terms of the intonation. The sadles are fixed so the only way of adjusting it is to move the whole bridge backwards or forwards. Does anyone know of a floating bass bridge that is adjustable? James Manchester

Cheers, The A, D & G strings, all produce nice tone and sustain, so I'm only expecting the same with the E. I'll contact rotosound and see what they say. James

Hi I just put a new set of flatwounds (my first) on my Squier Bronco. They are Rotosound Short scale 40 - 90. I love the feel and they sound great compared to the previous roundwounds. But the E sting is totally lifeless, even at the right pitch, although its hard to tune because its so dead. At the 12th fret there is less sustain than a fart in the wind. I though it might be the intonation, and I was thinking of upgrading the bridge anyway, but even now with a new full adjustable bridge. The old roundwound E string was fine. I can see that at the top of the E, where the string becomes just the core and a single wire going around it, that little wire has snapped, but its well passed the nut and where the nylon cover starts Any suggestions? James Sheffield

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1362152535' post='1996524'] [i]I bought a '77 Fender Musicmaster the other day[/i] [/quote] That was probably one I've been drooling over, lucky bugger. I'm super skint at the moment and been constantly thinking; should I get a Bronco, or save up for a Mustang or Musicmaster. Well, I've had this Bronco for a few days and I like it. I've swapped the pup for another guitar one (from a Jaguar I had spare) and it sounds fine. This thread has been about me wondering if I should get 'proper' bass pickups. But now I don't think I'll bother. I had my first band practice with it tonight, it sounds great, and a reminder that its so much about the amp settings too. At least when you use a rehearsal studio and end up in a different room/gear each time.

I like the above explanation. As with many things bass/guitar related, it leads me to question two things: 1) how much do I notice the difference, 2) how much do I care if I don't notice the difference.

[i][quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1362145316' post='1996396'] There are some fixes for these issues, but they're not used in the original Fender pickups. Stuff like adjustable polepieces, curved blades for polepieces and so on.. [/quote][/i] Yeah, 'vintage' strat pickups have polepieces staggered in height to match the string height. [i][quote name='Dr M' timestamp='1362144264' post='1996365'] To expand a little on this, if you look at the width of the string as it's vibrating (the excursion, I believe?) above a standard fender P or J bass pickup, it should be nicely spanning some portion of the gap between the two pole-pieces. I presume the original intention of the design was to give a nice, balanced magnetic field across the full width of a vibrating bass string. Now if you try and line 4 strings up with 6 pole pieces, the distance between the string and the pole piece is going to be inconsistent. The top and bottom strings might be almost directly over a pole piece, while the others are likely to be sitting between two of them. This might result in an inconsistent output between strings, where some are sitting in the strongest point of the magnetic field, while others are sitting in the weakest point between 2 poles. [/quote][/i] Makes sense, I guess it all depends upon your need for precision and equalibrium. (might have spelt that wrong) Cheers James

I've just got a Squire Bronco. I guess most people know it (and the Musicmaster) uses a guitar pickup with six poles. The Bronco pickup is not that great of course, but thats not my point. People say that a six pole pickup doesn't line up properly with four strings; and so isn't as good. But I'm thinking 'niether does a regular Fender bass pickup', they usually have eight poles, two siting either side of each string; not in line at all. So what's that all about then? Tell me how it works. james

Hi, I'm new here and I'm a new bassist, almost. I'd be interested in your opinions on short scales and 'genre specifc' basses. I've rhythm guitariist of many years, my last band did groove-based stuff in ska, reggae and afro-pop styles. Now I want to be a bassist. Last night I jammed with a new band, strictly reggae, they might recruit me, maybe not. But I'm also trying to start a swing/jump-blues band. Two totally different styles. So does it matter what kind of bass I get? (First, you could argue that a swing band should have a double bass; true. But I'm not ready for that.) My financial position is a crule joke; I'm signing on and in debt. But I need to be in a band, therefore I need a bass. Just to feel alive. I do know that I prefer short scale basses. I used to have an increadible Fender Jag, one of the first ones from 2008/9. But I had to sell it last year in order to eat. Anyway I struggled with the whole size of it. I do love the look of the Bronco/Mustang/Musicmaster, and there are a few on Ebay. and I'm happy with Squier. The single coil sound would fit with the reggae or any other 'modern' stuff. On the other hand; for playing retro stuff, maybe compensating for the lack of a double bass, would it be good to have a hollow body bass? Like a violin or club style from Hofner. Of course, way out of my price range but there are cheaper copies. What do you think the difference of humbuckers and a hollow body make for a sound? On the other hand again, the point of a swing band is to make people dance, and so a 'punchier' single coil sound might be better? Or, am I talkin' out me arse? James