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[quote name='Musky' post='902409' date='Jul 22 2010, 10:01 PM']All plastics are porous to some degree, so to an extent they'll all allow the wood to 'breathe'. However wood doesn't just shed moisture as anyone who's subjected an instrument to damp or humid conditions will know. Is the suggestion that instruments will sound great in the Mojave desert and crap in a rain sodden glen? And what happens when your bass picks up scratches, dings or buckle rash? If the wood breathing is so important maybe we should all be stripping back our basses.[/quote] If we took one piece of wood and made two guitar bodies, one with a nitro finish and one with a poly finish, to suggest the nitro one sounds better fresh out of the box would be madness, but I don't think anyones claiming that. I've played old Fenders and new ones and the older ones are generally easier to pitch without amplification because you can feel the string vibration through the body. I trust my own judgement to know that it's more than just a placebo effect created by a bit of 'mojo'. Anyone can grasp the differences between green timber and seasoned timber and I know which one I'd prefer for a solid bodied guitar. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_drying"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_drying[/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_moisture_content"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrium_moisture_content[/url] More variables than just the relative humidity of a geographical location will affect the timber reaching its 'equilibrium moisture content', namely temperature, air circulation and time. So it's not as simple as saying a Mojave bass would sound better than a rainy glen bass, as both will reach equilibrium moisture content eventually so long as stored sensibly, (ie not in a cold damp state with no air circulation for long periods). Air curing takes place over time measured in years, decades and lifetimes. So the claim is, nitro is more porous and allows the wood to air cure quicker than a poly finish would? If thats true... I don't know. Any dings and buckle rash a guitar obtains are generally going to be negligable compared to the overall surface volume of the guitars body. Whether you should strip back your bass to the the grain is surely a personal preference based on what you want it to look and feel like but, under the right conditions, it must surely increase the rate at which the timber cures. Claims that nitro finishes are more desirable and valuable than others can obviously be taken with a large pinch of salt due to sales hype and general bullshiting. That's my understanding of the situation.

I always assumed the 'breathing' a nitro finish allowed was moisture slowly dissipating from the wood over a period of years, whilst a poly finish was like wrapping it in clingfilm, keeping moisture in? Then, after a decade or two, your body would gradually become lighter and more resonant? I do confess to knowing sh*te all about it in honesty, and am prepared to be proved very wrong.

I tend to err on the side of caution and consider them all plonkers, until they redeem themselves with some talent and/or humour.

I find the ebay dutycalculator a very revealing tool as well. If somebody could point me in the direction of a [b]free[/b] ebay and paypal fee calculator for the UK, I'd be a very happy chappie.

Never heard it until this thread made me do a quick search. Bought it yesterday and really like it.

I like it. It's very George Jetson.

Heh. Thanks for the replies and PM's.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='884697' date='Jul 3 2010, 11:48 AM']Are you starting a business?[/quote] I'm trying to, yes. Lots of variables at the moment, the main one occupying my mind is the ability to get hold of new Fenders.

I was hoping a few of the music shop retail type forummers could shed some light on this for some initial research I'm undertaking. Approaching Fender GBI with a view to purchasing new stock from them is something I can't find any information on. An email I sent them has been met with silence. A Google search brings up some some stories from the USA about having to become an official dealership without treading on the toes of any established dealers nearby. I wondered if this was the case for the UK as well? I can understand why Fender mightn't want to sell in bulk to a retailler such as Tesco's and have their stock sold at discount but what about a start up business such as a small guitar shop or a musical instrument e-commerce venture? Fender products are conspicuous by their absence in some music stores. I heard they introduced a 'bricks and mortar' discount for retailers so I know they're trying to incourage high street sales over internet ones. If they do not wish to supply you, are there other ways to aquire their product in bulk/wholesale? Do they have minimum order quotas or do you have to purchase a variety of their lines? I've got lots of questions and there must be other things I need to know about this and I'll graciously accept PM's aswell on this seemingly shady subject.

I liked that aswell.

Oh dear, that seems like a fault then. Did you get the bass like that, or has the problem developed suddenly or over time? Somebody more knowledgable than me might be able to diagnose the problem for you.

I've got an S1 Jazz which I though was quite quiet too. Wasn't a problem though, I just upped the gain on my amp, (I could never get it to clip though). For a completely different reason, it is now wearing a pair of Wizard 84's, which are alot hotter than the stock pups. The downside of this is that they've lost abit of top end sparkle, (higher notes growl instead of ring out), and lower down things can get a little thunderous, especially when the series switch is on. Before the pickup change, a friend bought their mexican jazz to a practice so I A/B'ed both instruments and have to say, whilst the mexicans pups were much louder, they didn't have near the overall depth of tone the stock american pups do.

[quote name='edstraker123' post='873080' date='Jun 20 2010, 10:38 PM']Completely disagree - of the 3 main music shops in Liverpool I've found Dolphin to be miles ahead of the other two in terms of customer service. Granted they don't have a great bass section but I've always found the staff in Dawsons to be incompetent and Curly's to be arrogant whereas in Dolphin they are always really helpful. You never pay the price on the ticket either if you ask them how much they can do the goods for. Curly has improved of late in terms of the gear they are now stocking.[/quote] How opinions can differ eh? They must be having a bad day whenever I go in there. Last time I went in I asked for a short speakon cable, (they didn't have any speakon cables), and a Tascam bass trainer. The guy behind the counter screwed his face up with incredulance and said, "Tascam bass trainer?... I've never even heard of it", which is fair enough, but the high pitched inflection in his voice gave away his annoyance that I should ask for such a device. Across at Dawsons I asked for the same thing, and the salesman said he only had the guitar trainer in stock but would order one for me if I wished... altogether a better experience. Time before that i went to Dolphin looking for a 5 string. I told the chap I played a Jazz bass so preferred something with narrower string spacing. He told me to, "look mate, all 5 strings have got wider necks because, well they've got 5 strings!" I politely told him, "I'm not being funny but there's two 5 string basses hanging there next to each other, and you can clearly see one has wider spacing than the other", to which he mumbled something and told me to go ahead and try it before walking away. Dawsons on the other hand didn't stock one single 5'er... not one. I've bought an amp from Curlys before and they can be a little abrupt and the stock underwhelming. They also once attempted to sell me a bottom of the range 10ft Planet Waves cable for £25.99. tl;dr? All three stores in Liverpool have their problems, but Dolphins price tags are so wildly optimistic, (I know you're supposed to haggle but their starting price is too high), it's given me another good reason for me to give the place a wide berth. All just my personal opinion of course.

B*stards.

Irrespective of body colour, I've always thought lighter coloured pickguards suit maple fretboards and darker pickguards for rosewood boards, but it's just a personal preference.

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='870685' date='Jun 18 2010, 12:27 PM']and the second is that the total length of speaker cable between the Amp and Cab 2 is twice as much as if you weren't daisy chaining.[/quote] You sort of lost me there. Why is this a good thing? If there was a long distance between amp and speakers, (e.g 50 feet from power amp to stereo left and right), I'd have thought to have one cable twice as long as the other wouldn't be desirable, ideally they should be the same length. Besides that, the length of cables were are talking about (from bass amp to cab) are very short anyway and the difference in performance between a 2ft cable and a 4ft one must surely be practically non existent. Or have I just read this wrong?

Dolphin is overpriced and rubbish for bass guitarists IMO. Didn't the Liverpool store have a Classic Vibe Jazz up for about £450 the other day? Same bass in a store not twenty yards away for £320... Who are they kidding?

Took delivery of a short scale SX precision the other day and my main gripe, (apart from the expected cheapo electrics), would have to be it's top heavyness. A headstock at least as big as a full scale + smaller body = massive neckdive. On the plus side, it weighs next to nothing compared to a heavy fender and you can move up and down the neck with speed and ease.

I've got 84's in my S1 jazz and I think they tread a fine line. The stock american pups they replaced were alot quieter but there was more depth to the tone in that the highs were higher and they sounded more expansive, (only to my mind obviously). The 84's sound louder, fatter and bassier but lacked a little overall tone in comparison. Again though I must stress, it's a fine line because the 84's still sound good and seem to have found a good compromise between darkness (bass), whilst the higher notes growl more than they would ring out compared to the stock pups. Very suitable I would have thought for rock music, (which I don't really play... go figure). Playing at volume during a practice the other day I remember thinking, "Christ,my bass sounds thunderous today!", but not in a bad way.

The chromatic mode on the polytune has impressed me in that review.. more so that the pitchblack did, which was the one I was considering buying. If I already owned the bitchblack though I wouldn't be too bothered about buying a different tuner, it still looks very good.

Thanks guys. I should probably just start saving for another bass.

Just throwing this out there, my bass is in no imminent danger. I'm looking at my american jazz circa 2006/7 with a maple board and thinking it would look lovely with a natural finish, (it's shoreline gold ATM). I'm just wondering, if I were to get it stripped and given a finish like the AV '75 reissue body, what would I find underneath the paint? A nice one piece of alder, or several unsightly pieces stuck together? Also, I've got no intention of DIY, would anybody have a rough idea about how much something like that would cost?