henry norton

I had a go on a Pino and it was a nice, light, resonant, easy to play bass. But (ain't there always one of those), it sure wasn't 2.5 times as good as a bog standard American Standard. Try both out and see for yourself, you might save a load of cash trying out a few Standard Precisions 'til you find a really good one.

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='1367832' date='Sep 9 2011, 04:37 PM']Yes it will! you may have to tilt your head to one side and squint a little though..................[/quote] Well, being 41 that's how I look at everything anyway.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1367955' date='Sep 9 2011, 06:52 PM']well 30 years?[/quote] God! I'm 41, what does that make me then????

Well teak's fairly rare and costly, especially decent sized, decent aged chunks, so you might still find a buyer for it. That is unless you want some nice outdoor furniture

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='1367725' date='Sep 9 2011, 03:05 PM']All you need to do is treat you and your bass to a really good clean up and a great set of new strings! This brings that bass back to life and reminds you why you bought it in the first place Try it next time your about to sell your number one bass!! it really works! [/quote] Will a good clean and new strings turn my Precision into a vintage Gibson EB-2D?

I really want to get back into DB playing and would like to take a few lessons so I can start again with the right technique. I don't have much time in the day so would like to find a teacher reasonably close. I'm in Hitchin, Herts. Can anyone help???

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1366576' date='Sep 8 2011, 04:07 PM']Care to expand? Or point me in the direction of a link that does.[/quote] Yeah, here's the [url="http://www.nashguitars.com/IMHO.htm"]Bill Nash[/url] comment for a start. It's under the "I'd rather buy a REAL Fender than some parts-o-caster made by Nash" heading. This isn't [i]my[/i] opinion by the way - don't flame the messenger.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1366371' date='Sep 8 2011, 01:36 PM']Most people when they are talking about US-made instruments mean Fenders, Gibsons and Music Men which are all mass-produced. These days that doesn't have any kudos at all.[/quote] There are plenty of people (Bill Nash for instance), who believe Fender stopped actually 'making' their own guitars after 1964, meaning that every post-64 Fender, US built or otherwise is essentially just a 'copy'. Make of that what you will

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1363212' date='Sep 5 2011, 06:27 PM']I've had and currently own UK-sourced hand-made basses. They're ok, though I have had issues of one sort or another with both.[/quote] That's interesting in that some people go for something that has less kudos than a US instrument (Unless it's something like a Wal) yet cost more than something made in the Far East (asides from some high-end stuff), yet your personal experience with these UK custom basses has been less than perfect. I'd imagine that's quite disappointing as you'd think the UK makers would really be setting out to prove themselves.

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1366045' date='Sep 8 2011, 08:30 AM']I think that you will regret this,i would keep it until you fall back in love with it,and sort the issues.[/quote] +1 on that. Rockbass necks must come up fairly regularly and surely the whole point of making your own is you can work into it and improve it as and when you need to. Plenty of basses have had a battery compartment installed late in their lives for instance.

If you're prepared to lose an inch the 31" Birdsong Hy5 string is to all intents and purposes a production bass. Otherwise, have you thought about getting yourself a standard Jazz 5 and getting a custom made, medium-scale neck for it?

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' post='1364629' date='Sep 6 2011, 09:10 PM']Call me a doom merchant but I can only report what happened to me, rounds marked my rosewood board -almost instantly , I changed to nylons after a couple of days.[/quote] Yeah it's fair enough to feel worried when you see big lines across the board after your first string bend but it's generally just the windings 'polishing' the board rather than ruts being worn into it. Obviously playing heavy handedly for long periods, regularly will eventually wear the rosewood away, but it normally takes a fair bit of playing to make a real 'impression' on a decent rosewood board, even with rounds.

[quote name='von Braun' post='1364335' date='Sep 6 2011, 05:47 PM']Cheers again. I'll have a google for suitable veneers tonight. I'm thinking of getting the de-fretting done by someone who knows their stuff better than I do but the old wood-working skills are just about up to the re-finish job. Any thoughts on strings? I'm thinking some sort of groundwounds or nylonwounds would be in order, failing that I've got a decent set of La Bella flat mediums around somewhere, with some decent life left in 'em.[/quote] You should use whatever strings you like the sound of. If you like stainless rounds I'd use them - rosewood boards don't last forever but they'll last longer than most professional and amateur doom merchants will have you think. I would always say keep the board plain unless you specifically want a brighter, more 'electric' sound epoxy gives you.

Go for it - can I just add you're best off putting veneers into the slots rather than filler or glue & dust. That way you get a nice, crisp line in either a contrasting wood like maple or birch (assuming the board is rosewood), or something like walnut which'll show up close up but be more difficult to see from far away, which makes it look like a plain fretless for extra cool points If you find you absolutely hate the sound and feel, you can still get it re-fretted, especially if you've not had it coated.

PM'd

[quote name='4000' post='1363122' date='Sep 5 2011, 05:24 PM']To be honest if I was after a Jazz I'd prefer one with a P neck and pickups as I like them better.....I'll get me coat. [/quote] Sold!!!!

Woeful. A proper pair of parts bin specials. No doubt nobody will buy them and they'll be worth a fortune in 20 years time.

Bonjour El Molusko. Votre Anglais c'est parfait. J'habite en France pour cinq anee mais mon Francais c'est terrible!

[url="http://www.cafewalter.com/ha1/index.htm"]This[/url] is meant to be very good for giving you the true sound of your instrument, although it obviously won't reproduce the sound of an amp and cabinets. I usually try out a new setup/pickup/bass/string type by playing it through a headphone amp. You're absolutely right in that it won't produce a gigable sound but I test everything on the same, flattish settings which is useful to compare and contrast one to another. It's no good for optimising your sound though. That really needs to be done at the right volume into the right equipment.

[quote name='BottomE' post='1362108' date='Sep 4 2011, 07:48 PM']How do you rate the Schaller 3D? I have a bit of a string spacing fetish [/quote] If you've got a string spacing fetish the Schaller 3D could well be the cure. They're nicely made, look good and cheaper than the equivalent Badass (although it has been 22 years since I last bought one...). On top of all that, if the posts on this thread are anything to go by, it does fek all to the sound anyway so at least you know things'll be consistent on that front

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1361949' date='Sep 4 2011, 05:30 PM']The high mass one looks cool on the fretted too! I did deliberate on whether or not I should swap them around to see..... but I have better things to do![/quote] Yeah totally! I suspect one of the better things to do would be to play the Jazzes! I have to admit, one of the things I was disappointed with when I bought my EB Stingray was that it didn't have the super-cool, massive bridge my old pre-EB had. I never used the mutes on my Pre EB but the bridge with the built in mutes looked so much nicer than the newer version.

This thread reminds me of a similar test some guy on Talkbass posted, bolting a jazz neck and hardware onto a bit of building lumber he found in his basement. He posted recordings of the donor bass and the plank which resulted in similar results to this bridge test. His results were posted blind though, which made it a bit more interesting. I use the same Schaller 3D bridge on my Precision because it lets me adjust the string spacing and more importantly, it looks very cool

[quote name='gadget' post='1360710' date='Sep 3 2011, 09:36 AM']I have to say I'm really not into either of those, and would much rather have the Pedulla. Then again, for the money the Godin goes for, I'd rather save the difference and have a Sei, Goodfellow or another Shuker made. By the time you've factured in all the extras like VAT, import duty, etc, The locally built basses would probably work out cheaper, look much nicer, and be to my own spec (whatever I chose), so that would get my vote. Still though, as mentioned, each to their own, and if you like it, who's to tell you its not worth it? Regards G![/quote] Well if it came to having the sort of cash you'd need for the Rob Allen I would definitely be looking elsewhere (not necessarily one of mine either, but maybe a Pedulla ), but with all respect to Martin, Bernie and Jon, they're still offering variations on Fenders or Multi laminate Superbasses. I like the Allen and Godin because they're very 'production' looking without being obviously copies of Fenders, but as you say, each to their own.

[quote name='krazy_olie' post='1361468' date='Sep 4 2011, 01:16 AM']If you take something like a Marcus Miller Jazz bass it has a high spec and as a result costs as much as a USA one, Highway 1 basses were "lower" spec and as a result much cheaper.[/quote] Yeah that's the question though. Fender sold a fair few Highway Ones even though you could probably get a better made, better specced Fender for the same price. By the way I play a JV Squier which was cheaper and better made than the equivalent US made Precision, yet plenty of people still went out and bought Fenders back then (in the olden days when Fenders were US made by default!).

If you really want good dub tone I'll lend you my Rotosound 88 strung EB-0. On a more practical note you'd probably do well to replace the stock Mex Jazz pickup with any decent quality aftermarket pickup as virtually all of them will thicken up your tone. An inline humbucker wired in series will help but just to confuse you can I also suggest you wire your pickups in series, have them both full on and rolling off the treble should give you a much thicker sound than the stock neck pickup. That way it'll cost you some solder (or a series/parallel push pull pot if you want to retain your options) rather than an entire pickup change.