scrumpymike

4 hours ago, also played on said:

Hi Mike, do you have access to any sound samples of the bass please?. The ones on the Gillet site are listed as private access only. cheers

Don't have anything I'm afraid but hopefully what Loz has sent you helps.

Here's the Product Data Sheet I got at the time.

Contour Bass PDS 190524.pdf

This is a very rare opportunity to acquire one of these incredible basses. In the opinion of many (me included) the Gillett Contour is the most desirable hollow-bodied bass guitar ever made. The design is revolutionary, the craftsmanship literally stunning, the ergo's unique, and the sounds deeply satisfying. I am lucky enough to own two of these beauties and can't justify keeping them both as all I play nowadays is classic rock. These basses have earned many review plaudits, of which the last and best was when the guys from Bass Gear mag in the USA named the Contour 'Best Bass In Show' at the 2019 Summer NAMM in Nashville. Not bad for a brand they'd never even heard of before they visited the Gillett Guitars stand! The key features are:

31.75" medium scale;

through-body stringing;

active electronics with neck pick-up and piezzo under bridge;

sculpted blocks front and back accommodate forearm and rib-cage/beer gut;

the way the bass is designed and built produces incredible levels of sustain.

Price includes hard case but excludes delivery. Happy to meet up anywhere along the M5 corridor between Bristol and Exeter or similar distance/journey time.

55 minutes ago, sandy_r said:

 

So good, they wrote a song about it!

They are, and they did 😋

or cloutie dumplin'...

3 hours ago, JohnDaBass said:

NEW BASS DAY

Just arrived, my Fender Mike Kerr bass in Tiggar Orange. (or is it Trump Orange 🤣)

Lovely bass with a JMJ neck , Jag body (better suited to my "portly frame" than a Mustang) enormous Humbuckers and fancy Barbie gold hardware.

Really pleased. 

Very nice too! What's the strap balance like - any neck dive?

11 minutes ago, ped said:

I wouldn't mind an HPF to go under my desk for my bassboard. Ideally no footswitch, always on type job. Any recommendations?

This was the best I could find but they're charging $40 p&p on top of the $70 cost to ship to the UK! I'm now the proud owner of one recently brought back by friends visiting his son out there 🙂

https://www.broughtonaudio.com/product-page/always-on-high-pass-filter

Just now, three said:

Thanks Scrumpymike - this is exactly what had inspired me.  I remember seeing this a few years ago and thinking 'what a brilliant idea'.  I will of course credit you if I can ever get my nascent solution to work! 

Ha-ha, thanks Loz. This was a home-made prototype to test the principle. It would be relatively easy for anyone with the necessary design tools to come up with a more discrete, fully adjustable version to fit the usual neck-dive suspects. I'd initially considered mounting from the neck-plate fixings but that obviously rules out anything with a set neck including the SG - which is probably the most popular neck-diver of all 🙂

This was my radical solution to neck-dive on a lovely pre-Chowny SWB-1. Knocked together from half of an old aluminium billy-can and 3mm strip. I decided the mod had to be easily reversible so there was just one small additional screw hole drilled into the back of the bass. The only costly part was getting it powder-coated. It was a fairly big job but looked surprisingly unobtrusive and worked a treat. Another one I regret selling.

2 hours ago, anzoid said:

I'll have a look and see if I still have the original files kicking around somewhere and do an update if I can.

This was a brilliant piece of work! An update will be hugely appreciated.

20 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Yes, just like the new Squier Paranormal Rascal Bass (and the old original Fender Rascal Bass for that matter).

 

Which I think might have been the exact point by suggesting the Rapier as being an alternative to the Rascal Bass (beside them both having a similar bridge + neck humbucker pickup configuration, and being just about in the same kind of price class).

 

Though the Rapier is 31" scale length, while the Rascal is standard 30" short scale.

 

Well said! The term 'short scale' is not an absolute as there are a number of significant variations on the 'short scale' theme.

11 hours ago, neepheid said:

Well, that's my hotel/bass storage room booked for the night before.  Things just got real!

Any word on entrance fee yet?

That's brilliant! Entrance is £13, which includes your food and tea/coffee throughout the day.

If you want to avoid the usual hotel breakfast rip-off, come early to help us set up (and take your pick from the display tables) and you'll get fed on arrival*. See first post on this topic for venue details.

*Same applies to others of course!  A few extra pairs of hands at set-up time are always useful 🙂

On 11/08/2023 at 13:21, JohnDaBass said:

So could the new Rapier Saffire bass be an alternative to the Squier Rascal?

It looks great I wonder how it sounds?

 

https://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2023/08/new-gear-rapier-saffire-bass-2/

The distance between the bridge and bottom strap button will position the fretboard close to where it is on a standard scale length.

On 08/08/2023 at 10:49, neepheid said:

 

No worries!  I'm coming down anyway!  Suppose you'll want to know what I'll be bringing...

 

See you in October...

How nice after a week away (from home and e-mails) to see that interest in 'the One Bash that rules them all' has reached Scotland (as it happens, I'm just back from my daughter's in Dunfermline).

Definitely worth the trip down from Aberdeen 🙂

36 minutes ago, Adee said:

@Old Horse Murphy that’s gorgeous, thought you already had a shell pink Berg?

 

Lionel’s really are superb basses, love mine so grateful to @scrumpymike

 Ha-ha, don't remind me - especially given the way prices have increased since then!

Seriously, glad you're still liking it.

3 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I've not been on BC for a while, but just thought I'd hake a look at this thread and I don't know what's happened, it's all gone a bit cockle-eyed!

 

I'm still hoping to come, but won't know for certain till much nearer the time, would be good to reconnect with the community a bit. 🙏

No problem, you can just turn up and pay on the day. Hope to see you then!

4 hours ago, Dazed said:

Yep another B***** win 🤦🏻‍♂️

Another? You mean the first! 🤐

3 hours ago, Joebethell said:

That's really interesting I never seen a Shortscale one. Tempting.....

Certainly is, not least for the bragging rights ☺️

17 minutes ago, Dazed said:

According to the blurb it’s a sprightly 3.92 kg’s… and with 4” off the neck it might balance ….. then again 😄

With that 4-inline headstock and bottom strap button presumably somewhere around F15, my guess is it's a diver.

Still a lovely looking thing though.

17 hours ago, Dazed said:

May have already been posted but it’s the first time I’ve come across a short scale Gibson Thunderbird. Limited edition run of 400 circa 2011. 
 

Gold Medal Winner in the 2012 Olympics Neck Diving Competition - or the Short-Scale Body-building event event? Must surely be one or t'other ☺️

Very appealing though.

2 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

You forgot to point out the really poor upper frets access. 

 

Oh, and the typical Gibson clunky/clumsy 3 point bridge that is notorious for failing, more specifically sooner or later likely to lift from the body.

 

I know, I know! I have such a soft spot (between my ears maybe?) for Gibson basses that I didn't want to complete the full character assassination of the brand 😉

4 hours ago, JohnDaBass said:

NBD

Gibson Les Paul DC Tribute.

 

Drove to Southampton to pick this lovely bass up last Thursday from a real Gentleman Basschatter.

Sounds and plays wonderfully.

My deteriorating arthritis in my left hand has forced me to play short scale basses exclusively. But joyfully.

I gigged a pair of LP Triumph basses followed by an SG for years and still have a real hankering after one of these - despite the un-contoured slab body and upper strap button at F15 🙂

48 minutes ago, EssentialTension said:

 

Surely the whole thing doesn't merely hint at 60s design but is actual 60s design.

Exactly! Proper period authenticity, including the 4 holes left over after everybody removed and binned the individual string dampers 😊

7 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

I'm heading (herding?) in the same direction...

Never been a fan of distressed finishes though. Does any of the other Mustang variants have the same spec apart from the finish?

7 hours ago, vates said:

purdy

 

I desperately need a JMJ.

don't know why, probably herd behavior...

I'm heading (herding?) in the same direction...