Misdee

To my sensibilities, Joe Dart is one of the very best bass players of recent years. There are lots of virtuoso players about nowadays, but Joe Dart stands apart as someone with real soul in his playing. He has got a great taste and imagination and I love his style. I just hope anyone who buys one of these basses realises that you won't get Joe Dart and Jack Stratton's undeniable charm and wit along with it. It'll just be yourself and a Jazz Bass with no finish on and no tone control. That was the point I was trying to make, however badly. Or put another way, why not just buy a Jazz Bass? That's probably what Joe would do. In fact, that's almost certainly what he did.

No worries my friend. Be good to yourself and get 🙂well soon.

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I think you need to reread my post, my friend. That is the whole point of what I wrote. Joe Dart couldn't care less about gear. That's why I said he is irreverent ( i.e showing lack of respect for something that is generally taken seriously) about equipment. I know exactly who Jack Stratton is and what he does. He is a great talent. As is Joe Dart. On the novelty issue, the general public may not care less, but that is irrelevant. The general public will not be buying it, bass players will. If they didn't want people to buy them they wouldn't make them available for sale and then publicize that fact. And I'm not complaining this product exists, just pointing out what it actually is.

I've never tried Elixir strings, so couldn't really comment about the tension. Elites Players are very bright for nickel strings and stay pretty bright for a good while in my experience. The Ultramag Rotos are a different proposition to the RS66 of yesteryear. I too used Swing Bass back in the 1980s and they sounded great but went dull too quickly, from what I remember. No such problem with the UltraMag in my experience. FWIW, the strings I keep going back to are Dunlop Nickel, the ones in the black pack, not the Ultra Brights. They are fine for rock music ( Billy Gould from Faith No More uses them) or any other styles you care to mention and they are pretty reasonably priced. I too dislike high tension strings and they feel just right to me. The sound is very well balanced all round and they still sound good when they die off a bit . If you like a more elastic feel then the Dunlop Ultra rBrghts might be a good choice because they are notably more pliable than most other strings of an equivalent gauge.

Every day I am bombarded by constant chatter in the media about the cost of living crisis and the rising prices of utilities and food, but there seems to be no mention whatsoever about the rising cost of basses. Since well before Putin invaded the Ukraine we have been asked to pay increasingly unrealistic prices for new basses and no one seems to care. Where was Rishi Sunak and Money Saving Expert when EBMM put their prices up? I am currently without a Stingray and now I need two ( one for rounds, one for flats). No mention of that in the Budget, no token £150 cash rebate. No wonder people are having to use food banks if it's three grand for a Stingray Special nowadays. No doubt I will be joining them soon. I haven't bought a bass lately because I look at likely candidates and assess whether they are worth the asking price, and mostly the answer is no. I've already got enough basses to keep me entertained, but even this approach is folly, because I know that when the price has risen even more I will wish I had bought them after all. I suppose the overall lesson in all this is that if you are looking for happiness in material things, you will never find it, only dissatisfaction and the need for more things. But I will still end up buying more things.

I've heard NYXLs on a few YT demos and they really do seem to stand out as having an exceptionally good sound. They seem to incredibly punchy and present. The only thing that has held me back from trying a set is that I read some folks on Talkbass complaining that NYXLs had worn their frets more than usual. I would be interested to hear if anyone on Basschat who has used them for a while has any comments on this potential pitfall. I have used a fair few sets of XLs myself over the years and they are excellent strings, but if the O.P is looking for an alternative, have you considered either Elites Players or Rotosound Ultramag? Both are nickel strings with a very up-front sound that should stand up well in the mix. Also, they are a reasonable price and widely available so might be worth a punt.

So essentially I am being encouraged to pay close to three grand for a half-finished Jazz Bass made by EBMM? It's a gear endorsement by someone who is irreverent about gear and the fetishisation of equipment in general. Buying one of these basses only really makes sense if you get Joe Dart and his mates along with it to keep you entertained, because the novelty of the bass will wear off fairly quickly, I expect. The only thing this bass offers me that I haven't got already is satire.

Just don't be surprised if you get angry demonstrations outside your next gig accusing you of cultural appropriation and racial stereotyping.

Oh, how I remember some of these records! Just another reminder to me of what the reality of life was really like for most people in the 1970s. A lot of people found these records genuinely hilarious at the time, but just remember what we were watching on television ect. It was a much less sophisticated time with much less choice than we have subsequently become accustomed to. Nowadays we see Radio 1 in the 70s for the for the sinister grooming ring that it was, but in those days they reigned supreme in dictating public taste. There was just as much crap music back then as any time before or since. We only remember the good stuff, that's for sure. To put these records in context you would have to spend an evening watching '70s television. That would be a sobering prospect. Of course it wasn't all bad, but it was mainly bad.

Rather than invest a lot of money and energy into trying to customize this bass chasing an undefined tone chances are you will never achieve out of this instrument, you may be better off selling it and buying another bass you do like the sound of. I don't know much about Hoyer basses ( looks like a good quality bass) but I'm sure this one will be of great interest to someone. I would hesitate to start chopping and changing this bass in search of making it sound like a Jaydee. You are are making the assumption that what you don't like about this bass is down to the pickups and or preamp. That is not necessarily the case. Why not see what you could sell it for and buy a used Jaydee or something similar that you do like the sound of?

Not really as dense and dark as Curve, to my ears anyway, and not really my cup of tea. I expect Alex Lifeson is just happy to be occupied by making music, and good luck to him. I suppose the crowd-pleasing thing to do would be to make an album of intensely guitar-orientated music that sounds like how he played in Rush's heyday. That is just about the only thing he could do that would be universally well-received. If I was a record company executive I would ask him to listen to one of Peter Frampton's recent solo albums and think about doing something along the same lines. It would certainly garner worldwide interest.

A bass has a split P pickup in the P position isn't necessarily a Precision Bass, but chances are it will sound fairly Precision-like. The peculiar thing about P Basses is that nowadays there are all kinds of exotic custom-made versions modelled after the original Fender designs to a greater or lesser degree. But, paradoxically, the fashionably retro sounds a lot of players are trying to emulate are probably better served by more lo-fi examples. You can buy a P Bass from Argos or from Fodera. I would venture that if I was playing a session for someone who wants a typical traditional Precision Bass tone then the cheap bass would probably sound more authentic. It's the inconsistencies and shortcomings that give P Basses their undeniable charm.

This kind of thing is why Brexit has to mean Brexit...

Thanks 👍. What I was told by Fender is that for folks who wanted something along the lines of what the AVRI was, it could obviate the need to pay more for a CS bass. They deliberately made the American Original series that followed more generic and less period-correct.

I don't have it to hand, but it's identical to this one : I have it on good authority that Fender discontinued this range of basses because they were talking business away from the custom shop. The metal covers were punched out on the same machine Fender used back in the day for the originals, and the fingerboard is the same round laminated one that Fender used back in those days.If you can get on with the neck profile they are a lovely bass.( Why Fender made them so chunky I have no idea! Some Jazz necks were a bit chunkier in that era, but I have never encountered one quite as big as these)

My favourite in-your-face P Bass pickup is the Lakland NeoPunch. I also have a bass with the EMG Geezer Butler pickup in it and that sounds great too. However, the DiMarzio is a pretty rowdy sounding choice, and an old favourite of mine. If you want genuine 1970s punch that would be the one to go for in my opinion. Edit: just realized you already got the Bruce Thomas pickup. Funnily enough I was just watching a YT clip featuring that bass and thinking how good it sounds! Hope it works out well for you.

Why not try a fretless Jazz Bass of some description?

I've got a 74 AVRI Jazz Bass and it's a great bass, I really enjoy it whenever I play it. Mine has got a rosewood fingerboard and I put TI flats on it. I use it primarily as my reggae/ vintage tones kind of a bass and it nails the vibe perfectly. However, something to be aware of is that they have a very chunky front-to-back neck profile for a Jazz Bass. That and the fact that they are slightly narrower at the nut than a typical Jazz Bass. I find mine very comfortable to play nevertheless, and I can play just as fast as on any other bass, and I say that as someone who can't get on with big chunky P Bass neck profiles. The neck is laquered, which I personally like but lots of folks seem to take exception to nowadays. Feels good to me, anyway. The 74 Jazz pickups that Fender came up with for that bass are really, really good. I would never change them. As with most Jazz Basses, you have to hunt a bit to find a lightweight example, but I bided my time and found one well under 9 pounds. Definitely a keeper.

Back in the 1970s Chris Squire was such a high profile bass player. Just like in the early 1990s there was an epidemic of Flea- wannabes, both amature and professional, so in the 70s there were pound shop Chris Squire imitators everywhere you looked. I can still remember the plethora of Rickenbacker copies, most of which were finished in a not-very- prog pinky Fireglo, to the chagrin of many a would-be Squire. String it up with Rotos, plug it into the Bright input of your Carlsboro amp and you had the perfect formula for an ear-grating cacophony that was your own personalized version of the Chris Squire sound.

That is a pretty lousy album, from what I remember. One of my friends bought it when I was a kid. I can still remember his triple album gatefold sleeve levels of disappointment. Yesshows was much better and CS is way up in the mix.

To me, JE is an iconic figure. He played with such aggression and assertiveness. It was an artistic statement, albeit a very, very loud one. And all that equipment. Way too much equipment. Most poignantly, I think back to the first set of strings I ever bought as a lad, Rotosound Swing Bass with John Entwistle pictured on the back of the packet. I feel quite emotional! To me, JE is one of those players who is kind of beyond criticism; he did what he did in a unique way and people could take it or leave it, and I don't think he could care less. Such was his self-belief.

Great project, by the way. I like your taste. 🙂.

Very much roundwounds. Lee uses GHS Super Steels, the 40/58/80/102 set. They are great-sounding strings, very bright.