Rexel Matador

[quote name='keeponehandloose' timestamp='1483740130' post='3209833'] Fx pedals have the input and output on the wrong sides. Input should be on left, out on right. [/quote] I wondered about that recently too when setting up a pedalboard. It's weird to us because our language goes that way, right? If we spoke Arabic, Hebrew etc it would seem perfectly sensible.

At first I read that as "neither" and it made me chuckle.

I prefer to identify as the latter. I don't know why. How about you? I'm genuinely curious...

The A string on my Fender P Bass rattles at the bridge due to insufficient break angle at the nut. Fender will gladly sell me a string retainer to rectify this issue which is their fault in the first place. I just wanted to join in. I still love this bass more than pretty much any human being I can think of!

I sold Marc some strings. Prompt payment and great communication. A pleasure to deal with.

Bought a bridge from Alan. Smooth quick transaction, fast delivery and great communication. Highly recommended.

This is all very interesting and is pretty much the reason I asked. It seems like the love for Matt Freeman's signature bass only slightly crosses over with the love for the man himself and his ouevre. It's just a consistently great and affordable precision bass, hence why I'm mystified that it's no longer available. So good that it's a threat to the Mexican standard? And I remember reading another thread (possibly here, or possibly over on Talkbass) when it first came out. Someone questioned what was even so "signature" about it. It's just a p bass, isn't it? (For the record I think he's wonderful. Rancid are hit and miss but Freeman always brings it.)

[quote name='Mister RLP' timestamp='1483703819' post='3209354'] I have a bit of gas for a USA precision but there is very little to fault with my Matt Freeman. Excellent build. Good weight. Plays well. It's a keeper. [/quote] Why on earth did they discontinue the Matt Freeman? I've never heard a bad word about them. Is it because Rancid aren't quite as popular as they once were?

Thanks Happy Jack. I tried that and it's the string. I think it's a case of another wind or two on the next string change.

They're all already wound down the post. Unfortunately it seems it doesn't go down quite far enough.

Having raised the action on my P bass, I now find that the open A string is buzzing at the nut. I think that this is caused by the higher action meaning that the angle at the nut is slightly insufficient. (If I press slightly on the part of the string between the nut and the tuner and play the note, the buzz goes away. I don't think it's coming through the amp, so I suspect that the best solution is to live with it for now and then, when I next change the strings, do a couple more windings on the machine head so the string is pushed down a bit lower. Is this a common? Does my diagnosis sound right? Or is there something else I might have missed?

I took up bass about 6 months ago recently after playing guitar for years. I went straight for a long scale and found that I adjusted pretty quickly. When I first picked up a Fender Precision it felt like a cricket bat and I thought "why do people love these so much?". It really didn't take very long at all for it to feel normal. It's not like when your hands first had to adjust to playing guitar. Most of the work is already done. I would go long because, as already mentioned, you will have a lot more choice (and, given that you're on basschat, it seems fairly inevitable that you will feel an irresistible urge to fill your house with the damn things before too long ). Just my 2 cents.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1483445210' post='3207131'] I have the rosewood version, a really nice neck on it (2013). I'm slowly "de-chroming" it, so may get a black bridge. - Don't listen to them, leave the pickguard alone, else it will look awful! [/quote] I'm inclined to agree. I like to tinker, so it's always tempting to change it, but I think I'll leave it alone for now.

Steve Digiorgio plays fretless bass in a whole bunch of metal bands - he might be worth checking out.

After coming across this thread I looked around online and found them in stock in one or two other places. I emailed one shop and they said that they were indeed discontinued and they had received them, IIRC, about six months ago. So I suspect the one in the link above is probably left over from the earlier run, rather than a new line.

I have an Ibanez SR300E that I bought new about 6 months ago. You say you like a thin neck and this thing is as thin as it gets. It was great for me as I was switching from guitar. A lot of people have very good things to say about them, particularly given how cheap they are. It's served me reasonably well and is very very easy to play. I have the pearl white finish and it looks awesome. It has two humbuckers with coil splitting options, and active eq (the pickups themselves are actually passive), so there is a large variety of tones available to you. The thing is, I could never quite find one that I really liked. I tried it through various amps etc and it always seemed to lack a certain "clarity" that I was looking for. It has a lot of power but it's difficult to harness/focus that power (sorry, it's quite hard to put into words!). I guess all that depends on your style though. I'm playing mostly hard rock - as soon as I plugged in my new Fender Precision I realised that that was what I needed all along. The Ibanez is about as far from that as you can get, so no wonder it didn't quite work for me. I also found that an hour or two of playing with a pick at a rehearsal caused the saddle height screws to loosen and drop the action right down. I fixed this with some Loctite thread locker and the bridge is otherwise pretty nice. It's nice and chunky and has grooves to stop the saddles wiggling from side to side. To be fair, I don't know anything about Ibanez's quality control standards. Maybe there are better ones out there. I didn't really know what I was looking for when I bought it and I liked the neck. To summarise: Insanely thin neck, very easy to play, looks cool, BUT, for all it's bells and whistles, it still sounds like a mediocre inexpensive instrument. Hope this helps!

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1483138391' post='3205074'] If was proper sea foam green I'd be delighted with it, but from what I've seen from photographs and the one video I could find (in German) on YouTube I think it might be a bit 'flash' for my tastes. [/quote] I get that. It's definitely not one of your timeless Fender finishes.

[quote name='Thunderpaws' timestamp='1483178628' post='3205178'] My p bass has the bent plate bridge on it. What does the high mass bridge do that offers an advantage tone wise? Is it purely for sustain? If so, my bent plate seems to sustain pretty well. [/quote] To be honest, I'm perfectly happy with the way the bass sounds, but I would prefer a bridge where the plate has grooves for the saddles - I play quite hard with a pick so they get knocked about a bit. The G string saddle, in particular, seems quite prone to waggle from side to side.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1483137444' post='3205060'] Brilliant cheers, they've now move a bit closer to the top of the list. Now I need to decide if I can live with the surf pearl or whether I want to pay an extra £70 odd quid for a white one which I will definitely find more aesthetically pleasing. [/quote] Horses for courses, I suppose, but the surf pearl finish is pretty awesome "in the flesh"

That switching from bass to guitar at the age of 14 might just have been the start of a 20 year detour. It's great to be back. Harder than it looks, isn't it? Edit: Oh, and also that Basschat is almost certainly the friendliest corner of the entire internet.

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1483135002' post='3205037'] I don't even like red basses much (i actually went shopping with the intention of buying a white/maple Precision) but the colour is growing on me. [/quote] It's amazing how that can happen. I once went to buy an acoustic guitar and found the model I wanted, heavily discounted, but in blue. "A blue acoustic guitar?" I thought, "How ludicrous". But the price was right so I relented and took it home. Years later, I had several much higher quality acoustics but couldn't bring myself part with it *purely* because of how good I thought it looked. Complete 180.

What a lovely place Basschat is. No-one I know in "real life" would be remotely interested in my new acquisition. Thanks everyone

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1483123036' post='3204904'] I very interested in these. Would you say the neck is a standard precision or a Jazz? Or maybe somewhere between the two? I've decided to treat myself to a new PJ in January and these are pretty near the top of my list of potentials. [/quote] It has a 1.5" nut, like a standard Jazz, and definitely feels less chunky than any other Precision I've played (though my experience of them is very limited).

I'm curious about those E string detuner things. My initial response was "wow what a cool idea, surely that can't possibly work." So... does it?

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1483126837' post='3204946'] If you want a bridge that is a little cheaper than the Gotoh I have a virtually unused high-mass bridge I'm thinking of getting rid of. It is like a Gotoh but the string-retainer block is solid rather than hollow as it is on the Gotoh. [/quote] Tell me more! Brand, price, etc? PM me if you prefer. [quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1483126837' post='3204946'] Also, top bass! I would stick a black pickguard on there! [/quote] I was thinking the same thing - it would even match my Telecaster. But there's just something about it as it is. I think perhaps it reminds me of Wayne's World. [quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1483122494' post='3204900'] I went shopping a few days ago for exactly that bass (but down south) - a shop had it for £529. Called ahead to make sure they still had it (and its rosewood cousin for a comparison), yep all good. [/quote] I'm glad to hear it all worked out in the end. Coincidentally I just saw a great deal on a mint condition used one, just like mine but with the rosewood board. I would have saved a bit of money but I'd had my heart set on the maple for a long time and I'm really glad I didn't compromise now.