tomthebass

Just received an Overwater fretless from Claas, great comms and expertly packaged so it arrived in tip top condition, absolutely perfect transaction, thank you!

Someone found the right words to describe my bass playing 🤣

Yum! thanks for sharing

Hi folks, Couple of people suggested I share this trick which means I can play (mini)bass wherever I travel...having looked at a few of the headless bodiless travel bass options etc which didn't appeal and are still a bit long to get into a reasonably sized suitcase, decided to see if I could butcher one of these ultra short scale kids Samick Corsair basses (see pic). Picked this one up from gear4music for £139. It's a small bass with short 26.5" scale and takes a little getting used to, but sounds fine despite the obviously slightly flabby string tension. After removing the strings, I removed the neck screws, and drilled out the holes in the back of the neck to 7mm to allow M5 bolt inserts to be screwed into the wood with an allen key. I did the drilling very carefully, increasing the bit size mm by mm to ensure the holes would remain centred on the holes in the heel of the body. Once this was done, it was just a case of drilling out the holes in the heel to accept the M5 bolts, then reassemble and hey presto! The next refinement was simply to replace the bridge with a used one from a fellow BC-er that has slots so the string ball ends can be dropped in and out for easy removal rather than having to stretch out the machine head windings of the strings to get them through bridge holes. Needed to do a bit of hand routing to get the bridge height correct because the new one was a lot more chunky! Pics attached below. I've now disassembled and reassembled about a dozen times, with no issues of neck bolt tightness because it's metal on metal. Takes under ten minutes to reassemble, string up and tune. Don't have the neck length to hand right now but will update this when I get a chance to measure it. Not suggesting you try this on your favourite vintage full scale bass! But thought I would share as it works for me and allows me to groove and learn songs wherever I get dragged. Now I've lived with this one for a while I'm going to try it on a slightly larger bass with 31 inch scale with a neck that still fits diagonally in my bigger suitcase! Happy playing and fire away with questions 😉 Tom

Late to this thread, but happy to say I am the lucky owner of 2 Sadowskys 🤗 First one bought nearly new in 1996 is a NYC 5 string modern, 24 frets, chambered ash body and maple fboard, EMG soapbars. It's my best friend and a total keeper. Wherever I plug this in and start playing people's eyes light up, live or studio. It has a deep authoritative fat sound to which you can dial in punch or crispness easily with the onboard or amp eq, although the latter is rarely needed. The B string is the tightest I've heard, sounds like a piano. For me it's this balance of warmth and crispness that I love and makes it totally versatile. I've owned Warwick, Tobias, Modulus all of which I've liked for different reasons but always come back to the Sadowsky. I also like the fact that it looks tidy and smart but not ostentatious, so fits into a lot of different band styles. And the lightness of the chambered body makes a big difference on long nights...oh and...it stays perfectly in tune, regardless of temperature and humidity. My second is a new baby...well new old. Fell into a deep hole in Tokyo called Bass Center and climbed out with a 1992 NYC four string stuck to me! It was a bit pricey once you add on the import duty 😭...but playing for 30 years you kind of know when a bass feels right. It also has an ash body and maple fboard (my sound) with 21 frets. It has a wonderfully woody sound and feel to it, plays very easily and I would say more of a classic jazz sound, a little softer due in part to single coil pickups placed further from the bridge than the modern. Re bedroom vs gig: I kind of see what people mean - in the bedroom these basses sound very transparent, hifi-ish and perhaps that comes across as lacking character. In a gig that deep authority and ability to dial in crispness gives great punch and pitch definition which probably makes the sound stand out more. Probably we play harder in a band so maybe that also brings out the character of the instrument! To my ears there are no noticeable dead spots which also helps keep the bottom end tight and consistent in a band setting. This has been a problem for me with ash/maple Fender jazzes where certain notes just seem to drop out of a line. Re preamp: I agree with comments above that the preamp just shines more light on whichever part of a great unplugged tone you want. The character is there in the wood, the strings and your fingers! While in Tokyo I also tried Sadowsky metros, Atelier Z betas, and a couple of Laklands. They were all excellent basses and I could easily find my sound with them. In the end I went for the NYC probably for sentimental reasons as much as anything 😄. There is an Aterlier Z for sale right now on BC which I would have snapped up if it weren't too late, would recommend trying it if you can as they are rare and this one is a crazy bargain! Sorry for the long ramble, trapped in bed with a lurgy so more waffly than usual! Hope this helps with the GAS anyway. Let us know what you decide 😋.

Thanks y'all!

Exactly that. Thank you so much!!! 😘