bloke_zero

The dilemma of science - what can you quantify? I guess I'm thinking that I've gone to low and sacrificing tone for playability. You could record in between height adjustments and blind test. I agree there must be an element of feel - art and science.

I agree - re-reading that has made me re-think. Science works if you have the patience and sensible metrics.

Tell me about it - it wasn't until I picked up a 70's Stingray that I suddenly went 'Ahhh!' and then had to quickly put it down as it was about 2.5K! Looking at your list of players it seems like Jazz bass style would be a reasonable place to start - narrower neck etc - it's all very personal!

Seconded - there is so much to think about, neck profile, pickup and then when you're in a shop some basses speak to you and some don't - basses I thought would ring my bell just didn't come alive in my hands, and as a guitarist you may want to travel further up the neck than some so fingerboard radius can make a big difference there. I'm sure you'll be ok if you can't make it to a shop, but it can make the choices much much clearer.

I'm a bit late to the party, and glad you've found a solution! I used tru oil and it was pretty painless to apply if time consuming - I think I did 6 coats, rubbing in, then taking back a bit with super fine wire wool - it came out really nice and very pleasant under the fingers.

Cool - yes - maybe it's time to call them up and talk pickups. Their 70's p-pickup reads like almost exactly what I want. I guess they get so many great instruments through there they can stop and analyse the good ones!

In Acton? I had them put a bass together for me - really such a beautiful setup they did on it - they are great - I didn't know they did bass pickups - tempting! https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/bass-pickups

I was watching through these Percy Jones videos (which a friend of mine described as watching a Hieronymus Bosch water colour master class) and he talks persuasively about three finger technique - here at about 3:20 - I can really hear it making sense of some of his percussive runs on those early Brian Eno records (like Another Green World) - and it makes a lot of sense in terms of right hand muting. I have to say though, I love me some thumb style too - totally different tone!

I finally got round to doing this - got a bit of maple veneer and cut it to size, gave it a bit of an slope, punched out holes for the neck bolts and it's really made the difference - feels solid, and stupidly low action without buzz. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

I like it - it looks like 60's/70's futuristism, and I like all the thought that went into the design. Can you anchor your thumb in the groove above the pickguard?

Nice video - thanks @Frantic - I'm always interested in the passive sound of active basses. Nice to hear a stingray played in earnest!

Your first picture makes the finish look better than the one on the Ashdown site so I think you'll do well - a little piece of history!

Lemon oil smells good and seems to work well! D'addario make some.

Agree 🙂

Sounds like maybe something with the electronics - might be worth opening it up and seeing if scientifically wobbling some connections changes anything. Can you say what the distortion is like? Overdriving the amp? Ripped speaker?

A lot of label removers have citrus oil in them. I just used some Servisol label remover to get a particularly stubborn label off a bike which has orange oil - but like the others say, wd-40 or similar 'cleaning lubricator' will probably work. If you're unsure you can always test on a hidden bit of paint work to make sure it isn't going to damage a finish!

I have no idea - I know about the series 1 - seems like a pretty different beast - yours looks great! Maybe they are saving the Cutlass name for lines that they immediately discontinue 🤷‍♂️? Seems like graphite neck with the MM config makes a lot of sense! Check this beauty: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174284583415

I finally took the leap and ordered a EB, MM Cutlass - it arrived last week and I'm very pleased. After a bit of time with it including a little recording I can say it's a beautiful thing and sounds great. I was looking for passive P-style bass. I didn't want go Fender because none of the ones I tried were really speaking to me except a sunburst professional which was out of my range - these things need a bit mojo! I got a deal on an ex-display which had, apparently suffered a bit of a fall - chip on the headstock, a couple of small dents on the body - otherwise pretty immaculate. Pluses I love the neck - it's pretty close to the pre EB stingray I tried (in an amazing 70's brown) and really invites playing up the neck in a way I find the flatter radiused boards just don't I thought I didn't like the pick up - it doesn't have enough of the nasal cut through thing that I was after, but after some recording it sits effortlessly in the mix without much tweaking. I though I could just drop in a p-pickup but I'm going to sit with it for a while. A lot of attention to detail - sloped edge for your thumb on the pickup, case coveniently has 'cutlass' on it in case you forget where you've put it, pots feel right - smooth and solid - fit and finish is all really top notch. Cons Still expensive, and why did I buy a not a p-bass p-bass? I can't help myself sometimes. And before you start on 'ugly' - I like it - it has a nice look for me, slightly generic, but well considered and tight aesthetically - some how feels a bit 60's, which I like - future retro!

Fair point! I'm not a big fan of the MFD though - too steely sounding for me. I wasn't meaning to say that the pre EB MM wasn't good - just that the variation of wind made an impact on the sound - I've played pre EB stingrays that were up there for me. I have a Nordstrand MM and really like how it sounds - I'd buy one of his P pickups but - to come full circle - I thought why not see what the UK has to offer?

Well, fair enough - but fun to find out. I was reading about Ernie Ball taking over the MM factory and standardising things like the pickup winds - the Leo Fender factory had some ladies with a jury rigged tension winder making the pickups and the variation was great as well as quality - some were quiet, some had uneven frequncy output, some were better. EB standardised on what they felt to be the best, and - and set up the new machines accordingly. Is hand wound different from machine wound? So wind, wire type can have an effect. Magnets type can clearly have an effect - no one is saying a bongo sounds like a pre-cbs precision even without a preamp. It is the interaction of all these things that make it an art - I'm interested in hearing a pickup made by someone who is interested in this stuff. I agree I may be fetishising something that I may find makes no difference, but in my mind I'm trying to bring together a set of things into a bass that really sings, so... I have a rickenbaker lapsteel that my dad bought - has a handwound pickup from 1939 - it's very hard to say, when you hear it straight into a soundcard that it isn't something special.

Yes, I was kind of thinking of instead of the boutiquey US makers if there were people in the UK making stuff - it seems like in the US the home builder is pretty well served with custom bodies, necks, pickups etc, (I'm thinking Wamoth, USACG etc.) but it's a bit thinner in the UK. The pickup market well served though it seems! Thanks for all the suggestions!

I think you're discounting the drive of the obssessive idiot 🙂 I have a real thing about passive basses and eq. I am especially obsessive at the moment because I can't get into a room with some people crank the bass and just have a good time - I'm recording and trying to get good takes in an especially exposed context (effectively sampling myself - so any given line will be initially foregrounded and then repeated). During the recording process I've found EQ to be problematic and as @Woodinblack rightly opines "You can't eq something that isn't there in the first place" - so for me, at the moment it's important. Also, it's an aesthetic right? Simple, direct circuits, no digital, no fancy eq - just the straight up sound. That, In my limited experience, with some good technique that is what makes a good recording. (Yeah, I'll probably compress it and eq it, but I want the basic sound to be as strong, clear and articulate as possible.) Live is another matter - there I find shouting a lot and whooping to be the thing...

I spent ages researching a preamp for a MM thing I was building and put a John East in - it was a great sounding thing but I felt like I lost the character of the pickups a little and eventually took it out. The cons for taking it out were that it's a lot less flexible in terms of oceans of bass, loss of sweepable mid etc, but I felt like the passive sounded clearer. So much so that taking it out felt like the right choice rather than putting in a switch. It's hard to describe but if you've ever struggled with eq-ing a recording it's that feeling of aiming for a sound and boosting frequencies that sound good on their own but in context of a track sound a little mushy or ill defined. Recording engineers will generally recommend using EQ to cut not boost and that seems right to me (though I do love a baxandall tone stack!). I also feel like the best place for an active tone control is in an amp with a power supply rather than squeezed into the back cavity of a bass - but all of this its totally subjective!

Thanks for all the suggestions - I've had a look at all of them and there is a lot to explore! Anyone got any thoughts on "The neodymium version has a brighter, modern sounding, wilder tone." - I need to find some sound samples but my google-fu is weak today - just endless threads discussing alnico II, II, V and ceramics! I go straight into anAmpeg SCR-DI that has relatively low threshold before distorting - so too high an output is an issue for me.

I'm wondering about UK winders! I was looking at the Nordstrand NP4a with the angled pole pieces as I really like the musicman pickup I have from them, but I'm interested in who you rate in the UK? I guess the sound I'm looking for is what I'd call a modern P sound - something that Sam Wilkes gets (I know a lot of his sound is impeccable tecnique!) e.g. here: https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/12/08/knower-time-traveler/ Crisp, well articulated, defined top end but without loosing too much bottom. I had a google and there seem to be a few out there but I don't want to go by quality of website as an indicator of quality of pickup! Cheers