Agent 00Soul

On 18/04/2024 at 17:53, Mickyk said:

I too can not stand this tune,Jefferson Airplane were garbage as well. 

What don't you like about Jefferson Airplane?

3 hours ago, Graham A said:

 

My band mates really love how punchy it is, & when my wife first heard it at a gig she commented how good it sounded.

 

 

That's a good word for it: punchy.  Also the word I would use to describe Thomas' sound on the Costello songs.  Also, it's the loudest pickup out of all my instruments.

18 hours ago, tobiewharton said:

I'm ambivalent about it, but understand the appeal. I'm 1983 and I think the Precision Specials were cool. If I had a need of something in that ballpark and found a good one for a good price, the year matching would be a bonus.

Not sure if you've ever tried one of the Precision Elites from that year.  My friend had one at the time and I thought it was the coolest.  Of course, I was 15 and didn't have much experience so no idea what I'd think of it now. 

21 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

You know that the fender neck codes don't contain the day don't you? it would just say June 68, the 15 is the jaguar model neck code from 66 on - (would be 1 before that), like 5 would be P bass and 7 would be jazz bass. So it could be 2 weeks closer to your DOB (or further away!)

I most definitely did NOT know that - thanks for filling me in!  All these years I thought it was the day (but I'm also a gear ignoramous).  Being a Jazzmaster, not a Jaguar, I looked up the number guide from another board.  Apparently 1968 Jazzmasters are 19 and Jags are 15 as you said.  So either the instrument was misnumbered, unlikely as one is long-scale and one is short, or far more likely, I misremembered.  Either way - 15 or 19 - is still about 3 weeks after I was born, so that didn't change.

On 06/04/2024 at 17:38, MrFingers said:

Do you have any pictures from the eighties, when it was stock? It's intriguing because it's a CBS-era Jazzmaster with a small headstock, which is the first one I ever saw.

The picture is slightly distorted.  The headstock is standard CBS-era as far as I know. Jazzmasters didn't get the larger headstock that Strats did, right? 

The finish was never stock - it came in that sparkle green that a previous owner added.  I added the targets a few years after I got it.  From a chip on the lower bout after I dropped it on a concrete floor, I could see that it was originally sunburst.

7 minutes ago, Jono Bolton said:

You've had an instrument for 40 years? I thought you were supposed to sell them on every two to three years. That's how it works, right?

Based on how often people claim they shift gear on all the boards and social media groups I subscribe to, you would think so.  I'm more of an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" person, although I certainly have accumulated a few more intsruments over the years.  A life of living in tiny apartments and being left-handed is great preventative medicine for GAS!

Not a bass (obviously) but:

My first electric instrument was a Jazzmaster that I got in 1984.  Nobody was buying them then so it was dirt cheap.  A few years later, I unscrewed the neck and found out it was dated 15 June 68, three weeks from my date of birth.

I still have it.  I didn't know this was a thing until I read this thread!

I haven't played out in a few years, but this story is worth posting.  I was in a band back in the 2000s where it got to the point that the gig itself had become just a delivery mechanism for the afterparty.  We did a couple of reunion shows in 2022, in San Francisco and Brooklyn, and we picked up that tradition again for old times sake but this time we all were older and had enough money to rent out a space in a bar or hold house parties.

Getting some early 80s Cure vibes!

"We Built This City," or as my AV teacher called it when it hit number 1 in the US, "DJs and radio stations are great!  We love them!"

It's one of the mysteries of the universe how Jefferson Airplane, one of the best and most challenging bands of the 1960s devolved through the 70s to emerge as Starship, one of the worst and least challenging bands of the 80s.

Substitute a Bruce Thomas pickup from Bass Centre and you are 75% there.

What did you mean by too old for this sort of thing?  I'm almost 56 and have both a fuzz and an overdrive on my pedalboard.  I don't want to look stupid using them and no one ever said it to my face but maybe that's what they are thinking?  Now I'm nervous.  

On 15/03/2024 at 20:07, kevham said:

Just had my Aerodyne in for a setup. Guy sent this photo - looks great. I might have to keep it now!

Those are great basses for hard rock and overdrive pedals.  Must be the pickups.

On 25/02/2024 at 09:29, Graham A said:

 

Cheers @Agent 00Soul

 

Yes, i'd read the same on here, so wondered how easy it was to get hold of them.

I suppose at the time they were willing to do it as they weren't producing a left handed Profile, could be a different now. 

I would just call and ask.  What's the worst that can happen?

9 hours ago, Graham A said:

The pickups sound great in the house, can't wait to try them out at a gig. I was looking at perhaps changing out the pickups in my Precision Pro 🤔 How easy was it to buy the pickups loose from the Bass Centre, as I haven't seen them listed?

I used the bass at an outdoor gig in Brooklyn, NY a few weeks after they were installed and they sounded great on stage.  At least I or the sound techs didn't have any problems.

The loose pickups weren't listed.  Someone on this board suggested I ring them up and ask.  As they weren't making lefty Profiles yet, the owner of Bass Centre was accommodating, although I had to be patient as the process was very slow.  Apparently, someone here read that I did this, tried it themselves and was essentially ghosted.  So no idea what's going on, but it can't hurt to call and ask, especially as you are a recent customer.  Bon chance!

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

Had no idea they did these in left handed. £595 is competitive at the moment too. Keen to hear more!

Lefty in action:

Lots of other reviews on YouTube, including from Bruce himself

Jealous!  Those pickups are perhaps my favourite P-bass ones ever.  I liked them so much that I bought a loose pair from Bass Centre and installed them in my Frankenbass.  I would have bought the whole bass like you did, but couldn't justify another instrument.

That's something I never thought would happen, at least in Paul's lifetime!

So much for his theory that it was in an alpine schloss mounted on the wall of a safe room where some Bond-villain locks himself in with a snifter of cognac to look at it.  It was very much the opposite.

These Bruce Thomas basses sound so good that I installed the pick-up from one of them in my Frankenbass.

Another good thing to remember is that the audiences are much more forgiving on jam nights or open mikes.  They wouldn't be there otherwise.  

As the owener of two semi solid guitars and one bass, I would be afraid to put any of them in a gig bag, even one of the heavy duty ones that Mono make.  Too scared.

Thanks!  That's great info.

This Frankenbass began life as a 1997 Fender Custom Shop Jazz.  What a lemon!  By 2005, the neck needed replacing - the truss rod couldn't get more maxxed out - and one by one the elctronics went: individual pots and then a pickup I think.  Talk about a Friday afternoon guitar!  The neck replacement is a Warmoth that we put a Fender sticker on.  Since the original electronics were shot too, it was turned into a P/J configuration, which I always wanted, with some re-routing and having a new pickguard made.  We also replaced one of the volume controls wth a pickup selector.  I believe the new pickups were Duncan vintage models.  Years later the P-pickup was replaced with a Bruce Thomas model from Bass Centre.  I think only the body and hardware are left from the original bass.  

Skilled techs did all the work.  I'm hopeless at DIY.

Has anyone here tried either of the Electro-Harmonix organ simulation pedals with a bass?  I'm speaking of the Organ Machines B9 and C9.

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

And despite having pretty much got rid of all my electric basses, I'm very keen to own one - even for a while - just to see whether there's some mojo there 🤔

As someone who owned both a Hofner (which I wish I never got rid of) and eventually replaced it with an Epiphone Viola, I have to admit that the Epiphone sounds very close, almost a clone.  In a live band or even a recording I wouldn't be able to tell them apart in the vast majority of cases.  The Hofner has better pickups and the Epiphone has better tuners and body size, but that's it really.