HeadlessBassist

A second hand 'real' Bongo would seem to be a better option. I keep hearing that the SBMM pickups and electrics are nearly, but not quite like the real thing. I'd hate to lay out a grand while all the time wishing I'd bought the real OA Music Man model.

It's a very clean sounding bass. Very light. Very fast for slappage, and pretty punchy. There's not much to like. At this money the colours really don't matter. It's a great playing and sounding bass for significantly less money than a Fender Player II.

Very nice Clarky. I was up at Tony's house last weekend setting up a few basses for him. Nice job with the crown inlays. Looks very special. I only wish Spector necks were thinner (fingers to thumb), because they never suit me. I had a spalted maple Euro with Aguilar pickups for a couple of hours a few years ago until I returned it to Andertons.

I'm was going to go for the obvious used options, ie. Hohner Jack / B2A are usually very reasonable, but instead I'm going to go for one of your other suggestions - I've been using a Cort Artisan Space 4 for the last couple of years (started with a Space 5 first) and they're a great, compact bass. Very light, too. I keep mine permanently in the boot of the car as a backup, or teaching bass. Highly recommended!

I love your Em-bassy more every time I see it, Neepheid.

Yes, I only encountered it once - it almost became an International Incident!

Just don't wear a hat in the servicemen's clubs - I played for the McCoys some years ago in one and the drummer dared wear his pork pie hat. The patrons were most offended and he was told so. Apparently it's seen as a mark of respect to the dearly departed servicemen to take your hat off.

That's good to know. I know a lot of people pooh-pooh basswood as a cheap alternative, but I've never known a bad sounding basswood instrument. They even use it on top-of-the-line Music Man basses, so can't be bad

How does the basswood body compare sound-wise to the American Vintage/Original alder bodies? I ask, as I'm just in the middle of having a set of Fender Pure Vintage 66 pickups put into silky999's prototype nitro bass, which has the okoume body.

Oops. Sorry! 🫣 🤣

A last minute booking that came in yesterday morning from the Parasite, er I mean the Agent. Just a trio job ten minutes up the road at the Village Club, Spondon. A lovely crowd, but got a very interesting comment from an 'audient' - he said that he was really pleased to be able to hear all the individual bass notes, as usually with bands the bass is an undefined mess and too boomy - Must be the wooden stage and how people EQ. I blame the flat wound or long dead strings, personally. 🫣

Congrats WoT. Looks lovely. I like those vintage Jazz necks too - just that extra little bit of depth to them, making them really comfortable. Having a look around, these come in some lovely colour combinations. Is it Will at BassBros bringing these in?

I guess if the average Joe Public looks in a music shop, everything looks shiny and new. I'm in the fortunate position where the singer/guitarist I've worked with for about 35 years regularly says that I have the best bass sound he's ever heard. However, that's just in trio/duo situations. In the live tribute show, my sound is thoroughly buried by five other noise makers. Ah well.

Yes, it's definitely got all the right ingredients - alder/maple construction, Nitro-Cellulose finish [to allow it to breathe/speak] & Pure Vintage 64 pickups. It's got that rich early 60's Jazz Bass sound with enough top end sparkle, but not over the top. As for the Road Worn finish, the body really does look like it's been kicked around a car park by a bunch of Mexicans on their lunch break. 🤣 The pattern of wear seems to match Flea's original 61 very well. This one is a 2019 bass, so I'd imagine they've gotten pretty good at the process since the original RW instruments were launched ten years earlier in 2009.

Working on it... 😁

First Bass Owned: Columbus (Korean pointy headstock Charvel/Jackson copy) 'Go To' Bass: 2019 Fender American Original 60's Jazz / 2016 Fender American Elite Jazz. 'Your' Bass: 2007 Status-Graphite S2-Classic.

That's a very shiny looking fingerboard. Are those flat wounds you've got on there?

Yes, yes. And if you painted him red, he'd be the fastest bass player EVER.

No, I'm not brave enough to try and modify mine much, either. Looking at my American Original [which I've had for nearly seven years], the nitro finish is just starting to show tiny flakes in places here and there, but we're talking pin-hole sized dots. No checking, though.

I read the story on Reddit from the guy who gave the original '61 to Flea, and ended up getting a prototype signed Modulus in return. Apparently he paid $6000 for it at a store in LA.

Agreed, and some of us don't even get sweaty hands. I have a variety of satin necks, glossy graphite necks, oil finished necks, and even a couple of nitro finished gloss necks, and I don't have a 'sticky' problem with any of them, thankfully.

Can you say that again? I didn't hear you the first three times...

That looks good, SM. I keep wondering what the little round dents are supposed to be, or what happened to Flea's '61 from which these basses were copied?

WHAT..?!

Very true. I've been plotting a new Jazz build with @Silky999 and the parts I want are often prohibitively expensive. Right now I'm looking at combining this build with one of Kiwi's forthcoming graphite necks. [Even more expensive!]