bloke_zero

Fender standard is 2.5mm at 12th fret (give or take - they have more info here: https://support.fender.com/en-us/knowledgebase/article/KA-01903). It may well not come that way! I agree with ezbass. Personally I like the Fender standard settings. I think setting the action without ensuring the neck relief is correct first is asking for a cascade of niggling issues. When getting a new bass I'd hope to get a free setup from the shop, if second hand I'd want to do or buy in a setup.

I like allparts, great solid necks. Can be a bit chunky but you can always get it shaved a bit.

And the cap value will make a difference to the amount of treble that gets rolled off - they go from .1uf to .068uf to .047 - most people go .047 with the higher values taking out more of the top end when turned down.

Reverb is the place if you're not in a hurry - you can put it up at a silly price and see what offers come in. With rare kit like this someone with funds will come along and buy it, and if they want it badly enough will pay a lot. I'd chuck it up with some good photos, well described at 2.3K and start dropping the price when you have a few watchers. I know that the players in the house will shout that it isn't right, and I'd agree on one level, but there are modern options for the players. Condolences on your dads passing - not much in life is harder than that.

I think you're on the money with the Sandberg. I've not played one though! On paper it looks like the perfect bass to me - P + MM and they have a great reputation.

He clearly had a unique vision for that bass - one that not many people shared!

I think I was following that bass on Reverb with a view to do the same - glad it's gone to a good home (was the ones with the death head pick up surrounds?!)

I've got a split p running in parallel and it's just the right about of grunt vs clarity for me.

For the OP - I think it's ok to want a modern Fender and sensible to want to find a good example.

Probably still worth a trip down to Denmark Street - there will be enough variety there to at least get a feel for what you would get. I used to go down to Wunjo at lunchtimes (when we still worked in the office) and playing a bunch of basses back to back really gives you a feel for individual basses - they are all different! You can check their stock on line.

They might have bought a few thousand when they were reaching EOL - probably not expensive in bulk. Terrifying! I am glad you're both ok!

Sorry for muddying the waters!

It caught my attention, but I ended buying a different PCB as I understood the Alembic was based on the old Acoustic 360 preamp (went down the rabbit hole on this one trying to find Larry Graham!) so I bought the PCB for one of these: http://www.lynx.net/~jc/pedals360.html But I've never built a single sided board before so it's sat in my todo pile for a long time - other peoples build threads seem pretty hairy compared to a through hole PCB build. I'd be interested to hear any experiences!

This - I found the coating seems to get grabby depending on the humidity - cleaning the coating off should help and playing them in for some time. I think you made the right call though sorting it out to your satisfaction before hand!

That is a big part of the appeal for me. Many many thanks! If you're ever down North London way I owe you a pint!

Can anyone measure the pickup placement for the California VM for me? I have a bass I built with MM and P pickups that I want to get a new body for and I think the VM looks like the perfect placing for what I want. Needs to be from the 12th fret to the middle of the pole piece to be really useful. Thanks!

My ‘74 p bass - was Olympic white.

The extras make it worth it - the charge pump makes a night/day difference when switched in 27V or whatever it is sounds really full and juicy, 9v sounds nasty and starved in comparison - I'd have been quite dissapointed if I'd just run it at 9V. You're right about the build docs though - they are pretty sparse. There is often more info on the forum there though.

Looks great - thanks for the nudge - I'm going to build one! They have a huge range of pcb's - I built their hudson duocast clone with a NOS mullard OC71 that is older than me! It really has an amazing tone.

What is he playing here? tele bass with humbucker at the neck in 1977?

Here is a link to a thread about "Stars Guitars" - apparently they used to make brass guitar hardware and pickups - ex-alembic employees. If I still visited SF on a regular basis I'd go and sleuth! Gear page link

Amen brother! Interesting - thank you!

I assume the Roland is a later addition - that would be mid eighties right? Head hunters is ‘73. So I’m assuming that Hideo put together some kind of multi output pickup? That is what I’m interested in. They were doing that on guitar pretty early on - I remember seeing a paisley tele with pan pots for each string in the early eighties. If I was Marcus I’d be interested in stealing that tone in ‘73 - I’m assuming it’s somewhat tongue in cheek! Not that he literally tried to steal it!

Paul Jackson. Of Head Hunters fame. I was chatting about bass tone again and how Paul Jackson had a great P tone, but it turns out a lot of the early stuff was played in Geraldine: http://www.pauljacksonbass.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/P1010042.jpg Not your standard P! anybody now anything about it in addition to what’s here: http://www.pauljacksonbass.com/geraldine/ Pickup make? Sounds like a multi coil with output per string?