LeftyJ

Just now, lidl e said:

I built rhis fella from scratch. Raw wood.

 

I decided to use all the pickups!

 

Has a 12 step varitone and the MM can be split by the switch

 

Mike Watt wants to know your location. 

The GSS Baby Sumo is pretty compact, but maybe not exactly pedalboard-sized. Comes in different versions and power ratings too.

Blasphemy on this forum, I know, but I can't wait until they add guitars to the configurator!

I won't be ordering as the pricing is out of my league, but I've always had a thing for their guitars. 

For me it's my basses straight into an EBS NeoDrome 12, or (rarely these days) my basses straight into a small 12-band Yamaha mixing desk with built-in USB audio interface and my KRK V4 Series II active studio monitors for practice where I need to play along with tracks. I'm usually too lazy to put a preamp or DI inbetween, as the direct sound is good enough for practice. I bought my SWR Grand Prix for that goal, but never use it. My PC is ancient and needs replacement, so most of the time it's oldschool through my EBS amp nowadays, without using my PC. 

Yep! It's a 1966 reissue minus the lollipop tuners. Looks great. 

Looks great, I see his stuff on Facebook a lot - but every time it makes me think of the Serek Sacramento model as they look very similar. 

On 04/03/2024 at 16:08, LeftyJ said:

I'm searching for a strap that somewhat matches my dark purple Music Man Silhouette Special... I'm having a hard time so far! I may end up just going black...

Ended up ordering a Souldier strap in purple, with the plain option (without decorative garments over their standard seatbelt material). They offer choice of 23 different seatbelt colours and 21 different colours for the leather end tabs (or 15 shades of vinyl if you want it to be vegan). I went with purple leather end tabs. I'm really happy with it, it matches the colour of my guitar pretty well and I think it looks great! 

Every time I see this thread when opening Accessories and Misc I think of extra long body bags 

1983 Ibanez MC924. Not because it is from my year of birth, but because I've always been attracted to the Musician Series and just happened to settle on a 1983 model. I had been looking for a lefty for years, and when I finally found one (1981) a second one popped up just two months later. So naturally I did the sensible thing and bought both!  (and it got worse, I had three at one point)

I turned out to like the 1983 better than the 1981, as they're very different beasts: The Musician series was updated several times between 1978 and 1987. The 1983 model has different contouring, a slimmer neck and narrower nut width, a different pickup and electronics package (PJ pickups in soapbar casings) and it's MUCH lighter in weight because of the contoured light ash body wings rather than solid mahogany with ash facings. I much prefer the tone of the 1983 too. 

I sold one 1981 model and traded the other for a cool shortscale a few years ago, but the 1983 won't be going anywhere anytime soon. The YOB thing does add to the sentimental value, but most of all it's just a terrific bass! 

The one on the right is now gone, the one on the left is still here:

14 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Not enough options to build a "real " custom  - no neck through option for a start. 

Buy an old one!!

The Stingray neck-through was shortlived, it disappeared when the Stingray Specials were introduced: StingRay 5 Through Neck | Basses | Ernie Ball Music Man (music-man.com)

Some cool options there that weren't previously available to lefties, like the slimmer and narrower SLO Special neck profile on 4-strings, and twin pickups (previously only available through the Vault in very limited quantities), and the SR5 was unavailable to lefties ever since the regular Stingray was replaced by the Stingray Special. So I'm glad we get those back.

But the prices are wild! As much as I love Music Man's quality and attention to detail, I'm not willing or able to pay that much for one. I had a Stingray 5 that I really liked (but that tone just isn't for me) and I own a rather lovely Silhouette Special guitar (and owned another one previously) that I absolutely adore but would never pay $3000 for. 

On 02/04/2024 at 01:06, Bassassin said:

I'd think this young lady not being hampered by a 34" scale & 42mm nut is worth showing to any young bassist!

 

The bass in your example is a Stingray Shortscale though 

35 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

The old Vistas are hard to find and have a 42mm nut width.  Guessing preference would be for a 38mm?

 

Good call, I wasn't aware of that but 42mm might indeed be hefty for an 8 year old! 

An older, used Squier Vista Musicmaster would be a perfect match. They don't come up often though, and they're going up in price. They were made in China, whereas the rest of the Vista Series were made in Japan, but they're great. 

12 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Wow!! Twice as much as a First Gen. 

 

I'd be inclined to get one of the older ones and take it along to my local luthier to sort out. He wouldn't charge me £400 to put it right.

Are they though? When the first generation came out, they were priced around €800-900. It's only now that Thomann are dumping them that other retailers follow suit and the prices have come down so much. 

Compared to a Fender P's pickup positioning, are the coils just reversed but in the same general position or is the treble coil in the Fender position and did they move the bass coil closer to the bridge?

I do like a reverse P + J, combined they give such a classic rock and metal tone! Back in the 80s and early 90s when many rock bassists were playing Spector, Kramer, Charvel and other PJ's (or a Fender Jazz Special for that matter, like Duff) the bass tones were so fat! I love that Spector tone on Operation:Mindcrime by Queensryche for example, if only the mix wasn't so bright and thin. 

"What's up" by the 4 Non-Blondes

I was in a covers band for 2 years and we rehearsed weekly. Every rehearsal would start with that song, and every week the guitarist would mess up the intro lead. Now every time I hear that song I hear him playing along in my head. 

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

I had a 2000 US strat where the finish on the neck started to crack and peel before it was even a year old. As I had bought it new, they replaced the neck under warranty but the new neck felt nothing like the old neck and played substantially worse, too. I could never get it to set up like the old neck, despite them being the same series made one year apart. It was junk. It made me a lot more open to exploring other brands and, as it turned out, finding the grass actually was a lot greener elsewhere.

I had a 2000 US Tele with a full maple neck that had this too. The neck finish had cracks and in places the finish had delaminated from the skunk stripe and the fingerboard dots, which are lacquered over on the maple necks. It would gradually spread from there. Luckily I bought it used at a VERY good price (€500) so I couldn't really complain. Played it a LOT for about a year, then sold it on because it made me hanker back to my old G&L ASAT Special. 

Funny, I was just looking at that the other day because I wondered if they made lefty versions of their new Julietta guitar model. Odd why they would call it medium scale at 30.5"!

Far from complete, lacks a G&L!

Lovely set though!

3 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

They've got a Custom Shop now ... ?

 

::: MD Guitar ::: (mdcustomshop.com)

Some interesting stuff there! Like this Manson Matt Bellamy-inspired guitar, including a built-in MIDI pad! 

https://mdcustomshop.com/kr/product/view.php?id=405&cate=4

I googled the brand name and came across this thread:

Music Drive Guitars | Axe Central

It has some interesting info and even a catalog shot (from the guitars section, unfortunately not the basses). 

On 17/03/2024 at 14:45, Maude said:

Another nail in their coffin, I think, is that playing musical instruments just isn't as popular as it was years ago.

I don't think this is true. Lots of people have taken up new hobbies during the various lockdowns we've had during the COVID pandemic. Picking up a musical instrument surely was one of them 

Might as well post this here too 

Got this lovely Sandberg Lionel shorty used two weeks ago and I love it! It's surprisingly heavy, but still comfortable and it plays and sounds great! It was built in 2023, so it's still practically new. The previous owner thought it sounded a bit too modern to their taste, even with a Fender custom shop reissue pickup in it. It now has its stock pickup again. It's just a ton of fun to play, and sounds really ballsy! 

Excellent pics courtesy of the previous owner, who did a great job capturing it!