The Bass Doc

I think I was the bass player on Prince's 'When doves cry'

[quote name='pockethammer' post='404401' date='Feb 9 2009, 03:45 PM']Is that a crack near thebridge??? [/quote]
I think it is but I don't think it goes all the way through to the other side so it should not spoil the playability

[quote name='Hutton' date='Feb 9 2009, 10:48 AM' post='404105']
Come on now. This just can't be serious!

Afraid this guy is serious - I've followed his ads for some time (just for laughs). I reckon he will sell each one of the screws separately @ £10 each but just wait till he gets to the last one! - the price will rocket because of it's uniqueness

Best wishes from one Doc to another - hope you remembered to bring those basses in from the garden while you were in hospital - and did you travel by ambience?

There are many different makes of pickup that could do the job but the actual type I would recomend would be a "side by side" humbucker (e.g. Di Marzio model J). This type of pickup consists of two coils wired in series in the same way as a precision but of course squeezed into a Jazz cover. It makes for correct phasing with the P-bass pickup whereas single coils can be in phase with one half and out of phase with the other half of the P pickup. I have carried out many such mods over the years including fitting one to my 1963 original sunburst - I didn't realise at the time I was knocking wads of money off it's value in the eyes of the 'collector' brigade. Don't care - its my main working tool and the extra sound capability is very useful.

Hows about this - the prefect solution would be a zero fret - hence the open string note should sound the same as any other - simple eh?

You're dead right about the position if the pickups Mr. T. A Jazz bass sounds like a Jazz bass mainly because of the placement of the pickups - if you note the distance of the bridge pickup from the bridge itself on the real thing it's not as close as some people think, certainly not as close as on your bass. I seem to recall Leo Fender having a test rig consisting of a neck bolted on to an open frame with only a bridge terminating it and using this to slide a pickup whilst plugged in to judge the best position (to his ears) for optimum tone - something to do with being beneath a particularly lively harmonic I reckon. It looks as though you are after a warmer tone which might only be achieved by playing around with pickups, circuits and amp settings etc.. Unless of course you come to the conclusion that you should have a Ja.....oh dear I really shouldn't go there when you've got such a beautiful instrument
Good luck in the never-ending search which is the curse of most of us!

EMGs have a particular character that people either like or dislike. In your case changing from P & DC models to J types will have the effect of thinning the sound a bit but I doubt the actual tone will alter much - they will still sound like EMGs. Maybe you can describe the tone you have in mind and hopefully members will chip in with advice.
I don't think there's any special reason for fitting pickups that are wider than standard string spacing - it may be just 'being on the safe side' - I have fitted 6-string pickups to a 5 knowing that it had particularly wide spacing. There should certainly be no 'tonal' difference

[quote name='Tinman' date='Jan 31 2009, 05:28 PM' post='396269']
Ok, so I have a brass nut fitted to my Shuker and I'm interested to find out your opinions on what the tonal differences would be if I fitted a standard bone one


No noticable difference as far as I know - in the 70's when people like Di Marzio and Mighty Mite were pushing replacement parts in brass they claimed such things would increase sustain. I tried them for a while and realised the bridges in particular seemed to 'deaden' the sound compared to steel - it is after all a fairly soft metal. When you consider the job a nut does, once you fret ahead of it it's out of play as part of the sound path and therefore of no effect. If we concede that increased sustain occours when playing an open string, who needs it? I guess most players would prefer the note to die just as quickly as any other because sustain (much loved by gu****ists) can translate to 'drone' on a bass and I find most guys concentrate on good dampening technique to achieve a clean punchy sound
Sorry to all the fans of my famed SOH to make a serious observation without including a joke - oh alright then - Roy Rogers - doesn't everyone? ( it also works with Samanatha Fox)

But John you look so much younger now.....smarm....crawl.....etc...

I have to say Wot handled the man-sized strings very well the other night. 'Twas a splendid gig. Interesting to note the "hairs on chest thing" - I was planning to lend the bass to Tal Wilkenfeld, but maybe not now.

Hi Lee,
Good to hear from you. I honestly don't remember picking you up all those years ago but there have been so many pickups in my time....Bartolini, MEC(active), EMG(active), not to mention 'ladies of the night'(passive).
Strange you should mention Kenny - I just heard from him recently - he seems to need his old P-bass servicing soon, like every ten years or so he thinks about fitting new strings.
No doubt you will get in touch when you're in the area - PM'd with my phone number.
Cheers,

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='387407' date='Jan 21 2009, 12:37 PM']BTW, look out for my lavish, coffee-table book book on 'Interesting Turnips of 1968'[/quote]

I'm thinking of publishing a tome about a certain second-hand La Bella flat-wound D string I once fitted to my Jazz bass. It would probably run to 2 volumes ( and one tone....geddit?)

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='387218' date='Jan 21 2009, 10:04 AM']I'm not sure I understand, this is a whole book about a certain model p bass?[/quote]

Yes I don't expect it to be a thick book - likely to be 'padded out' with lots of big pictures of erm....1966 Slab bodied Precision basses. Shoudn't be pricey though

[quote name='Toasted' post='387213' date='Jan 21 2009, 10:00 AM']What was it like meeting Leo?[/quote]

Oh dear, I would have to do that by installments - for those old enough you may remember that in 1979 Srings and Things ran a competition whereby if you bought a Musicman item in a particular month you were automatically entered in a draw (via the guarantee card) where the prize was to meet Leo Fender. At this time I was intrigued by the Stingray bass being his first major project since the 60s and bought one at Rock City in Newcastle. It was the first (and only) time I bought a brand new instrument and it was a novelty to complete a guarantee card so I sent it off not thinking I might win.
May 1979 - call from S'n'T - 'you won'! The value of the prize would be hard to justify these days - 10 days in L.A., all expenses paid, car hire, top class hotel in Newport Beach and approx. 3 of the days in the company of the great man. Other installments may follow......

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='385796' date='Jan 20 2009, 10:58 AM']Author.com, Amazon.com, also apparently Fender will stock it and 'others'[/quote]

Sorry, the first one should have read Authorhouse com.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='387054' date='Jan 21 2009, 12:44 AM']Does the book have a title?[/quote]

The title is A Fender Bass for Britain - strange one I know but the fact is the Shermans didn't recognise it's existence since it was only targeted at the UK market. One theory is that it would be used as a 'market tester' towards whether to bring back the original P- bass (as the Telecaster) which of course they did. This was the first return to maple necks as standard since 1959. Better not say much more so that you can enjoy the full story when the book comes out.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='385774' date='Jan 20 2009, 10:40 AM']Wow... I'm looking forward to that!

Can you tell us a bit about Baz? I know he's a mine of info on all things Fender, but he's never got involved with discussions online... or has he?

It would be great to hear what he has to say...[/quote]

I don't think Baz is into online stuff but I could try to persuade him. However at this time it's probably best to let him get the book out and deal with follow-up interest which is bound to occour as a result. You're right that Baz knows his stuff - almost as much as me!(after all I must be one of the very few to have spent some time in the company of Leo Fender)

[quote name='bremen' post='385773' date='Jan 20 2009, 10:40 AM']Did parts of this become the famous Frankenbass as used on Live at Leeds?[/quote]

I do believe so

[quote name='Delberthot' post='385779' date='Jan 20 2009, 10:46 AM']I remember reading an interview with Baz in Bassist mag a few years back and he got a pic and a mention in the Fender Bass book. He must be a good age by now.

Looking forward to getting a copy of this. Who's going to be selling it?[/quote]

Author.com, Amazon.com, also apparently Fender will stock it and 'others'

Hi all,
Advance notice that there is a book coming out in a month or so about the history of this ultra rare model. It is so rare I only ever owned 2 of them! One went to U2s Adam Clayton via his guitar tech whilst on tour (my good friend was tech for the support). The other one is now owned by my mate 'Big Baz' Matthews who has written the book. Advance pics are being E-mailed to me by Baz since I helped in some of the research. I still get misty-eyed when recalling my favourite one as I consider it to be the best sounding of all of the many P basses I have owned. The book's foreward is written by John Entwhistle but sadly he never got to do the epilogue.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='384757' date='Jan 19 2009, 10:41 AM']Hello!

Glad to hear it... I'll be in touch soon 'cos I have a little bit of pickup juggery-pokery I need a hand with.[/quote]
You're asking me to assist with some juggery- pokery? I'm OK with the juggery (how is the missus btw?) but I'm a bit uncomfortable in relation to the pokery - we should talk privately later.
However, if you need help involving pickups, wiring etc., no problem. Having retired from the retail side of things, I'm often asked if I will handle queries - my stock reply is "certainly not - I'm heterosexual".
Seriously though you've picked a good time to have any work done - my workshop is at your disposal. Just about to help Marcus choose some replacement pickups for his CV Squier Jazz.

[quote name='Hamster' post='384519' date='Jan 18 2009, 11:24 PM']Welcome to the forums! - I work it out at around £129.23 in today's money![/quote]
Cripes! - At that price level I feel I should be entitled to a lifetime guarantee so if one string breaks in the next few years I will request a refund. As a matter of interest, when I ran the Bass Place in Newcastle we had a policy of offering a lifetime guarantee on everything we sold. The only catch was if the customer complained, we hired a hit-man to murder him so that the end result was that the item had indeed lasted his lifetime.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='384633' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:47 AM']Well bugger me boots... Mr. S.!

Welcome aboard... how the devil are ya??[/quote]
Hiya MB,
I'm doing fine thanks - recovering quite well from the heart scare. The only other problem is that on a recent visit to my GP he suggested I may be suffering from Alzheimers. At least I think that's what he said because these days I find it hard to remember things.
Are you involved in the gig at the Poachers Cottage on the 24th? It's just down the road from me so I may turn up - in diguise of course as I did for the recent Booker T appearance where it was feared that Duck Dunn may refuse to play in front of one of his heroes

I've been browsing the forum for a little while now and thought I should make myself known as one of the senior citizens of the bass world. I have already exchanged a couple of PMs with the Old Git and find I am older and gitter than him - first paying gig 1964! Iam probably not the oldest member at present but would like to stake a claim to having the oldest set of strings still in use -- my spare Jazz bass carries a set of original Fender strings for which I still have the packet marked £8/15 shillings -a hell of a price to pay back then - anyone care to work out the amount that equates to in today's money? Although new to the vast majority of you, I can say that I am already well known to a lot of fellow North Easterners including Marcus, Wateroftyne and of course Warwickhunt (what on earth were Mr. and Mrs. Hunt thinking?). To those who think you might know me, the clue is in the avatar - the slapping nun of Nun Street.