FDC484950

They managed to source a pearloid pickguard for me so worth asking.

Hope this helps

I got one recently and it came with the cloth bag, a small truss rod tool with a handle, Allen keys for action (and something else, can’t think what it is ast the moment), a sheet listing the controls and a small EB booklet. HTH?

An pickup combination (unless each pickup is independently wired to its own controls and output) results in frequency cancellation of some sort. Jazz basses, MM/J, HH, PJ etc. A Jazz with both pickups on usually has a more scooped sound, ditto for an HH bass. For me the PJ does the same but because of the differing pickup configuration the frequencies can be a bit different (and not quite as appealing to many players apparently). I’d get a PJ for the independent P and J tones as I’m not a massive fan of that scooped all on sound in any configuration. Some say the individual pickup doesn’t sound the same on a PJ and a P or a J but I don’t hear that. In the end it’s your taste that counts. Regarding a rig, as Lozz said, it sounds more like strings and amp configuration rather than pickup types.

A lot of people don’t like Signals because of all the synths and because Alex Lifeson’s guitar takes a bit of a back seat but there are some excellent songs and personally I loved the album from the first time I heard it. It’s aged well. Subdivisions is the standout track but Digital Man is definitely the most fun to play. And that (Rickenbacker?) bass tone! Thanks Rob

I bought Nick’s green Stingray Special 5. He sent it immediately, packaging was bomb/courier proof and he was very helpful when the wonderful courier pretended to deliver it, but didn’t. All was well in the end and it is as light as a feather and sounds fabulous. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy/sell with him again

I’ve played and owned the Professional I, which apart from a less sculpted neck joint, is identical. b string was surprisingly tight and the bass was under 9lbs

I have a Zon Sonus - composite neck including wood and a wood fingerboard injected with resin. Sounds like a slightly more modern jazz bass to my ears. It’s probably the East circuit and the Bart single coils (together with the strings) that influence the tone the most.

I can't ever remember a time in the studio when there wasn't a click track in place, except for some very jam-like blues recordings. Unless the drummer is comparable to someone like Bernard Purdie, Steve Gadd or Jeff Porcaro it's kind of essential to keep them reasonably in time. I was also very active in the late 80s and 90s where so much stuff was sequenced, so got very comfortable playing to a click and making the music breathe. There are some fabulous drummers out there but in my studio time only 1 or 2 could really cut it to record unaided. Plus as others have said, reliance on external backing tracks when gigging kind of mandates an accurate tempo. Is it needed for a jam-scenario or a loose covers band without any of those dependencies? Probably not. I stopped gigging before reliable in ear monitors were affordable; if I were to start up again, I'd definitely welcome a click, not least to maintain the tempo of each song. It's great to lift the tempo a little with songs that can drag, but all too often the speed went up and up (and quality down the toilet) as the gig progressed.

Not necessarily related to music performance but Matt Abrahams’ “Speaking up without freaking out” is great and has lots of good advice and tips for coping with public speaking, which (having had to do both, there are many parallels). It may be blasphemy but I never really enjoyed gigging. I loved playing but all the waiting around, relying on others to turn up/have their kit/can remember the songs/unscrupulous venue owners and getting paid. My worst experience was jazz gigs with no charts where either I had never heard the songs before, or they were in a different key, 1.5 times faster and my ears decided not to work. Definitely a few rabbit in the headlights moments

That works - looks nicer than the black guard and sets off the finish nicely.

Blimey. For an active bass that’s a tiny cavity to fit all that wiring into! The jack socket also seems pushed a long way into the cavity. As a cautionary tale, I took a cheap bass that’s was lacking in something sound wise and spent almost the value of the bass again on US Bart pickups and preamp. Afterward, to my ears, it actually sounded worse. 🙁

Isn’t this rip-off Britain? Everyone thinks they’re being ripped off so wants something for the cheapest possible price. Desperate sellers exist, so if you’ve encountered one before then as a buyer you’re going to chance your arm again. Whether the offer is realistic or not is a moot point. Whilst there are general market rates, many items on sale here are priced wholly unrealistically (for extra credit spot the Fender ads that try to add polish and sparkle with “rare” or “highly regarded” for a very ordinary 2x4, and in the process approach or even exceed the current new price). As a seller you want to maximise return, as a buyer you don’t want to pay a penny more. It’s as it ever was

I have played a lot of basses over the years, 4-7 strings, set neck, bolt on, neck thru and even single piece (Status Empathy). I’ve never found a neck through bass I really liked (Ken Smith BSR Elite G came closest). They seem to lack just a tiny bit of focus. And if a builder as highly regarded as Michael Tobias switched to bolt on necks (he thinks the sound is tighter apparently) who am I to argue? IME it’s actually the lower cutaway rather than the heel that restricts access on most basses.

I feel your pain. I once had a bass collected and watched the courier launch it into the back of his van. It was fine at the other end but I felt sick at the time! I have “Fragile” tape wrapped around all my parcels but that just seems to be a target for couriers to handle it even more carelessly.

The reality is that the bass is very high in the mix and the backing is sparse. Seated properly in a track you might be hard pressed to hear any significant difference. And none of the settings sound “better” to my ears - just different.

My SWR amp (Spellbinder) does as it’s designed to provide phantom power over XLR (in case you want to mic your upright). No idea however whether a phantom powered preamp would work. But in any case it is exceedingly rare on amps nowadays.

Maybe this is why brands like Lakland and Sandberg put a humbucker at the bridge. I’ve had a couple of PJ Fenders over the years and didn’t like either. I have a Dingwall Super PJ coming soon so will see how successful it is. They also use a preset pickup selector rather than VVT or pan, which seems to avoid the same sort of issues people experience with passive pickup blending.

They absolutely can do it on a passive bass and did in the past with no rear routing. It’s a moment’s work with the right long thin drill bit with separate pickup routes but it’s tricky to automate and so is normally done by hand. I suspect these are all CNC routed and for basic contouring so basically a cost and manufacturing efficiency issue. Personally I think it looks awful and really like the look of a jazz without a pickguard (and with).

Royal Mail must be at the forefront of modern technology as they were able to attempt a delivery at my house yesterday morning despite me being 3ft from the front door for 2 hours before and after the time the “attempt” was made. To be clear - they’re lying, neither van nor postie came into my cul-de-sac that morning and the regular postman turned up 3 hours later. No card through the door either. Perhaps someone transported in from another dimension, touched one finger on the front door then vanished because there was no answer? Not a major issue but don’t charge a large sum for Special Delivery when you don’t even attempt to deliver! Not just RM - UPS have failed to deliver my last 3 parcels on time, charged twice for the collection each time and neither they nor PayPal will refund the overcharge or offer any compensation. Of course COVID continues to make work challenging on the ground, but they’re still selling the same “premium” services.