LeftyJ

8 hours ago, Marco.EB said:

MK1 , MK2 and BH2 are "fake Barts", produced by Ibanez Cort.

FTFY.

When they were first released, they were in the Cort Artisan series (A4/5/6 and B4/5/6). Cort produces them in-house and it wasn't until years later when Ibanez first used them in some of their Cort-built models. Cort is also behind the Hipshot-licensed hardware and Select by EMG pickups, which can be found in many Korean-made Hohners and used to be in the Spirit by Steinberger guitars and basses and several Cort basses in the 1990s 

2 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

I find some of these comments bizarre.. "the tuners aren't in line".?  dont get that one..

They are in line, but you'd expect straight string pull on a 4-in-line headstock and at this price point, and it isn't there. There's a slight sideways break angle at the nut mostly in the E and A. 

I once owned a lovely metallic purple Music Man Silhouette Special, that I unfortunately had to sell when money was short after my car needed replacing. It was a lovely workhorse with a fantastic neck and a huge range of sounds thanks to some interesting wiring on the 5-way switch, but at the time I often favoured my (much cheaper) Squier MIJ E-series Strat so it made sense to let it go. It was shipped off to Finland, never to be seen again. But a certain level of seller's remorse always lingered... 

10 years went by, and then suddenly a whole collection of high end guitars appeared for sale at the same time from a single seller: PRS, Gibson, Fender, Taylor, Godin, and several Music Man guitars - including a metallic purple Silhouette Special. The asking price was quite high, so I didn't bother inquiring but I did follow the ad. All the guitars gradually got sold, except for that Silhouette Special and a modded Fender USA Strat... 

I have been following that ad for 1.5 years, and it remained unsold for all this time! Finally, last week, I couldn't bear it anymore and sent an inquiry. I got chatting to the seller, asked for some better pics (which showed a pretty concave neck) and made an offer - under the condition that the neck would adjust well at the turning of the truss rod - and the seller accepted. So to cut a long story short:

Turned out the seller was a widow, selling off her deceased husband's collection. She'd had many lowball offers, and was happy to finally see it go to someone who appreciated it and she loved my story of The One That Got Away. 

It's a late 90s model, just like my old one, with the only differences being the rosewood fingerboard and hardtail bridge (my previous one had birdseye maple and a trem). The neck responded well to my adjustments (almost a full turn of the truss rod) and plays like a dream. I hope this one will be a keeper for a much longer time than the previous one! 

At a custom shop price point they might as well have aligned those tuners properly. What a mess, and what poor taste. 

5 minutes ago, nilorius said:

I think the greatest Fender clone was Squier (before it was bought by Fender). Why it was legal and official for all those years?

Before Squier was bought by Fender (in 1965) they only made strings. So I do hope this was an attempt at joking 

Squier has only been making guitars and basses since 1982. 

Great score! I loved the TRB5II's I owned, they felt incredibly solid and well-built. They were the regular bolt-on neck model without piezo's, but still a very flexible and versatile workhorse. 

Now listed on BBM's site: 

Pre-owned ACG Graft Fretless Bass Handmade in Scotland (billybowmanmusic.co.uk)

Looks like it might be this one, to be specific:

G019 J Type Fretless 4 | AC Guitars

All the specs can be found with the 3 tabs underneath the pictures. 

Wow, the bridge on that Harley Benton sits ridiculously far forward. Makes the bass unnecessarily long, and must make it quite a stretch to reach the 1st fret! It does look cool. 

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Just seen this on Reverb.

 

Not just a refin, but non-original pups and controls, althpugh the rest looks right.

 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/53128369-fender-performer-bass-1985-natural-and-black

 

Ouch, that hurts to look at! And that price is insane for a ruined classic. 

I would want a pic of the hack job underneath the pickguard, and a more detailed pic of those two black dots / holes next to the skunkstripe at the heel. What is going on there? 

I'd try finding a nice used lefty Zon or Modulus 5-string, or some other nice graphite-necked bass. I would love me a nice Zon Sonus 519 or something similar.

And / or a Mustang Bass. 

11 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

I put one in my '72 J bass. It certainly made it a little more versatile in terms of tones. However, I found I couldn't quite get that classic J sound (where you run the neck pickup on full and back off the bridge slightly) using it. 

I have no experience with any John East products, but I had a similar experience when I put an Audere JZ3T in my Jazz Bass. It completely changed the character of the bass, in such a way that I stopped playing that bass altogether. Hated it. I went back to passive VVT but with an active bass boost and couldn't be happier. That said, I'm curious to try a J-Retro or J-Tone. 

I have only ever tried 30", 34" and 35" (OK, and a Rickenbacker which was 33.25"). Having owned a hollowbody shortscale before, I was quite surprised by how tight my 30" Atelier Z still feels and sounds and it has made me very curious about 32" scale basses as a nice middle ground. I think it might just suit me very well! 

I voted 34" because it is what I am most familiar with, but I think I would favour 32-33". 

1 minute ago, Hutton said:

I believe it is more relevant not to unbox if the finish is nitrocellulose but not so vital if the finish is polyurethane. 

Or Rickenbacker's quirky 2-component finishes 

It's always good to give the package a little rest, especially if it's packed well (because the isolation (and a case or gigbag) will slow acclimatisation down) but I wouldn't know if there's a rule of thumb to this for poly finishes.

13 hours ago, spacecowboy said:

but what’s really got me puzzled is the neck pocket route? It looks like it’s been over shot on both sides? But then it’s been painted and I’m sure QC’d and packed off.

 

 

Weird how those "overshoots" have been lacquered, whereas the rest of the neck pocket has been routed after the body was finished! You'd expect the neck pocket to be ready before applying the finish, since the paint stick the body hangs on to spray and to dry is attached to the inside of the neck pocket with screws. 

People frown when the word "vintage" gets used to describe older budget gear that was built in massive numbers, like my 1998 Chinese-made Squier Affinity Strat which, by the above standard of "25 and older", would count. And I have to admit, it sounds funny to me too since it is by no means a coveted guitar and it sounds and plays so-so at best. 

Being born in 1983 though, I'm not quite ready yet to be called vintage myself. I think I can live with "50 and upwards" 

Came here expecting Warwick content. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

All jokes aside, that looks clever - but it's quite bulky! On a bass with a pickguard, I think I would prefer a Zero Mod thumbrest. They use the existing screw holes of the pickguard and / or pickups. I just feel some of them are too far away from the E-string.

4 hours ago, acidbass said:

They are a very dated bass.  I get that people have memories of 80s bands playing Wals but to younger generations they are entirely antiquated.  See also - Status

Bass-playing fans of Tool, Muse and Slipknot would like a word 

You have a point, the audience I described is a bit niche of course. 

Ah, fair enough! 

My comment was aimed more at the sideways angle the strings have to make because of how wide the tuners are spaced, and the stress this puts on the outer edges of the nut. But I can see how you're still in a planning phase and figuring things out. I do like the look of the headstock, it's familiar but not a copy.

I love the shape of that! Basic yet elegant.

The string angle of the B and G string from the nut to the tuners does look pretty sharp with the tuner placement as drawn.

I second the recommendations for the Washburn AB series. They were great basses, and were used by many pro's at the time (they can be seen prominently in many MTV Unplugged shows of the 1990s).

I would like to add the Cort NTL-B to the list. They can be found used at good prices, and were Cort's top of the line with solid Engelmann spruce top and beautiful laminated rosewood sides. I own a fretless lefty model which is lovely. They have a mini jumbo-sized body which has a fairly big belly but a narrow waist which sits comfortably on your leg when playing seated. Acoustic tone is not loud enough to compete with acoustic guitars without amplification, but the electronics (high-level Fishman Prefix Plus with very useful EQ bands and a notch filter to fight feedback) are great. I do recommend using a soundhole cover when playing in high-volume situations like amplified rehearsals or gigs because it WILL feedback especially on the E-string. 

These prices are wild! Back in 2008 I paid 1200 GBP for a 1983 Mk 1 with flamed shedua facings and original case. It was a factory fretless that had later been fretted. That was roughly €1500 at the exchange rate of that time. 

The seller backed out after some trouble at the post office, which he saw as a sign that he wasn't meant to sell it. It's 15 years ago but I still think about it sometimes and recently came across the pictures of that bass when I was clearing out my old Photobucket account . I think the seller did well though, as even at that time that price was low. It was advertised on Yahoo and fairly hard to find, which leads me to think the seller wasn't very internet-savvy at the time and would have done himself short selling it at that price.

Looks like it! The short-lived USA Bullet Bass, before they moved production to Japan - the Japanese versions have Gotoh GB-1 tuners I think. The maple skunk stripe is a match too. 

16 hours ago, TimR said:

Take them off. Put them in the packet the new ones came in. Write the date on the packet. Put in gig bag as 'ready cut' spares. Never broken a string but guess there's a first time.

I like that! *takes notes*

I usually change them one at a time unless the frets need a polish, the fingerboard needs a cleaning and oil or other maintenance is due. It depends on the bass too. I have basses with phenolic resin fingerboards (Status Graphite) that require very little maintenance save for a few drops of WD40 once in a while, and I have a few with lacquered maple fingerboards that just don't seem to accumulate any dirt at all and don't require any oil because they're fully sealed. My rosewood and ebony boards regularly get a cleaning and some lemon oil though. 

3 minutes ago, floFC said:

Thank you.

So the 40th anniversary is for becoming a brand in 1982.

What was the 50th anniversary for? What happened in 1946?

In 1946 Fender was founded and released their first amps. That was not a specific Squier event.