thegummy

59 minutes ago, totorbass said:

I think you got confused in the second line, am I wrong? 

 

By the way I'd more go rw -flats, but mixing is interesting too: I like my Stingray with dead Rotosounds and NYXLs. (sorry I just have a RW precision)

Ah yeah sorry, meant to say rounds on rosewood in the second like.

Thanks for replies everyone. It does seem sensible to try both out.

After spending a good chunk of last night swapping my only current precision to rounds (because it needs to be set up for the differing tension and my bass has the fairly annoying neck joint truss rod adjustment) I was looking for a shortcut but I suppose I only have to do it at first and make a decision.

Cheers

If you had 2 P-basses; one for flats and one for rounds, and one with a maple fretboard, one with rosewood (or similar)...

Would you put rounds on the maple board bass to further exaggerate the brightness and flats on the rosewood to further exaggerate the warmth?

Or put the the rounds on the maple board bass to slightly tame the brightness back in and the flats on the maple board bass to "brighten" it up?

Didn't see anything very exciting but on a practical note - I'm looking to possibly buy a Classic Vibe P and they released a couple of extra colours which I may well prefer.

7 hours ago, Paddy515 said:

PM sent

Didn't get the pm ??

3 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

I ended up building a partscaster with body and neck from someone I know who makes them. I’ve got two now - one solid and one semi. Both hand finished and set up. Both cost less than £500 complete. 44mm nut, shallow neck etc. 

There really was nothing out there equivalent so I felt it was the best way to do it..

I've seen (and admired) the first one on another forum but both are absolute crackers, well done.

Partscaster is an option but the paint job puts me off, it looks like a time consuming process that I just wouldn't be able to do.

4 hours ago, Paddy515 said:

Squier CV 50s P also for sale on the bay if used is a possibility - yes it is mine!!

I won't be buying until at least next year but just to give me a rough idea, how much are you selling it for?

Anyone know any options for buying a single-coil style P-bass that are (preferably a good bit) under a grand?

The only one I can find is the Harley Benton that's actually under £100 and it gets a lot of rave reviews but hard to be confident of a bass at that price.

I see Squier used to make what would be the perfect option but no longer make it.

Any others?

7 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

+1. I love a bit of Indian Yanny.

Hahaha love this

That yellow p bass looks so much nicer than any of the current mim standard models!

57 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

I tried a Squier Affinity P Bass in GuitarGuitar Birmingham yesterday and was knocked out by it, so much so that I decided to buy it on the spot, as I’ve been looking for a cheap Precision beater for rowdy gigs and for my boy to use with his mates. Unfortunately their system was down so they couldn’t accept payments... PJ configuration, striking colour (Race Red) which might not be to everyone’s taste but I liked it; white and black also available. Slim neck too, somewhere between a P and a J.

I also own a J&D Vintage 1963 Precision (just a tad over £100 from DV247) which is excellent and a worthy back up bass. Mine’s currently on long term loan with my daughters band, I might get it back one day... (J&D instruments are amazing for the price, I regularly gig my J&D Jazz alongside my Fender Jazz Deluxe, I rate them highly).

The race red PJ is the one I like the look of!

The slim neck thing is a bit disappointing though, will need to try it out first.

4 hours ago, gary mac said:

I set up and did some fret work on a customer's Squier Affinity P last week. I would have happily gigged it, once those works were completed.

How bad were the frets before you worked on them?

Unfortunately fretwork isn't something I can do.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Squier Affinity seems a popular choice and there's a very nice looking one. Going to check out the one on sale here.

My main bass is a 50s Precision which I love but sometimes when I have a band practice after work I don't want to leave it in my car all day so I take along my Schecter J bass which is less precious/expensive.

No matter how much I try to not care about the tone, it always just annoys me because I just want it to sound like a P.

Any recommendations for the cheapest P bass that you'd actually find acceptable to play? I wouldn't want to go so cheap that it just felt bad but the sound doesn't have to be top notch as long as it sounds like a Precision.

On 5/2/2018 at 22:13, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Maple cap neck too, IIRC the only Fender bass that has one. At least outside of the Custom Shop.

I'm surprised Fender don't make a bigger deal of it - in fact, I don't think they even mention it having one.

Congrats on the new bass 😎

What does the maple cap neck mean?

AndyTravis - best wishes to the baba

59 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Interesting that no one has mentioned the 'sweet spot' theory.

IME, and I've had a few P/J basses and far too many Precisions, having a P/J setup pushes the split-P pickup closer to the neck to make room for the J-pickup.

Whether or not there's a sweet spot, that move has to change the sound of the solo'd split-P as opposed to an equivalent Precision layout.

 

Really? I might be mis remembering but I thought I had measured a few and found the p to be in the same place. That's why I ask this question; if it's different then the answer is obvious.

I'll need to measure again.

If you were going to buy a P-Bass and the exact same one was available but with a good J pickup also installed for the same price, would there be any downside to taking the PJ aside from if you think it would look worse?

Is there a compromise compared to just a P-bass or is the worst thing that could happen is that the J pickup sit there unused and redundant?

3 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

How often do you adjust your intonation.....? You could on the 'inferior parts argument' then replace the Tuners with modern lightweight ones, and go active pickups too?

Not wishing to provoke an argument with you, but for me ( who has a twin saddle bridge on a Telebass) it's part of the charm, like neck dive and sore shoulders!

I'm almost considering offering to swap my screws with yours but only have 2 and they may not be the same threads. I'd love a slotted screw!

 

As you say, different strokes for different folks

For me passive pickups are superior.

I don't mind the tuners on it, I wouldn't be against swapping for better but the tuners are fine to me.

The saddle screws are annoying though but as you say, it's not exactly something I'm altering on a regular basis so might just leave them.

On 4/2/2018 at 16:26, yorks5stringer said:

Why would you want to swap? It's surely part of the heritage? 

Fair enough if that's someone else's cup of tea - I personally really dislike using (IMO) inferior parts purely to be vintage correct.

Is it possible to swap the flat-slotted screwdriver screws that adjust the saddles on the Fender Classic 50s P-bass with screws with a hex top?

If so, what size screws would be needed?

Best way I found was to put them in jiffy bags then keep them all in a tin similar to a biscuit tin.

1 hour ago, Pea Turgh said:

On another bass

Lol I like that answer

I have a bunch of sets of bass strings that I've tried out but are far from actually worn out.

Anyone have any good tips for a good way to store them?

I've bought wd music ones and they're great.

Heard bad things about cheap tort though so for tort I went with genuine fender.

"When I was offered the chance to design these basses with Chapman Guitars I was first shocked as it was something I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do."

Don't know why he's shocked, as the bassist in Chapman's band, it was obvious he'd get a signature bass.

I've tried the carole Kaye method of taping on felt but never was able to get it right, not sure what I was doing wrong.

1 hour ago, Funkfingers said:

The usual weak points on the Korean-made SE series instruments are the pickups, electronics and tuners. 

I worry that the distance between the single coil pickups on the Kestrel will screw up the "Jazz Bass" sounds. Thus, my choice would be the Kingfisher. It 3.5 x 1.5 inch pickups would be ripe for upgrading. 

On my PRS SE guitar, I actually really like the pickups. I went back and forth between the stock and a Seymour Duncan and really liked both but ended up preferring the stock ever so slightly. They were different types of pickup (hot ceramic vs vintage alnico) so it wasn't apples for apples but I think it still looks good for the stock pickup.

The electronics went bad quickly so I agree there. Stock tuners were replaced right away so can't comment there.

Out of interest, what pickup size is that on the Kingfisher; MM, soapbar, other?