Misdee

It was like a dead spot, but every note on the E string was affected. Just one episode in a lifetime odyssey of annoying niggling faults . You can read about them all in my forthcoming book , Zen And The Art Of Bass Guitar Maintenance.

Regarding any perceived shortcomings in the overall design of the original Steinberger bass, I think it's fair to say that Ned got far more right than he did wrong. The innovative thinking involved in creating such a revolutionary design is quite breathtaking when you consider how basses looked and sounded in the late 1970's. It's not really fair to say that the Steinberger L/XL isn't worthwhile because it isn't perfect. NS added to the palette of tones available to bass players , and created a bass that was both beautiful and functional. Let's face it , Leo Fenders designs were not without their idiosyncrasies, but they are still superb instruments that in many ( most) ways have never really been bettered. Depending on who you talk to.

The 1024/2024 have fairly chunky neck profiles, maybe a little less oval than the '80's BB'S, IIRC.

That explains the more gutsy sound of the Streamline, , but the peculiar thing was, the E string on the Empathy sounded a bit off even when the bass was played acoustically, unplugged. The was a distinct lack of fundamental , leaving the string sounding hollow in comparison to the other three strings. It was subtle, but it drove me mad. I always suspected the bridge might have been involved in some way. No one seemed to be able to sort it out , so I gave up and sold it. I have never encountered anything similar on any other Status bass, it has to be said. Such a shame as it was a lovely bass otherwise, with a very generic 80's/ early 90's modern kind of sound. But bear in mind, it was the 1990's, so I couldn't really complain . It's easy to forget nowadays, but there was a time when that was what most bass players were after in terms of their tone. By comparison, more recent full-tilt ( i.e not the Streamline) Status basses I have played and heard sound have a very extended in the top end, and not sound dissimilar to an Alembic in some respects.

I had Status Empathy headed back in the 1990's and it was very different tone-wise to my Streamline. The sweepable mids were great, but from memory it was not as gutsy as the Streamline. Also, to my ears at least, the E string always sounded inconsistent with the other three strings . Very strange considering graphite usually make things so consistent from string to string. Very strange. Still, I remember it as a very playable bass. As 4000 says, Status are still well worth investigating . Every bass builder, no matter how good their work will have some negative comments if you look hard enough, and that includes the original Steinbergers. If I remember correctly, it was around 1989 when Fender acquired Kubicki. I played a few around that time and they were great, regardless of who made them. I seem to remember the Fender Custom Shop were involved in their manufacture. A lot of the tone was in the preamp, but it was a good sounding one. John Taylor played one in Duran Duran post- Live Aid era . David Hood, the Muscle Shoals session ace has one and has used it a lot over the years. They used to do a green one that looked great, as did the white one. Very Miami Vice.

What an interesting thread! Where do I start? The thing to remember about the Steinberger L/XL basses is that they were not really trying to sound warm or mellow like a traditional wooden bass. That's a big part of what was so great about them. Inadvertently, perhaps, Ned Steinberger created a bass with a tone that was ideal for how people were using the bass guitar in popular music at the beginning of the 1980's. The zeitgeist of the time was that more was more, and more was usually better. Bass players wanted to stand out. A Steinberger would give you that . What I still value about the L/XL basses is that they sounded modern and aggressive , whereas a lot ( most) of hifi, hi-tech basses have a tendency to sound way too refined and polite for my taste. A Steinberger sounds just as hefty as a Fender or Rickenbacker or any other old -school bass, if you want it to. The L in particular could sound downright nasty. I've got a Status Streamline 4 string that I bought new about four years ago and it is a great bass. It definitely sounds different to a Steinberger,- a bit warmer , I would say- but it is still the unapologetic sound of an all-graphite bass, and that's what I wanted. The quality of the manufacturing on mine is equal to anything I have ever seen, absolutely flawless. I must admit I don't use it very often, but I am sure I will get round to it. The ergonomics are a bit unusual if you are going to it from a Fender-style bass ect, but with the right strap and a bit of experimentation it is much easier to adjust to than the Steinberger for most folks . I note LFalex v1.1's gripes with interest , but a lot of them like getting pricked by strings( you can still get most regular gauges double ball end) and the custom -ordered series/parallel switching business are not going to affect me or most other players in all likelihood. And I think they sound pretty hefty, maybe not as aggressive and brittle as a Steinberger but not weak or wimpy by any means. Regarding graphite- necked Vigier basses , I remember going to the Bass Centre in the 1980's and early 1990s and playing a few and they were fantastic instruments, lightweight and punchy with a great sound to them. The only reason I didn't walk out of the shop with one was that the Bendetti pickups were very microphonic. You could heat the thump of your fingers tapping on them as you played them through the amp . Also, the nut was cut so the strings were very close to the edge of the fingerboard, a pet peev of mine. And Ped, you might be mildly interested that the beautiful white Passion Bass you have ( or had if you have sold it on ) might well be the one featured for review in Guitarist magazine back in 1985. I had the copy with it in .

I suspect that the reason that no one makes a proper Steinberger XL bass anymore is, yes, they were difficult and expensive to manufacture allied to the fact that that style of bass is very unfashionable nowadays. Nowadays it's all about blokes with beards playing P Basses strung with flats through an all-valve Preamp that is so old- school that it has no controls on it whatsoever and is powered by organic olive oil rather than electricity. Hard as it may be for some younger Basschatters to believe , there was a time long ago when unless you had a Steinberger or similar with an amp that had an 11 band graphic then you might as well have been living in the stone age. It was magnificent. A full-tilt Steinberger would be very expensive with only a very small niche market. Status have a much wider range of graphite models to sustain their business model, not just the Streamline . They also have a long-standing brand- identity associated with graphite basses. A new Steinberger would have to establish itself in an already-crowded marketplace. Not enough folks would actually buy them, most likely.

Regarding the so-called "clinkers", I am not completely convinced that these are actually on the master tape. To my ears, it sounds more like there is some kind of degradation to the rendering of the isolated bass track that makes it sound like things have gone slightly askew in places. It would be very interesting to hear a higher fidelity isolated bass track to see if that was really the case. As helpful as this example is (and it has been a fascinating listen for me), it is pretty muffled and clumpy in places. What is actually going on is a bit murky. I am sure there might be some spontaneity involved somewhere along the line, but maybe not as much as we are supposing.

I remember this track when it was in the charts and vividly recollect being mightily impressed by the bass playing. Neil Murray is a superb player( stating the obvious, I know) with great taste in how he uses his ability. It's wrong, however, to focus on how difficult this bass line is to learn and then play ( and for most ordinary folks, it is pretty difficult) . Its' real achievement is in how difficult it was to conceive of, that is the germane point. Anyone can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but it took Mozart to invent it. Even though Mozart didn't actually write Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but you know what I mean.

I really like the colour of this bass, and I don't normally go for sparkle finishes, or pink for that matter. But I think the gold hardware is too much. It makes it look as if it is trying too hard to be ostentatious. And EBMM don't offer the option to change it, as others have pointed out previously. Such a shame as I am in the market for a Stingray at the moment.

Thank you so much to everybody who has offered advice, because I really had no idea where to start looking ! It transpires that the the piano is a Broadwood from the 1920's, and I am making some enquiries about getting a piano dealer to have a look at it. Cheers everybody!

Does anybody know if there is a U.K website with For Sale ads similar to Basschat but for piano enthusiasts? Does anybody know the best way to about selling a piano by other means? I am asking because , I am very sorry to say, my step-father has just been diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease and we need to get rid of his piano to make space for a conversion downstairs to help accommodate his increasing lack of mobility. It's very sad indeed because he has played piano since he was 5 years old, but he is no longer able to even sit at the piano stool, let alone play anymore. I am reliably informed that the piano is a very good quality upright from around 1900. It has been well looked after and maintained by an excellent piano tuner . I can supply more details if necessary. Any help or advice very gratefully received

I read somewhere that James Finnegan is a school music teacher nowadays. I remember seeing him playing that bass back in those days. Excellent player, and I quite liked Hue And Cry at the time. Saw them opening for Madonna. Where has the time gone?

That last "flaw" looks to me very much like a genuine piece of abalone, rather than a defect of any kind. That pinkish vein is the natural patina of genuine mother of pearl, so a mark of quality not a defect.

Opus - Live Is Life. The lyrics of this stunningly gauche Euro hit from the summer of 1985 still haunt me. Every word is complete and utter nonsense .

I think John Diggins' son makes them now. I seem to remember that at some point in more recent times( i.e after their 1980's heyday) that they changed the laminations in the neck from walnut with maple stingers to maple with walnut stringers, with the aim of making the neck a bit stiffer and more stable. They also introduced a new truss rod system some time in the 1990s with the same aim. Maybe a Jaydee buff could shed some light on my dim recollections. I personally would be inclined to get a new one , especially in light of the very reasonable asking prices, but that is not to say that there aren't plenty of great old ones.

Sold Warren a Lakland case. Superb buyer and all-round good guy. An absolute pleasure to deal with.

I have a Musicman Reflex HH which has a humbucker in the Stingray position that can be switched to passive (and which also features a passive tone control when used in that mode). From memory, I don't really notice that much difference in tone between the two with the EQ set flat. I certainly wouldn't rush to modify the stock electronics on a regular Stingray myself. To me a Stingray is an active bass, even if I usually set the EQ flat. Just my own personal prejudice though, obviously Stingray owners can do as they see fit. I always felt with the Joe Dart Sig that it was just him being contrary in asking for a passive bass with no finish and one knob. 😄

Bands with two drummers immediately puts me in mind of the American "jam bands" , a genre that fills me with almost as much dread as " blues-rock trio".

In purely sonic terms, this seems a bit of an odd choice for a preamp, to be honest with you. I am a big fan of Yamaha basses, but they have never really been renown for their preamps. The notable exception would be the Nathan East preamp which Yamaha marketed themselves as a standalone unit in the early 2000's. The selling point for this product is the Peter Hook association. If that inspires peoples' imagination then great, but it might not translate to much in terms of tone. I quite like Peter Hook as a bass player but I'm sceptical his preamp has ever had much to do with his overall tone. It's more his effects and his overall approach. If a boutique electronics company wanted to make a vintage Yamaha- inspired product, a reissue of the PB1 rackmount bass preamp from the early 1980s would be a great choice. It was a superb bit of kit, almost as good as the Alembic preamp that inspired it. .