anzoid

Just bought three cables from Paul. Communication was quick and easy, price was agreed and the cables arrived well packaged a couple of days later. Couldn't ask for a better transaction. Thank you Paul!

Might as well chip in... Recently bought a new Squier CV Jazz in Inca Silver - quality is very good. Then, also bought a secondhand Fender MIM Jazz in LPB with maple neck - quality is very good. Comparing the two you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. Output is about the same from both, the maple fretboard gives the Fender a touch more brightness... perhaps. Both weight about the same, paintwork is excellent on both of them. The Squier has a gloss neck and the Fender has a satin finish - both feel good. Fit and finish of both basses is superb. The hi-mass bridge of the Squier is better than the BBOT of the Fender - the saddles tend to move, so going to swap the Gotoh 201 off of my P-bass onto the Jazz. Tuners are solid on both and do what they're supposed too without much movement between times. Both basses now sport KiOgon looms. The CV has the one with the pull pot for serial/parallel and for the Fender I went for a VBT setup. Other than that, nothing else needs changing, but both basses definitely benefitted from the change - in both instances the tone "opened up" after fitting the new looms. Considering there was about a £150 difference between the new Squier (I got a very good price on this from my local music shop) and the secondhand Fender... well, the Fender isn't that much better, if at all better than the Squier. The Fender purchase was for the colour and the maple board... the Squier because I wanted a Jazz and the Inca Silver is awesome

Talking about it with other more with it family members, i.e. the kids, apparently there were 100 or so people on the invite list who didn't make it or didn't claim their tickets - presumably due to distance, availability, etc. - and those tickets found their way into deserving hands in the town. So, they had a full house.

My wife works with someone local (from Frome) who got in - we live in Frome, but I'm not a FF fan, so no chance of a ticket. Some of my son's friends appeared on local telly saying that hadn't got tickets... So that couple mentioned are the only ones I know of, presumably others did get in. I have a friend who works down at the Cheese and Grain so will ask him how many locals actually got in if he even knows... they were all kept pretty much in the dark about it right up to almost the last minute.

Nope, afraid they don't as the control cavity is further over to the left (looking face on at the guitar). This means you end up with a small gap (maybe 50mm long by max 10mm wide - but curved...) down at the bottom right hand edge of the control cavity. The pickup placing is also slightly out compared to a Fender - it's only about 5mm or so but it puts the pickup right at the edge of the cavity... and everything gets a little tight. I've only tried this on a "modern" i.e. fairly recent Westfield, though had one a couple of years ago where it arrived with a replacement scratchplate and the same lower right hand corner gap which I didn't actually notice at first because it was a black bass and the control cavity was well painted If you decide to fit typical Fender size replacement pickups you'll also find that the original scratchplate will have gaps as the lugs on Westfield pups are bigger than on Fender ones - I put a SD quater pounder in mine and they fit fine apart from leaving a bit of space round the lugs (and it sounded awesome too...). Your best bet might be to either make a request in the wanted ads to see if anyone has got a spare (though I don't think the range of official scratchplates is great - black, white or maybe tort...) or get somewhere like Jacks' Instrument Services to make you one from a template...

Just bought a Volume-Blend-Tone for my new Jazz bass (NBD to follow ). A bit of a change from a typical Jazz setup but exactly what I was looking for - the blend is 100% at both ends and 100%/100% in the centre position so no loss output. High speed delivery, quality components and clear instructions as usual from John. Can't recommend these looms highly enough - both my Fenders and the Squier have a KiOgon loom now and I'm definitely a happy customer

Went for £401 - not bad. I arrived in the last minute or so and watched the countdown wondering whether it was going to get sniped... it didn't. Looks like someone got themselves a bargain. And yeah, from the top down pic from the headstock that G still looks awfully close to the edge

Went back and took out some of the bits of veneer I'd put in, leaving just one up the bridge end - screwed everything back together and... it's good. Not sure what I got wrong last time that meant one piece wasn't enough, but now it's just right, had to raise the saddles a bit but the action is very low, very very slight buzz up the dusty end but I rarely play beyond the 15th or 16th fret anyway, so makes no odds. markdavid - it's a fretless but I assume though that the same principles apply? So, I shall probably have a look at tweaking the truss rod too, see if I can get all the way there - buzz free low action. I don't think I play particularly agressively, but then I've never worked on a bass so much to get the action this low before, so maybe that's something to look at too. Would the concensus be that fretless requires a lighter touch?

Bought a Hohner Jack from CC once - wouldn't buy from them again. Packaging was ok - at least it came in a box, but not much in the way of packaging materials inside. Bass wasn't really as described but good enough that I didn't send it back (though probably should have done).

Just bought a cable for powering my effects unit and wireless receiver after reading about OBBM cables in a "what cable should I get" type thread. Dave very patiently listened to my requirements via e-mail and suggested the best solution - a 'v' cable extension for my regular PSU. Arrived very quickly and works perfectly. Thank you!

I'm in - Good luck Carl. Presumably you're running dressed as a bass guitar??

Hmmm, oh well, gives me an excuse to muck around some more with it. I'll see how it plays tomorrow and go from there

Should also say - thanks for all the advice!!

Well, tonight has been shimming night... I used some thin pieces of wood veneer with some very thin double sided tape. First piece didn't make much of a different at all... So, put in two more pieces, one next to the first and one on top of it to make a step type effect. Neck back on, tuned up... and the strings were flat on the fretboard. Which meant I could actually use the saddles as intended and get some adjustment going. I think it's pretty much there - definitely way lower than before - however, I would like it a bit lower (never satisfied...) but if I lower the saddles back down, the strings choke on the body end of the neck when I play above the 12th fretline... So, have I leaned the neck back too much, or is this something where adjusting the relief would be better? The neck is pretty flat at the moment with a very very slight bow forwards. If I can't get the action any lower I'm still a very happy bunny I've learnt so much in the process - the main thing being that it's worth having a go cause it's tough to screw up a P-bass

Digging around a bit for photos - the bridges of the SRH500 (the new one - [url="http://www.ibanez.com/products/images/feat/2219.jpg"]http://www.ibanez.co...s/feat/2219.jpg[/url]) and the SRF700 (Portamento - [url="http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/Data/Product_Images/IBANSRF700-BBF05.jpg"]http://www.richtonem...RF700-BBF05.jpg[/url]) look very similar - so unless they've tweaked the guts the new one will sound similar to the old one. But overall you've got less options because you don't get the normal pickups... so what's the advantage of the new one...

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1487183843' post='3237887'] It looks like it's had its frets pulled. They're careful not to show you the positions of the dots on the side of the neck. [/quote] Yeah, noticed that - I've found that it's kind of rare to get photos of where the side markers/dots/whatever are on any unlined fretless - but a pretty crucial omission . Despite having a Portamento for a very short while I don't actually remember where the marks were... Both my fretlesses (fretlii? ) are lined so no problems there but I've had unlined ones where the dots mark the fretlines - so if the Ibanez was like that - I think I'd get confused. [quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1487196702' post='3238044'] I've tried one, they're OK. Not brilliant, but OK. to me felt like the satin neck was a bit rough and the sound a bit too dull. [/quote] Where did you manage to get your hands on one? Isn't the idea with the piezo that you get more of a double bass type thump? The Portamento at least has a couple of normal pickups to balance out the piezo in the bridge. I wasn't overly keen on the open-pore (wenge?) neck on the Portamento - it felt weird, the neck on this new one looks similar...

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1487187178' post='3237929'] Will be interested to see their pricing when they hit the UK [/quote] I've seen it listed a handful of places for pre-order at £609 for the four string. Not seen any five strings listed. So, slightly lower price point than the Portamento...

Guess it was shown at NAMM... but Ibanez has a new fretless in the SR series (4 and 5-string available): [url="http://www.ibanez.com/products/u_eb_detail17.php?year=2017&cat_id=2&series_id=51&data_id=104&color=CL01"]http://www.ibanez.co...=104&color=CL01[/url] Piezo bridge and supplied with flatwounds. Presumably a replacement for the Portamento SRF700/705 (which is a pretty sweet bass itself - had one for all of one day ) Only downer is that it's another "turdburst" finish from Ibanez...

Over the last few years (since joining BC - coincidence... I think not...) I've been through (at a rough estimate) about 15 basses. The only one I regret getting rid of was a Cort C4H. Just was a lovely bass, but GAS got in the way. Prior to these past few years I had been pretty much a one bass kind of person - most I ever had at one time was two: my first ever bass, a Westone Spectrum Series II and a Yamaha RBX800F fretless (both around about 25 years ago) . I sold both, and still regret getting rid of the Yamaha. If I could get one again in pearl white I think I would do so as fast as I could... but alas, not seen one, even asked on here

Tom just bought my Status Streamline 5-string and the whole transaction was completely painless - really fast responses to messages, instant payment and overall excellent communication throughout. Thank you Tom for trusting this relative newcomer to the BC marketplace!

Cool, thanks guys. I had it in my head that shimming was [a] a desperate last resort and [b] that you used a flat shim to raise the whole neck (which would in this case have required a rather thick shim...). Just read through BOD2's "How to shim" ([url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/49897-how-to-shim-a-neck/"]http://basschat.co.u...to-shim-a-neck/[/url]) a neck and it looks doable so will give that a go. My P-bass is a 1998/99 MIM so no tilt adjustment - though interestingly the tilt mechanism presumably creates an air gap and "disconnects" the neck somewhat from the body? Which the full length shim people seem to think is unacceptable... but guess it works

Got a Gotoh 201 bridge installed on my Fender P-bass fretless - the saddles are down as low as possible, I've trimmed the nut to within an inch of its life and still the action is a little too high. Neck relief is about right, I just can't get the strings lower. Would swapping out the Gotoh for a Wilkinson (or even a cheapish BBOT) give me an extra mm or so - i.e. anyone know exactly how thick the plate is on a Wilkinson bridge (the one with brass saddles). Saddles diameter would also be useful. The saddles on the Gotoh are 9mm.