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Obrienp

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Everything posted by Obrienp

  1. Obrienp
    I guess it’s different strokes for different folks. The neck suits me fine but I have short fingers. I hadn’t noticed it being thick: perhaps the FSR versions have a different profile? I think Jaguar basses have always had Jazz style necks, so you might be waiting a long time for one with a P neck profile but wouldn’t it be great if they did a medium scale P bass in the Affinity line to compliment the Jag. The Japanese medium scale Ps and Js seem expensive to me, plus there is all the hassle of having to import them.
  2. Obrienp
    I’ve gone for one as well but in black with maple board. Mine only had a two conductor pickup lead but I got a local luthier/pickup maker to convert it to a 4 conductor lead and he potted it as well (originally it was very noisy). I wired it for parallel/single coil/series switching using a 3 position DPDT. I understand the FSRs have a 4 conductor lead as standard, so you may not have to mod the pickup. It’s quite easy to drill the control plate to take the DPDT between the pots. Be warned the control cavity is really tight. I bought full size CTS pots only to find they wouldn’t fit. I had to use Alpha mini pots instead. Wiring it all up with the DPDT switch was like keyhole surgery! I also shielded the cavities with copper tape as they hadn’t even used graphite paint. It was worth the effort though: it sounds great and there is a real difference in tone between the 3 switching options. The OEM pickup is surprisingly good (to my ears). The only other mod I made was fitting a Fender high mass bridge, which was a drop in fit and helps a bit with the balance on a strap. The OEM machine heads are pretty good, so I am sticking with them until they play up. I now have an excellent, easy playing and great sounding bass. The neck is perfect me. Feels great and I love the unfinished feel. No sprouting frets, or rough ends. The medium scale almost seems easier to play than a 30”. All this for £180 (stock), plus about £60 for the parts. This is a real bargain IMO; so much better made than Squier Affinity offerings of old. This is what it looks like with the switch fitted.
  3. Obrienp
    Different but related subject: I just became aware of the Cort Action Junior bass. Another 30” scale bass. There is very little information about it on the Cort website. It doesn’t even give the nut width but the design looks pretty good. The long top horn looks as though the bass might balance well on a strap and at £169 it might make a good modding platform. I am not in the market for another bass but I just wondered if anybody had tried one?
  4. Obrienp
    Didn’t think that would stay unsold for long. Congratulations!
  5. Obrienp
    I have two basses with single MM pickups: one with series/parallel switching and one I have modded to series/single coil/parallel switching. I can’t speak for the Cazpar (would love to be able to) but I find there is a big difference in tone between parallel and series modes on my basses (ceramic magnets). Parallel has significantly scooped mids with prominent highs, whereas series has strong mids and slightly compressed highs. Both have plenty of bass, with series sounding darker overall and as you mentioned, louder (perhaps emphasised by the strong mids). The humbucking options sound quite different to single coil mode, which is more like a Jazz bass neck pickup. The above is a long winded way of saying that I wouldn’t dismiss the series wiring option. I think it has its own sound and having the series/single coil/parallel switching gives you a great tone pallet to play with. Obviously how it works for you will depend on your pickup’s construction.
  6. Obrienp
    I still think I would go for two stacked vol/tone pots but appreciate that CTS pots, orange drop caps and decent stacked knobs would cost a fair proportion of the original price of the bass.
  7. Obrienp
    Just flicking through the Bass Direct website and they have a used Mensinger Cazpar 4p 30” with twin Delano SBCs for £799. Beautiful looking with an olive wood top and what looks like a maple fretboard, although the description says Ebony. That sounds quite a good price to me but others may know otherwise. Fortunately, I don’t need it and can’t afford it…. Really, I don’t need it and can’t afford it. Might be of interest to somebody on here though (I have no connection to Bass Direct).
  8. Obrienp
    @Smanthbelated happy birthday! 🎉🎂🥂 Let us know how you find the TMB35 when you get it.
  9. Obrienp
    Perhaps it’s because that is what sells. It takes a lot to beat a precision pickup set for all round versatility. There are some notable exceptions though: Ibanez EHB1000s has Bart soap bars, Sterling Stingray SS and Vox Starstream H have MM humbuckers, various Gibson shorties and Epiphone copies have humbuckers, Nordstrand Acinonyx has single coils but they are very different from your P or J single coils, even the Gretsch G2220 pickups are quite different, then you have the Hofner (and copies) with humbuckers. Those are just the reasonably priced ones. If you go up market, you have the likes of Mensinger and Mullarky who have soap bar and humbucker options, not to mention EBMM. Actually, now I list them, there are quite a few. I forgot Chowny!
  10. Obrienp
    Yes, I can’t even pretend that B and D are close together on the keyboard! Old age I am afraid. Weight wise: it seems both peoples’ perception and actual weight varies. I would have thought that the bodies are knocked out cookie cutter style but perhaps the wood blanks vary in density. Might be worth trying a few. Definitely worth putting on the short list.
  11. Obrienp
    @SmanthHi S’manth. I had the TMB35. It is a really nice bass for the money but it does have a pretty chunky neck, which doesn’t suit everybody and my example (at least) was quite heavy for a shorty. It was also quite noisy out of the box but a bit of copper tape shielding sorted that out pretty easily. On the plus side the stock precision pickup was OK (the bridge Jazz was a bit weak) and the B string was useable right down to open B. Just corrected typos!
  12. Obrienp
    Oh, well. Maybe I have been lucky with my 34” scale basses then. Three Fenders and three Ibanez all very well balanced.
  13. Obrienp
    @KateWantsToPlayBassI agree with everything previous contributors have said but I am wondering about the problem of neck dive with short scale basses. If your nephew has a leg brace, I guess he is going to be sitting to play a lot of the time. Neck dive can make some shorties awkward to play when sitting. A full size bass tends to balance pretty well when played sitting down. I can’t remember having a full scale bass that neck dived (somebody will prove me wrong).
  14. Obrienp
    Not wishing to hijack the thread but I fitted the Warman with the 3 way switch and Alpha pots. It all worked well and is a really good, fairly cheap mod. I am sure it is not up to Bartolini standards though but it certainly gave the Jaguar a few more tone variations. In the meantime I had given the original Squier pickup to my local luthier to see if he could convert it to four leads, as I liked the tone. It turned out to be quite a task because the manufacturer had used a lot of resin haphazardly, without actually potting it, which probably explains why it was so noisy. Anyway, he managed to do it and then potted it with wax, which has made it very quiet. Unfortunately, he lost the piece of paper he had written the colour assignment on, so I had to do quite a lot of experimenting to wire up the three way switch. It turned out to require a completely different wiring to the Warman, including which pins on the switch to connect with a shunt. Anyway, I finally succeeded and it sounds pretty good. It is massive in serial mode (Squier standard) but the single neck coil sounds really good, like a hot Jazz with that single coil clarity. Parallel mode gives a good mid-scoop with a fair amount of punch. This is what the control plate looks like with the mod:
  15. Obrienp
    The control route in these is tiny. I couldn’t fit full size pots into it when I rewired it, so you would have to enlarge it to use the full length of a bigger plate.
  16. Obrienp
    The Boss WL-20 and 50 automatically seek the best of 14 channels. I have never had a clash happen with the WL-20. The WL-50 receiver will power other pedals as well when you are using the power adapter (it can also run on batteries). They claim the rechargeable batteries in the dongles will last 12 hours. I have certainly got over 6 hours continuous use out of my WL-20 (I’ve never tried to go longer without recharging). Worth considering IMO, if you can’t source the Line 6.
  17. Obrienp
    I like the body contours on that HB. Definitely an improvement on the original Mustang design.
  18. Obrienp
    I think I would go for a stacked vol/tone and a blend but it means a bit more complicated wiring job. Come to think of it, why not two stacked vol/tone like an old Jazz bass.
  19. Obrienp
    I’ve been using the Boss WL-20 for about 4 years. I’ve not had a problem with it, even with three of us using different systems simultaneously and a cheap wireless IEM system. The range is pretty impressive too and the charge seems to last 5-6 hours in constant use. It even seems to be OK with some active basses (but not the Ibanez SRH500). Boss do a version with a pedal board receiver called the WL-50 as well. They are not cheap though.
  20. Obrienp
    Mark bought my Hofner Violin bass. The transaction could not have been easier and it was a real pleasure doing business with him. I would say he is the ideal buyer. I also enjoyed nerding out with him about various basses 😀. Thanks for such a smooth transaction Mark.
  21. Obrienp
    Continued clear out of surplus gear. This is a Gear4Music dual bass gig bag. It takes two standard scale basses e.g. a Jazz and a Precision. Perfect for gigging. Take your main and back-up basses in a single compact and easy to carry bag. The full description, including dimensions can be found here: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Dual-Bass-Guitar-Gig-Bag-by-Gear4music/1II6. The highlights are: 15mm padding, neck retaining straps, two decent sized front pockets and one discreet slip pocket on the back, padded shoulder straps. Condition wise: I think I have used this twice to take basses to gigs but I now play short scale, so it is a bit over-sized for the job (wish they made a short scale equivalent). It has no rips, pulls or compression of the padding that I can see. It is a little dusty but I will give it a hoover before handover/posting. Selling it at half the new price, so grab yourself a bargain. Collection would be preferable but I am sure I have a box large enough to post this at buyer’s expense. Unfortunately, most couriers seem to price on volume rather than weight, so postage may be disproportionate. I can meet up within 50 miles from Fakenham, Norfolk.
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  22. Obrienp
    Thomann sort that, or at least they did when I bought a bass from them in January. I didn’t have anything extra to pay but I did have to be patient.
  23. Obrienp
    If my experience recently is anything to go by, 3-4 working days is optimistic. At least Thomann sorts everything for you. You are not suddenly going to get another bill for customs duty. You need patience ordering from Thomann these days! Deep joy!
  24. Obrienp
    I always say that 🤣. Also try to stick to a one in, one out rule. Succumbing to GAS means that I have to sell something I would rather hold onto and then I regret the sale, get fed up with the bass that replaced it, and start the whole cycle again.
  25. Obrienp
    Nice one. I like an umptee-bumpty in the set😀.
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