Bass V

my only experience with fretless is my Peavey T-20FL and minus the single coil hum it is so awesome I don't need another fretless, but I wouldn't mind a Pedulla... LOL you should be able to snag a nice one for under $300US like I did. the thin rosewood fretboard really gives a sweet woodiness to the tones which may be unique.

I've always said the Summer of '70 was the greatest time for great RnR when everybody was still alive and most of the best hard bands were established or gearing up to become big names. a few unknown favorites like Captain Beyond, DUST and Budgie were a year away from their beginnings but most of the asskickers were stomping around the globe making a Rock n Roll racket that had never been heard before or since.

Malcolm Bruce shares this rare photo of Jack Bruce with Jaco Pastorius. The sax player is Butch Thomas who said, "That was a spring night in Greenwich Village. I ran into Jaco on the street and he asked me to come and play with him. I met him at 55 Christopher bar and we were sitting there playing and your dad walked in and sat at the table with us and we played jazz standards, and drank beer."

a fact which has stood for decades, my minty $150 Squier VM P/J is 2nd only to my $160 Lotus L-250, or my $180 Epi Toby Std. IV, or the similarly cool $220 Cort Curbow Retro, and $260 T-20FL, etc., but my new $200 Peavey Zodiac is favored over everything, even my wonderful L2KT and T-40. admittedly, I'm in no rush to try anything pricier.

I'm interested in the Surf Green version of this Dean http://www.deanguitars.com/stylist_cabbie_bass.php

I've come to specialize in cheap / inexpensive basses, under $200 US, and I find costlier pieces are the ones which get the dustiest. my '65 Fender, L2KT, and T-40 are great but my stable of no-respects hang just as well and my latest, a $200 foreign Peavey Zodiac BXP cleans out the entire lot! weight, comfort, feel, tone, you name it and we have another winner! but then, I've either been lucky with the cheapos or who needs to pay over $300?

I made the most of the industrial look and blinged mine with flush reflective inlays along the edges, then doweled the inner holes and re-finished those from view. looking sharp with or without the plate! you got'r at a steal still, there's a lot of bass under those strings for such a pittance!

GOTTA LUVIT! my favorite color scheme. have you had a look under the plate? sometimes these nats are great looking without the scratchplate as well. what strings did you go with? I'm dying to try some flats but not at the expense of the mystery rounds kicking donkey on mine. ...$60 really? wow!

that pg looks great, I'd like a good rosewood Sco'diac, I shoulda got yours! the neck is crazy small on these basses but I'm used to it now, easy when you're happy!

and the Peavey Zodiac / Scorpion BXP Club is born! LOL

wow, I mean WOW! what a cool post. I can't imagine breaking strings, on mine they just lay on the grooved barrels, I don't see how it could even happen... I play soft, and so far so good. LOL I like mine too much to change a thing, and my fingers ache just thinking of plucking so hard to break a string, but go for it my man, I found you on fb so I'm looking forward to hearing the power! but to have 5 Zodiacs is a heartwarming thing to hear, great to know there is some love out there for them! I'm thinking mine is taking over as #1, it's just that good. crazy how there's such a drastic difference with the white / rosewoods and confirms my suspicions that those were generally the ones which got these a quasi-bad rep, what a shame. my maple / burst with a bit of buckle rash was somebody's player and this gave me more confidence in choosing it, it paid off, or I simply lucked out ...just as good. how some of these could have thinner necks is shocking, if this neck was any thinner / skinnier it wouldn't exist! I like some chunk but damn if I didn't acclimate fast, it's super comfortable except at the nut where it just disappears. I'd been looking long and hard for the huge sound I'm getting and now I'm trying to ween myself off the desire for and old Gibson mudbucker or similar Fender Tele now that I've got that beefy tone, without the bad kinda mud. HAIL THE ZODIAC! https://www.facebook.com/chrismuzzbass/

oh boy, glad to see some Peavey luv on the 'chat, even for a little know gem like the Zodiac, and now that the honeymoon is over I'm delighted to report the lifetime bonding has begun even with a toothpick neck which completely disappears in my mitt at the nut. the BIG DEEP sound this baby lets out just from the bridge J is delicious when giving the amps a turn on the bass knob. then turn that knob back down and go for the P and fugetaboutit, it's everything I've been dreaming for when lusting after an EBO violin or a beefy Fender Tele w/neck 'bucker and capable of exactly the beefy wooly woof ala Felix and Bruce that I've been hoping for out of any bass I consider, yet without any negatives common to some of the famed boxy sized PUs. surprisingly, the swapped in EMG HZs are coming thru like champs far more than I'd expected, and that it's a smaller sized light bass adds to the positives as I try to stick with more comfortable basses these days. I watched this thing online for nearly half a year as the price kept dropping from almost $300 to what I needed it to be and the seller made it happen once we tossed the case and popped the neck off so UPS shipping totaled my price needs. I even had to send $300 cash, arggh, and then the second my $$ arrived the store owner went on !surprise! vacation... so imagine my tension, plus nobody would step up and simply box it and hand it to the driver. after decades of insanity I'm not one for patience in these deals yet it never fails that something crazy seriously delays the easiest of transactions from the seller's end, but it was worth the wait, the hair pulling, and some wall punching LOL. other than my preference for chunkier necks I couldn't be happier, even with the silly scratchplate screws standing out it eventually really appealed to me and doesn't look the same without them so some jeweled studs will take their place even tho I adore the look with the plate on, which was sent along. these Zodiacs really are off the radar and it seems the burst / maple board version gets the positive reviews over a majority of the color bodies with rosewood boards, very odd, so I'm glad after all the other ones I failed to secure it was my first and best choice that I ended up with. I've been lucky with inexpensive basses and this is the new crowning jewel which has definitely lessened the GAS for more basses. maybe some day they'll be discovered and even get some respect.

on the facebook page you'll see Gary's fill, Adam Ah Sing carrying on in his own fine Swinging upright style

thank you, and yes I have fairly recent examples of Gary Aiko singing and playing upright in an 'Olelo production I Dir./Prod. in discovering great Hawaiian music c1975 I quickly fell in love with the 'less is more' mentality of it all and this video represents that style at it's best https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Ingano-Trio-1655875444640256/

in very limited reviews these P/Js have gotten the full range of opinions tossed at them, and oddly it seems the maple / bursts tended to lead the pack in positive columns compared to the butterscotch / maple, but worst in the various colors / rosewood, some calling them dogs but enuf glowing comments by other serious users to warrant further attention. unfortunately, there's precious little info on the Zodiac in US searches and maybe I can find some interest over here where Peavey and other great brands get the respect they deserve. anybody had the pleasure? the model in original form https://reverb.com/item/11037103-peavey-zodiac-free-shipping?gclid=CjwKCAjww6XXBRByEiwAM-ZUIOi1ag4fIMIfFHH7HUtLtt96iEm7dsdy9EziX3fogts66F6f1PHwExoC5zEQAvD_BwE&pla=1 here's the naked one I've been lusting over and should have by this weekend, $200, I guess the previous owner liked the looks sans guard and so do I.

howzit, b'chatters, (Bass V@talkbass, Ron) happy to be aboard and checking out the fun stuff from half a planet away! in a nutshell... I've been in Honolulu since '75, for better or worse my perspective is different than most folks with Hawaiian steel guitar being my main focus for the many decades, but Hawaiian bass was a surprising discovery early on and I'm lucky to have known some of the best in that classic genre should anybody remembers names like Gary Aiko, Benny Kalama, and Walter Mo'okini. I snagged my first bass in '83 a '65 Fender BASS V (from local luthier Jimmy Muneno for a whopping $275 which I'm currently researching the best neck bend restoration process for ...probably heat press) and have amassed a farmload of stringed critters along the way, bass being my #1 passion into retirement. 0)