henry norton

Thanks for all the replies but can I get hold of a Bass with the hollow body of the Hofner copy and a 30" scale (he really has small hands) HN

My ten year old son is starting to take an interest in playing bass but my precision is too big and heavy for him. Bearing in mind he might get bored of it fairly quickly, can anyone recommend a lightweight short scale bass that doesn't go for Guild Starfire type money?

Yeah you're right at that Ray, the manuals really are rubbish. Apparently there's a virtual analogue MIDI synth built in but I'm buggered if I can find it. That said, I am the person who gave up his MusicMan for a Precision 'cos it had too many knobs and switches......

I've been given a Behringer Bass v-amp as I don't play live at the moment and don't have the space for an amplifier. I'm dead pleased at being able to listen to what I'm playing now although it's all a bit overwhelming when all I really needed was a headphone amp... Does anyone else here use one?

I use a Schaller J bridge pickup on my workhorse Precision and it's pretty good. I'd be wary of using one in your bridge position though because it's more-or-less a standard guitar humbucker size and the string spacing on a Fender bass will be a bit wide at the bridge. Should be fine for neck though.

Thanx for the replies - I still don't quite get it but maybe that's just me. I guess it's down to the old adage 'it's worth what people are willing to pay for it'. I loved both my MusicMan's (MusicMen????) and I might get me another one day although the range seems frighteningly big now. The Bongo looks quite good - asides from the name....

You could find a 34" unlined fretless neck and cut 32" scale fret spacings into it if you don't mind a bit of woodwork. You would have to reposition the bridge if you used a standard Jazz body but it's not too difficult to make your own with a few woodwork tools and perseverence.

Definitely B. A is a bit gimmicky and C is a bit BC Rich. I would have thought your Design Technology tutors and examiner would prefer a pragmatic approach rather than styling for the sake of it and B seems to tick more of those boxes. Don't get too practical though or you'll end up with a Warwick Thumb (AAARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I've owned two MusicMan basses in my time - a pre-EB 4 string and a Stingray 5. The 5 had a perfect finish, beautiful birdseye maple neck and played perfectly whereas my old 4 string had an awful metalflake red finish that cracked and a truss rod that was really difficult to adjust. They both sounded very good but I don't understand (other than the usual age thing) why pre EB's are so coveted. Or is this a question everyone else in the world knows the answer to?

Getting back to topic, (God, I can't believe I'm writing this....), the Jazz is more versatile as can hold it down with the neck pickup but can also be good for slap and harmonics 'cos of the bridge pickup. The Precision has more character (more of a growl) but is limited to one pickup so doesn't have quite the range of sounds the Jazz has. The majority seem to prefer the narrower Jazz neck but as you can see, there are still a few people who prefer something a bit chunkier in their hand Maybe - dare I say it - a precision sounds like a Precision whereas a Jazz sounds more like the person playing it (Larry Graham, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller).

I used to play Jazz basses but gave them up for a precision a few years back and found I preferred the chunkier neck and the more characterful growl. That said, I eventually added a J bridge pickup to brighten things up a bit and found I've got a bass maybe even more versatile than the Jazz without the horrible skinny neck and bulky body.

I'm not that well up on current gear but 9 or 10 years ago I always ran EVs because at the time you got more volume and clarity than any other speaker. They had edge wound coils and a very close tolerance between the coil and the magnet. This meant if any foreign particles got in there it would grate and grind and generally ruin the sound. This, or if the cabinet got a bad knock perpendicular to the speakers axis it could move the coil slightly off axis which touched the magnet and caused bad noises again (all amplified beautifully by the cone). The first time this happened was in my Peterson bass combo which was replaced under warranty with lots of apologies and fussing about from Pete Tullet, the maker of Peterson amps. The second time it happened after another EV cab I used was dropped only about 6 inches to the ground but caused the same grating, buzzing distortion. This had to have a re-cone which at the time cost about 50 quid, or about a quarter the cost of a new EV speaker. I wouldn't like to guess how much a re-cone would cost now, or even if it could still be done but it might be worth asking around before you put a different speaker in a cab designed specifically for your EV. Good luck.

My old Stingray 5 had a series/parallel/single switch but to be honest, the 3 band EQ had a much greater effect on the tone than the switch and I ended up keeping it in humbucking mode most of the time. Sounds like this double J is pretty similar. Thanks for the replies.

Not so long ago (well, about 9 years) the pickup choice seemed to be Precision, Jazz, soapbar humbucker plus the odd original equipment wide humbuckers like Wal and MusicMan. Since I've been getting back into bass playing I keep seeing these 'double Jazz' pickups and I'm just wondering what the deal is with them? Is it like a fatter Jazz, a cleaner Precision or a more versatile humbucker? I'm deadly curious.

Interesting how they call the first bass a "50's style precision" and not a '51 or 'precision slab'. Presumably this is because it's got a contoured body which for me (being a bit of a 51 fan), would rule it out. And there's me going on about the name not meaning anything........

Seems to me the main difference between Ed Friedland's basses and the classic vibe models were his strings seemed to be older and more played in whilst the no doubt factory fresh cv's had lovely bright new strings. I play a squier (1983 precision) 'cos at the time it was about a third the price of a US built Fender and unless you looked very closely at the small print on the headstock you couldn't tell if one of those was built in the US or in Japan anyway. If you don't like the logo you can always stick some masking tape over it........

I broke the headstock off my fretless while showing off how "strong the custom neck was built". I did this during an audition which caused quite a few laughs with the band. The drummer had a reel of masking tape so I taped the head back on, tensioned up the E and A strings and carried on with the audition. Got the gig too although I think they based their decision on perseverence rather than pure talent!

Thanks for the reply clarky - I'm not ready to start gigging again just yet but playing live was always where it was for me. Maybe after I've finished my barn conversion, rebuilt my motorbike, sorted out a new driveway, build my garage, oh yeah, and fixed that buzz on my old precision...... There just never seems to be enough time in the day.

Hello there, I've recently picked up my bass again after leaving it in the spare room for the past 9 years or so. (the three kids are just about old enough to let me practice in peace now). I've owned 3 Jazz basses (2 fretless), a Musicman stingray 4 and a Stingray 5, an early 80s JV Squier Precision and a couple of home made (custom built!) basses. I only have the Precision left now, which suits me fine, apart from the fact that they're frighteningly valuable these days. It has a Schaller J pickup added in the bridge position, Schaller 3D bridge, one of those hideous cream coloured Di Marzio P pickups in place of the original, a brass nut and straplocks. My first bass amp (after my mums stereo) was a 10" Peterson followed by some Trace Elliot gear, EV speakers and finally an Alligator 2x8" combo. I don't have an amp at the moment so I'm amplifying my bass by jamming the headstock against the wardrobe doors. My wife has promised me a Behringer V-amp for my birthday though.... I've owned a bass guitar for 22 years now and am really looking forward to getting into it again - hopefully I'll get some inspiration from these pages.