philw

All, After something like 30 years of fiddling around on bass I thought it was time I got a fretted Precision (I did own a fretless Jazz/Precision hybrid for a while but that didn't count). I don't have much to spend, maybe up to £300, so it'll no doubt have to be a Squire – either new or previously loved. I'm confused about necks however. To my eyes, the best looking Squire Precision around at the moment is the Classic Vibe 50s P Bass. I love both the tele style and the maple fingerboard. Trouble is, having tried one I really didn't get on with the chunky neck (I play a fretless Wal mostly). So who can guide me through necks fitted to Squire Precisions? What about the Vintage Modified Precision Tele Bass? What about the Mike Dirnt? And if I were to stay away from the Tele style what should I be looking for? Phil

Percy Jones played a fretless P Bass in Brand X before he became so strongly identified with Wal. The early Brand X albums are all fretless P and the bass sound is utterly gorgeous. P

[quote name='Stacker' post='631062' date='Oct 20 2009, 08:08 AM']Sure, on an image with a watermark; I meant images in general that have, say, a corner credit. Re using somebody's image: whilst I take your point, to a degree, we're always trying to show things/describe things to each other on any forum so what are we supposed to do? Avoid the 'right-click' trigger-finger? Take the time to find/email the copyrightholder for their permission to use a few pix? C'mon. man, life's too short for that! It would be a different kettle of fish if you were lifting stuff willy-nilly and putting it in an actual publication, but on a net forum for the purposes of discussion??[/quote] And I take your point too, to a degree – but an argument that effectively says copyright infringement is ok 'cause it's the convenient option clearly has some, "where do you draw the line issues". You can post a link to a picture too, rather than copying the "original". Maybe I'm a bit sensitive about this. I write manuals/magazine features and design speakers for a living, which is tough enough as it is, but when I see my words lifted and posted in some forum or another, or my work passed-off as somebody else's, I get just a little annoyed. Phil PS. © Phil Ward 2009

[quote name='Stacker' post='629353' date='Oct 18 2009, 11:34 AM']Good point. Anything that has a credit on it should not be posted or at least have the credit Photoshopped out![/quote] Don't even think about Photoshop to erase the credit. First you'll probably never manage it without leaving a visible trace. Second an outfit like Getty Images will still be after you anyway, and thirdly the images are probably additionally watermarked with far more subtlety than just the big Getty Images logo. Oh and fourth, using somebody else's image without permission is just as unethical as using somebody's music without permission. All of us here would be justly annoyed if somebody copied a recording we'd made and posted it all over the web. It's no different for photographers. P

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='628972' date='Oct 17 2009, 07:30 PM']Double bass is a completely different kettle of fish from fretless[/quote] Yeah absolutely, a different kettle and different fish. But I still think there's a mind set inherent in playing any fretless instrument that'll transfer. P

Gareth Congratulations! When I got my NS CR4 all those years ago it wasn't just a revelation in terms of sound but in terms musicianship also. The physical demands of double bass make you think much harder about what you play. You have to get more value out of each note because you physically can't play quite so many of them. You'll find your electric bass playing changes too. On thing I'd seriously reenforce though is that you get a few lessons – if only to ensure you're not getting into any habits of technique that will result in injury. I did exactly that in my early weeks of EUB and if I'd gone on without having my technique corrected would probably have ended up with a chronic left hand tendon problems. I mean, considering what's going arrive on your doorstep in a few weeks, we don't want you with your left hand permanently in an ice bag. Phil PS. Preferably get yourself a classically trained DB teacher. You can learn the basics of arco then too.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='628680' date='Oct 17 2009, 01:17 PM']Just been reading up & Sting did have a fretless Precision first (which he played blind on a gig with no fretless practise or experience!) Here's a pic of his Ibanez...[/quote] I thought Sting had plenty of fretless experience. Didn't he play double bass long before he played electric bass? P

I tried a fretless one at the LIM show in the summer and loved it. I was about to get my Visa card out, thinking I'd be looking at maybe £150 at the most, when the guy told me the price. I got my coat and sauntered off. It really didn't look £400 worth of instrument. Phil

[quote name='7string' post='625657' date='Oct 14 2009, 12:56 AM']It states [url="http://www.tuscanyguitars.com/company.html"]here[/url] that: [b][i]All instruments are made in Asia under rigorous quality supervision, imported in Italy, set-up by Lorenzo Brogi and then distributed worldwide.[/i][/b] Could be good, could be bad.[/quote] And the UK distributor is in Kent, just like the Ebay seller. P

I've not read all the other replies (I'm supposed to be working), so I apologise if I repeat points already made, but as an occasional owner of not inexpensive "custom" basses, a small scale distributor of the same, and sufferer of chronic unfulfilled GAS (I want a Bassline Worp now!) , I have a couple of thoughts on Bilbo's entertainingly provocative post. In an Stepford Wives kind of world where bass guitars are just machines and bass players simple automatons (the way we sometimes wish drummers were), Bilbo would be absolutely right. There would be no point in specifying an instrument that more than got the basic job done or cost more than was absolutely necessary. But thankfully it's not a Stepford world we live in (thankfully, except for the automaton drummer thing) and for many, a bass is far more than just notes and tone. It's the whole package of ergonomics, aesthetics, tone, vibe, feel, history, and yes, even ego. A beautiful bass, whether the beauty is heard or seen or felt or just imagined, is a deeply personal experience, and even thought the rational human in me knows an entry level Vintage or Dean or Squire or No Name with a decent setup and decent strings would likely not much compromise my abilities as a bass player, there's no way it would press the same emotional buttons as does my Wal. And emotional buttons are controls inherent to making music. Phil PS. Cliché Alert! What's the point of an Aston Martin when a Ford Focus can get you from A to B just as quickly?

I've a slightly uneasy feeling here that we might have drifted a little "off topic". Karn's expression is reminiscent of the look folk would adopt when they first caught sight of my red leg warmers. Oh the things we did in the 80s! What fun! P

[quote name='Spoombung' post='619905' date='Oct 7 2009, 07:47 PM']When I bought it in '84 it had the original body, you can see it here, ahem: Oh God, look at me; eighties style Erazerhead haircut, ironic Rockabilly jacket, heroes on the wall - Beefheart, Stravinsky, Wilhelm Reich, bits of my quirky pottery...... and my Wal bass. I had the new Fender body made in '94. I remember it cost me £200 which I thought was an absolute bargain - even after trading in the old body to the workshop. In fact I had several changes made to it over the 10 years; neck completely re-shaped (it's thinner than a Jazz), fretlines added and numerous setups and they never overcharged.[/quote] In my experience Pete never charged enough. I, err, don't think business acumen was ever really his strength. Hey didn't Mick Karn do quirky pottery? Oh and he had a Wal too? Nooo, you're not really Mick Karn are you? Oh no, hang on, he'd have never been seen dead in a jacket like that. Ironic or not. P PS. Apart from the Wal strapped over my shoulder, I could have been seen reasonably regularly playing at the Rock Garden (and the like) in the 80s in a grey jump suite with red leg warmers (ironic ones of course). Thankfully there are no pictures of the leg warmers. The floor monitors always got in the way.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='619708' date='Oct 7 2009, 04:24 PM']I'm not sure that's the case. That guy has been working on it for ages now and still hasn't even got a working model. There's a lot of mouth but not much trouser going on in that Talkbass thread. The thing to remember is the Wal pickup works in a perfect symbiotic relationship with it's preamp. Both are ingenious and devilishly complicated to reverse engineer because of their complexity.[/quote] Mat Larrrivee, of Larrivee Guitars fame popped up recently on the Yahoo Wal group asking US Wal owners if he could borrow a bass and get close-up photographs of the preamp/eq circuits so that he could compare the PCB layouts to the schematic. When challenged on what appeared to be a crude attempt at reverse engineering he said that he was just doing research on a number of approaches to bass electronics as part of a programme to develop some new Larrivee basses. Still seemed a bit odd, not to say naive, though. Seems to me, as has already been said, the unique sound of the Wal is primarily down to the pups and preamp/eq. The lutherie and wood selection, while ground-breaking 25 years ago is pretty common now, but I'll bet a fair slice of dosh that a new Wal will sound very much like an old one (and unlike anything else). Phil PS. I'd forgotten that Fender style body option Pete and Ian used to offer. It looks great, and suddenly I'm regretting that I didn't order mine that way all those years ago. I'm sure Paul H would quite happily offer it to new customers. Hey, I wonder if he'd do me a chambered, single-cut, headless Wal? I'd sever my own hands to own one like that....

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='617407' date='Oct 5 2009, 01:38 PM']I know why they are back in business - license to print money by trading on the name?[/quote] That's a pretty cynical attitude isn't it? Believe me, whoever you are, and whatever "name" you own, custom building high-end basses (or those short scale six string things that I can't remember the term for), is never, ever going to fall into the "license to print money" category. Phil

[quote name='henry norton' post='617336' date='Oct 5 2009, 12:50 PM']It'll be interesting to see how they get on in today's market - 3k will buy you a pretty good, custom built bass but for some I guess only a Wal will do.... Good luck to them. [/quote] Henry, A Wal IS a pretty good custom built bass. Phil

And £3200 for a Mk1 custom really doesn't seem excessive to me. Not sure how it pans out in terms of inflation but I paid £600 (new) for mine in 1983. £3200 now feels about right. P

Don't all rush at once.... [url="http://www.walbasses.co.uk/"]http://www.walbasses.co.uk/[/url] Phil