Velarian

It’s 42mm at the nut and 57mm at the 12th fret, which is the same as my 2008 P bass. However, it’s a couple of mil deeper than the newer one. I’ve no idea whether it’s a B neck or something else. However, It doesn’t feel particularly chunky and not hugely different compared to the newer one in practice.

Likewise, I’ve no idea how these feel. I’ve never played anything older than my ‘77 P Bass but I’m intrigued by older vintage models, especially pre-CBS. The idea of owning one is appealing. It may be just a vanity thing and knowing my luck I’d end up not liking it. Having said that, getting a good deal on something like this would mean moving it on again wouldn’t be too difficult.

I’d looked at this auction beforehand and whilst I didn’t see anything I would bid on, this 57 P Bass caught my eye. I went back just now to check what happened and the hammer price was £8.5k. With buyers premium and VAT that’s just shy of £10,750. Not too bad on face of it and part of me now regret not having a pop at it. https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/sale/198/21/1957-Fender-Precision-Bass-guitar-made-in-USA

Ah yes, a process I was also very familiar with. I remember going into a pharmacy and asking for a litre of isopropyl alcohol. I was questioned about what I was going to use it for. I explained is was for a 8-track, 1/4” Revox and a few cassette decks and they must have believed me because they let me have it in the end.

That reminds me that I used to keep my Aiwa Walkman in an empty ice cream tub. It had enough space for around half a dozen tapes as well. It would have been a couple of years or so earlier, probably 1982, that I took this on holiday to the south of France and it was quite handy on the beach. The main tape on the go at that time was Men at Work - Business As Usual, which had a bouncy holiday vibe. Great music to run along the beach to early in the morning. Happy Days 😎

If I’m not mistaken, I think the C120s were made from thinner tape so they could fit more on the spool, which is why they frequently got chewed up.

1985 was very much a transition period for me. Having spent the late 70s listening to the Clash, The Stranglers, Stiff little fingers and the like, by 85 I was listening to stuff like:- Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen Pat Metheny Group - Travels, First Circle Andreas Vollenweider - Caverna Magica, White Winds I remember having a couple of cool cassettes (Teac I think) which had faux aluminium spools, that looked like a reel to reel set up.

BB2000 ?

Two live albums I come back to time after time are by my favourite band, The Pat Metheny Group: Travels (1983) The Road to You (1993) It’s hard to say they trounce their studio albums as all of their output is superb. However the live versions of some of the tracks are what I regard as being the definitive versions. ‘Are you Going With Me” on Travels being an obvious one. I’ve heard several recordings of this and seen them play it live a good few times and none beat this particular live version. A few other tracks are the same, although the studio version of San Lorenzo has the edge on the Travels version I think. It’s amazing how they were able to articulate their complex studio sound in a live environment, with the performance on the day adding the icing on the cake.

I’ve been watching this topic with interest and, as a supporting member, the only annoyance for me was the pointless “Got it” pop up with its lacking functionality. However, before the trial was suspended, I logged out to see what the fuss was all about and was shocked to see the plethora of poorly placed adverts. Logging back in again restored the calm, clear look and feel that I appreciate about the site. What it confirmed for me was just one benefit of being a supporting member which, at a cost of around 5p per day, to me is a small price to pay for such a fantastic resource. Surely the answer to keep the site running as painlessly as possible is for more users to become supporting members?

Irrespective of what you decide to do with this particular bass, I can thoroughly recommend that you try putting a “bitsa” together at some point. It’s not particularly difficult and there will be lots of BassChat help on hand if you need it. It’s a very satisfying experience and you’ll learn a lot in the process. 😉

The mother of a mate of mine who was an Irish lady with a wicked sense of humour, at her funeral she had “here we go, here we go, here we go” played when the the coffin was being passed through the curtains for cremation and for the file-out it was “See you later alligator”. 😂

What a great subject for a thread. I’ve given this a little thought but not fully formed the final selection. One track I’d love to be played is “Close to Home” by Lyle Mays, probably as the file out but it’s over six minutes long and the way it ends is something I’d like everyone to hear, so it’s likely that most wouldn’t hear it. Perhaps it should be the reflection but is it too long for that? I know many funerals are a bit of a time-limited conveyor belt so I suspect it may too long for that. Thinking about that I’d rather the music be played instead of people spouting platitudes because that’s what is expected. For the rest of it, I’m thinking Elgar’s nimrod played by the Grimethorpe Colliery band and probably Praise by the Pat Metheny Group. So, if this would work in the usual funeral format, it would be: - Arrival: Nimrod, Elgar Reflection: Close to Home, Lyle Mays File-out: Praise, Pat Metheny Group

How about this?

The price doesn’t seem too bad for a ‘62. Is that down to the non-original case and strap buttons and general condition, or is there more to it than that? For example, does the difference between the dates of the pots, neck and serial number suggest that it may have been pieced together?

So, your fret position markers are spot on which is good. It does beg the question why the original position markers were where they are though. I believe that the G string is what determines the scale length so really the break point of the G string saddle should be set at 34” and tweaked for intonation from there, with the lower strings correspondingly further back. Have you tried that at 34”? (Others may correct me if I’m wrong!). Regarding the fingerboard thickness, I’m guessing that more material may have been planed off the neck than mine when it was modified so the extra thickness makes up the difference.

Can’t say I’m keen on the colour but the pickups look interesting. Are they unique to the brand or are they more widely available?

The neck on this bass is similar to my '77 P Bass which was originally a one-piece maple (with a skunk stripe). For reasons I cannot fathom now, back in 1984 I had it turned into a fretless with an ebony finger board. At the time this work was done, it had an identical Badass II bridge to yours. There was no change to scale length, the position dots remained in the same place and everything intonates as it should. I've added some pictures below for comparison. I'm a long way short of being an expert in these matters but what strikes me as being odd about your neck is how thick the fingerboard is compared to mine and I wonder if this contributes to the intonation issues? If the Badass bridge doesn't impact on the scale length (and as far as I'm aware it shouldn't as this was a common replacement for many P Basses), then the 12th fret position marker should be exactly 17" from the face of the nut. On mine it is, but judging from the original position markers on your pictures it looks to be a few mil further along, which doesn't seem right. I think it would be worth getting a luthier to take a look at this as they may be able to tweak things. As others have mentioned I don't think I'd entertain the idea of returning it to original. The extra pick-up route has been done very well and everything else looks to be quality kit. If you were set on having a fretted neck I'd be inclined to source a Fender licensed replacement neck and use that - these can often be picked up on eBay for £100 or so (this is what I should have done before having mine made fretless as I would have still had the neck in original condition).

Ian Ferguson, BBC West Weatherman

Richard Hammond

Back in 80s I had a custom bass made, loosely based on a Yamaha BB shape. I went to town specifying all sorts of pickup/wiring options with active thrown in as well. Anyway, it was bloody rubbish! 😳 Obviously I didn’t have a clue what I was on about. I should have stuck to the P Bass. 😂

Just to confirm what has already been alluded to, having a short cable to connect the device to the headphones is no big deal deal at all and in no way inconvenient. I don’t think having a wireless version would bring much to the party other than added cost.

If the video has a transcript this is a quick way to copy the content to paste in to a document. I’ve found this quite useful a few times. (The explanation is only a couple of minutes 😉).

Could it be that the original tuners would have been reverse wind and they were changed to avoid confusing the hell out of someone with other, more modern basses? I know this from experience. 😉