fingerz

I've just put a deposit down on a Custom Shop '64 relic Jazz bass from Dan. I would like to highly recommend Dan as someone who is knowledgeable, friendly and very up for accommodating your needs. I had seen this specific bass before and really liked it, so when it came up for sale on BC I decided I had to PM the seller. Messages were quickly responded to, very thorough, and interesting - no crazy opinions, just good bass 'geekery' back and forth which gave me loads of confidence. Dan offered me the opportunity to try out the bass under no obligation, and when I confirmed my visit he put the bass on hold for me until I had checked it out. It had flats fitted as advertised, I had mentioned I would always rather check out a bass with rounds on it - Dan fitted rounds for me just to try it out! How cool is that?! Very accommodating. I had a good feeling about that bass and it didn't disappoint. Suffice to say we agreed on a price and the deal was done. Dan took a deposit and I'm looking forward to picking up the bass next week. A top bloke, and very trustworthy seller. Highly recommended. Thanks Dan! Jo

Aha, I thought the idea might have been to taper the neck top to bottom where it meets the body to keep the pocket the same, I misunderstood and thought it seemed a bit of a challenge!

Has anyone mentioned the bridge?! You will probably need to fit a narrower spaced bridge to stop your strings disappearing off the side of your fingerboard of your narrowed neck. You may wish to cut a new nut too to keep a familiar tapered feel, this might also be essential if you are shaving the neck all the way up to the headstock (assume you'd have to?).

It's worth noting different strings have different tension. You might want to try experimenting with something that has higher tension so you don't choke them out so easily.

It's a shame the truss rod is tricky to get to. I had a student with a Geddy jazz, neck profile felt identical to my trusty Mij 75 reissue. My neck is stable but the odd tweak is really easy as it has a bullet truss rod. Being able to tweak tension is important if you set up 'close to the edge' (!).

As far as I'm aware EMG are one of the only active pickups widely used on basses. Think of 'Active' as meaning 'powered'. EMG Pickups actually use power from a battery source to operate. They are very very quiet, and have their own sound.. The advantage of them is how quiet they are, and are favoured by players in high intensity environments where noise can cause a problem. Lots of the time people call a pickup 'Active' but it's not. It's usually a form of humbucker, which operates like a normal magnetic pickup, but due to the deign and resistance of the magnets, can have a lower output. Used passive they can be too quiet, and don't have that 'Traditional' tone expected from a passive bass. So they are usually married to a Preamp which is 'Active' so it will, A)Increase output and B)Give better tone shaping. It's about noise rejection, and tone shaping. It's rare to find Active pickups, but especially on bass, they will also have an active preamp, and take their power from that power source. More commonly its 'insert pick up type here' (not active), married to a pre amp onboard. My favourite sound though is always a really good sounding passive bass with a pair of single coils.. Hope that helps (sorry if it's clear as mud!)

Yeh sounds like your strings are 'choking' when you dig in. Check your neck relief too, if your neck is straight letting a touch of tension off the truss rod might make the world of difference. No major issue here at all, just set up.