Ander87

… and @Dov65 has a great price on one available…!

Ah thank you buddy I’m well chuffed!!! I guess more unorthodox for a vintage bass but congruent with the white undercoat, gives it a ‘refinished’ edge to it!

Hey guys, So I've got 3 P basses, one of them for my punk rock band, another one for my soul/neosoul/pop project, and a 3rd one as backup to either. The Purple Limelight goes on a Nordy P blade for the dirty punk rock tones The Olympic white Limelight goes on a Bare Knuckle '58 as backup bass that does cleans for punk rock and backup to the soul/neosoul band The LPB bassmonkey bass needs a pickup for the neosoul band; Considering the tonal options I already have, I was thinking on the below: Aguilar 4p60? Nordstrand NP4A? Fralin? If so, which one, +5% would work? Lollar? if so which one? The bass it'd go to is swamp ash bodied with ebony fingerboard, tuned BEAD, and considering the genre it needs to have thick lows to hold the band and an ability to cut through the mix (keys, singer, drums and clean guitar). I play quite melodic parts so I need the highs to cut through in the mix. No need for glassy highs, just present and easy to hear them. Considering the backup limelight has a BKP '58 I was thinking I would rather have a different taste to the '58 prototype but I'm open to suggestion. Thoughts? Thank you!

Limelight basses - Mark at Classic and Cool guitars can build you a beauty like these in 10/12 weeks to your spec:

Hi Team, Belated (and double) NBD to myself! It's been a week that I've received my fancy custom Limelight P bass in light relic with purple metallic. Specs below: 1968 Precision Bass Specs Metallic Purple over white - colour guide as per picture sent Matching headstock Alder body ultra light relic as per Limelight 00218 Hand rolled finger board edges Tusq nut Black dots Maple P width neck Anodised gold scratchplate All metal work just lightly tarnished Gotoh Vintage Reverse Resolite tuners Vintage wiring Switchcraft Jack Big TV Fender Precision Bass logo Thumb rest below strings Cover Ashtrays Reference starting point: I ordered this on the 9th of July after some emails with Mark - I wanted my own P bass, letting go of my first Limelight experience below, my reason to let this guy go being that I just don't gel with Jazz pickups! Beautiful, and now that I know the vintage hum noise could've been fixed with some good shielding it may be a regret to having let go of it! I wanted the bass to be as light as possible and Mark did his best to select the parts that were lightest - he also recommended getting Gotoh Resolites, a great upgrade. This bass came in at a super manageable 8.2lbs/3.7kg! One thing to discuss was how Mark at Limelight managed to reproduce the purple metalic colour that he hadn't done before (closest thing being a pastel purple); he had a chat with suppliers and resolved with a white undercoat that looks stunning. I was also particular that I wanted that orangey aged maple look and I think it came out perfect! It took Mark 100 emails for updates checks etc etc to deliver this beauty - I commend his patience and his good work! Installed a Nordy P Blade I had laying around: It is quite difficult to capture the colour, but the next picture shows the contrast depending on the light compared to the previous one: It plays beautiful, great adjustment and spot on with the 'wear and tear' I wanted - not a lot, little to no 'face damage' and weather checking on the nitro finish that is definitely there and everywhere although hard to capture: And even on the headstock! also the level of detail is surreal, please check this out: Still, I remember hearing in this chat that 'Limelight basses are like buses; you may be waiting a long while for one but then two of them turn up at the same time'.... and that was the case! I needed a backup as I'm now in 2 bands, and jazz neck'd P basses are the perfect tool for my punk rock band.... I seduced a member into letting go of his backup, and here it is! The following spec came home barely three days later: 1963 Precision Olympic White medium relic Jazz width neck Tortoiseshell guard Period correct Fender logo plus the usual Limelight specs such as CTS pots, switchcraft jack etc This one coming at 8.0lbs/3.6kg They would sound similar and still different, you can definitely tell the warmer rosewood board vs the snappier/punchier maple board, even unplugged. This one has been modified to a Bare Knuckle '58 pickup, both basses will have KiOgon looms for different cap values, bypass/kill etc. I may reverse the pickups to make the purple more '57/'58 spec as if it was resprayed in purple at some point or something, but that's not a problem when you have such cool solderless electronics! I'm a very happy man - oh, and of course, full family picture!

Left to right, BassMonkey LPB P neck, Limelight jazz neck, Limelight jazz neck...

Ha! I have two P basses at the moment and in Spain we say 'there's no 2 without 3' so there you go....!

Hm. I'm interested in that different boutique pickup world... I've moved around Nordstrand and Aguilar all the time. Lollar's Fralin's... But I digress! I may have gotten myself into some sort of double trouble... Will find out tomorrow!

Aha! so you're the fine folk that stopped me from getting this bass I guess the pickups are down to taste - they do get plenty of praise here, I swapped my PJ ones for an Aguilar PJ set and to be dead honest I felt no difference to it. Traded the Aguilars and sold the bass cause I'm not a fan of PJ's no matter how much I try... I guess we have to take into consideration the £2k for a Nash too which I am sure is an incredible instrument! The chance for custom/semicustom classics just shy into the four figures is great to my liking, and a frigging great option if you snap one 2nd hand! Limelight P Bass with Jazz neck seems to be my thing after however many basses I've owned. Enjoy them both! Ander.

Hm! Whilst he couldn't guarantee weight he did say he'd lookout for a light body...! Pretty happy with 3.7kg, anything over 4kg I just can't deal with.

oh challenge accepted! what's in the works?

... and thanks @bagsieblue for the inspiration ha!

So... Big day today friends - my new Limelight is ready and will be shipped out to me on Tuesday. I will report once in hand, but the spec is alder/maple neck, purple metallic under white, '68 P bass with Jazz neck and some winks to the 57/58s. Lightweight as requested with Goto Resolites at 3.7kg/8.2lbs. Ultra Light relic with weather checking on the nitro. Matching headstock and well, a Nordy Blade P I had around (I'll have Limelight's 70s vintage hot pickup in the tweed case ordered). I can boldly say it is the most beautiful bass I've ever seen - challenge me to that! The experience with Mark has been superb, and I think it shows; the first three pictures are more colour accurate, the ones on the floor show more blue than the bass is - enter Grimace! .... AND LOOK AT THAT HEADSTOCK!!!!! I am already a very happy customer, and will be hunting another Limelight P veeery, very soon! Hope you enjoyed it, will share more detail! Ander.

odd one out (and aware I'm better off on the 'looking for' section of gear on sale). If anyone is thinking of letting go of their Limelight precision, I may be interested - bonus points if not too relic / funky colour / lightweight / jazz neck. I've one on the way but I'm working towards a trio of P's for both my bands! Best, Ander.

Noted! Thanks @rmorris that makes sense. It’s only present in the distortion channel and not higher than any other bass I’ve tried!

John is a pleasure to deal with. He’s troubleshoot a Noisy P bass I had and has given the best advice in what kind of loom to get. I went in for a CTS/Switchcraft rig with a tone switch. The tone switch would be killswitch, bypass, 0.47pf (typical P) and 0.22pf (typical jazz-ish). the thing sounds celestial and very reasonably priced. The tone switch alone is a similar solution to what Stellartone Tonestyler is offering for £115 ish. Will most definitely recommend to anyone and go for more circuitry for the future. Best, Ander.