sirmuppet

I'm still waiting to hear what model it is. So far zip. Doesn't look promising. 

1 hour ago, BreadBin said:

Sounds just like mine, except for the stripped neck. There's a website where you can ID them from the logo - http://www.musicmanbass.global/headstock-logos-part-2/

That's some awesome info on there. I can tell from that the bass was made from at least 2004 due to the dots not being in the SUB. Thanks.

From what I can see it looks to be in decent condition. The headstock still has the front painted but it a little chipped at the edges. Apart from that it looks great from the photos. It's got 3 controls on it so I'll email asking if it's the passive or 2 band version. In Gunmetal and comes with what looks like a very nice hardcase too. 

1 minute ago, mouthmw said:

No, they all came with the painted black neck. It was a cost saving thing, and they were still losing money on them. A lot of people stripped the finish though, so that's what you're seeing there. Somebody stripped it and refinished it, or just stripped the paint and left the sealer coat on. Either way, ask the seller about details.

Thanks. I thought as much. The seller was saying they bought it like this and didn't know. Wasn't sure if there was a later run that came like that. Do you reckon 300 is fair considering this has been done?

Have the option to buy one of these. I owned one a while ago and loved it. It's the USA model that had the metal pickguard, no body contours and the plastic type finish. I've searched but I can't find an answer to the following. I remember these basses having a painted headstock and neck. This one appears to have a painted headstock but natural finish on the neck. It still has the logo sticker with the serial number at the top. Did the USA ones ever come with an unpainted neck? I looked and all the photos I dig up online appear to have it painted. 

Do you still have this?

3 hours ago, ikay said:

Everyone's 'normal' is different when it comes to setup lol! Here are the measurements for my '72 and a few pics by way of comparison.

    Action at 17th fret: G - 2.2 mm, D - 2.0 mm, A - 2.0 mm, E - 2.6mm (I measure using a 64th inch ruler, these are mm conversions)

Distance of strings from pickup poles (with strings depressed at last fret:

    Neck pickup: G - 3.0mm, D - 4.8mm, A - 4.8mm, E - 3.6mm

    Bridge pickup: G - 3.2mm, D - 4.8mm, A - 4.8mm, E - 3.6mm

Pickups are an old set of Fender Custom Shop 60's 

This is awesome. Thanks

Mine measures as follows: E: 3mm, A: 2.25mm, D: 2mm, G:2mm

Neck pickup: E: 3mm, A: 4.8mm, 😧 5mm, G - 3mm 

Bridge pickup: E: 2.25mm, A: 3.25mm, 😧 2.75mm, G - 1.75mm 

My bridge pickup has a weaker output the the neck so it's closer.

Pics attached

9 minutes ago, ikay said:

Magnetic field intensity is inversely proportional to the square of distance from the source (ie. it decreases exponentially ). The D and A strings  are around 2mm further from the poles on a 7.25" radius neck and that's enough to make a measurable difference in the output of those strings. There are other factors involved though, such as the strength of the magnets, the distance they are from the strings (the greater the distance, the less pronounced the differential effect), the gauge of the strings etc. How much of an issue it is will vary from bass to bass. On some it's hardly noticeable, on others more so. I can detect it on my '72, but it's easy enough to play round once you know it's there.

This ^^^

I've got it kinda setup so it's less noticeable. Is 3.5mm at the 17th on the E with 2.3mm on the A & D high or is it acceptable? I mean I can play it and I don't have an issue but just curious if this is in the realms of normality. Pickup dips a little towards the E.

I should add I've tried a Fender Hi mass bridge, Hipshot Kickass and it currently has a USA vintage reissue one on. I've ordered some Rotosounds just in case it's the brand of string but I doubt it, Ernie Balls are fine on all my other basses. Another trick I tried was to get my effects pedal out and set it to the bypass tuner setting when setting my bass up, just so I could check the volume differences. 

7 hours ago, Muppet said:

This volume difference - it's seriously noticeable is it? How are you measuring it? Is your amp EQ flat?   I have a number of Jazzes and using Fender's specs I've never had an issue. You've set, relief, action and intonation first, then pickup height last, all according to Fender specs?  The usual way to compensate for volume issues is to adjust pickup height.   The specs are merely a starting point from which to work from. Adjust to suit.

I've never heard of using additional magnets  - sounds a bit of a crazy idea to me.  The first thing I would do after flattening my EQ and setting to Fender specs is to use a new/different set of strings.  

 

Yeah. It's really noticeable. Have tried new strings (these ones have been on just about a week now). Followed the Fender setup guide to the T in order. The EQ on my amp is normally flat. In fact the one at rehearsal as an EQ you can bypass which I normally do. I would normally agree about pickup height but how do you compensate when it's the two outer strings that are the loudest? I've even tried putting the pickup way down and raising it bit by bit, just in case there is a sweet spot there somewhere. Are your Jazzes vintage radius or modern?

2 hours ago, ikay said:

I get the benefit of raised pole pieces, just not sure that a plain washer will have the same effect. Surely any magnetic flux transmitted through the washer would be much weaker than the pole magnet itself? I've heard of small neo magnets being used to boost pickups (sometimes placed on the bottom of the pickup). Could also be placed on top of the pole but the neo mags might then overpower the G and E. They might also have noticeably different tonal characteristics to alnico.

This was what I was thinking. I have these magnets and could try. The washer I'd be concerned about as it's not magnetic and I'd want to know if that would be an issue. As for the Neo's, I could easily try that but I never thought about it changing the sound being a different type of magnet. I'll give it a try at next rehearsal and let you know (Bass amp is in for repair). 

10 hours ago, mybass said:

Some pickup manufactures made magnets with different height/cambered pole pieces to overcome it. DiMarzio have pups with adjustable height pole pieces and I think some of the later Fender ones have raised centre pole pieces, (maybe Lace as well).

Yeah. I've tired the Dimarzios but with the magnet bar on the bottom they're too tall. Shim in the neck works but then the trench guide on the high mass saddle is pointless. Plus the Dimarzios didn't have that Jazz sound. I couldn't see any off the shelf Jazz pickups that Fender sell that had this though I do know they had them on the American Jazzes at some point. They did have a pickup with adjustable poles but the only time I've seen it is in the bridge position of the American Jaguar.

6 hours ago, whamni said:

A small washer the same size as the magnet pole placed on the D & A poles

Interesting. Does the washer not need to be magnetised also? I think I have some Neo magnets around the same width as the poles, would these work?

8 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

If you give a damn, Pete has just posted a new song.  Just need a Chelsea win today and I'll afford myself a glass of wine this evening.

http://petevuckovic.com/tracks?fbclid=IwAR3JO-f1wVl6cb9eRWWfszH9wHE_x_w9fZzzSUVGERwl293z8OPPRvGh1WI

Saw that earlier. Hopefully more to come!

So I've Googled this to death and it's driving me nuts. I have a 62 reissue Japan Jazz Bass with a vintage style bridge. It has a 7.25 radius and flat Jazz Bass pickups. So naturally the A & D are further away from the pickups than the E & G so the E & G produce more volume. Using Fenders guide I have it set with .35mm relief on the neck (cappo'd at the first fret and held down at the last with being measured under the 8th fret), 2.4mm height on the bass side at the 17th fret and 2 at the treble side. Having it arc the same as the fret board there's 2mm more distance between the A & D than the E & G. So no wonder it's louder. 

Like I said I've googled it and tried to find a way to fix this. The only one I can get to work is lowering the middle two strings as low as I can without any issues and then raising the outer two until the volume normalises. I did this by ear and when I found the volume was about right I measured it and there was only about 5mm of a difference in height between the inner and outer strings. 

So who of you have a 7.25 Jazz bass with flat pickups without this issue? What setup do you have Relief (cappo'd like above), string height at the 17th fret, pickup height (Held down at the last fret), anything else?

FYI my action is a tad over 4mm on both the E & G and around 2ish in the A & D when I get the volume balanced. I have tried other pickups (SJB3's which were too bright, Dimarzio Model J's were too tall and I'd need to shim the neck a lot), currently has Fender 74's in it. 

I'm looking for any help as I haven't found anything in my searches really. I love this bass and just hope there's a fix that's easy that I'm just not seeing.

Thanks for any help. 

19 hours ago, fingers211 said:

Only just seen this thread but I shall ask our drummer friday as he toured with Pete and his brother in the early days.

He may know somethin' or nowt !!

 

Would be interesting. Pete is the reason I play the bass. His basslines and tone were something I really loved. 

So http://petevuckovic.com/ has been updated. Not music but there's content now on what he's been doing. 

On 19/07/2019 at 20:44, NancyJohnson said:

Ben Harding contributes to the 3CR Fanbase Facebook page regularly.  Lest we forget, he was also in Senseless Things.

Dude, do you have a link to that? I'd love to check it out. 

On 18/07/2019 at 14:00, Monkey Steve said:

as an aside, Mr McCormack is the organiser of Camden Rocks.  I wasn't aware of this until a mate of mine who was working as crew this year pointed it out...I then went drinking with the mate as his shift had finished and I'm a bit vague on whether I actually saw McCormack playing the Underworld with The Professionals

He also played guitar for Gary Newman for a number of years too 

Not sure what happened to Paul Grant, he was playing with Pete but since that never went much further I dunno. Ben Harding was working in public relations. 

On 13/07/2019 at 15:28, bazzbass said:

well, let it warm up first, so be it

True, but it shouldn't be doing this. I also do let it warm up. For over a minute in stand by like the manual says. 

Still happening even after replacing the speaker and power cables. 

So I play for about 5 mins or so, maybe not even that and then the below happens. When I restart it the amp is fine and will run without issue. Seems to only be when you start it up from cold. 

2 hours ago, geoffbyrne said:

It will disable the bypass switch which sometimes sticks or partially shorts.  Looping with a guitar cable would make things work normally if this was a fault otherwise you're back to where you were.  What was the result of bypassing the pre?  Good luck solving prob.

G.

Ah, ok. So bypassing the preamp would have the same effect really? If that's the case then it still happens. In fact the first time it happened was when I bypassed the preamp and went direct into the FX return. 

1 minute ago, NancyJohnson said:

I hadn't seen the site, so bookmarked! I hope he's back; I feel a real affinity with pretty much everything he's been part of.

Totally man. I was actually only last night I found that site. I did a check on the wayback machine and it's new with this image and certainly looks hopeful that something is coming. I'm currently watching the live video you posted and man it takes me back. This was the second to last tour they did. I remember they came out to do the encore in Glasgow and Chris snapped a string, blamed Pete for it for some reason and they squared up to each other on stage. I honestly thought they were gonna go at it.

I really do hope he's back with something. I'd even love it to be some solo stuff with him playing guitar. He was a great song writer as well as a kickass bass player. I'm so taking my Thunderbird to next practice.

10 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Mighthy Atom uploaded a full set from 2004 about a month ago.  He still hasn't surfaced.  How the hell does someone just disappear?

 

I saw that the company who filmed this had uploaded one track a month ago too. They did it with a split of two different gigs. One of them being this one so perhaps there's another full gig out there somewhere.

Have you seen this that's not long popped up...? http://petevuckovic.com/ Could be that he's about to do something, hopefully. Especially since they just released the above gig. 

I do know he's been living in London with his girlfriend but as far as I know he hasn't done anything beyond the Basskniv3s EP.

On 28/06/2019 at 10:33, geoffbyrne said:

Have you tried looping the FX Out to FX In?  (If it has one?)

G.

 

I haven't tried that but it does have one. I have bypassed the pre-amp by going into the FX return and that was the first time I can remember it doing that. Would doing what you suggest rule anything out?