NancyJohnson

[quote name='billyapple' post='1247719' date='May 27 2011, 11:22 PM']Yes, I do have some criticisms...

The bridge pup alone sounds bobbins. The neck had to be dialled in.
The covers on the pup's are plasticky looking, and a high end bass deserves better.
The bridge is on 3 stilts sitting above the body, how can the bridge be resonating thru the body? As Paul said, unleash the tone with a Hipshot and I can believe how.[/quote]

I've not really noticed too much of a disparity with the pickups; I always play with everything to the max and (if necessary) will adjust the pickup heights rather than bother with the volume/tone controls in a live context. I'm soooo old school. If a song calls for a different tone, I'll play closer to the bridge or up by the neck, if there's a quieter passage, I'll play softer..

I'd concur that the pickups look a tad carp, but then they're almost identical to the generic design of the EMG, Bartolinis derivatives that are on Spectors and other high end guitars (my Bongo is the only bass I have that show any flair in the exterior design of the pickups). If the hardware is all black, then they kind of blend in; what's important is how they make the guitar sound, eh?

Again, two thumbs up for the Hipshot. I'll say it again...if you're considering a Thunderbird, do yourself a favour and get one of these on order a week before you visit the dealer and install it as soon as you get home. It's a great £60 upgrade.

Finally, in closing, I've played a plethora of basses in the past, Fenders, Gibsons, Musicman, Lakland, Warwick; lots of others and beyond doubt, the Thunderbird has been the most fun of the lot. I would class myself as decent enough and a no-frills type of player (I always wanted to be a sound engineer rather than treading the boards, but that's another story), but the Thunderbird [i]elevates [/i]you somehow. I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on why...it just makes you [i]feel [/i]like a better player, so much more so than if I was playing a Jazz or a Precision. Like I said previously, it's like magic.

Best
Paul

Now then. Following on from my original post, hello Wayne, it's good to be back in a limited capacity at least. I should like to offer up for your deliberation a photo of my [i]other [/i]Thunderbird a pant wettingly stunning Hamer FBIV, as follows:



...I landed this about three weeks after the Gibson arrived. It's mega-mega-rare, maybe less than 20 worldwide and I scored it for a ridiculously low price (and have been offered an equally stupidly high price from a Hamer collector in the US for it). Other than it looks similar, the Gibson and Hamer just don't compare. The Hamer is very well balanced, [i]zero [/i]neckdive and man, the sound is epic in a different way and the sustain just rings. The neck is similar to my old Precision (whereas the Gibson neck is thinner than my sadly departed Geddy Jazz). It's very heavy.

Amazingly, the magic also works with this one as well, transforming me from a desk-bound blob of an office-worker into 50% of the most lithe rhythm section east of Reading.

Much love
Paul
x

A rare post from me.

I've owned a Gibson Thunderbird for about a year, during which time it has become my main bass. It's a '94 in classic white and I imported it through Ishibashi. For no good reason other than I can, here's what it looks like:



Now then the pro's and con's.

The stock bridge is awful, very Heath Robinson and before the bass arrived I already had a Hipshot replacement on order. The strap lugs were awful as well, so I changed them for Dunlop Straploks. Moving along, neck-dive. Yes, it's slightly neck heavy (yawn)...the added ounces from the new bridge perhaps subliminally go some way to resolving the issue, but to be honest I only played the bass on the strap once before I swapped over the bridge, so don't feel qualified to argue one way or another. To be honest, I'm a little tired of the whole neck-dive argument; sure if you're going to assume a JC pose every time you play it, then yes, the bass will rotate head first towards the ground, but very slowly. Jeesh. Get over it, it's not life threatening. Buy yourself a wide strap. Insofar as the neck goes, it's super thin and very fast.

The bass plays well sitting down, the body is pretty thin; the centre core is around the same depth as your regular bass (45mm), the wings 28mm deep. It weighs under 8lbs. Audibly, it sounds the nuts. Honestly. Through a Sansamp, it sounds immense.

Finally, it looks so uber-cool. How could anyone say these basses are ugly? Look at my avatar. I'm a slightly overweight guy in my forties. It doesn't get any worse than that, but thankfully, I have all my hair. When I play this bass, I feel like a skinny guy in my twenties. Go figure. It sounds great [i]and [/i]makes me look good. It's like magic.

P

Here you go.
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I can't lay claim to owning a Roscoe, but I love the 3005s.

OK, if it's Roscoe porn you're after, this was up for sale on Ishibashi a couple of years ago.

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Crack Converters.

[url="http://tinyurl.com/63cpmqe"]http://tinyurl.com/63cpmqe[/url]

Currently at £80.00. Looks a bit grubby.
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US Hamer Chapparal project here. White/cream. No hardware. £170 BIN plus £75 shipping. Seller is based in Ohio, USA.

Wife has instigated a strict one in one out bass policy otherwise I think it would be winging its way here...should cost more than another £100 to get it up and running.

Link:
[url="http://tinyurl.com/6x2hm8t"]http://tinyurl.com/6x2hm8t[/url]

Best
P

I owned #222 for a while. It was a stunning bass. Weighed a ton, but stunning. Throw up some photos.
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Lovely. VERY pretty bass.

I've never really been a Rickenbacker fan and couldn't quite put my finger on why their basses failed to ignite any passion in me. After about thirty years, I think it all came down to the [standard/white] scratchplate and how it cheapened the look of an otherwise classic piece of bass design. The black scratchplate on this just makes everything look right and I feel a bit of GAS coming on. Soon, but not yet.

Good luck with the sale.

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I bought a Gator 4U rack a few months ago, model #GR-4L. Unbeknown to me at the time is that it was a deep one (or [i]standard [/i]as described on the Gator site); I'd really like a 4U shallow one - a GR-4S (or similar), the one I have is now up for sale. £40? I'm near Reading, Berkshire.

Standard:



Great condition.

Cheers
P

Gone pending the usual.
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Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz bass for sale.

Currently fitted with a single ply black scratchplate (the white original plate is at home somewhere), new D'Addario Pro-steels and Dunlop Straploks. It lives in a Gator hardcase.

[b]Very[/b] decent condition (I've hardly used it), no discernible bucklerash or anything.

Takeaway price £600 ovno, no trades, sorry. Would prefer collection (Reading, Berkshire), will ship, but you'd need to cover shipping costs.

You know you want this.

Thanks

[quote name='jonthebass' post='717294' date='Jan 18 2010, 10:52 PM']My P bass with a SD Qtr. Pounder pickup and SD Jazz Hot Stack bridge unit sounds great through my Sadowsky pre amp pedal and does it for me (at the mo!)[/quote]

I always found the SD to be too whumpy when I had my old '79. I put a Wizard in and it was much more controllable.

Presently the combination of a Geddy Lee signature (so I guess stock Fender units) and the Sansamp BDDI is kind of lovely...dirt by the sackload and very controllable. Couldn't recommend the pedal more.
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A bit old school in these times, but I have a silver Arcam DV78 DVD player that I need to move on. Multi-region player, great CD spinner, plays CD/MP3. Very light use. Remote and manual. It's a tidy upgrade for maybe a spare room. I paid about £650 for it a few years ago...£125.00 shipped?



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The Thumb SC has to be one of the ugliest basses I've seen in a while.

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I posted a photoshopped mock up of the JO 3TB/blocks both here and direct to Lakland about a year ago and then again on the LOG quite recently and hey presto! there it is. I'm not a fan of sunbursts, but it looks very nice. Anyone want to buy my Bongo 5HH?

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While this isn't a GAS thing (and despite the fact I'm really not a fan of guitars that look like furniture), I'd have to say I always had a soft/hard spot for the Thunderbird(s) that Spector did for Nikki Sixx:



...and these look beautiful:


and the Roscoe bass on the attached thumbnail.

Have them sent round to my place when you've got a minute Sarah.

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Me likey. I've never seen a product like this before (I guess I've never been that concerned about effects pedals until I got one at Christmas either). Every gear box should have one.



[url="http://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/batt-o-meter/"]Link[/url] with video.

Edit: No UK distribution, 24.32 euro (£22) including shipping from here: [url="http://waltons.ie/Product/View.aspx?id=28465&cid=241"]Waltons.ie[/url]

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[quote name='Jamesemt' post='710131' date='Jan 12 2010, 04:00 PM']Here we have for sale a completely unused and unfitted Mighty Mite Jazz neck. Rosewood.

Also includes a set of tuners...will post pictures up later for anyone thats interested.

The logo has had a light coat of nitro - but would require more coats and sanding to make it look original.

Obviously as new - no holes drilled at all.

£90 delivered[/quote]

From experience with two MM necks, the holes for the machine head ferrules always seem to come up a bit small and may need enlarging...do they fit?
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I was trying to put a lot more angst on my original post, but my wife needed to get to Argos for 10.00am this morning. I've calmed down somewhat since.

Personally I can't stand Mr Clayton; everything from that smug [i]'have-you-trodden-in-some-dogshit-because-I-haven't'[/i] look on his face in [i]every [/i]picture, right along to his one dimensional duh-duh-duh playing. To confirm what jezzaboy posted earlier he was/is regularly derided by his own band for being incapable of even clapping in time. But hey, as I've said before, he's a multi-millionaire and I still work in an office. Ho hum. What do I know, eh?

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Trawling through Thomann and saw this:



Holy crap. WTF? Sometimes you have to question where bass-manufacturers's heads are at.

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A few years back I tried out a drummer for a band I was putting together. For the record, we were both raised in the same locality and although I didn't know the guy first hand, we had some mutual friends from our teens and I knew some of his mates from that period. He also employed a mate of mine for a while about ten years ago. We jammed just the once; he was a good player but it didn't work out.

The story he recounted to me affirmed a rumour that had been doing the rounds donkey's years back that involved a reasonably famous celebrity couple and their son, the aforementioned Ms. Millington and one of the son's friends. 'Richard' was the friend. As soon as he told me the story, I sat there, beer in hand wide eyed and slack jawed.

That's all you're getting.
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I have a degree of bias, but Hartke.
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Nice lot.

Where did you get the record frames BTW?
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