thegummy

13 hours ago, Misdee said:

I've got a fretless Lakland Skyline 44-02 and it's a wonderful option if you want a versatile fretless bass.

 

It can do the classic Stingray tone if you use the rear pickup in humbucker mode, no problem. That pickup was designed to recreate something of the vintage Stingray tone.  In addition, the 44-02 can also do the Jazz Bass thing if you split the rear coils, plus a few tones of it's own besides.  If you're only going to own one fretless bass the Lakland makes a lot of sense because it does so many of the fretless tones we all love.

 

The Lakland neck profile is identical to my old pre-EB Stingray, and the body shape is also Stingray-derived. It's an obvious choice if you're looking for for a surrogate Stingray. Thoroughly recommend.

That looks like a fantastic bass, would definitely love to have one.

Can't find any online but going by the price of the fretted version I think it's sadly out of my price range.

I actually just did something that should have been obvious earlier - looked on YouTube for covers of Wherever I Lay My Hat and there are a few on basses with bridge soap bars and even one on a jazz bass and I'm pleasantly surprised with how right they sound.

So maybe I don't need to be so specific and just get a fretless that suits me.

8 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Various Ibanez 

Might not necessarily have the big HB  but there's a good choice at various price points,  and they're even more reasonable second-hand.

Ibanez do have a few nice looking fretless models at good price points.

I'm quite interested in that Pino sound though. As @Dazed mentioned, effects are a big part of it and even putting chorus on any fretted bass goes a way to evoking that feel.

But it's unlikely I'll ever want to have more than one fretless so will try to find one with at least a close pickup.

The MM seems to be in the middle of where the pickups are on HH models. Also being parallel makes me wonder if a normal bridge humbucker would actually be that close.

47 minutes ago, BlueMoon said:

I don’t understand the apparent pricing policy of G&L with regard to the Kiloton. Here in continental Europe, a fretted Kiloton Tribute is around €650, while the fretless version is north of €1000. Go figure!

There can be some crazy price differences for the same product in different countries.

Not just with instruments - I've heard of clothing brands that get sold as budget gear you'd wear around the house in one country but premium designer in another with the massive markup to match.

A good reminder to never make assumptions about a bass based on the price, the exact same bass can be selling for a lot more/less in another country.

4 hours ago, pineweasel said:

What about finding a used Sterling Ray34 and having it defretted?

I did think about that but with the price they charge for something as easy as a setup, I wonder if it wouldn't cost a fortune to have a bass defretted.

6 hours ago, Munurmunuh said:

There's a G&L Tribute Fretless Kiloton

 

pickup is in the right place, the selector can be put on Parallel — but there are no active tone controls, and that's an MDF pickup, not alnico. Still, Tribute prices are as they should be for MII.

 

But don't know how many of them have made it to the UK?

Oh nice one, can't find any on Google but I'll defo need to keep an eye out.

If I ever got a G&L I'd have to sand that wee pointy bit off the headstock though lol.

Big Pino fan and love his iconic 80s fretless tone.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to get a fretless stingray for less than a couple grand.

Anyone suggest a fretless bass under a grand that could sound close enough to that tone?

Or if anyone knows a stingray copy in that price range, even better.

That is a good price!

If whoever buys this hasn't played one before I think they'll be in for a pleasant surprised at the quality.

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Turning down a pickup is changing the resistance. Padding is just a fixed amount of turning down.

I know, that was what I was saying - it's not like a mixer.

I had written an explanation about passive circuits and hearing perception then realised it's like trying to tell Corgan why his white finish doesn't matter.

I fear the thread's already been too derailed.

4 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

For sure, but not with your possibly dodgy wired instrument. Solo bridge is a sound I just can't abide. Never noticed a helluva difference between either dialed back a tad, but preferred the neck when I had a jazz. Solo, no thanks. Find a pukka jazz and try it for yourself. If it still sounds the same find a mate and blind test them. Then come after my money.

Funny how you assume I've only got one and have only ever played or heard one Jazz bass...

Just like Corgan is convinced his white finish sounds different, you're convinced that when you turn a knob you're hearing a difference.

The reality is that a passive pickup circuit is nothing like a mixing console. Changing the resistance to one of the pickups isn't like mixing its output in at a different level.

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

There's something wrong with your wiring or your hearing at that rate.

Fancy putting money on if you can tell the difference in a blind test?

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ve read that too 😀
 

I think Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols had/has similar views re white Gibson Les Pauls being better sounding than the others.

 

lol the idea of someone from The Sex Pistols being concerned with the subtle minutiae of tone.

Was worried this might be one of those things where some people swear blind it makes a difference to the sound while others say (admit?) that they can't hear any difference.

My situation is that I'm going to convert a Jazz bass to a PJ and if it did make any difference at all I'd get a selector switch with a master volume while if it didn't I would save the money and just use the existing 2x volume knobs.

To be honest I doubt I would hear any difference personally; some people talk about blending one of the pickups in at 80% with the other on full and things like that but when I turn one of the pickups down any amount it sounds the same to me as when it's all the way off.

But selector switches aren't massively expensive and I'll be using the bass for decades so if there was technically a difference I'd go for it. Was hoping someone might know from a factual electrical point if the output signal would be any different or not.

Does a PJ pickup config with the J's volume turned all the way down sound exactly the same as the same bass with just a P pickup in it?

I.e. does the J pickup being in the circuit affect the output of the bass even when its volume knob is all the way down?

Thanks

On 15/08/2023 at 12:21, fretmeister said:

https://www.originalscratchplates.com/

 

They can make you one.

 

The guy who does them is a member on here. Tim something...

Ah somehow managed to miss this until it was just quoted.

Actually had this website bookmarked for years but I didn't know they did what I'm looking for.

Just received the pickguard today - sadly the pickup is nowhere near in the right place, it's way closer to the neck

11 hours ago, Brian18242 said:

Do you think the AliExpress pickguards would fit a sadowsky metroexpress or are they sized for a fender jazz?

It better be sized for a Fender!

Mine is actually a Schecter but it's the same dimensions as Fender so it's Fender-sized pickguards that fit it.

I would be very surprised if they were sized/shaped for anything other than the standard Fender design and didn't specifically mention it.

Thanks a lot guys, sorry for such a late reply - was in the hospital.

Cheers

Anyone know where I can get a reasonably cheap Jazz pickguard but with a P pickup cutout instead of the neck J?

I realise that the standard J pickguard doesn't quite line up with a P pickup in its proper place so I'm not bothered whether the pickup cutout comes out the bottom of the pickguard or if it's shaped slightly differently, as long as it fits on a J bass with the normal screwholes and the control cavity cover.

Thought this would be easier to find but can't even find it on the pricier sites.

Cheers!

On 14/01/2021 at 18:43, ezbass said:

More expensive, but a big jump in quality, is the Maruszczyk Jake and there is a used one at The Gallery. OK, full disclosure, this is actually mine on commission sale. https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/marusczyk-jake-4-l

And fiesta red, all day long; Pino-tastic!

 

That's not Fiesta Red.

Looks amazing. I've always loved black paisley; in fact one of my favourite guitar pics I've ever seen is of a black paisley Strat that I thought was vintage but might not be. I never thought they'd bring it out as a production line finish!

On 01/07/2020 at 16:02, ped said:

No amount of EQ will make a Jazz sound like a Stingray. There's no substitute for changing the location of the pickup.

Personally I like basses with active pre-amps if the bass sounds perfect with everything flat, leaving me with options to adjust if required. I wouldn't want to rely on a preamp for the bass to sound it's best.

When I bought my first bass I fell for the "if you do such and such it will make it sound like a different bass" that I read people saying on forums.

It was only after getting several types and a lot of experience playing and hearing them that I found out the truth that one bass isn't going to sound like another type no matter what you do to it.

On 01/07/2020 at 13:47, Happy Jack said:

Sorry CV, but why exactly are you so obsessed with Doc Martens? Or is it Daily Mail? Whatever ... time to find a new slogan maybe?

 

I thought it was Diddies Monthly which I subscribe to

3 hours ago, Bobthedog said:

The house may be poor examples but it does not change the impact and effect of caveat emptor.

I only had a quick Google but I did find that, while buying privately comes with fewer protections than buying brand new from a retailer, it's not just left down to "buyer beware" and that's the end of it. If it's advertised as a "Fender Jazz Bass" then it would have to actually be a Fender Jazz Bass.

I only had a brief look so didn't find any specifics about how much can have been replaced but it clearly can't be something completely different - even if the buyer doesn't spot it at the point of sale. So either it has to be a complete Jazz model bass made by Fender or there's an allowed amount of leeway for parts being changed.

I'll take the time to find that answer if it's going to affect me.

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

Sorry, is this a ‘61 Jazz advertised as all original and imported at great expense and unseen from LA, or a recent Mex that was inspected and bought in person?

Are we not getting a little carried away here

Aye I do agree with that on this occasion - it's not like it came stock with Custom Shop pickups that they might have swapped out to sell separately or keep - the likely scenario is that the pickup was replaced as a perceived upgrade or if the original one broke, it's unlikely it was replaced with something inferior to the basic ones that came with the Mexican Standards.

I was more interested in the idea in general. If I'm about to buy anything second hand in the future I'll definitely be looking in to the legal aspects of this. If the bass I'm buying is meant to have high end pickups then I'd want to make sure I got them but it's pretty difficult, if not impossible, to tell without taking the bass apart (or even then, depending on the brand).

Just want to be clear first and and say that I'm not claiming to know for a fact that it is illegal or otherwise.

But in that house example, it's obviously a very different scenario so the ruling in that specific case doesn't itself indicate that anything there is to be known about an item being sold privately is up to the buyer to find out. It could be that that very specific piece of information wasn't deemed important enough to require telling anyone since most reasonable people wouldn't care.

It would be different if it was an important piece of information about the house itself, e.g. The walls are made of a material that you can't screw or nail anything in to. If the judge had deemed something like that to be still up to the buyer to find out then it would be an appropriate example (or if the bass situation was that it used to belong to a paedophile or something rather than having part of it changed).

1 hour ago, Bobthedog said:

That is for business sales. Private sales are subject to buyer beware or “caveat emptor” to use the legal expression. 

So even the Harley Benton example is legal?