GreeneKing

My lovely 09 Fender is an 09 American Vintage P (62 RI) and as such has the 'low mass' bent tin bridge (as well as vintage reverse tuners and a nitro cellulose finish). It sounds unbelievably good and has been rated 'best P ever' by none less than our Homer. I'm in no hurry to change to a higher mass bridge So it's not just the high mass bridge that makes them such an improvement. Mind at over £1700 MRP it should be good.

I did the re-wire with my previous one and as you say it really does work. It's nice to have the passive tone control of the VTC when switched to the passive mode though. I also prefer the blend to two volumes.

I've said before that the one bass that I miss more than just about any other is the Fender MM IV that I sold to a lad at school about 3 or 4 years ago. Having recently acquired a mint example at a good price and having bought a Sadowsky onboard pre with VTC from Chris (Beedster) the way ahead became clear. The MM pre isn't noted for it's desirability and common upgrades are the Marcus Retro in the UK and across the pond, the Sadowsky pre. I did the swap yesterday and despite a fair bit of soldering it worked straight away sounded great. The only minor issue was that the blend worked in reverse. I decided to sort this, an easy swap of two wires on a pot. I brought the bass to the soldering table and plugged the lead in while it was still disassembled to check it out. Sadly I had a really bad buzzing coming from the bass that changed when I touched the pots. I then spent nearly two hours taking it apart, putting it together, checking all my connections, double checking them, continuity testing, putting in extra ground wires etc. The in desperation I turned off my Maplin adjustable temperature soldering iron. Problem solved Bass sounds great too, very pleased with the upgrade.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alembic-Bass-Triple-Omega_W0QQitemZ320409189891QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4a99e03e03&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Alembic-Bass-Triple-...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url] Nice but I've seen Alembics I preferred. SC for example.

[quote name='1976fenderhead' post='569117' date='Aug 14 2009, 03:09 PM']there's that one nasty thing there...[/quote] Nothing is good or bad only thinking that makes it so

If the wood is suitable for a fretless bass as either ebony or wenge should be there's two ways of looking at it. It's either a flaw or a feature, personally I'd go for the latter. Peter

My advice would be to phone him. 100% better than an email especially when emails aren't doing the job for you in terms of communicating with the guy.

Carol Kaye told me she was the best!

He's a good bass player no doubt but arguing about something so subjective seems like a short cut to a headache for me

On the subject of some LaBella flats and not using them through body it's because the sharper break angles the string is subject to can cause the outer winding to crimp and the huge leverage produced can break the string. I'd not bother with thru body stringing personally, having tried it in the past. I no longer have the option on any of mine anyway and don't miss it.

[quote name='Clarky' post='565404' date='Aug 10 2009, 09:13 PM']Congrats! Out of interest, why did you choose the P-bass for your first gig, as IIRC your favourite bass is the ACG Single Cut in your avatar? Not being picky as my 'go to' bass is always a P-bass![/quote] That's a good question Clarky given that my ACG is both more comfortable, better built, far prettier and much more tonally versatile. An honest answer. Since I 'discovered' this P bass I've fallen for the tone. This is partly the novelty factor (it's my newest bass) and the fact that it does what it does very well and fits in with the band's repertoire too. I also didn't want to be seen playing a bass that overwhelmed my ability if I 'cocked up'. I didn't particularly but it was a worry as there were several bass players in the audience. I've never been a Fender fan apart from a Marcus Miller IV that stupidly sold but this particular P bass has surprised me no end and caused not a little humble pie eating. Peter

What worked well was when we did Smoke on the Water I hit the EQ and Distortion on the pedal. It was just set up to boost the mids a little and for a gentle crunch. When I dug in a bit it went all clanky and Stranglers like - awesome Shame we played it far too fast

It was brilliant Russ, a real hoot. A couple of photos here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=51824&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=51824&hl=[/url]

Thanks for all the good wishes. It went exceedingly well. The whole event was a success beyond our expectations and we even got asked to do an encore. There were a few minor mistakes but we put them behind us and got on with it. There were a few bass players around all of whom were complimentary, we had about 120 turn up over the course of the evening and gave the main band a bit extra, paid for the beer and had a little left over for a local charity. In the end I used my LMII and the Aguilars and despite me worrying it coped at volume = 5 and the tone was great. Here's a couple of photos. There's a video of our whole gig somewhere and I'll try and do something with one number when/if I get a copy. We had Eddie Jordan in to do the sound check: Then he wore a hat for the gig: Here's the headline band Antenna Head, great gig: And our rhythm section with a potential new singer for the band. Norwegian and a bit of a bass player too Peter (EJ)