Baloney Balderdash

Just heard the examples again, and I will have to change my guess of which is a P Bass, even pretty sure it is in fact #3 (and not #2 as I first guessed, not paying proper attention, and guessing after just one listen though of the 5 examples. I'd even go as far as to say definitely not #2.). The tone of #3 has a complexity and certain mids focus that non of the other examples really got that tells me that's the one.

So Music Man/Earnie Ball is sending Joe Dart the bill for the production of his signature basses? That's usually not how signature instruments work.

And yet another, even never shot, of my beloved Harley Benton GuitarBass (Bass VI). Now with knobs, with respectively green and red electrical tape (also known as insulating tape) cut to shape and stuck on the top of them, and expanding further on the artistic background PhotoShop shenanigans.

You need to call yourself Sir Doctor Professor V.I.P to be taken seriously now?

Just what the... My comment was deleted. Not because I broke any forum guidelines, but simply, I must assume, because some moderator didn't like it. No notification about it, nothing, just deleted, which I find concerning. I think it was actually relevant for the topic. Critical?: yes, definitely - Caricatured and satirical?: absolutely - Harsh?: maybe - But humerus and tongue in cheek, and, probably more importantly in this context, totally relevant and on point. Here is an article about the famous "stinky poo" on can art piece that my original comment was a reference to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist's_Shit

What you lack is high mids frequency content, which that preamp scoops right out of your tone. Sorry, but you picked the wrong preamp for what you are trying to achieve.

I don't recall any 80's Metal bass players that used a 5 string. Modern Metal sure, but back then it was all 4 string basses. I wouldn't rule out a 4 string short scale bass either, sure no 80's Metal bassists played short scale either, but if it turns out a short scale feels more comfortable for you to play, then why make it harder than it need to be, lots of great short scale offerings on the market today that are exactly as great as any regular 34" scale basses. If you insist on a 5 string bass, then for instance try out the 30"-32" short-multi scale faned frets Ibanez EHB1005SMS.

TC Electronic SpectraComp ! (if you want more physical controls available you can just get the regular big version of the Hypergravity pedal instead, which utilizes the exact same compression engine/algorithms, and their respective Toneprint editors are completely identical too, just for some totally lame reason TC Electronic chose to not make it possible to use the premade artist and template Toneprints for the SpectraComp on the Hypergravity or the other way around for that matter, though as, as I'll explain later, you would want to dial in your own custom Toneprint anyway this doesn't really matter at all). All you ask for and way more, as long as you are willing to do the work and take the time required to dial in your own custom Toneprint using the Toneprint editor. This compressor really allows you to customize you compression exactly as you like it, to fit perfectly with your personal preferences for any thinkable application. 3 band's (that is dividing your signal into a bass/low frequency band, a mid frequency band, and a treble/high frequency band) with freely adjustable crossover for each of them, volume of each of these bands individually (technically this would be compression makeup gain for the 3 bands respectively, but it can be utilized as a way to shape/balance your tone as well), individual parallel clean blend for each of the 3 bands respectively as well, and each band with their own individual full set of freely adjustable compression parameters. Note though that I personally didn't like any of the premade artist or template Toneprints, but taking the time to dial in the settings exactly to my liking in the Toneprint editor gave me exactly what I was looking for, which is why I pointed out that this would be a requirement for really making this pedal useful, but then it is not only just useful but absolute perfection. As transparent or prominent as you like it, and if you wish, but only if you wish so, a very powerful Toneshaping tool too, and any and as many of the parameters available in the Toneprint editor can be assigned to be controlled in whichever way you like to whatever physical knob on the pedal you wish (that is if you get the Hupergravity pedal, the SpectraComp really only got one physical control knob, though that one knob of course can be assigned however you wish too).

Well, I am not an expert of any capacity, but to me it seems like all the potential issues you point out would be shared with the concept of a regular trussrod, and as we know that concept is very well proven and works brilliantly (as for the tension of the strings and strength of the experimental "trusscable" OP already accounted for that). And to OP: Super cool and interesting project, and I kind of really like how the bass looks too. Best of luck with it.

You should expect to have to set up any bass when you get it, pretty much regardless of price, and in particular mass produced ones like that one. Not only string action, but also neck relief, intonation and pickup height. Plenty of great online guides of how to do so, both in video format and in from of written instructions with illustrations, only a Google or YouTube search away. And you should note that measurements found in these guides should always be considered as nothing but general guidelines, set it up to fit your personal preferences, it's made adjustable for a reason. Trust me, it's really not that hard once you get a hang of it, certainly not rocket science, and it's pretty much impossible to ruin anything as long as you follow the instructions and use common sense, and all these adjustments will be fully reversible if you don't get them right the first time, so don't be afraid, just don't do anything obviously stupid (like using an unreasonably amount of force when adjusting the trussrod for neck relief, it shouldn't offer much resistance, but if it does stop turning, and only about ½ a turn a time, actually really the only thing that potentially can leave any real damage when setting up your your bass, but if you follow this advice it won't most definitely not, as said follow the instructions and don't do anything obviously stupid) and you should be good, also doing it yourself is the only way to be sure it will fit your personal preferences spot on, plus it'll ultimately save you a lot of money down the road.

Really nice video. I enjoyed watching it a lot. Also my qualified guess is that bass #2 is a P Bass, I might be wrong though, most of them did actually sound quite similar. I'll also claim that the "Leo got it right the first time" sentiment used in context of the P Bass wouldn't be correct, for a couple of reasons, of which at least one is totally objective : First of all the bass we now know as a P Bass was not the first P Bass he made, as you said it used a single coil pickup, and has it's own unique qualities, second of all (though you could claim that this is a somewhat subjective truth) he totally counter intuitive and against all logic and common sense oriented the two halves of the split P Bass pickup the wrong way (perhaps for the same reason that he insisted on calling the otherwise semantically agreed on terms vibrato for tremolo and tremolo for vibrato, whatever odd reason that might then actually have been), for improved consistency of tone the pickup half for the 2 lower strings should have been furthest toward the bridge and for the 2 higher strings further towards the neck, instead Leo with the traditional orientation of the P pickup chose to emphasis the difference between the thicker lower strings and the thinner higher strings, making the 2 lower strings even fatter and boomier sounding than they already are and the 2 higher strings even more trebly and thin sounding than they already are, this was corrected by other manufactures on many future models that featured the classic split P pickup, commonly referred to as reverse P pickup, though it is really what makes most sense from a tonal perspective, as it somewhat actually helps counter the inherent tonal difference between the 2 thicker strings and the 2 thinner strings, but at the time someone corrected this the classic P Bass sound with the goofy pickup orientation had already become a classic standard, because there wasn't any alternative, and that alone made it a desired tone, even if it might not actually had been the optimal tone (if one can even claim such exists). In any case keep up the good work!

Thinner gauge strings, all things being equal (that is same type, materials and construction method), will produce a richer tone with more harmonic overtone content, whereas thicker gauge strings in comparison will produce a beefier/fatter tone with stronger fundamentals and less harmonic content. I personally prefer relatively thin gauge strings, both tone and feel wise, that is a set of gauge .095 - .075 - .055 - .040 balanced tension nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings for regular E1 standard tuning, actually both for regular 34" scale basses and for short scale 30" scale basses, as the shorter vibrating length of the strings on a shorter scale instrument will make the strings relatively stiffer/less flexible, to some degree compensating for the lower tension, compared to the longer vibrating length of the strings on a longer scaled instrument. Though of course it is possible to compensate for gauge to some degree by adjusting your playing and EQ accordingly.

I'm still impressed with the quality of the Harley Benton GuitarBass I bought a few months ago, love this instrument. But in an attempt to upgrade the middle pickup, which is what I use exclusively, for a quieter stacked hum free pickup I bought an EMG S3, passive pickup with Alnico 5 pole pieces, like the stock one (I am fully aware that there are much much more factors in play when it comes to the tone a pickup produce), but only had it installed for a couple of days before switching back to the stock pickup, which I by the way loved the tone of all along, was just hoping I could get that or even better, but hum free. The EMG just wasn't as articulate and as sensitive and responding to picking dynamics as the stock one, and overall just not sounding as great as the cheap stock pickup, though I realize that might just be how it is with stacked coils hum free "single coil" pickups in general, but point being the stock pickups do actually sound really great, and I've kind of given up on attempting to upgrade it, as said I do love the tone of it, and I honestly have a hard time imagining how it could possibly sound any better, apart from maybe being quieter, though again that might just be the deal with single coil pickups. I did swap out the stock pickup wires with a shielded wire while I had the chance anyway, but there isn't really a noticeable change in the noise levels, so guess I will have to shield the cavities if I want it any quieter, though I do also realize that even then a single coil pickup in it's nature will never become completely noiseless. Most recent, completely fresh, shot of my Harley Benton GuitarBass (with a bit of creative artistic PhotoShop shenanigans going on in the background) :

I ended up uninstalling the new EMG S3 hum free stacked coil pickup and reinstall the old stock single coil middle pickup, but replacing the stock pickups wires with a shielded wire and hook it up via the solder free pickup harness that came with the EMG, just using the 250kOhm EMG volume pot, so that the resistance match the stock 500kOhm parallel volume and tone pot (and since I don't use the tone pot anyway). The stock pickup is considerably more noisy than the EMG, but in any other aspect it sounds better, more articulate, much more dynamically responsive to my picking, and just all together reproduce a tone that match my personal preferences much closer. The cheap stock pickups on this cheap budget instrument are killer. The EMG pickup in this case was waste of money and waste of time, and except for it being less noisy in every other aspect a downgrade (I should add though that I am extremely satisfied with the upgrade to an EMG Geezer Butler P in my Ibanez Mikro Bass though, huge improvement, but then again I never liked the cheap stock P pickup in this bass, which in my opinion is pretty underwhelming).

So I bought a passive EMG S3 stacked coil hum free Strat pickup with the purpose of swapping out the stock middle single coil pickup in my Harley Benton GuitarBass (a take on the Fender Bass VI concept), as the middle pickup soloed is all I care for tone wise on this instrument. Not entirely sure what to think about it though, the magnets used are Alnico 5 pole piece slugs like the original, and it definitely is a lot quieter than the stock one, which was the main reason I swapped it, as I actually loved how the stock pickup sounded otherwise. It's actually not a night an day different, but non the less I'd claim rather essential. First of all the EMG is for sure quieter, and higher output as well, it is also a bit more punchy sounding than the stock one, which are all aspects of it I like and consider an improvement over the stock pickup, however I am not sure about how I like it also being a bit more compressed and hi-fi sounding, and as consequence in a way not quite as dynamic and sensitive as the stock pickup, which, while not sounding as clean and clear, did produce a somewhat more complex tone, did respond extremely well to my picking dynamics, like slightly changing both volume and tone according to how I picked in a very effortless and natural way, while the EMG, while it actually does respond just fine volume wise to my picking dynamics, tone wise just sounds more or less the same regardless of how hard I pick. So yeah, the EMG is a bit more punchy, more compressed, cleaner/clearer and somewhat more hi-fi sounding, but also somewhat less complex sounding, and not quite as effortlessly and naturally responding to my picking dynamics, overall just seeming less sensitive and dynamic. Not sure weather I am willing to sacrifice tonal complexity and dynamic response and sensitivity for a bit more punch, improved note separation and clarity when doing chord work, and being quieter when not touching any metal parts (as in grounding the pickup). So am pondering weather to let the EMG S3 stay in the GuitarBass or if I should go through the trouble and re-installing the old stock pickup. I read a lot of praise for this pickup, but also a lot of comments about the EMG pickups (including their passive pickups, like this one) in general being somewhat sterile sounding and lacking character, and I guess the latter is exactly my problem with this pickup. I wonder though if this is indeed mainly a case of how EMG tends to voice their pickups, as suggested in the above paragraph, or I would likely encounter similar issues with any stacked coil, single coil Strat pickup format, pickup (compared to true single coil pickups)?

Maybe I really ought to let it stay a secret, but I feel obliged to inform my huge fan base, for the sake of the global awareness in general, that it in fact is cut out from the very unique cardboard (it is actually a quite unique kind of cardboard with kind of a somewhat slightly velvet, actually very suede like, feel that seems to fit the open pore matte black finish of this bass particularly well) that makes up the flat box in which D'Addario NYXL strings come, then cut out to fit the cavity so that it is being folded on each side the width of the cavity once the depth of the cavity.

That's how I'd put it, though one can argue for the preamp last in the chain instead as well.

Back on my Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass, which I named "Dud Bottomfeeder", and which I just added a Jack Skellington (from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas") skull sticker to, and swapped the regular D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound steel core strings, which was gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034, to accommodate the G standard tuning I use for this bass, that is 3 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning, for a set of Elixir Nanoweb nickle plated roundwound steel core guitar strings, gauge .080 - .062 - .046 - .036 (using cut off ball ends from old bass strings to thread the strings through in order for them to be able to mount in the bridge holes and not slip through) : Oh, and by the way, as you can see the J pickup has been uninstalled, and instead replaced for a folded piece of matte black cardboard, the P pickup replaced for an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, which has been moved and replaced from a side mounted barrel type one to a front mounted regular jack socket, installed in one of the redundant pot holes, the remaining 2 knobs being there exclusively for visual decoration, further decorated with green electrical tape (also known as insulating tape), the P pickup also having been decorated with red electrical tape.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - "China Pig" :

Puscifer - "Green Valley" from their album "Conditions of My Parole"

Linda Perhacs - "Chimacum Rain"

Who would have known that Slayer, and metal in general, is really just surf rock with distortion :