Frank Blank

Let's hope so, you'll never win the Derby with them in that state son.

As someone who plays hollow and semi-hollow basses I have to say that it's a way to go, if not the way.

A good point, well made. What on Earth was I thinking? Pics coming up.

It did. The black looks fine but the white pearloid... *shudder* Just not my bag. The white one was perfect for the TinyTone template, they could've bunged it out of the window into the rather excellently named River Irk afterwards for all I care.* *you may glean from this that a fan of white pearloid I am not.

That's the word I was looking for, Character. Awarded? Who are you, Fred Nobel?* *Nobby Nobel's youngest, works down the fair on the dodgems. It's a classic look, oft misunderstood by the great unwashed hoi polloi such as yourself. My middle names, there.

Carthage, penguin, euphonium.

So right...

Well, it is going up for a full set up in a week or two, once I've decided which scratchplate I'll get it put on then, once it's back, photos ahoy.

Having bought myself a Fender JMJ Mustang because @Osiris made me, I decided a nice tort scratchplate would be just the job on the black bass. I simply Googled 'custom scratchplate' and the top hit was a company in Manchester called TinyTone. I did a search on Basschat and couldn't find any TinyTone content so I had a good mooch around their site and decided to give them a shot. They have an excellent and thorough Custom Scratchplate Request Form, loads of different materials, completely custom options, the lot. So, I filled in the form and sent it on 7th Aug, I received a quote on the 9th Aug. I packed up my spare white pearl scratchplate and posted it to them, emailing them back on the same day with the go ahead. On the 11th Aug I sent additional instructions asking them not to drill the holes for the thumb rest and tug bar, they replied the same day saying no problem. I received the invoice on the 15th (they take payment before commencing the work), paid by bank transfer and bosh, the two new scratchplates and my original arrived today. I have to say the service and comms has been faultless and the products themselves are top notch quality and exactly as I specified. Small boutique companies like this doing a bang up job need support, so here's mine. Cheers TinyTone, top notch. Now I've just got to decide which I like better...

This is what I've noticed, I've not seen a bad word about one and now I understand why. Being a player who mostly plays light, bright rounds up the dusty end it isn't a sound I am used to but, likewise, I love it. On most of our songs I'm playing the bass more like a guitar really, so to get down the other end for some beefy action (not a euphonium) has been an excellent change. Yes, just looking at the neck, it looks as if it's going to be a thudding great plank, but once you play it, my word, the neck is the real winner, by far the most playable neck in my experience. 👍

A little while back I paid @Osiris a visit in order to evaluate some pedals and eat fish finger sandwiches (not a euphonium), as an aside I was going to try out his JMJ Mustang and Sandberg Lionel. Now I have played a Lionel (again, not a euphonium) two or three times previous to this and I have found them dull and without any discernible character, this doesn't go for all Sandbergs, I've had two TT4s, superb basses, just not short scale, it seems I just don't dig the Lionel. I've had a few Fenders over the years, mainly at the beginning of my second bass playing phase as an over 50 man as opposed to phase one in my youth, I have always found Fenders perfectly good if a little dull, so, as @Osiris handed me the Mustang I expected just that, perfectly good if a little dull. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, perhaps the most comfortable bass I've ever played, I mean I'd have to do a side-by-side with an Acinonyx but, although heavier than an Acinonyx, it did feel extremely comfortable. But, oh man, the playability was off the chart! One of my measures of how much I like a bass is how quickly I start writing new bass lines and that happened immediately. I was truly gobsmacked, i kept playing, it kept being excellent, it was one of those moments when you realise the options are a) knock @Osiris spark out and leggit with said instrument or b) start messaging people on BC who I knew had a JMJM or two (sorry @Lozz196) to see if I could talk them into selling me one. Luckily I hit gold and two days later I had a JMJ in the rack. Now the one I bought was strung with La Bella 760F-MUS stainless steel flats and ooofff that makes a big difference, they sound so good, deep and thumpy but still articulate in a way I find quite difficult to describe. Now to be honest, the Mustang sound, even through my preamp, isn't really the right sound for the music I make with my current duo, most of the bass lines I play are up around the 12th fret and require a @Jabba_the_gut semi-hollow bass wearing light, very bright rounds, but as a writing tool the Mustang is unsurpassed. Over half of the bass lines I play were actually initially written on a knackered old classical guitar, I have no idea why this is the case but there it is, it just seems to have tunes in it, but blimey, the Mustang is actually bursting with bass lines, every time I sit down something new falls out of it, it's mad, so many in fact that I keep forgetting them, I really must invest in a new interface that I have set up all the time, in fact I wonder if I can play through the Grace Design Alix and straight into a DAW... I digress. Anyway, the JMJ Mustang is a stonker. If you are considering going over to short scales but can't bear to put down your big ol' Fender Precision, even though it is giving you serious back or shoulder problems, try a JMJ Mustang. I have often wondered which bass could be a safe bridge, so to speak, into the interesting world of short scales, I think this has to be a top candidate.

Cool, this pic has been invaluable over the years.

From...

Excellent. That's exactly what happens, and, have a twang on everyone else's kit too. It's a tenner (that may have changed, someone will comment if so) that goes to cover the hire of the hall and any surplus, I believe, goes to charity. That is compulsory* *not really

@cetera - Charvel 3B, ESP Surveyor '87, Fender FSR PJ Precision, Hamer Impact, Italia Imola, Spector NS2, Spector Euro, Spector EuroX (Spectorbird), Spector Pulse II, Gallien Krueger 400RB & Legacy800, GenzBenz Neox 2x12 @TheGreek - All short scale this year - a @Jabba_the_gut short scale 5er, Mini Ray, Short scale P bass @Harlequin74 - Zoot Performer, Status Shark, Spector QV4 , Markbass TTE501 and Matching CAB. Maybe the Lehle Basswitch… @Frank Blank - @Jabba_the_gut short scale fretted and fretless, JMJ Mustang, QSC K12.2, Grace Design Alix

Curse you all to hell! No rush btw, it's been like it for a few weeks but I had a spare mo' so I thought I'd point it out in case it wasn't just me.

Afternoon Sorry to trouble Basschat with this but I am unable to login to Guitarchat. If I use my BC login I get this message... If I then click Contact Us I get... ...and it will not let me type anything in the message field. If I then go to this page... ...and click Forgot your password? and then fill in the next screen and click Recover password I get this... ? 🤔 ?

I'm in.

Here is its fretted twin currently being built by @Jabba_the_gut

My mistake, it's actually 31.5"

It's a f*****g masterpiece. FTFY

This is excellent news, hugely excited. If it's anything like as good as its fretless twin (a f*****g masterpiece) then I am going to be over the moon.

Well first Google hit says... "RWRP” is an abbreviation for “reverse-wound, reverse-polarity” and refers to a technique used to build pickups so that they cancel hum.

Welcome @OllieVT