LeftyJ

19 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Come on, we all know that the most important thing about a bass is the logo on the headstock.

Good luck with that 

16 hours ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

 

My Funk Unlimited has a ´truss rod´. It´s actually not a truss, but only does 3 settings; neutral, a bit flatter or a bit more relief. I think I´ve left it neutral as the fretboard is almost flat with little relief. I did try it out though and there was a noticable difference in action when changinging the adjustment.

Same on my Status S2 Classics. I have my 5-string tuned down to A and with light strings (040-125) which in theory should sound and feel pretty floppy - but surprisingly doesn't. I've had to adjust the truss rod slightly to accommodate the lower tension and it works fine 

10 hours ago, Cato said:

On a different subject I suspect there's factories in the far east churning out tons of roasted maple.

 

In a few years it's gone from being a relative rarity on higher end guitars to a standard feature at every price point.

First time I ever heard of it was when Gibson used it as surrogate rosewood fingerboards after the FBI had seized their stock of rosewood . They referred to it as "baked maple" and they were widely ridiculed for it. Looked well enough though, and hardly anyone heard a difference. 

The old ones had the best of both worlds: a plexi guard. Here's mine:

Atelier Z is bringing back the Baby Z in a passive version with regular, uncovered Jazz pickups and an old school 2-saddle bridge. They're issueing it under a new "Atelier Z design" brand (the old one was already more affordable than the regular Atelier Z models, and was built at Fujigen - like all their other models with the KTS titanium rods in the neck). 

Looks really nice, but I don't dig the pickguard shape. The old ones had a Mustang pickguard, but this new one has the pointy bit next to the fingerboard that would also be there on a Jazz or Precision and it just looks out of place to me on a Mustang design. 

Source: Atelier Z's Facebook page with NAMM updates. 

Sounds promising, but yes, will probably be very expensive. And it remains to be seen if all these options mentioned will be available to lefties! Ever since the release of the Stingray Special replacing the old Stingray, there have been very few lefties (and no lefty 5-strings). 

47 minutes ago, Paul S said:

 

Funny how they vary - I bought a PB Shorty soon after they came out and straight out of the box gigged it.  No sharp ends apart from the nut, tuners aren't perfect but hold tune, no truss rod issues at all.  I changed the pickguard to black 'cos I don't like white ones.  Then a while later I changed the pickup to a Tonerider 'cos I wanted a bit more bite and beef but, tbf to the stock one, it was a fine vintage tone.  I'd buy one of these new ones except that my existing one has it all sorted.  It is a mystery how they do this.  Actually, no, it is a miracle.

The pickup is mighty fine indeed! And even the stock pots are decent, with a good treble rolloff for all those classic P tones. For the price (I got mine lightly used for €50) it's brilliant. 

Aside from the satin black finish, the painted neck, the tort pickguard and black hardware it doesn't seem to differ from the regular PB Shorty. Same woods, same electronics.  It's a fun bass, I like mine, but you get what you pay for. Mine has sharp fret ends, a truss rod nut made of chewing gum and tuners that can barely keep up with the string tension of the stock string set, despite being only a 0.040-0.095 set. 

1 minute ago, Paul S said:

 

That's probably an exact fit for one of those Cleartone Conversions...

If you don't mind the headstock sticking out. Would be a shame if it did though, that's usually the best part. Fanned tuners, handwritten logo, different hardware colours. True works of art. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it 

54 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

#3  Kubicki Ex-Factor.  One of the early ones, not the Fender models.  I was offered one of the last handful that Phil made and turned it down.  It was ridiculously cheap.

 

This would be on my list too, if Kubicki had made lefties. There is only ONE in existance, but it was built for a guy who plays with the low E at the bottom - so the Extender is at the bottom too and useless for lefties who play with the strings in the correct order. GAS cured. Or rather: GAS unresolved 

Ooooh, I'll have a Mockingbird from that era please! 

26 minutes ago, MJJS said:

There are currently two Atelier ZPOs available at Bass Japan Direct.
 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/76277268-atelier-z-zpo4-2016-transparent-blue

Oooh, those look lovely. I have the Baby Z4-J, which has the same electronics package as the ZPO in this ad, the same narrow 17mm spacing at the bridge and probably a very similar narrow neck shape, but with a Mustang / Musicmaster body shape which doesn't balance as well (slightly neckdivey). I adore that bass, it's incredibly fun to play and has a lovely modern active Jazz Bass tone. 

I have irrational GAS for a Stingray 5, despite having owned one (and several other MM-style basses) that I never used because I never got it to work for me. I didn't like how it sat in the band mix, I didn't like the midscoop, I didn't like the excessive top end / attack, but I loved the neck, the looks and the stability. I am not a knob fiddler, and the Stingray (for me) is a bass that just needs you to work with the onboard EQ to get it to sound right - whereas I prefer my basses to sound good with all the knobs set to neutral, and just use the onboard EQ for subtle tweaks when I need to. 

I have totally rational GAS for a Mustang Bass and a nice Dingwall 5-string - but I'm not really thrilled by the NG3 and Combustion, which are the only models that are offered in a lefty version. 

I have a nice Kala KA-STG tenor uke that I got new for about €180. I don't play it a lot, but when I do it's just so much fun. I have big hands, so I too got a tenor because of the wider spacing between the frets. I got a nice TGI ABS hardcase for it that didn't break the bank, and I enjoy it a lot. I often take it along on vacation because it's just so portable and compact enough to never be in the way. I didn't bother restringing mine to lefty and am just playing it upside down as-is. I may change that at some point, and while I'm at it switch it to a low G tuning as I like the warmer sound that chords get without the silly re-entrant tuning. 

I'm also finding that intonation is slightly better on tenors than on soprano's.

That said, I would like to get a concert uke to go along with my tenor. The Kala bamboo affairs look very tempting, and the aNueNue's mentioned above do too.

Could be the angle at which the nut slot was filed. If this slot is not straight (horizontal), it might not match the angle at which the string runs from the nut to the string tree. This would be confirmed by the buzz disappearing when you press down the A-string behind the nut. 

It looks somewhat like a singlecut version of the Ibanez EHB series, and I mean that in a positive sense - I like the look of this ACG a lot better! This looks brilliant, and very pretty! 

@Owen, could this be the one you were searching for?

Edit: I should have scrolled down further! Already answered. Nevermind, move along, nothing to see here 

Sounds interesting enough!

If you end up not liking the result, you can always have a custom ramp made with the dimensions of your third pickup, and mount it with pickup height adjustment screws to adjust to the height of your pickups. If you refrain from making any additional holes in the bass until you're sure you like the new tones the new pickup config offers, you can keep the "damage" to the bass limited and it leaves you with an option to refill the hole. 

Appears to be a GB54 or GB34 with the scratchplate removed and replaced with just a control plate. The pickup configuration looks stock and was very common on the GB.

Edit: to clarify, there have been many updates to the GB series through the years where the appearance of the model changed considerably. This includes body shape, features and pickup configurations. The current GB series looks more Fender-like and has the controls mounted directly to the body instead of a pickguard. The one in this thread is an older model. Some versions of the GB54 had black hardware, so this could also be a GB34. Definitely older GB series though. 

There is also the current Squier CV Jaguar Bass, with a PJ config and 32" scale. Not your typical Fendery woods, with a nato body and a laurel fingerboard with blocks sans bindings, but then the same goes for the 1980's Fender/Squier Japan medium scale Precision (which has a basswood body). Those were available briefly with E-series serial numbers, so between 1984 and 1987, and they pop up for sale regularly. 

20 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Music Nomad make a range of cleaning and polishing products that are well thought of by luthiers. I think I’ve only ever used the polish and it was excellent.  Might be less brutal than wire wool.

On a high-gloss lacquered body, absolutely.

On an oil-finished Warwick it would be better not to use polish. 

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Where are you guys playing?  A slaughterhouse?

"A reviewer described the tone as beefy."

10 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

The new one or the old one? The new one is more like a P-bass

I think you're confusing it with the Caprice (PJ) or Cutlass (P). The old Cutlass I and II were a Stingray and a Sabre with a graphite neck. 

10 minutes ago, cetera said:

No, no, no.....! FFS...

 

Noone wants an overpriced Epi Rex bird! If you're a Rex fan you know his sound is Spector. That's where your money goes.

 

Why doesn't Gibson just reintroduce the Grabber, Ripper and G3, with cheaper high quality Epiphone versions (under £1k). THAT'S what the market is asking for! 

This! So much this! 

An Epi Grabber is coming though. But without the sliding pickup 

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

Also, tuner companies do custom jobs for folk - look at these Gibson stamped Schaller M4S for instance... genuine Schaller M4S, just happen to have Gibson logo on them.

That was my first thought too, but I couldn't think of any other bass company with a U other than the Kala U-bass (for which there [i]are[/i] custom Hipshot-licensed tuners, incidentally, but they're not stamped with a U as far as I can tell).