cgg199

I'm open to offers, let me know!

Price drop to £650

Here's a 1979 Fender Musicmaster which I've had for the past few months. I bought it as a project because I wanted to try out a short scale bass but have decided I prefer by P bass. 

All the information is to the best of my knowledge but if anything is obviously wrong please let me know.

The bass has clearly had work done so I'll list everything I can.

Finish on both the neck and body - The neck is waxed with only the headstock face retaining the original finish. Unfortunately there are some drips from when a previous owner brushed the entire back of the neck with amber poly. I stripped the back of the neck myself and applied the wax finish which feels very nice to play. The body was also stripped and brushed with amber poly before I bought it. I have tried to smooth this off and give a satin/matte finish. It looks okay from a distance but up close it's obviously not a professional job. The control knobs and pickup cover had also been sprayed navy blue, however I managed to clean both so there are no traced of the blue paint.

The pickguard and pick guard screws - A previous owner had cut the pick guard down to a small control plate so I had Jon Shuker make a new one based of a template from another BC's '78 Musicmaster. I still have the small control plate portion of the original pick guard.

The screw on the E string tuner gear - This was missing when I bought the bass, and a new Schaller had to be dismantled for this. I dismantled and cleaned all the tuners as it was struggling to hold tune when I bought the bass - this is not a problem now.

I believe everything else is original including the electronics and hardware. After I finished working on the bass it was taken to Jon Shuker for a fret level and set up. One bridge adjustment screw had been superglued in place, however I believe Jon managed to sort this and adjust the saddle height accordingly. The bass is currently strung with Dunlop Rounds. 

I think that covers everything however if I can think of anything else I'll update the advert. Don't hesitate to ask any questions.

I bought this pedal a few years back not long after I started playing, not really knowing how to use it. I've never really got into using pedals so have decided to sell it after very little use. I think everyone knows what these things do!

It's in as new condition with the box and all original packaging. The box is slightly faded but the pedal itself is great. There's no velcro on the bottom and I can't find any marks. 

Happy to post for a little bit extra, any questions feel free to ask!

I paid £250, and that was fore a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, specified shape/size and lines inlayed on the side of the neck in the fret positions.

Thanks very much for all the information and pictures! I'm making slow progress still, but I feel once the pick guard is sorted I'll be on the home straight!

Perfect thank you Andy! Just one more quick question, how is the pickup attached to the pick guard, do the screws go all the way into the body?

I guess it depends on what the original poster is really after. I wanted a very specific neck, which although simple, couldn't have been found without going to a luthier. Plus the option of having the neck shaped to replicate my main P bass appealed!

Got a few more questions as I dig deeper into this rebuild. Should the pickup have foam underneath, as they do on other fender basses? And are the pickup screws standard pickup screws as found on a P or J bass?

It seems one of the things that was done to the bass was attach the pickup to the body using two of the left over pick guard screws!

I'd recommend dropping Jon Shuker a line. He built a fretless neck for my 4 string jazz bass and did a great job for a very reasonable price!

Cheers for sending that link, but unfortunately Tony is right. I'll have to stick with my previous plan!

That would be great if you could check!

It looks very clean in that photo! I'll hopefully be able to post some progress pictures as I work on the bass!

That's brilliant thanks Tony, a massive help! I believe mine still has all the original electronics, however what with uni I've only been able to look over it very briefly. A previous owner (who also stripped the finish) thought it would be a good idea to the pickup and control knobs navy blue so that's another job for summer. It appears they even tried to paint the bridge!

Here's a picture of it for reference.

14 hours ago, tony_m said:

I'm away at the mo, but will do you a copy of my S8 serial Musicmaster p/g when I get home in a couple of days. Give me a nudge at the weekend in case I forget! 👍

That's perfect thankyou! Mine's an S8 aswell so it should be spot on!

The bass pictured isn't mine, that was just an example of the pickguard shape, as musicmaster basses came with two subtly different designs. A previous owner cut it down to just a small control plate unfortunately!

I'm about to start work on getting my 1978 Musicmaster bass back up to a gigging standard. It needs a new pick guard amongst other things, however having seen the price of these online, I'm looking for a cheaper alternative. I was wondering if anyone else with a Musicmaster would be able to trace and scan their pick guard for me.

My bass appears to have the pick guard design that hugs the bottom of the neck, similar to the photo below,  as I know two pickguard designs were used.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks for all the replies, it confirms what I already thought! 

I've recently purchased as 1978 Fender Musicmaster with the plan of cleaning it up and turning it back into a gigging bass. For the most part, I can tell what's original and what isn't, however I have no idea with the neck finish. I was wondering if there's any obvious ways of telling, and if anyone here may be able to shed a little light.

Anyway, here's the bass in question

Thanks Lownote, that's great help! I need to include as much research as possible, and the points you have raised seem to back up my survey completely!

Thanks very much to everyone for helping me!

It is rather difficult with the whole branding myself as a session musician without being part of this industry on a professional level. The idea of the task is to show us all how we can research the current market in order to find where we fit in and how we can succeed in this field. Naturally the majority of people are going down the route of live performers, such as bands, which usually serve in an entity in themselves, whereas I'm looking at more of a portfolio career. It's clear having spoken to my tutors that completing this task with session musicianship in mind is slightly harder,  however much of the research is the same process. 

I have never seen myself or any other aspiring musician in my position to be a brand, however with the assignment and the way it is constructed, I have to take this route. The suggestions above about session players who are brands is useful as I hadn't considered researching those particular players in that way!

Once again, thanks very much everyone!

Hi, I'm currently studying music at uni and am in the middle of a business module. As part of this module we have to create a musical brand and work out how to market it through market research and other forms of marketing theory. I've chosen to go down the route of a session bassist, as this is what I aspire to do in the future and therefore am collecting market research for this. I know we're all mainly bassists here, but it would be much appreciated if you could fill in the survey, particularly anyone with experience of producing, songwriting or leading a band.

The questions are pretty basic and it should only take a few minutes. If you think I have left anything important out, please let me know!

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJ7MPS2

Many thanks!

On 26/08/2018 at 09:37, casapete said:

There’s a Fender 200 Rumble combo for sale on here at the moment, priced at a very reasonable £200. Really loud for their rating, lightweight and sound great. No tuner, but there’s always the option of a cheap clip on.......runs for cover....😁

That Fender Rumble is mine so thankyou! I'm going to be biased but it's a great amp and I've never needed any more when playing functions, pop punk gigs or big band gigs!

Final Price Drop to £200

Really would like to get rid of this quickly now as it's just been sitting for a while!

I'm selling my Fender combo which had a snapped logo so Mark kindly sent a new logo as a replacement completely free of charge! People like this make Basschat such a great place!

New Logo courtesy of Discreet