philw

Funny, I've been reminiscing with old Brand X stuff on Spotify all day. Percy was one of the reasons I started playing bass and one of the reasons I bought a fretless Wal as soon as I possibly could. I still reckon PJ's the best out there.

There's a stainless steel one too: http://stashstainlessbass.com P

Damn! Where did you find that? It's not far off my perfect colour combo. P

Errrm, this doesn't look quite right to me: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Quality-5-String-Ernie-Ball-Musicman-Music-Man-Sting-Ray-silver-gray-Electric-Bass-Guitar/32338771414.html P

My 5 sting fretless Veillette Flyer is 2.2kg (4.85lb). Don't think there's anything much lighter out there. P PS. My Wal on the other hand is 4.5kg (9.9lbs)

The Fender neck I have in mind (off a Squire Tele Bass) is 63.5 at the last (20th) fret so it's not a million miles away and quite within the realms of my woodworking skills to make a little skinnier. Being a Tele bass neck it even has the square heel end that the Talman appears to have. It's really just a question I think of the depth of the neck pocket and the location of the pocket in relation to the bridge. P

So, with all these Talmans soon to arrive, somebody is going to tell me if they think a Fender neck will fit. right? P :-)

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1442146261' post='2864646'] I've had a sunburst one for a few months now. I'm a bit annoyed because I really wanted the mint green one but could only find black or burst at the time (in the EU). Distributors said they weren't getting the other finishes in, but I guess things change. Now that I can get the mint green one I'm going to sell the burst one. Stupidly good basses for the money. The fret ends are a wee bit rough on mine but only when you go looking for them. [/quote] Yeah I was told the mint green wasn't coming to Europe. That's why I held off. Sorely tempted to get one now.

No need to take the neck off your lovely new bass if you're not confident about doing it Darren. I reckon one of us tinkerers will finally take the plunge and buy a Talman partly in order to see if a Fender neck will fit. 62mm at the last fret sounds not too far off. P

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1442081622' post='2864331'] Indeed. Could we persuade the OP to do some measuring, please? [/quote] Yes, we'd need neck pocket width and length and probably distance from the end of the neck to the bridge (looks to me like a standard 5-screw BBOT bridge). Looking at the pictures on the Thomann website the neck fixing screws don't appear to be at Fender standard spacing but that needn't be a huge problem. P

I wonder if a Fender neck could be persuaded to fit? I'd buy a green Talman tomorrow if I thought the spare maple fingerboard Squire neck I have lying around would go on it.

This is just absurd value for money: https://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_tmb100_mgr_talman_bass.htm £158! P

In my experience manufacturers of all sorts of products use labels and other marks to track the identity of component parts - doing so is vital for stock control, quality assurance, change control and general manufacturing management. In many plastic injection moulded or metallic cast parts for example you'll see the part number moulded in. So your Stingray label is almost certainly one used for internal manufacturing process control. As to what it means, who knows. It was important at the time the instrument was built but probably of no significance afterwards. Same with the neck and body having different date stamps. It's all about the manufacturing process. Almost certainly, necks and bodies are made on different lines, after which they'll be held in stock till needed. When an order is received to build a bass, a body and a neck will be brought out of stock and bolted together on the assembly line. So there'd be nothing odd at all about the body and neck having different date stamps. P

Anybody else noticed this? http://thebassgallery.com/pro-iie.html Not only does the bass have a headstock shape I've not seen before, at £2k it looks a bit of a steal. P

All, I'm clearing some clutter, so the pile of 20 or so old (but relatively recent) copies of Sound On Sound and the 50 or so copies of Resolution Magazine need to go. They'll be heading for recycling very soon unless anybody wants them. Collect from Kemptown area. Phil

I love that image Trevor. Particularly like the "Paul - Clash" entry. I bet there's no surname because Pete didn't get/couldn't spell, "Simonon". :-) P