The Bass Doc

You may wish to publish directions to the venue but would it involve any right hand turns?

Welcome Tom, I'll be 62 in June and consider it's never too late to become a bass player - mind you I did start in 1964. I note the church reference and reckon my grounding in playing organ in a Methodist church at an early age gave me a distinct advantage in appreciating bass parts - there are some great bass lines in hymn tunes as you will know. Good luck and enjoy the forum.

Forgot to mention that to be completely accurate Fender used 0.05 value capacitors but 0.047 is more readily available and you would not be able to hear any difference

0.047 is correct for early 60's and most re-issue and reproduction models but Fender themselves used 0.022 from the late 60's into the 70's (less treble bled to earth as you turn the pot anti-clockwise) - at the cost of cappies, try one of each.

Just in case it's thought I only create 4 string F & MM types - here's an example of the last 6 string I built about 18 months ago - I reckon it was No. 11 in a series with this body shape - 1 was a 4 string, 1 5 string and 1 fretless 6 - mostly with walnut bodies and a variety of hardware finishes and electronics [attachment=20345:DCFC0410.JPG] This particular guy requested active EMGs without active circuitry but the control layout lends itself to an upgrade to two band actives by completing the 'diamond' shape of the pots - and if he does decide that in the future he'll be as happy as a man with four knobs.

I wouldn't bother with locking stuff unless they feel really slack when you are finished turning

Yup, they're meant to be adjustable-just stick a screwdriver in and turn

I thought good but listening to the final mix I reckon he thought bad

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.