Kevstein

Hi all, Got myself a squire j bass, black with white scratch plate. Set me back£50 and is in mint condition. Bargain, and sounds great for the money. Fitted a mirror scrateplate and medium gauge nexen rotosound black coated strings. Think for a toy it looks great and like I say sounds really nice. Other bass is a ibanez gsr205 and the guitar is a Mexican fender stray. My other bass is a 1989 charvel in silver. [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/295cmf9.jpg[/IMG] What do u think? Nice basses for the money, let alone for 50quid. Cheers.

Ill give it a miss then. It looks cool, but i assumed it wouldnt be worth it. Asking price is £120. Im not one for buying a guitar for looks but just thought it would be a nice toy to add to the collection. Ill just put it towards the bass i was planning on buying originally. Cheers for the advice mate.

Hi all, I was just wondering what like the make Zenta is? I have seen a bass from the 60s made by Zenta that i thought looked really cool but i have no experience with them whatsoever. Just wondered what you think of this make? Is it a cheap, poor quality make? Anyone got any experience using a 'Zenta'? Cheers in advance.

Even worse than a 4 string? Ive read reviews on sites and they always seem to be positive. Dunno though. I suppose when ive not played any high end basses it might be different for me. But ill certainly keep an eye on it. Ill be restringing it anyways just for piece of mind.

Hi All, Its nothing special but i am picking up a new toy tonight. I use a Charvel 4 string precision bass at the moment. Been playing a lot of Slipknot, Reuben and Korn songs and the charvel makes a good effort but struggles in drop A tuning. Found an Ibanez GSR205 local to me at a reasonable price. She is in perfect nick, looks great and is like new. Getting it for 120 sheets. What is the opinion of you guys on this bass? Ive heard the pups are nothing special, which is fair enough, so i can upgrade these in due course, but as a first 5 string what do you think? Opinions grately appreciated, Kev.

Hi All, I am planning on getting a new bass. I currently have a 1989 Charvel Precision bass which i love and is good, but when playing jazzier stuff it not the best suiting sound. Its really nice sounding when it comes to rock and metal. The bass i was looking at to achieve the jazz sound is the Squier Jaguar Jazz with 2 single coil pickups, and a volume and tone knob per pup. Korean, japanese or USA made. They are advertised with different levels. "Squier Jaguar Jazz bass level 3" etc. What does this mean? I cant find any info on this on the internet whatsoever. Also, would you recommend these? I was planning this for 2 reasons. 1) because i cant afford a genuine Fender at the moment which is why these were made i suppose. 2) because ive seen videos and i think they sound good. Any decent jazz alternatives to look at for the same price? Any help on this would be much appreciated. Kev.

OK, so i have gotten it wrong. I dont have a pic of the actual guitar but here is what it is (its a hohner) but the fittings are all steinberger: http://www.incredibid.co.uk/acatalog/B2AVLARGE.jpg Are they any good? The one im looking at is metallic dark green. What is hohner in relation to steinberger? Is it a fender squier scenario or is it just a range that steinberger do? Wish it was the full bodied one but its still a nice looking guitar. Anyone got an idea of the value? Theres one on ebay for £350 or so, i take it this is overpriced? Any help now that i know the guitar im speaking about, would be great thanks.

Cool. Yeh its a nice looking guitar and as far as i can tell its a Steinberger. It doesnt have "steinberger system" or anything, just steinberger as far as i know. Sorry i dont have any pics myself. But when i get the guitar or the pics ill put some up. Just hope i dont get ripped off cos i want it and will probably just buy it for what he wants. Its not all that much money so shouldnt be overpaying by much if at all. Shame i cant give any pics or quote a model

Hi all, I might be getting a new bass but wondered what people thought beforehand as i dont know much about it. Its a Steinberger. **EDIT: Please see post 6 ** Cheers for any replies. Kev.

Hi all, Just a quick one, to ask if anyone would know where to get cheap basses from? Ive just refurbed my 1980s charvel and i made a rather good job of it i thought, which was surprising. I not have massive plans for a bass. I need a donor bass though of any make, condition etc. Scratches and chips are not important but no gouges. Does anyone know where to look for these? Ive looked on google/gumtree/this site but no luck. I am only looking to spend 20-50quid on it as its just going to be a project. Any help would be great cheers.

I read through all the replies. A lot of great advice it seems. I will keep my normal practice routine and learn some simple songs that go through the notes more to get used to moving around the fret board but i will also do that exercise above and see how i get on. The stretch shouldnt be a problem. I have absolutely massive hands and can stretch playing 1 to 4 with my index / ring finger. But if i play 1-2-3-4 on the E I would normally play the first with my index finger, second fret with my ring finger and then just slide up 3 and 4. Its a really bad habit that has been imbedded in my playing technique and its hard to break/ . Once i am able to do this i should be able to progress quickly hopefully. Thanks for the comments/advice. Really helpful.

Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone could help me. I am trying to get better on bass but wanted to know of any tutorials, techniques or methods that can help me. I am getting faster and faster at playing and can play more difficult songs now than when i started but my problem is using only my index and ring finger on my left hand which limits me a lot. I cant get any sort of independance between my pinky and ring finger. If i use the pinky my ring finger just sits next to it and moves around with it. Which means i can only use one or the other and its always my stronger ring finger that is used. All I do is look at tabs and learn songs. Ive recently got my bro and mate to teach me scales and have been trying to jam more which is helping. What else should i learn to be known as a good bass player? Im told practicing tabs over and over is a poor thing to do as it makes you a jukebox, not a bass player. Basically how to improve your playing or knowledge from beginner to Victor Wooten status lol. Any help or advice is much appreciated. Kev.

Thanks a lot, I much prefer it in silver. The red was nice enough but looked a bit tacky. It looks like it could have just been made like this now and as a bonus it plays better than it ever has.

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1376353073' post='2172813'] Looks good How's the finish? Any little marks? Just realised this has a reverse P pickup, That's cool [/quote] Cheers Myke. The finish is pretty good. There was one bit on the back that didnt get enough paint when i had string hanging it up but thankfully that is underneath the plate on the back. Its a much better finish than i got when it was red. You cant really tell from the photo because i took them on my phones camera in a dark room with a phones flash, i need to get some better pics. But im happy with it. It looks cool, having the silver and black. I noticed that it had reverse P pickup but i didnt know whether it was a good thing or not lol. There wasnt an awful lot of info on them when i googled it, what do you think about them?

New pics added to first post. What do u guys think?

The bass was completely taken apart. All wiring taken off and will be replaced with new wiring when assembled again. Sanded the body down last night and sprayed it. Very happy with the finished product. Waiting for all my new hardware to come and then it can be all put back together. Job for tonight is to rewire everything back up ready for adding hardware when they come. Pics of the body painting process will be added tonight. I sanded it down using 40, 60, 80, 100, 140, 180, 220 grit sand paper to get the best surface for painting on. Cleaned throughly, added 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of colour. Its still hanging and drying at the moment. So will check it for any imperfections tonight and if there are any it will be sanded back down and redone, but by how it looked this morning that wont be necessary. Overall, a happy chappy so far! I have been looking at putting black strings on it but the only decent looking ones are DR black beautys and they are 37quid per pack. Are there any cheaper ones anyone knows of? At this price id rather keep the 18quid ones ive just put on it and put the money towards a better amp/pedal. Cheers, Kev.

Pics added.

Just thought i would post one of these. I wont be doing all that much to my guitar. But its starting to look a bit tired (not surprising as it is older than i am!) Its a 1989 Charvette by Charvel model 400, 4 string bass. I bought it in black back when i was about 12 or 13 (10 or 11 years ago). Being so young, it was just a bit of a toy for me, and i picked it up cheap but never spent any real time trying to learn it until the last month or so. About a year after i bought it, i decided i would paint it red. It looks better in red, but the finish wasnt great. It has Charvel/Jackson pick ups. Only thing i have done so far is fix it. It was making a horrible loud buzzing noise when plugged in and then if you touched the tone knob it went away, so out came the soldering iron (im a mechanical engineer so anything electrical is completely strange to me lol). I noticed when i took the cover off the back, there was a random wire just sticking up vertically in the air. So that was rewired last night and now it works like a dream. Easy fix! I also restrung it with 45-105 gauge ernie balls and have (temporarily) fixed the bridge, as a saddle screw has snapped for the E string and was vibrating off the bridge plate. (I jammed a 5p in between lol). I am currently looking for a replacement. I have sourced and plan to change all fittings down to the screws that hold the back cover on. Its also getting a paint job this weekend which im going to re-do if i dont get it perfect. I want this thing looking like it came out the factory as it is mint apart from the issues above. Once fixed she will yet be ready for a long life in my hands (poor thing). I am going to upload some pics of how she stands at the moment when i get home and some progress/finished pics. It will look like a completely different guitar for what i have planned. Cheers for reading & would like to know what you guys think of her, Kev. **EDIT: Pics Added** Heres pics of how she stands at the moment. Any marks you see are either the light catching it wrong/fingerprints or reflections. Couldnt get a decent pic of the headstock but uploaded one anyways. You can tell from the pics though that shes starting to get tired. But she will look like a different guitar by time im done. Anyways, the pics: UPDATE: Here is the finished product. Painted in silver with black bridge/tuning pegs/vol knobs. [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The bass was completely taken apart. All wiring taken off and rewired correctly.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sanded the body down last night and sprayed it. Very happy with the finished product.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I sanded it down using 40, 60, 80, 100, 140, 180, 220 grit sand paper to get the best surface for painting on. Cleaned throughly, added 2 coats of primer and 3 coats of colour. [/font][/color] Pics: [IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/qyj11f.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2zgxilz.jpg[/IMG] What do you guys think? It plays and sounds better than it ever has now, but also (imo) looks much better and less tacky than bright red. Any thoughts positive or negative are much appreciated. Cheers, Kev.

Yeh ok, i will do. The bass sounds great, except a loose wire thats causing horrible buzzing when i touch or turn the tone knob, so im taking her to bits tonight to re solder her and make sure everything is in order. Then the sanding can begin and the paint/fittings will be bought over the weekend. Good idea to keep the old stuff. Only reason im changing it is for the looks as shes looking tired. And then in future i can always change those for upgraded parts instead of just different colour. Cheers for the advice guys.

Hi all, I was just wondering if someone could help me out. I know i've said de-value in the title of this thread but basically, i am absolutely useless as far as bass knowledge goes. I didnt pay much for the thing so i dont mind about the de-value so much but was just wondering what the script would be for changing the fittings with regards to the sound of it? You'll see in my other posts that I have a Charvette by Charvel model 400 bass from 1989. I have already ruined it by painting it from its original black to red when i was 14 or so. Looks better but as far as de-valuing it, the damage is done id say (not that its very valuable anyways). I had planned to sand her down again and spray it a different colour being extra careful to make a really decent looking job of it. I have been looking at alternative fittings for it and i quite fancied certain body colours with gold knobs, bridge, pegs etc. Or some other colours but with black fittings instead. The bridge im looking at is made by Wilkinson and looks identical to the one thats on it but its gold or black and costs abot 20quid. Am i essentially going to ruin the sound of it by putting this stuff on? This thread is longer than it needed to be. I know... lol. Cheers for the help, Kev.

Thanks for that, Dandelion. Much appreciated, dunno how i couldnt find them as i searched for everything... Taking the screws out to measure isnt going to be easy as they are turning to dust. But at 2.99, like you say, they are worth a punt. Cheers.

Hi all, I have a Charvel Charvette 4 string bass from 1989. I believe it is the model 400. It has some rusty screws on it which isnt surprising as the guitar is older than i am. I was just looking to replace these. The screws im after are the little alan key screws that are used to fix the saddles in place on the bridge. They are all rusty and have begun crumbling. Im going to fully restore the bass so it looks like new. Does anyone know where i can get these from? Is there a spares website? Or will these screws be universal? I tried googling everything but it only comes up with reviews etc for the bass. No spares. Cheers for your help. Kev.

Cheers, Very surprising. It sounds like it might be kind of pointless to 'upgrade' then. And yeh police squad mine has the Charvel pickups too. You say that you sold them in buckets so there must be a reason why and if you think they were better than beginner guitars then thats all i need. I will resolder the wire, get new screws for my bridge (if i can find any), polish the scratches out of the neck and perhaps treat it to a better quality paint job (though it wont make any real difference except make it look cool). I will post pics of her tonight to see what you guys think. BassTractor: Thats not a bad idea either. My brother is good with guitars and my mate is pretty damn clued in. He has a lot of guitars and is always "tinkering". I will ask them to see. It is just too rattley.. Even with its new strings (ernie ball slinkys 45-105 medium gauge). Mind you propping the saddle up with a 5p wont be helping much but the rattle actually comes from the strings.

After a bit of research i have found out that it is a Charvette by Charvel model 400 bass. Made in Japan and theyre supposed to be really good value for money. Think they were $400 new. Apparently the black one is the best one and rarest one (according to reviews so not necessarily true) and mine was black... and then i painted it red quite poorly lol. Looks ace in red but nowhere near the finish and shine of a genuine paint job...

Cheers Leen. Much appreciated, I have been looking at the SR range but not seen many second hand ones and the new ones are just out of my budget. I will give the for sale section a good trawling to see whats there. Hope to get one soon so i can get learning properly. The charvel does the trick but a semi-decent one would be a treat compared to it as it feels all of the 25 years old that it is lol.