MattM
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Did a great deal with him on (surprise, surprise) a Stingray. Nice bloke, real enthusiast, thoughts are with his friends and family. RIP Nick 😔
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F/S Limelight P/J bass gold over white - Now at BassBros - *WITHDRAWN*
MattM replied to ead's topic in Basses For Sale
As an ex-Limelight owner, can confirm the pickups are hand wound by Mark at Limelight and are excellent, probably the most versatile in terms of tonal variation (in conjunction with the tone control) I’ve ever had in a P bass. I can also highly recommend dealing with @ead - had a brilliant experience buying (oddly enough) a PJ fretless from him a couple of years back which I still have, great guy to deal with and very flexible and friendly with meet up and handover. -
String type has a big influence for me, a P with flats sounds better finger style, rounds with a pick. Jazz neck pickup pretty identical IMHO. Having said that my current P fretless is equipped with an EMG Geezer and flats and I love a pick with palm-muting.
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Following the cliche: Precision 62, Sunburst, Tort, Rosewood
MattM replied to SumOne's topic in Bass Guitars
Martyn Casey’s from the Bad Seeds 60s Precision is a thing of beauty IMHO. Non original white pickup, and beautifully beaten up. -
Think the Tony Franklin has a DiMarzio J pickup as this was his original preference? I’ve got a reverse of this as my go-to fretless, a Tony Franklin neck on a 78 P body with EMG PJ set. The neck is hands-down the best P neck I’ve played (think it’s B width or 40mm-ish at nut) and the ebony fingerboard with flats plays amazingly.
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I’m a 2-band Stingray guy and this Classic is the best I’ve owned in my 37 year playing career…
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I have an EMG Geezer in my ‘78 P Franklinstein fretless, and I concur, great P sound, particularly with Chromes flats. Instant David J from Bauhaus if that’s yer bag…
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This. Here’s another photo of Martyn’s aforesaid early 60s Precision
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I’ve recently acquired my first PJ, a 78 P fretless fitted with EMGs and tbh love the P sound so much I rarely ever blend or use the J. Was never a fan of Jacos tone (heresy!), too nasal but ideal for what he did. A good P with flats is one of my two favourite bass tones alongside a 2EQ ‘Ray so would be happy enough with just a P pickup.
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NBD (NFFD? New fretless fretboard day?) Fretless Stingray Conversion
MattM replied to Cairobill's topic in Bass Guitars
I’ve been fortunate to have had a couple of fretless ‘Rays in my time, both Pau Ferro, one lined, the other unlined and I’m fortunate to be enjoying a fabulous Tony Franklin Precision neck on ‘78 P body bass (bitsa kinda insults it as it’s so goddam good) courtesy of a great WTB response by @eadof this parish. A ‘Ray would’ve been my first choice but, like yourself, decent fretless variants are thin on the ground. My second favourite bass sound after a 2EQ ‘Ray is a decent Precision with flats, and this delivers that in spades. The combination of Chromes and ebony fretboard is incredible, easily the most playable fretless Ive ever owned. The fretless P/Chromes combo was, of course, beloved by David J and I’m literally going to get killed by all my family if I play ‘Bela’ one more time… -
I’m one of the resident ‘Ray geeks, and would concur with the USA and 2 band EQ route. I worked my way up from a USA Sub, got *very* lucky with a poorly photographed ‘88 2EQ on eBay and eventually traded up to a USA Stingray Classic (now discontinued) which I got on here. Still kicking myself 6 years later for selling a 2EQ ‘Pino homage’ fretless. Fabulous basses all.
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As I said in my post, it’s the surface that’s smooth. This is down to the glossy lacquer (which rosewood doesn’t have). Rosewood does feel slightly rougher under the fingers than maple, I notice this frequently when bending. I’ll qualify this with I tend to play more vintage guitars with small frets and more rounded fingerboard radii, so high frets are kinda outwith my purview. By all means, go down the jumbo fret and even scalloped route, your mileage may Yngwie…
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Less so if you’re a bassist. I play guitar also and the differences are more notable, particularly with string bending. Maple a *lot* smoother for bending owing to smoothness of surface (hence why e.g. Gilmour and Clapton are maple dudes), the thing about maple being brighter than rosewood is moot, you can always adjust any brightness using your tone controls anyway. I have however, courtesy of @eadof this parish, just taken custody of my first ebony fretless and it’s fabulous. Had rosewood and pau ferro fretlesses previously and, similar to maple for guitars, ebony is brilliant for surface smoothness and slides.