OutToPlayJazz

Welcome to BC! Those are two very nice bass choices, but also very different basses you've listed there... The Fender American Standard V is a lovely bass with all the nice modern Jazz bits like the posiflex graphite neck support rods, thinner undercoat, high mass bridge & light weight tuners, etc. It also has one of the nicest 5-string necks around with just about the most generous string spacing as well. The Sterling is a completely different bass - A very powerful active 3-band eq preamp, hugely bright ceramic pickups etc, with the options of on board parallel//single coil/series settings. I suppose the choice between these two is a straight contrast between modern and punchy versus classic and warm. This is the kind of comparison only you can do with your own hands and ears. My personal preference (if it's to be your main bass) would be the Sterling, as it'll do so much so well, but as I said, that's down to you. As for amplification, I'd be looking not only for a practise amp, but something you can also get out and gig with. For the price of a decent Roland Bass cube (30 or 100w) you can get a new Ashdown Electric Blue 180 15" combo. These are ample for many until the volume gets out of hand! As a for instance, I recently got a pupil his first bass package (he'd been with me previously as a cello pupil for a while), which was a new trans black Epiphone Thunderbird Pro 4 & the Ashdown amplifier above. By buying the larger amplifier, you don't need to upgrade it as soon as you want to go out and play (when the time comes!) QED? Alternative 5-strings in the sort of style & price range you're looking at are very commonplace, but see if you can get to play a Lakland Skyline 45-01 (massive value and huge tonal range/great sound) & a few Warwick 5-strings as well. Obviously everyone will point you towards the bass [i]they[/i] think is best, but the only real solution is to get to as many dealers as you can and see which bass feels right in your hands. Best of luck with it all! Rich

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='847056' date='May 24 2010, 11:47 PM']Two responses to this: #1 Let's be fair it's cost versus benefit. If it was essential, carbon fibre would've replaced wood by now. As it stands, operations like Status Graphite while well-respected remain small businesses catering to a small market of specialists. And given how much quality pop music was recorded with wooden-necked basses (and how much of these recordings were subsequently sampled for electronic music) it's difficult to argue the case for advanced composite-necked bass guitars. #2 I've asked specifically in this thread about whether graphite necks can make dead spot problems completely go away, and this is the first response I've had. Dead spots are a big deal to me because I use a lot of effects and dead spots are quickly shown up by tracking effects like the ubiquitous Boss OC-2, rendering certain notes in certain positions useless. Do graphite necks eliminate this issue? Other graphite neck bass users seem less than keen to endorse this particular performance improvement.[/quote] In answer to your question, I've had nine graphite neck'd Status basses in my time & I've never had a deadspot problem on any of them.

Quite strangely, on the Strictly Tour, I've been eq-ing as I always do, making sure I can hear every frequency of the bass & sending the DI signal "pre eq" from the amp. The sound where we are on the stage is great, but all I hear is thud and boom out front. This weekend however, I sent the signal "post eq" and the engineer commented, "Wow, your bass sounds amazing this week." Hmmm...

Okay, here's as close as I can get - I think I've got RSI now after doing this! Oh bloody hell, I just realised... It's maple, not rosewood! Back to the drawing board

Nope, they're all white, Michael - But you can always colour in the white bit with MS Paint So that's the American Standard, but I was also thinking of the new American Deluxe in transparent wine...

Fever

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='846782' date='May 24 2010, 07:26 PM']Actually yeah removing the truss rod would be a welcome change, I seem to have had a disproportionate number of truss rod -related issues with my basses over the years. Hmm. Well I went back to four strings from six... But yeah I would be willing to try graphite if I could get a satin neck, rosewood board and a painted headstock, but it would have to do something amazing like be totally deadspot-free for it to be worth me replacing a wooden neck that's already doing a perfectly good job.[/quote] Disproportionate number of neck issues? Satin neck with rosewood board & painted headstock? Sounds like you need to call 01206 868150 for a quote!

[quote name='Wil' post='845607' date='May 23 2010, 11:34 AM']Status necks are practically a work of art. Love the feel of them, but prefer the sound of wood myself. Would like to try a graphite neck with a wooden fingerboard, though.[/quote] I have one of the necks with the "phenowood" fingerboard, which looks and feels like wood. Just takes a little of the brightness off for a very nice compromise sound & makes for a great bass for swing bands.

I've been in this situation myself. The problem is that a lot of established bands are used to a "plodder" who usually just plays root notes as you mentioned. At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with that, but we do like to play a bit more and sparkle a bit ourselves, don't we? Looking at the band you've joined, nine other people is a lot of players & you're not going to be able to play a lot in that massive sound without it sounding too crowded in a lot of ways. If you find it frustrating, then leave. There are plenty of players out there willing to "plod", but also remember that at the end of the day, you have to play what's right stylistically for the music. If their opinion on this clashes with yours, then you're playing with the wrong people. Busier bass players work better in trios, anyway. In a trio with no rhythm guitard you can be as busy and creative as you want.

Right, here's the SP... Firstly, from the man himself, Rob Green at Status-Graphite... [b]Why use graphite ? The advantages of a Status Graphite neck include : 1. A cleaner, more even response across the fingerboard 2. No worries about the neck twisting or moving around as the climate changes. Status Graphite necks are stable and designed to last... 3. There are also better dynamics, sustain and a wider frequency range. So, what is graphite ? Carbon fibre is one of the latest reinforcement materials used in composites. It's a real hi-tech material, which provides very good structural properties, better than those of any metal, not to mention plastics! Originally, it was developed for use in space technology. Later, carbon fibre was introduced for use in everyday articles and purposes where extraordinary high performance was needed, such as sports equipment (tennis racquets, golf clubs, fishing rods, skis, etc), racing cars, boats... etc. Carbon fibre is produced by the controlled oxidation, carbonisation and graphitisation of carbon-rich organic precursors which are already in fibre form. The most common precursor is polyacrylonitrile (PAN), because it gives the best carbon fibre properties, but fibres can also be made from pitch or cellulose. Variation of the graphitisation process produces either high strength fibres (@ ~2,600°C) or high modulus fibres (@ ~3,000°C) with other types in between. Once formed, the carbon fibre has a surface treatment applied to improve matrix bonding and chemical sizing which serves to protect it during handling. When carbon fibre was first produced in the late sixties the price for the basic high strength grade was about £200/kg. Do all Status basses have truss-rods ? : No. Early graphite neck models, until about 1998, did not have truss-rods. These necks were moulded to be extremely rigid and had the fingerboard shaped accordingly. All maple neck basses had a dual action truss-rod which was accessed from just behind the top-nut. From around 1998 onward graphite necks had a dual action truss-rod which was accessed from the body end of the fingerboard. Graphite necks never move and never need adjusting... Right ? : Wrong ! ...... Even though the graphite neck on a Status bass is remarkably stable when compared to a regular wood neck, it can still move a little under extreme climatic changes and the truss-rod may settle down a little after some initial playing.[/b] So that's all the myth busting material, but purely from a player's point of view, a graphite neck gives you increased stability, less weight & barely any dead spots. The necks resonate in a completely different way & produce a wider spectrum of frequencies. In essence, you hear literally everything going on when you play, from upper and lower harmonics to string shimmer. The bass frequencies are warmer & thicker and the treble frequencies are crystal clear. You also get a lovely growl & a great barking snap when you dig in hard. And to answer another point made earlier, the gloss on any neck is not sticky. It's your sweaty fingers that are the sticky component. Luckily, for those of you with over active sweat glands, there's also an option on the Status necks for a satin finish on the back.

Dodgy soundclip video with the bass plugged straight into the pc's mic socket - You don't realise until you do one of these how difficult it is to play when you can't hear yourself!

It sounds as if this instrument was one of the "parts" basses that were made in 1983-84 after the CBS pull-out. I was thinking that with the extra long cavity it could be one of the left over Elite/Special bodies. In a couple of these pictures, look how close the first control pot is to the pickup. I'd also be inclined to go for the explanation of the central earthing area.

Oddly, the RRP for the top line models is around the same as the 25th was. Obviously they think they'll sell a lot at that money. I'd imagine the average web price will be around £1500-1800.

Maybe the contents of the box ate him? Perhaps he unwittingly bought pandora's box!

I just spent a couple of minutes spec-ing up a neck at Warmoth and potentially spent $400! Could be an expensive game...

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='842448' date='May 19 2010, 07:52 PM']Those knickeras are very early 90's softcore![/quote] I had no idea you were a connoisseur of ladies' underwear, Mr.Travis!

Perhaps one to sort the men from the boys... Do you have musician's fingers?

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='841947' date='May 19 2010, 12:43 PM']Because you, Ritch, you jammy git, have a very nice Candy Apple Red 50th Anniversary Jazz and you've been making us all jealous with it. neener neener [/quote] No need for jealousy, GW - We'll chop it up and have a piece each, okay?