martthebass

Small club on the outskirts of Rotherham on Friday. Certainly needed to blow a few cobwebs away. It was a little quieter than previous expeditions to this place, it looks is if the ‘plus 50s’ are still to return en masse. A great little gig though and will lead us nicely into the weekly gigs we have until the end of August.

That's my mate Rob Campbell up there, Scottish but an adopted Rotherham (well Kimmy) lad. Sounds and has the image but he is about a foot shorter, great tribute act.

Like Dave @dmccombe7 I'm in a 70s Glam Rock act and aim to have both elements of the look but more importantly the sound. For some band/genre specific tributes the audience has an expectation of the look/act and that part is important in order to be successful in the niche. I've seen some truly awful 70s Glam acts sound wise where the audience has raved about the performance because they look the part and put on some sort of a show. I know in our case that if we don't think we are doing justice to a particular song we ditch it before it gets in front of an audience.

No, bought it with the standard ‘oil-wax’ neck but I’ve never been keen on that finish (grew up on a 1990 Ray with a gloss neck) so I had it refinished with a vintage tint. As it’s a maple board this meant the frets had to come out so I had stainless replacements.

For info Dave, this is the one that escaped my cull. It’s been modded with a Jon Shuker neck gloss makeover and stainless frets. Plays very nice and not stupidly heavy.

Your mates bass was most likely a US EBMM Sterling. Smaller body than the Ray; the single H is equipped with ceramic pup rather than alnico and can be switched single, parallel or series. The neck is jazz width and the headstock is shorter than a Ray. I still have mine after my recent culling and prefer them to Rays - love the neck and aggressive tone in series. Sterling by Musicman are non US produced Ray clones, good quality, think MIM Fender or better. Sterling SUB are lower ended Far East produced Ray clones.

To be honest I don’t mind either way. I loved the dark unmarked ebony board on my now departed Stingray but it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker if it had had dots. I do like easy to see dots on a darkened stage though, I’ve got Leds on my Status purely for those venues where I know I’ve had trouble in the past.

Loved the early New Order stuff.

Strangely enough I’ve never got on with P basses in a live setting, I always tended to lose it in the mix. I find the Mustang cuts through a little better for me with my set up.

There’s about a finger space of wiggle room on the body so it’s not a flush fit but it doesn’t slap about inside the case either.

It’s snug length wise but it doesn’t need to be forced in. I’ve had one my Mustangs stored in one for months without issue.

There's a few threads running at the minute regarding the JMJ and the Squier CV which should give you some idea of the differences. I've got a JMJ and an Indonesian Mikey Way Sig - so different ends of the spend spectrum. There are differences, pup, neck profile, body wood etc, so it's worth checking the differences before you buy. I use both of mine and like them both for different reasons, the JMJ is the better bass but the MWS is used on most gigs because of the looks. If you want the standard pickup config, the CV looks a good bang for the buck, in fact if I could sneak one in under the wife's nose I'd have one. The MIM Vintera model might be an option for you, as roughly a JMJ but without the JMJ pup and relicing. In terms of MIJ look to the used market, I've had one and it was very nice but not as nice as the JMJ IMHO.

Welcome Steve, push on with it mate. If you find the shapes a bit trying due to your arthritis have a think about a shortscale 30" bass like a Mustang. I play both 34" and 30" but I'll admit that the 30" is getting more fun as my hands get older.

Important question this, wish I had a good answer. I have a couple of shortscale Mustangs. I have one strung with D'addario rounds, these are fairly low tension on the Mustang and it seems to suit finger style better. On my JMJ Mustang it has the stock fender flats and the tension is higher so you dig in better if using a pick.

Oooh, I like the look of that, might do it to my JMJ.