TimCook

PRICE REDUCED to £550
 

Here’s a cracking bass which has been shamefully underused in the past 5 years, hence the sale.

It’s a Bassline Buster Classic, made in Germany in 1996. Bassline are a small, custom bass company based in Germany. The new price of this would’ve been circa £1600. A few years ago I contacted Bassline directly who were ace to give me the following wood specs:

Body european ash, hardmaple neck, and a padouk fingerboard

It has LeFay pickups and a Noll 2-band EQ with controls for Volume (push/pull for passive mode), Bass, Treble and Pickup Pan. Nut Width is 38mm and there’s a ‘Zero’ fret. It also has Neutrik locking jack socket and Schaller strap locks (with 2 positions at the bridge end to quickly jump between heights which conveniently also makes it stable resting on the floor).

It’s in ace condition, although I’d note there’s a tiny indent on the scoop up to the fingerboard past the 24th fret and few marks on the lower horn and body edge where I knocked the bass over after posting this ad (see photos in comments). All minor and character adding in my opinion - like us all it’s lived!

Playability wise, it has he slimmest, fastest neck I’ve ever encountered. It’s also super lightweight (3.7kg) so along with the fast neck you can keep going for hours.

I don’t have a gig bag but the bass will be shipped very securely in a Fender cardboard bass box, within hand-carved polystyrene protection.

Any questions or you’d like a test drive, feel free to pop me a message!

Tim

This is very pretty... the last picture appears to be a different bass to the others though (has one less control pot). With a 2-band EQ I'm assuming yours is the one with 3-knobs + toggle?

Bought a Darkglass Super Symmetry compressor from Paul. Great to deal with, fast shipment and well packaged. All good.

Beautiful!!

This looks a beautiful bass. I really can't justify another bass but all the best with the sale.

I bought a Phil Jones Big Head (a headphone amp) off John.

Very easy to deal with, instant communications and delivered straight away. I can't hesitate for a moment to recommend John.

Bass now sold to a cracking fellow BassChatter

Oh wow!!

If this was a 4 string I'd be very interested but I can't play 5 strings so my wallet is safe! Re woods - from the pics I'd say Maple neck (possibly ash sides) and Etimoe body back then guessing at Ebony fingerboard, flamed Maple body top

Hi there from down the river in Hampton Wick... welcome to BC!

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1470757402' post='3108222']
Surprised this is still here!
[/quote]
Me too - somehow not even enticed a viewing yet!

Bumper!

A little update.. I raised the action, pulled back the silk on the 'E' so the nut is well clear and left everything to settle while away at the weekend and the bass now plays beautifully. Cheers for the suggestions guys.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1470205296' post='3103993']
What I would do to start is slacken off the strings. Slacken the Truss Rod. Take the neck off and remove any shims that anyone may have put in the pocket. Then refit the neck, making sure the neck is well seated in the pocket as you do the screws up.

Let the neck settle over night and then re-tune. Then go through a standard set-up. Then if you find the action too high, you might find you want the shim back in, but you need to find out what you have first.
[/quote]
Hi Grangur, thanks for your suggestion... Removing the neck isn't something I'd like to do, as a last resort maybe.
I much appreciate the offer of a second eye/help, I'll have another check when I get in tonight, see if it's settled at all and may well get back to you. 'A very kind offer!

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1470174025' post='3103913']
Loosening the truss rod by a turn or so allowing the neck to develop more relief is safer than tightening it to straighten it out. Checking the relief in the manner you describe has told you correctly that there isn't enough relief. AFAIK you can't damage the truss rod even if you unscrew the adjustment nut completely. The fact that there's fret buzz/rattling near the nut also suggests insufficient relief to me (fret buzz at the dusty end indicates too much relief and buzz along the whole fretboard indicates the action is too low).
[/quote]
Thanks Howiebass, you've reassured me by answering the original question (damage by overslacking) and that I was thinking in the right direction

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1470190139' post='3103981']
Does the bass has a dual action truss rod? Essential really when fitting low tension strings as you can add relief.
[/quote]

Hi Twincam, I'm not sure but you may have hit the nail on the head if not!

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1470173186' post='3103905']


Yes - I was going to say check that the (slighty thicker) string is sitting comfortably in the nut slot
[/quote]

The nut isn't ideal since the silk encroaches very slightly at the back (it's a thick nut) so widening a touch at the exit may help here. However this doesn't solve rattle on fretted notes.

Thanks for the reply and yes, that's exactly what I thought!

I gave it a couple of 1/4 turns on Thursday, then another 1/4 on Friday and left it to settle over the weekend. I've given it another turn earlier tonight but feel it's not doing the trick so am tempted to wind it back to the point where there was last an affect and then make a compromise with raising the action. Again I'll leave it overnight though.

It rattles awfully on open 'E' then there's progressively less rattle until the 10th fret. Short of raising action there's not a lot else I can think of (other than going for the higher tension 0.115 string) if truss rod won't do it. I'm mainly concerned the feeler gauge measures much lower than it should as a starting point.

Hi there, I've recently swapped strings on my bass from 40-100 stainless roundwounds to 50-105 tapewounds (La Bella Gold/White Nylon) so thicker and with much lower tension and am struggling to set it up. I'm getting a lot of rattle from the E-string (the others are fine).

I've loosened the truss rod 4x quarter turns but the E-string is still too close to the fretboard (with the 1st fret capo'd and 24th fret held). On the feeler gauge the string currently moves at 0.008" at the 8th fret - on my other basses I'm perfectly set up at 0.013".

I'm confident the action is correct (I don't play with super low action) so does anyone know many turns is it safe to apply to a truss rod? The last couple of 1/4 turns haven't noticeably changed anything so I'm concerned turning more might only damage it!!

Still up for sale!

What a beauty!

Wow this is stunning. I love the look of the Padauk neck and the 33-35" scale. If only I could justify another bass!

Bump

Thanks for the speedy response, I am seriously considering it - they're a fair bit more than the EXLs but given the positive reviews here probably are worth the try (once I can figure out which gauges I'd be more suited to!)

Hi D'AddarioUK, I don't suppose there are any plans to release a balanced tension set of these? I like your EXL BT's and noticed guitars do already have couple of NYXL balanced tension sets available.