Boodang

Actually sold a Westone Thunder 1a here on BC the other week. Took about 4 months to get any interest and in the end it went for £200. Obviously buyers on FB have more taste than those on BC!

My first bass. Nearly 40 years old and still plays great, an awesome fretless which I'll never sell.

Whether it's barely noticeable in a live setting won't stop me nerding over details! And for recording it might make more of a difference, although probably the main difference will be in my head when I play the bass but then I don't mind the placebo effect. And yep, Jaco always said a big part of his amplified sound was his Acoustic 360 & folded bass bin. I was reading about an incident when he was asked into the studio but it was short and wouldn't be able to use his Acoustic, so he didn't want to do it. But you have to draw the line somewhere and I'm not dragging around an 18" folded bass bin to gigs! As to why it matters, it's for the giggles which is fun. And as I like fun it matters loads!

In fairness I'm never going to sound like Jaco no matter what I do! But neither am I trying to. I play 99% fretless and like jazz basses, and when I saw the WR pickups it seemed like a good idea to match up with an epoxy fingerboard.

There's a lot of truth in what you say but the project is about getting a close approximation of the tone of the jazz bass he used, regardless of anything else. Also, there's something about having pickups from Seymour Duncan made to the same spec as the ones he made for Jaco... even if it is just marketing the concept appeals. As to how different can single coil pickups sound... well my alnico2 sounds different to the alnico5 which sounds different to the large pole Delano which sounds different to the DiMarzio J which sounds different.......... So, the two main ingredients in the jazz bass I think are, the pickups and the epoxy resin fretboard. Oh, and as to whether anyone else would notice, well I don't care if even I don't notice the difference, it's just for sh*ts and giggles.

It's only the conductors in the cable that are silver and copper so there shouldn't be any oxidizing going on. Interestingly I can't hear any difference between this cable and my normal ofc cables.

PS. as much as I like Jaco's playing, more his albums than some of his exuberant live solos, my influences are more double bass in jazz and melodic styles like Eberhard Weber. So these pickups are potentially part of a technical project to create a Jaco sounding jazz bass just for the fun of it more than because it'll suit my playing (I like jazz basses!). In fact if I get a bass sorted Jaco style, it'll spend most of its time being played in a completely different way!

Actually Ed Friedland was talking about this on his bass whisperer channel so it made me try it out (I'll see if I can find the episode and link it). The attack is more 'immediate' where the pole piece is directly under than with the offset 2 pole design. Having said that it's subtle and the overwhelming difference in the sound is the overall character as the pickups, despite being single coil, are radically different in design.

On the Seymour Duncan custom pickup web page there is a listing for a pair of jazz pickups called 'Weather Report', the specifications of which are taken from notes for some that he made for a 'special friend'! I'm intrigued to get a set of these Jaco pickups but before I shell out (they're not cheap!) I was wondering if anyone has got experience of them.

Wired is a good Jeff Beck album! As you have listed, there's lots of parameters on pickup design to tweek. Something that I've been experimenting with recently with my jazz basses is the difference between the usual 2 offset pole pieces per string compared to just having 1 larger centered magnet. Definitely affects the attack of the initial note. I can feel a conversation coming on with the custom pickup guy for more pickups!

It's very Pollock... I love the splatter look.

The colour of the plastic will effect the aesthetics of the bass which will effect the mood of the player which will effect what he plays!! Ta da!! (Which is a good argument for why pickup covers should come in a variety of colours). PS when I got my custom pups made i actually ask for red covers but he didn't do them. So now I'm in a black mood!

What's the difference between a piccolo bass and a guitar? Answer.. 2 strings.

All the above will of course affect tone massively tho.

... or just a guitar!

Interestingly given the toy scale length of 24", I put on heavy gauge nylon short scale strings (stringing thru the body is a must to use up some string length) and the tension on low E wasn't quite there but it's ok tuned solo at F#. Putting on light gauge Bass VI roundwounds and the tension on low E was ok but the sound was not as deep. Also the nylons intonation above the 9th fret gets very iffy, whereas the roundwounds faired better.

Replaced my standard pups in my Squier VM jazz for some custom Creamery jobs. Alnico2 for the bridge for more mid emphasis and alnico5 for the neck for more punch and bass.... they're awesome. They're not the cheapest but mostly because they're a one off custom and there's no economy of scale. Thing I liked about getting them was that I had a chat with the guy who makes them to discuss what I was after tone wise. There might be standard pups that would do the job but this way I could get them tailored to my tastes and it was an interesting process.

https://seymourduncan.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360002801434 Pickups 101

My Jedson equivalent from the 70s, slightly modified! However the 24" scale is ridiculous, not so much a bass as just a guitar with thicker strings. Also a terrible instrument, intonation is appalling above the 9th fret, and not enough string tension at this scale to tune to regularly. Is it worth restoring? Depends on how much you like it but it's never going to be worth much money and given it's scale length (what were they thinking, it's a toy scale length!!) it will play like shyt. Having said all that, i love my Jedson for all its idiosyncrasies and would never sell it.... still plays like shyt tho.

The 2 things that will make the biggest difference to your tone on a bass guitar; strings and pickups. Bung in your old pickup, identify what you don't like about it, then look for a pickup that solves those issues. There's some good articles on the Seymour Duncan site that detail the elements of a pickup build and it's effect on tone that can help you with this.

Have you tried Cog pedals? Some good heavy options there.

Afraid I can't comment on the vegan strap. The leather one seems fine but then I'm not an inveterate strap adjuster.... in fact I've adjusted it the once when I got it and I'll probably never adjust it again!

In an interview with Jonas Hellborg, they asked him about his Warwick signature bass and why it had an acoustic body. He said it had nothing to do with the tone, it's just that an acoustic body was thicker than a solid and he found it more comfortable and ergonomic to play. The tone he reckoned came from the pickup and it's position.

In a nutshell for those that like mid scoop sound; Mid heavy = nasal Bass heavy/scooped = full I play double bass and fretless bg. When I play fretless I pluck over the fretboard around the 17th fret as I prefer the sound and feel. My DB and fretless tone isn't so much mid scooped so much as mid and treble light and bass heavy. This does cause some issues with definition and live sound at gigs, but then that's how it is with double bass generally.

That's interesting and, in a way, good to know. Who would have thought being based in NYC and paying a decent wage (good for them) could push the price up so much. That makes the price more palatable, in fact 10% is not much of a profit. I've got more respect for Fedora now, I take it all back!