Bassassin

Well - definitely no custom builds for me! At practice tonight I was afflicted with an horrific pain in the back of my right hand when playing - so I had no alternative other than returning to the pick. I was a little bit concerned that the subtlety & nuance of my playing would suffer as a result, but soon discovered that my bass parts require no subtlety whatsoever! It was surprisingly liberating. Looking forward to an hour and a half of plastic-fisted bludgeoning on Friday night then. J.

Not true - there are loads of people on here who appreciate the Matsumoku-built Arias form the 70s & 80s, and acknowledge their more recent output as decent budget instruments. I've had an Aria RSB-Deluxe 2 for years and also own a recent STB-GT and an AMB-50 acoustic - but I can't answer your IGB question & have no idea if £80 is a good price for one. For what it's worth the active pre on my STB is pointless & rapidly drains batteries when not in use, I'm going to bin it & replace it with a passive circuit, and replace the MM-type 'bucker with a beefier one with splittable coils. Jon.

[quote name='Snakeman1066' post='534372' date='Jul 7 2009, 05:45 AM']Still got her mate! Just not digging her clean tone.... here in the U.S. the split pick guard is less desireable to collectors than the one piece models......so they tend to be less expensive than the other models[/quote] Strange! Wonder why that is? As fas as I know, these were the very first 4003s, featuring revised truss rods. The rods adjust at the heel end which is why the guard 2-piece, I don't think they made them that way for long - so you'd think their comparative rarity would make them more desirable. Jon.

I did the tailpiece on my Frankenbugger Rick copy: [attachment=28390:fgtailpiece.jpg] This is what it looked like when I got it, on a different bass: [attachment=28391:mat4001orig05.jpg] Obviously a lot of the original plating was gone - as was some of the metal where all that weird oxidation & corrosion is. Some of this was taken back to the metal because the plating was half-gone, but a lot of the chrome was just roughened with wire wool to give a key for the paint. There's 4 or 5 coats of grey primer over the bare metal, and a subsequent 10+ coats of matt black over that. I left it for a fortnight after spraying before I fitted it - spray paint takes a long time to properly harden after initial drying. Because of all the layers of paint, I had to scrape it back to the metal inside the well where the bridge sits - it wouldn't fit otherwise. It's worth bearing in mind that nothing else is really in contact with this part - I think the paint would tend to flake on tuners or bridge saddles. Jon.

Since you're only down the road from the guy selling the Hondo, why not ask if he'd be OK for you to go round & have a tryout? He might well be prepared to do a cash deal off-Ebay, he plainly knows the problems that selling one can involve - I'm pretty sure this one's been on before & was pulled. J.

[quote name='BenK' post='531833' date='Jul 3 2009, 04:56 PM'][font="Century Gothic"][center] Dont know if i'm right here,but [url="http://www.curlymusic.co.uk/index.pl?browse=categories&id=281"]but these undbranded[/url] ones look like they came out the same factory. anyone know?[/center][right][/right][/font][/quote] There really isn't any way of telling, when you consider that every single guitar factory in China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea & probably every other country whose name ends in "a" will turn out thousands of P & J copies. I've no idea where SX basses are sourced from, and in fact I'd be very surprised if they all came from the same factory anyway. Finding a good cheap copy is pot luck, and it was ever thus. Jon.

Another vote for JD black nylon 1mm. Nice textured gripping area, plus a little bit of flex in the pick makes it slightly more expressive & subtle than rigid picks imo. .73mm grey Dunlops for g*it*r. Jon.

'Nother Hondo: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/hondo-ll-classic-bass-copy_W0QQitemZ320393608190"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/hondo-ll-classic-bas...emZ320393608190[/url] Has this one been up before? Looks a bit familiar. J.

[quote name='molan' post='532942' date='Jul 5 2009, 01:05 PM']Here's the 'Sunbursy' listing [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Sunbursy-Bass-Guitars_W0QQitemZ260440925098QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3ca37d23aa&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A10|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A2|294%3A50#ebayphotohosting"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Sunbursy-Bas...bayphotohosting[/url] And the great pic of a 'flying' bass (with washing line attachment) . . .[/quote] Funny thing is it's "sunbursy" in both the title & the text. It would be odd to make the same typo twice - what's he trying to say? Reminds me of a guy on the local Glumtree who keeps listing a pair of "Bass Pins" for sale! Jon.

I bought mine used so I don't know if they're supplied with instructions - however string spacing's really easy to adjust. The string sits on an insert in the saddle which is held in place with an allen screw - simply loosen the screw, move string/insert to desired place & tighten again - doesn't affect intonation or any other adjustment. J.

The good thing about the Hipshot (well, [i]one[/i] of the good things!) is that it has adjustable string spacing. Looking at mine, it allows about 2mm in either direction which will probably be enough to let you set it up the same as the original. Rockinbetters look like they have a conventional neck taper, rather than the near-parallel necks of real Ricks & vintage copies, so it would probably be better off with a wider spaced bridge, to stop it feeling cramped & odd up the dusty end. I suppose you'll have to wait & see. J.

I suspect it looks that way because plectrum-only players are in the minority - proportionately I bet the numbers are the same. Over the last 5 or 6 years I've gone from being a 99% exclusive pick player to probably 75% fingers - yet I haven't any particular urge for a custom build. I think that's because the idea of commissioning a custom is to have the one perfect bass built to fulfil every need - and in the last 5 or 6 years I've gone from having 3 basses to having more than 20 coming & going! Variety is the spice! Jon.

[quote name='teaser360' post='531391' date='Jul 3 2009, 09:03 AM']Thanks Jon, I was thinking the same thing myself, ive got myself a rockinbetter on the way and im going to rick it like Ians, not sure what pick ups im using yet, im going to put a hipshot bridge on it. Ive found someone close to who deals with hipshot, £105 new. i was looking at the pickguardian website and it has the templates on there so i will make some out of cardboard first and see where we go from there, it would be intresting to see a pickguardian though! in the flesh, that way i can see how they mount on a real ric. On the subject of pick ups the rockinbetter is fitted with 2 toaster style, what would you suggest to replace them? have a look at the customised ric in the picture! Recent Rickenbacker® 4003F with vintage 60's style guard and double toaster pickups. Vintage neck pickup position, neck to bridge pickup pickguard coverage and evenly-aligned knob placement. the bridge pick up would have to be moved towards the neck position, how much i dont know, might start practicing with the router ? lol when i pick up the rockinbetter i will post pics as we go along and put the pics on the rickenfackers page on facebook. watch this space! thanks for your help in advance tony by the time ive finished it it may be more expensive than a real ric lol[/quote] You'll be able to pick up a Hipshot for a fair bit less than that if you import from the US: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Hipshot-bass-bridge-fits-Rickenbacker-bass_W0QQitemZ260391767398"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Hipshot-bass-bri...emZ260391767398[/url] Are you going to fit the Rick-style surround just as an aesthetic touch or will you be mounting the pickup the same way as a Rick's? There's a massive cavity under a Rick's surround which your bass won't have, so be prepared for some routing! I really don't know about pickups - there are Seymour-Dunk & Bart replacement sets or if money (and waiting!)'s no object, you could have real Rick ones. Apart from the occasional JapCrap copy set that comes up on Ebay, I don't know if there are any others. What are the existing ones like? I think the Toaster in the bridge pos looks quite cool in the pic. [quote name='jonsmith' post='531592' date='Jul 3 2009, 12:29 PM']The Pickguardian solution fits easily on the Rickenbacker, using existing screw holes and pickup height is still adjustable with the large screws, providing the rest of the pickup mounting (springs etc.) is retained. Not sure how those screw holes would line up on a faker - although I'm sure Bassassin could confirm. I'm sure Pickguardian would do one with the screwholes in custom positions if needed.[/quote] The old Jap copies weren't even consistent with each other, never mind Rickenbackers! You can't use a Pickguardian on one without re-drilling the bass and modifying the pickup aperture on the surround - which was why I ended up making my own. The Rockinbetter copy doesn't have a "proper" surround, the bridge pickup's mounted in a conventional small route, under what looks like a Precision type cover. You'd either have to do a lot of excavation to mount a Rick bridge pickup, or just use the surround as an aesthetic embellishment. Either way new holes will have to be drilled. J.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=52689"]Belgium, man - Belgium!!![/url] Jon.

Get a [url="http://www.pickguardian.com/pickguardian/RICBridgePUPlate.html"]Pickguardian[/url] or buy a bit of perspex sheet for a couple of quid & make your own: [attachment=28142:r_bugring.jpg] [attachment=28143:f_bugring.jpg] The silver one has a piece of card cut to shape & sandwiched behind it & the other is spraypainted on the back, like vintage Rick scratchplates used to be. The advantage is not having that horrible sharp metal hole to cut your thumb on. I've never understood why RIC (or some enterprising aftermarket company) don't make a replacement surround that fits the pickup like this, since the huge majority of Rick players bin the handrest. Jon.

[quote name='zbigniew' post='530354' date='Jul 2 2009, 10:36 AM']Wow, that's a quite interesting bass - looks good and is kinda unique. I can only imagine the through-neck version you talk about, it must be quite something. z[/quote] It has its charms: [attachment=28140:questmanhattan.jpg] :brow: J.

Not something you see every day: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1980s-Quest-Manhattan-Precision-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-Japan_W0QQitemZ260439185023"]Quest Manhattan M3[/url] Built by Matsumoku, Quest was a spin-off brand of Vantage. This is a bit on the pricey side - if it had been the through-neck, transparent/flamed front version I might not have been able to stop myself... J.

...when your guitarist tells you "you play guitar like a bass player". ...when a sound engineer suggests you avoid playing the E-string because vibrations through the stage a feeding back through the PA! ...when a guitarist tells you you're not a "proper" bassist because you use a pick... ...when a punter says you have "better technique that Chris Squire" because you don't play with a pick! Jon.

[quote name='iamthewalrus' post='528142' date='Jun 29 2009, 09:24 PM']Brings back memories of my first good quality bass in 1985! Nice & comfy to play (neck was a dream!) I had a Black RB750 with Red binding on the body - I later had it defretted by The Bass Centre, & kept it until I ended up trading it in with a Trace rig for a Washburn ABG & a Boss drum machine. Happy days... Cheers, iamthewalrus[/quote] Like [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280364434701"]this one?[/url] J.

[quote name='Toasted' post='527830' date='Jun 29 2009, 03:43 PM']They're iconic looking instruments. I'd like to own one. I remember a solid red one with black hardware too - that looked great.[/quote] I absolutely love the red/black ones, seriously wish I could've afforded this: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=170335622798"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=170335622798[/url] That's the second time I've seen a red/black go for well under usual market value for a Rick - wonder if it's to do with the [url="http://theredrickenbacker.com/"]Legend Of The Red Rickenbacker[/url]? Jon.