PatrickJ

That's a great price for a MiJ OC-2 in such good condition.

GLWTS

For anyone with the Dave Ellefson signature Jackson

My Relic'd P Bass

17 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Got all excited then. Collection only London…

Want me to pick it up for you 😈

14 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

I need to grow up.

Don't go changing...

I love watching how these basses flow through your hands , it's quite hypnotic, like watching a waterfall 🤣

Much more entertaining than anything on the telly at least.

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

Little bit of fettling today…ignore the table, currently in dispute with manufacturer/retailer over the state of it.

enjoy the basses.

I'm so Yamaha bass curious but the regular BB's don't do much for me ... That blue one however .. I really like that.  Looking forward to the sound samples.

1 hour ago, Phil Mann said:

With Bass In Mind in conversation with David Swift:

 

 

I've not had time to watch many of these as but I thoroughly enjoyed the Dave Swift conversation!

3 minutes ago, Crawford13 said:

Not to derail the thread but let's be honest that guy would be much better off playing guitar. 

With a separate signal chain for octave down?? 🤔

1 minute ago, bassfan said:

I only have one! 😂

Ah, well there goes that plan then.

6 minutes ago, bassfan said:

It’s right up my street. Alas, no funds for basses at the minute 😢😢😢😢😢

Maybe we could come to an arrangement regarding some of those sadowsky's of yours

@bassfan

This looks right up your street.

I also reaaaally want this bass.

Amazing!  Please do update this thread post audition to let us know how it went.

Good luck, I'm sure bombtrack will be a change from the all the jazz standard they will no doubt be hearing through this auditions !!

Love that!

I have the honour of leaving Louis his first piece of Basschat feedback! 

Louis just purchased a Fender gig bag from me.  The whole process went smoothly and Louis was kind enough to drop me a message once the bag had been delivered to confirm receipt and that he was happy with it.

Would absolutely sell to Louis again.  Thanks

5 minutes ago, Russ said:

I think they're lovely, unique instruments with peerless build quality and a sound all of their own that can't be easily replicated. But they are a bit of an acquired taste.

I confess my statement was made never having actually played one myself.  The recordings I've heard (Flea, Colin Edwin etc.) have sounded great so I get the sound thing but I can't see the justification for the price tag.

13 minutes ago, Russ said:

Wal have announced they've had to stop taking orders for the time being, as they currently have a four year waiting list! So there's obviously no shortage of people willing to pay £6k for one... 

I wonder if they've ever considered an import model? Not Chinese, but maybe Eastern European, like Spector?

I just don't get the Wal thing 

29 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The first question you have to ask yourself is why you want a bass from a particular luthier?

IME it should be because they offer something different to what you can get from a mainstream manufacturer whether it be something visual or a combination of design features that are unavailable "of-the-peg". Remember that these days there is such a wide variety of basses available from the various manufacturers that you have to have a particular reason to go for a custom bass in that it can't easily be fulfilled from what is available from the mainstream manufacturers.

All true but there's something to be said about the experience of commissioning a custom build that you don't get with an off the shelf purchase, no matter how fine the instrument and even if your custom is a straight jazz or precision build.

These builds take around 10-12 months to complete and it's an amazing experience, from researching and choosing your Luther, to the initial consultation on specification to the build  updates you receive as it comes along. And then the mix of excitement, anticipation and nerves when it's finally ready.  I'm glad I've done it at least once.

I fear I may be heading down the same ACG path.  I've only had my RetroB J4 a few days and have already sent Alan an enquiry about a fretless brethren for it.

1 minute ago, Muzz said:

That's the bunny - American Black Walnut: not black at all...and it doesn't look much like walnut, either... 🙂

Jon suggested it to me at one point for some contrast to flamed maple but I was worried about the weight.

34 minutes ago, Muzz said:

When I got mine, I needed it in a hurry (TLDR: it was a birthday present), so I got it as a solid wood body (it's still like that on the Shuker website), then later I had a (flamed maple, coincidentally) drop top added... 🙂

Yes, I remember consulting with you heavily when I was having my build done.  It's a black walnut body right ?

42 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I don't think you're the only one! I always find it odd when you find a "I'm getting a build made" thread the amount of things that people focus on that are random aesthetic and not functional... or are led by "ooh this is a cool option I should do this". (or worst when you see people trying to crowd source the specs on a bass forum). 

I was pretty OK with the functional side, I had a good feel for what I wanted.  I did change the bridge and preamp types but they were fairly minor changes and either the original or final choices would have been fine.

My original spec to Jon was Flamed Maple top and Rosewood fingerboard.   But actually I preferred maple fingerboards but then got concerned that an alder bodied, flamed maple top and maple finger board  guitar was all going to look a bit anemic 

So I changed the ask for a Birdseye maple fingerboard and a figured walnut top.  However for whatever reason Jon couldn't source the Walnut and my build was on hold for a few months.  He emailed me a few options that he'd picked up from his wood supplier and the Elm looked nice, but finished it was was overly busy and I just didn't ever love it.

So I'm back to flamed maple with a burst finish which is a classic look that I've always loved.  Hopefully this will work out 

Elm wood uncut

Finished Result

20 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Maybe my bar isn't set quite as high as it could be, but beyond some fairly straightforward spec (from the top: lightweight tuners, brass nut, slim-Jazz neck profile, split-coil pickup in the P position, East U-Retro), everything else is pretty much aesthetic (swamp ash body for lightness, drop top that appeals, birdseye board with no front markers, and the Shuker Horn is My Shape) and I'm very sure there's a number of luthiers who could make something I'd be very happy with. My first custom build (Shuker) is the bass I play most, and has been for the better part of a decade now. I had to buy/try/sell a lot of basses to narrow that spec down, tho...

It sounds from the above like you enjoy some things that aren't really possible in one instrument (smoothness/tonality, weirdness/immediacy and growl/bark), so chasing that chimera would always bring disappointment.

Agree with a lot of what @Muzz said here.  I've not been playing bass for as long as many here but I'd tried enough basses over the last five years or so to spec out what was most comfortable for me, i.e. target weight, neck profile etc.  for  my custom build.  I did also go to the workshop before ordering and looked at a few of his basses and necks before committing to the project.

I probably played it safe on a few items like tone wood as I went for Alder as opposed to anything more exotic. but light weight tuners, 40mm neck width etc. we're all musts.

I wanted active so I went for a Nordstrand Pre, mainly because it is inspired by the Sadowsky pre but an East would have been equally good.  Jon Shuker also set me up with a solderless pickup system so I could replace pickups easily if I wanted to try different ones.

that isn't to say I didn't get a few things wrong.  The drop top I originally had I ended up not liking.  This for me was the hardest part of the custom build - trying to visualise a slab of wood into a finished guitar top was really hard.  I went into the build wanting flamed maple then spent months changing my mind and ended up with something I didn't like.  I've now sent the bass back to Jon to have the drop top redone as flamed maple, a costly mistake caused by me allowing myself to get too caught up with exotic woods etc.

however, it was an amazing experience and despite the asthetics I ended up with a bass I love playing.  Like @Muzz my Shuker was my go to bass and I'm really missing it at the moment (hence why I bought the ACG).

@bassfan

On 13/05/2021 at 22:25, ead said:

Here's a pic of my J Type and RetroB for comparison purposes.

@ead - out of interest, which of Alan's pickups did you go for in your ACG's?

1 minute ago, AndyTravis said:

Might get another bb350f and go green on that with chrome...

So purples has won out (let's face it, it was always going to end up purple)