HeadlessBassist

PM'd...

The problem with the Bass Dept. at Andertons (and many other stores) is that they often have nobody to set up the basses, so you end up playing on grotty strings that have been played by all sorts of little Herberts who never wash their hands before playing, and actions created by speedy mass production which leave the strings three nautical miles off the fingerboard. If I go to Andertons, I usually stick some Alun Keys in my back pocket and do a mini setup on the bass I'm trying. That way I can at least feel if it's something like what I'm looking for. Obviously a bass is never going to sound how you want/expect until you get your favourite strings on it and get it set up to your own preferences, but I'm sure they don't mind carefully done small adjustments that make the bass more playable and therefore more saleable even if you don't end up buying it. As for what I'd like to see, I guess I'd like to see more aftermarket Graphite necks on the market, but hopefully Kiwi has that corner of the market covered now with Aurok Composites.

@Silky999 just received the graphite neck today, so now the build starts in earnest. Within a week or two we'll hopefully have a complete instrument. The specs will be: Single piece MGCS Basses Walnut Jazz Body AUROK Graphite Jazz Neck (courtesy of @Kiwi) Fender Pure Vintage 66 Single Coil Pickups Gotoh high mass black vintage bridge Gotoh black lollipop tuners Black control plate/hardware with 500k pots Possible additions will be a John East J-Tone control plate/preamp.

Ah well, they'll have some more made up soon. I'd imagine it's the only way they can get rid of the horrid green ones, anyway. That 'Ford Signal Green' is a heinous colour. It should be illegal!

It would seem that people [like us] bought the hell out of them and now they're waiting to replenish stocks. Stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap - Tesco Value Bass range!

Who's the maker..?

Love the signature 'Jaco' bridge pickup sound Guy Bernfield is getting out of that Mode. I'd definitely like to try one out. This is definitely the first truly interesting Ibanez since they originally launched the EHBs. Ibanez obviously do pretty well with their massive range generally, but these Mode basses are a pure case of, "If you can't beat 'em, join them!"

It's a great chat and highly entertaining, Mike. Thanks for putting it up, Sean

Didn't they try mixed-magnet pickups a few years back? And people said that they sounded much better if you took them out and rotated them 180 degrees 😆 These sound like the same spec as you get in the American Professional II range and the standard pickups offered in the Mod Shop, especially with the slight overwind. They do sound very good. The design has been around since the American Professional debuted in 2016. I'm surprised about the mention of "increased output". The overwind usually gives a slightly lower overall output, but increased mids. And yes, some people have turned them through 180 degrees, but that's just the 'no treble' crew. They could've done them in a decent colour, though. That shade is utterly heinous.

I'm wondering whether one of the Fender mint ones would fit..? They look really good as a contrast with paler colours.

"To Tort, or not to Tort? That is the question..."

They obviously have some style gurus there that don't seem to understand that pale scratch guards remind us of Fender cheaping out on us, LOL

I know what you mean - the original mint one always reminds me of the older Mexican instruments with just cheap white/parchment single ply.

Much better with the vintage tort guard (and the Elixirs!)

It does look rather cool - it's a sort of faded Antigua. Noice!

Nice example you have there and rare to have all the case candy intact after around 15 years. The price of £1343 would have been the official retail price at the time. Maybe it was discounted by around £250 originally? Hard to imagine now that the equivalent current day American Professional II basses now have an RRP of around £1919!

I've never had a Lakland, but that is a lovely piece of Lakland/Dan Lakin history. How long have you had it?

Especially if you buy those Pino Palladino strings - y'know, the ones sprinkled with Welsh Fairy Dust and Unicorn Tears.

Problem sovled - the Jazz was sounding 'thin' and lacking definition more than anything, probably due to the £8 set of Warwick Red Label 40-100 strings I initially threw on it. It's now got a new set of Elixir 40-95s and it's got all of its proper fullness and rich tone back. Much better! Beware cheap string sets... 🤦‍♂️ Also, after a large amount of trawling on here and TalkBass, I've found that the V-Mod II's are a little lower on output, due to a slight overwind to make them a little less lively than the original V-Mod set.

Wasn't it always thus? When you buy the expensive stuff like Fender USA products you're paying for admittedly better quality materials, but at the end of the day, you're paying for the FMIC workers' mortgages, finance payments on their F150 pickup trucks and crazily expensive health insurance & pensions, not to mention fattening the pockets of the company shareholders.

Hi Freddie, as luck would have it, I’ve still got your old Elite and I picked up an as new condition American Professional 2 in a trade over the last few days. In short, they’re very similar thickness from fingers to thumb, and maybe the Pro II feels marginally wider, but it’s mainly down to the Elite’s compound radius that makes it feel a fraction more rounded and that little touch sleeker. The Pro II neck is very nice to play on, and doesn’t slow me down at all compared to the Elite.

It was interesting to compare it to my American Original Jazz - the Original's Pure Vintage 64's are meant to be overwound, so you'd generally expect a lot less output compared to the modern basses, but the Original is much more present and punchy.

Agreed. I always loved the original V-Mod pickups in my previous American Professional V.1 Precision with their mix of Alnico 2 & 5 magnets. I'm thinking of dropping in to get my Tech to test them on Monday to see if anything is actually wrong with it. It's a barely used bass that was bought new by a guitarist and never really played much or taken outside his house, so I'm assuming it's got no gremlins as such.

Now then... (sorry, came over all Yorkshire there for a moment!) I picked up a mint condition 2023 Fender American Professional II Jazz in a trade yesterday. After setting it up (especially with my regular pickup heights), the output seems a little on the low side. Nice sounding bass overall and buttery to play, but I was wondering whether anyone else has had this issue of the V-Mod II pickups being a bit on the quiet side..? And yes, the mint scratch guard is going to be replaced by a vintage tort one.