FDC484950

Did you do the lottery that night? You must have been feeling lucky to have emerged from a MyHerpes transaction unscathed To be fair Interparcel did cough up for me a few years ago when a motorcycle screen I thought was in bombproof packaging (and apparently made of unbreakable material) was destroyed by the courier in transit. They asked for photos of the delivery (probably to claim back from Parcelfarce) and paid out in about a week. If I were sending something £1,000-plus I’d be more nervous.

Something lost in translation there Mr H. Nothing even slightly controversial in @Kev’s post. Here in the UK buying a service becomes a contract between buyer and seller. Therefore your first and only course of action when there are problems is to go to the seller. However, it all becomes a bit murky when they’re a broker of other services (like just about any kind of insurance). You think you’re reading the broker’s terms and conditions when booking, but it’s more likely to be either the courier’s, or a combination of both. In the case of a missing or damaged parcel, you may have put £500 cover in and paid for it on the broker website - but it doesn’t mean you’re covered as it depends what the courier offers, and also what items they offer cover for. There are some very slippery terms and conditions in broker contracts. This is why I never, ever use companies like Parcel2Go or Interparcel for anything of any significant value. Paradoxically when posting basses, signing up with an account directly with UPS offers the same services for far less than Interparcel, genuine transit cover (but make sure the bass is in a hard case and boxed) and your contract is directly with the courier (I pay with credit card too for an extra layer of purchase protection in case things go wrong, not sure whether I would actually have a claim but it can’t hurt). The other option is of course separate transit cover, but that’s usually significantly more expensive. I guess all courier services are fine until something goes wrong…

It was a newer one (2019), 5 string. I have neo pickups and the same 4-band EQ in my Big Al so I knew it would sound great. Something else caught my eye anyway 😍

I was out before 2022 started, and now I’m doubly out

I thought they were called Airport Convection?

It’s certainly good to know that you can see the light. I’ve probably had a go on over 100 precisions over the years, owned a few too, from 60s and 70s vintage models to Jap, Mexican, Chinese and US models. I’ve genuinely not liked any of them. Each one I’ve bought has lasted a month or two and then been shifted. Strange as I do like the sound of a P bass on record, and from 10 feet away an old Fender looks great, but I just don’t get on with them. It doesn’t help that so many of them weren’t very good basses, acoustically or plugged in.

Yes, I know it’s been on the site for about a year, didn’t see it was for sale, sold and now back for sale. Maybe it came back? The newer ones (not sure what year but possibly 2016-2018) have the lighter, smaller tuners that they now use on the Stingray Specials.

Is that actually in stock though? It’s been there for months with “details coming soon”. It’s also the older model with the massive tuners. TBH I’ve finally had a chance to try one and whilst the tone is great, that bottom horn is kind of a deal breaker, numb leg after 20 minutes. Shame.

Thanks, I’d love it if they had the regular Bongo for sale there but I guess that would impact retailers. The JM string spacing is far too tight for me

There has been a shortage since mid 2020 (I guess we all know the main contributing factor). I asked at a few UK and European dealers late last year and none could say when their next delivery would be, nor would they taking orders. I’m sure it’ll recover in time.

If they had any I think my comment was just a thinly-veiled pop at some of the prices out there

A new Bongo 6 in the sparkly Harvest Orange has popped up at Pro Music Tools in Germany. I’ve never bought anything from them and their website is just Euros. However €3,749 ends up (less German VAT plus shipping plus duty and UK VAT and the likely rubbish exchange rate) at about £3,600 delivered 🙄 That’s a bit different to the $2999 listed as the “street price” on the MM Website…

I don’t have exact numbers but would be willing to guess that I’ve had a good play on over 1000 different 5- and 6-strings (I’ve owned well over 200). I’ve not played every make and model of course but for example, I have played several Fender Jazz 5s going back 20 years, Stingray and Sterling 5s from the early 90s to 2020, loads of Yamaha and Ibanez, Corts, over 50 Warwicks (various models), to more esoteric makes like PRS, Patrick Eggle, MPG (remember Matt Pulicinella?), all even reasonably well-known British makes to through neck and/or bolt-on Roscoe, Tobias, MTD, Ken Smith, Sadowsky, Fodera, Dingwall, Spector, Lakland, G&L, Modulus, Alembic, F-bass, Pedulla, Zon… the list goes on I want the same thing on every bass: for the B string to have the same basic tone, character and clarity as the other strings - right up the fretboard to the 12th fret and beyond. Best 34” scale B - Warwick Streamer LX with Wenge neck. Warwick Streamer Stage 1, Ken Smith BSR Elite G and Modulus Quantum Q6 a close second, honourable mention for Sire V7. Best B on any bass - Dingwall ABZ. Worst B - any Fender Jazz 5 (literally every single one I’ve played or owned had a rubbish B). Roscoe Beck and Dimension 5 were OK.

Unwanted wolf tones or overtones are IMHO mostly down to two root causes: 1) pickups too close to the string 2) twist in the string You've already adjusted the string. It’s very easy to twist the B string slightly when fitting. Fender-style bridges where it’s a hole that the string is brought through but with short bridge screws (and therefore a small gap between saddle and back of bridge) are the most prone to locking the string in place. I had a Fender Dimension with a thick high mass bridge and it was almost impossible to fit the string without twisting it. The symptoms are a dull string and strange annoying overtones. You might be able to restring it but in many cases the string is already knackered. It’s not talked about much but I’ve played quite a few basses that have a dull B where a new string, very carefully fitted, made a big difference. It’s never been a problem for me with a bass that has a long run from the saddle to the back of the bridge (e.g. a Warwick with a separate tail piece). Whilst a high end bass should have better quality materials and construction it’s no guarantee of a good B. I played a £10K Fodera whose B string was rubbish (it wasn’t the string), and the Sire V7 I owned had a better B than the US Fender Ultra I owned before it at less than a third the price. A stiff, consistent neck with good contact points at nut and bridge and a partially taperwound B tend to help. Neck material doesn’t really make much of a difference - my Canadian Dingwalls and Music Man Sterling/Big Al all have fantastic B strings, and previously I’ve had a Modulus Q6 and a Ken Smith BSR Elite G with an outstanding low B.

You’re right - I’ve seen a Sterling in that colour in the flesh and it just wasn’t very nice. The Bongo seems to have some interesting paint finishes, from black and silver to some sparkle red, orange and yellow. The harvest orange on the current line up looks fantastic, but very few seem to have made it out of the US in the last year or so, and I gather they’re well over £3K now 😐

Egyptian Smoke apparently. More like yellow-grey bum rain

Thanks, very helpful, I’ll take a look.

Ah thanks, however the Gallery isn’t a shop I want to visit, I’ve had a couple of run-ins with them and some appalling service in the past. Anyone else?

Hello everyone, I’m interested in a potential purchase of a Music Man Bongo. One area that concerns me is the bottom horn, which has a pronounced point. I need to know whether it digs into your leg when playing seated. There seem to be conflicting opinions on this - some think it’s just fine but others find it a problem. I can’t seem to locate any for sale in a shop within 100 miles of me, and rather than guess on a buying a bass that is abroad with no realistic chance of returning, does anyone in London/South/South East have a Bongo (4/5/6, doesn’t matter) I could try, just for 20 minutes? Thanks

“Free metronome with every purchase.” /coat

Is this a new kind of spambot? I’ve seen maybe a dozen zombie threads with a new member bumping since just before Christmas…

Individual tastes are based on opinion, which is what I thought the forum was about… Yes, the SR range is a good example - and ever growing and changing list of models where it’s really only the finish and perhaps the top that changes. They’ve had a pretty long and confusing list of SR models over the years (e.g. the “new” green one which is not really different to previous models, or the W versions of late which are wider string spacings). They also have a propensity for gluing lots of wood together - they’re certainly not alone in this but I find some of their creations hideous. I don’t need inspiring electronics either but across the basses I’ve owned I’ve either totally ignored the EQ as I found it unmusical, or ended up really rather disliking it. The pickups have changed as they have put mostly Aguilar or Nordstrand in most medium and high end basses in the last 5-10 years (with some still sporting Bartolini). I have had plenty of basses with wenge and love the wood. The finish on the SR5006 was horrible - neither oiled nor shiny, but some kind of dry finish that felt tacky on the neck and rather odd in the body. Mine weighed 5.2Kg and the neck dived for the floor immediately (as do all Ibanez SR 6 strings and many 5s because the neck usually quite dense hardwood and the body is thin and downsized). I get that people like them, and I have no problem with that at all. Have owned quite a few and played many more, I just don’t like their basses very much, which is just as valid an opinion as yours

I wondered that too. I sometimes get the feeling they’re trying too hard to be a jack of all trades rather than a master of a smaller number of product lines. I’ve owned a fair few Ibanez basses in my time and never kept one for long, mostly because I found the electronics uninspiring and the overall package often falls a little flat (e.g. the SR5006, which was very neck heavy, the B string was dull and the C string very scratchy, and the finish just looked and felt odd to me). At least they should be applauded for offering something a little different like the EHB range and short scale 5 string. I prefer something a little more special these days

It would be a lot easier to diagnose if we could see and hear it. Yes, at the 5th fret there is a harmonic because it’s an exact subdivision (1/4) of the string length - any plucked stringed instrument will sound harmonics (basically overtones) in this way at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/3 length etc. All stringed instruments, produce a sound that is a combination of the fundamental (the note you’re playing), plus several overtones. If you’re fretting and still hearing the harmonic it could be a technique thing, but if you’re sure the string is being pressed down with no fret buzz, and particularly given the location, it could be what’s known as a dead spot, which is a location where the fundamental sounds a lot quieter, so naturally the overtones appear much louder. 4 in a line headstocks and basses made with one piece (which may or may not have a separate piece for the fingerboard) tend to be more prone to this, but it’s possible on any wooden necked instrument and it’s often heard between frets 5-7 on the thinnest string. The other possibility is the nut slot for that string has been cut too low, and the length of string from the nut to your finger is making a high-pitched sound, but given you can hear it through your amp I think we can rule this out (as Maude said). These overtones also explain your second question. When you play one string, the other string(s) will sound in sympathy because of those same overtones. How much you hear depends on the note you’re playing and the depth in pitch of the “open” strings. A low E string (and especially a low B) can start vibrating, muddying your playing. The answer is to use a combination of the fretting and plucking hand/thumb/palm to mute open strings.