Soledad

please can you tell me the wood used on the first pics here - some nice interlocked grain in there. And I'm guessing the second one is ash?

OK, that's quite solid then. I'll have to up my guess a bit. I know a bloke, I'll get him to weigh his. Weird they don't put weight on the spec sheet. I do think some mass is a good thing tonally - all else equal it should aid sustain and help the mid-lower frequencies I believe. As for the active/passive switch adding weight, so does going from 40-100s to 45-105s

anyone know the weight on a V7, can't even find it on the U.S. Sire site. I'll punt a guess: 8lb 6 oz / 3.8Kg. That's an alder/rosewood guess btw. Someone just chuck a V7/4 on thee scales please.

My first fretless was a BC from The Bass Centre Wapping, around '93 I think. Very good indeed, would happily go for another. Traded it about 2 years later for a Thumb NT fretless but that BC was very nice. I really like the understated finishes too. If I ever saw a 5 fretless I'd be on it. Mine was light, v well balanced, excellent fingerboard (rosewood I think but very dark) - it looked a bit fragile after my Precision, but was well up to it. In the price range now (2nd hand) I'd recommend a look and play. BTW - there's a 4 fretless on FB at the mo - £270 >

It's the superficial appeal of the deep cutaways that does it.

That looks good, better already. If you're fussy you'd need to match the finish though - any ideas? Reminds me the number of makers that have tried to design a head shape so they didn't just copy Fender, or whoever. There aren't any good ideas left. I recall seeing an early Wal - boy was that an ugly headstock (IMHO).

yep, I'm thinking late 64. I'd say any serious buyer would want the neck and plate off anyway. 54 years and no P/U or pot swaps? Handy link that ! Just dated my earlier one (S/N 42423) to 60 - 61 - all those years I'd never known.

This is about serial numbers. There's a Precision on FB at the mo - claimed '63 and looks right (those mucky dot markers, the yellowing s'plate etc). But the SN is L20608. I know there would be a date on neck but he's not showing. Thing is I owned L16277 for years (also a Precision) and that was dated FEB '64 (on neck). Anyone got a similar vintage Precision? I think this one is genuine but may be rather later, say late 64 or early '65. Is there anything odd about S/N sequences on Fenders of this period. Oh, and it's 5.5k asking

I think the prices are high (and will only get higher) for a few reasons: - players form strong emotional bonds with an instrument, so it's not an entirely rational purchase - the original Fender designs define 'the electric bass'. There aren't 2 classic cars that define 'classic cars' - those early basses are strongly associated with near mythical players - go back to the formative years of pop, rock, country, whatever. Fender bass is in every groove. - the buyers were kids then and have big cash now (same reason '60s classic cars fetch so much) - scarcity value The shame is that few of the 60s Fenders get played anymore, surely not in anger anyway. I think the early Fenders deserve to be many thousands, they have earned that right... bless them and move on.

thanks for all your help. Got a pair of those Sony phones on way - s/h on the bay, £12.50 re passive, there is some risk of a Fender Jazz in there soon (MIJ '65 reissue maybe). Also have to dig out the 6.3 - 3.5 phone jack adapter - in a box somewhere very close now, report back soon as poss.

JJ was my first inspiration, but I want to offer up the late Alan Spenner, starting with Delta Lady (Joe Cocker). These guys are exactly why I went Precision and stayed there. Please let me just slip the 'r' back in: Jamerson. That's it for me, prob took me years to get it. What you give to the track is THE point - the great bass players are generous to their fellow musicians - use of space, the value of silence (rests), subtle trading... I like some of the Nashville session guys for that too.

excellent, thanks both. More news as it 'breaks'...

Question please Moose - so my Xenyx 802 arrived today, 30-odd quid and utterly amazing lot of gear and knobs for little money. Solid and good I think. Thanks for the tip! So, the whole Xenyx looks quite stereo, and my basses are mono obv. I need to read the manual but is there a simple thing to do here? I mean get my bass into L&R in the mixer?

Found this thread by accident, but I need to talk about my EB3 (a late '60s, cherry). Jack Bruce was playing one, Glenn Cornick (Jethro Tull), the guy in Colliseum, Andy Frazer (Free), some good players. All I could ever get from it was a woolly soft bass, or a truly ugly mid-range grunt - think toilet sounds. Bridge was a joke. Balance was also sh*t, v head heavy. I think Gibson did more than anyone else to kill off short scale for a decade or so, by making basses that sounded so bad. Why is it Gibson just never ever got how to make a good bass? (Never tried a Thunderbird mind - looks stupid but Entwhistle played one so can't be so bad?). The mad thing is I recently happened to play one of those short scale P copies off eBay (£70 new) - it sounds proper good and totally blows an EB3 out the water. So EB3 is the bass I most hated (by a good distance). Ricky 4001 is the one I wanted to love but it wouldn't let me. And we need to talk about Dan Armstrong.

Excellent piece Christine - a subject that causes more arguments on woodie forums than any other, so good stuff. I have used 'Scarysharp' quite a bit - you can skip quite a few grades so it's faster than it may sound. What's good is it's low cost to get going - it's easy to spend loads on sharpening gear but the 3M film (aka Scarysharp) is a really affordable way into great edges. I mount it onto glass sheets I got from the local glazier dirt cheap, cut to size - I made the edges safe but they'll do that for you. Or find the local stone worktop place and ask to raid their skip - what those guys call offcuts... ! And the quarz stuff is mirror flat - that'll surely do. If interested check Workshop Heaven, Matthew does a good sample set for a tenner. https://www.workshopheaven.com/3m-sharpening-film-sample-pack.html Interested to see your Record wetstone Christine - I gave a Tormek away a few years ago (bit silly) but had been seriously considering a 10" Record - are you happy with it? btw - not a luthier, but lifelong furniture/cabinet maker and big handtool user

mine was a 4 NT - good to know the B is that good, I think the low B is a real test. I'm definitely keeping Warwick on the list. Hard though, trying as many as possible when I need one NOW...

Good grief - big applause to Martin for that one... stunning !! Absolutely my view, plus there's the gamble of putting certain woods together in a certain way and not knowing for sure what the result will be. It's a high risk / high reward game I think. But that Sei... so smart the way the pickups feather into the neck line. He's a bit of an artist.

Big thanks Helzero - would never have knoiwn how to access these. I need to admit I go for extremely understated, you know: stand at the back, head down, try not to get noticed. So I do prefer subtle quiet finishes etc, and quite minimal designs. So the translucent blue might be a bit much for me, fine bass no doubt.THe MTD is probably my favourite. I plan to actually get my hands on a few: Spectorcore (hopefully), Warwick I kind of know and I'm drifting away from Warwick fretless as it is a bit hard (we all know the sound); MTD should be on the list. I was interested in a Mayones BE4 but have no idea of sound, what to expect . I think I'm heading towards 5 string also. I appreciate all help and experienced input. I'm going to try not to be impulsive - did you spot that TheGreek...

Liking that Spectorcore - watched the vid. 2 things for sound: semi-hollow body and piezo plus the EMG - both good / interesting. Try and get a play on one then. About the Pedulla (Andruca) - beyond what I'd want to spend really. When I said Warwick I'm thinking a Pro or there are German ones around well under the grand. 2K is a bit over for me.

Yes, both active (fretless and fretty). Just ordered the Bheringer - about £38 from Amazon. Seems fairly amazing for that price - I'm hoping / assuming I can plug a bass in and set mixer flat eq, out to phones. Least that's the idea. All ref Mooseblaster above. See how it goes soon.

this is getting interesting - I suppose a part of this was flat from the bass - no shaping / coloration, partly to see what the native sound out of the bass is. I'll take a look at the Behringer desk - after all it's not like I move around a lot lot of good info, thanks to all

I first met Martin around '94 when he was working out of his terrace house - and got one of the first Flamboyants he ever made (5 headless). He's a complete star bloke and as said above you will get absolute excellence. But also, I totally agree with Muzz above - you do need to know what you want as some key decisions are all down to you and the mad thing about customs is you can't try before you buy - ironic really! I would give serious thought to wood choice and get Martin's (or any maker's) experienced input. It's a bit easier to make pick-up/amp choices as they are known quantities. I suspect there's a reason the P and J platform designs are so widely used - they work on a lot of levels. My Sei headless 5 - truly fabulous (2 x Bartonlinis) but I would never go with headless again - the B was an issue for me. Anyway, big shout for Martin Petersen from me.