LeftyJ

37 minutes ago, Owno said:

 

You’ve got the wrong guy, I’m just a random Swedish basist and my name is not Tim.

Oh, lol! I'm on a Dutch bass forum too, and there's a guy there with the username Owjeej which would more or less translate to Owno (oh no) phonetically, who just bought a Mullarkey too. Quite the coincidence! 

The only thing off was your mention of a Serek, when he compared his to a Mustang instead on our Dutch forum 

On 17/03/2025 at 21:58, Lozz196 said:

A few years ago I put a Badass bridge on a 51 Reissue Precision. To me it modernised the sound, emphasising the highs and tightening the lows. Not to a point where it would be noticeable in a band mix, just at home volumes. 

This sums up my experience on my Fender MIJ 1975 Jazz Reissue pretty well too. 

Slightly enhanced brightness, tighter lows, somewhat diminished fundamental - and to me, no perceived boost in sustain / note decay. I do like it a lot, it's been on that bass for some 15 years now and it's not coming off any time soon 

27 minutes ago, Russ said:

I mentioned them earlier, but Aristides seem to be doing some interesting stuff with composites - not sure what their "Arium" material is (I suspect some kind of stabilised fibreglass), but it's apparently a lot more stable than wood, and they seem to be selling a lot of instruments... 

The bio on their site is quite ambiguous about it, but the concept was in fact designed by this guy, who founded Catalyst Guitars. He called the material he came up with "SoundCompound", which was cast around a carbon graphite base structure. Aristides' bio doesn't mention a previous company using it, and only names "a team of Dutch scientists at Delft Technical University", but Catalyst were a pretty cool company. Their designs were more traditional than what Aristides does, but the technical concept was definitely very cool: Catalyst Instruments est 1996. – Jedistar

Done! 

Will you be sharing the results of your survey / thesis once it's done? Might be an interesting read. 

On 15/03/2025 at 01:45, PaulThePlug said:

Just watching that and thinking the same... layed back fender-esq headstock.

Ibanez Made Roland Synth Controler

Fujigen yes, Ibanez no.

The Roland G33 is more related to Greco, and borrows some features from the GOB-II range. Ibanez (Hoshino Gakki) and Greco (Kanda Shokai) did work together and share some designs between them for a while, and both had their manufacturing done at Fujigen Gakki.

Modified Roland G33 midi bass

Edit: not midi but it does have a hexaphonic pickup to hook it up to a bass synth.

On 13/03/2025 at 12:24, Owno said:

New bass day! I acquired this Wilcock Mullarkey yesterday and took it with me to rehearsal - what a lovely and well-built instrument! Dare I say even better than my Serek…

It only just struck me that "Owno" and "Owjeej" are in fact the same guy. Hi Tim 

Yep, this one has been posted here before. That's @sblueplanet's. Looks lovely with the anodized aluminium pickguard 

6 hours ago, Cato said:

Given the curren vogue for headless instruments, with several companies launching new lines in he last few years, it will be interesting to see if it has any effect on the prices of the original wave of headless instruments.

Good call! I came here to say Status Graphite. With Rob Green's recent semi-retirement, and his departure from all-graphite necks, I expect prices on used models to go up.

Same for Pedulla and Vigier, Michael and Patrice have also retired but their instruments remain popular. 

33 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

Couldn't the earth connection to the rails in the sliding pickup just be a bit of copper braid, squeezed against the rail by a piece of closed-cell foam, neoprene or similar, in a little recess in the pickup housing?

I was wondering that too. And there is the little thumbscrew that locks the sliding part to the upper rail. That could serve as a ground connection too if it's metal on metal. 

Nice. They must have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the Ultraburst finish on their current American Ultra line, to introduce a more affordable version of that. I think Ultraburst looks sweet too, but a bit more "orange" than this more classic finish on the Player II. I like it a lot.  

16 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Spectors are not actually sold. They can only be cared for on lease from Cetera, who curates them all. Foster Spectors.

This could read like the start of a long list of Chuck Norris-style Spector Facts.

Children - Robert Miles

1 hour ago, basexperience said:

An update on this bass: the (reverse, I knew while adjusting!) truss rod snapped at the adjuster. The bass is now with Robin Manton to fit a decent rod. This isn’t unknown on these basses, apparently. Btw I can recommend Lenspeed Logistics for shipping basses. Excellent service from people who know how to transport something fragile and expensive. 

Ooof! Sorry to hear that. I've seen more stories on this. In other cases I've seen it had something to do with fingerboard glue getting into the thread and effectively freezing the truss rod nut in place. Absolutely should not happen, that's a really bad flaw in their manufacturing process. 

They had a single that was on quite heavy rotation on my favourite radio station in the Netherlands in 2021 ("Billy goodbye", which I think was a farewell song to their drummer leaving the band in 2021). They released a new album last January indeed! 

That actually sounds great to me, I always feel toggle switches move way too easily 

But seriously though, if it feels off you could try lubricating it. Don't use contact cleaner, and don't use anything that contains silicone as it will leave a residue that could stay behind on the contacts. There are special switch cleaner products for these.

There are some good suggestions on this page: Lubricating a 3 way toggle switch - what’s best? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

Die laughing - Therapy?

46 minutes ago, Shananigunz said:

So Hazlabs is winning. You're convincing me from what i've heard. What about the EMG or the Darkglass? If it was between the EMG BQC and Darkglass Tone capsule what would you vote for? 

I'm hearing very mixed reviews for the Darkglass. Their concept of replacing the treble control with a high mid control is a clever one, but it's the treble band that can really make a bass come to life IMO if the frequency band and bandwidth is chosen well. I played a Dingwall NG3 recently that had the stock Tone Capsule preamp replaced with the BQC and it was brighter, punchier and more lively than with the Darkglass. It's all a matter of taste in the end so YMMV of course.

The one in natural looks slightly better, but that black one is just wrong! Yes, that would bug me too.

12 minutes ago, Viappio said:

Sorry guys, i need some help.

I've bought a stingray 5 from 1998. A lovely, well sounding bass, but the saddle's screw to adjust the action are damaged and in some case missing XD. The saddle themself are fine, no need to replace them, but i need the screws. I went straight to Aliexpress for those kind of stuff but i couldn't find the right measure T_T. Can somebody help me? thanks a lot in advance

Assuming you're in the UK, I'd take a look here. BTN Music have many parts in stock. Measure the saddle height screws you do have to make sure you get the correct length and diameter (Imperial thread).

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

I've never heard of Martin Mendez or the band Opeth. So he was playing a signature Fender Marcus Miller jazz bass back then? 

He played a Fender MIJ/CIJ Marcus Miller Jazz Bass back then, but it obviously wasn't his signature bass. It was just my first time seeing one, and without knowing about Marcus Miller, I associated it with Mendez. And I guess I always will 

There's some slapping from 9:04 on, so I guess still a little bit in Marcus' vein? 

11 hours ago, TrevorR said:

Fair comment, it’s been many years since I played one - itwas back when they were making very D shaped necks with pronounced shoulders to them - didn’t like that at all. 

Can imagine, I have two Streamers from this era and they're definitely not for everybody. My 4-string Streamer LX has a pretty narrow nut width and near the nut the back of the neck is pretty much round, but the higher up the neck you go, the flatter the back gets and the more those shoulders stand out. On my 5-string Streamer LX5 it's almost ridiculous - but it hasn't stopped me from playing it as my main bass for a few years because the tone fit my band's sound so well. I can only imagine what it must be like on @Terry M.'s Broadneck 

When I first heard of Schecter (mid 1990s) I don't think the more affordable Far East Diamond Series was around yet. I just remember me and a classmate lusting over their sexy carved top USA Custom Shop superstrats like the Hollywood Classic and Sunset Classic on the internet. It wasn't until many years later when they finally got a distributor in the Netherlands but I still don't think I've ever seen a Schecter in a Dutch store in my life. Their popularity peaked in the Nu Metal days when bands like Alien Ant Farm and Papa Roach were endorsed by them - and then we all laughed when the infamous crabwalking clip of Attack Attack!'s "Stick Stickly" came out with the whole band sporting Schecter guitars and basses 

I'm not a fan of Marcus Miller - I will always associate the Miller signature with Martin Mendez of Opeth . When I first started listening to them in 1999-2000 I didn't even know who Marcus Miller was - but when I first saw Opeth live I was struck by that beautiful Jazz Bass and its interesting control plate. Martin has since moved to Sandberg and has a signature bass with them based on the California VT shape but with two Jazz pickups moved closer to the bridge - but to me the Miller is still the Opeth bass and I still think they look (and sound) incredible!

23 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Totally agree on the looks and feel aspect but it's the sound aspect I'm not too sure about. Especially when preamps are involved as they all colour the sound differently. Not to mention amplification with different sized drivers,tweeters etc. 

 

Ironically I'm a huge Warwick fan 😊

I always feel that you can't amplify what isn't there in the first place. Resonance and decay time of a note can't really be added with a different set of pickups or a different preamp.

The irony in this is we're all looking for basses with endless sustain, only to put much (if not most) of our playing effort into muting 

I love my 2023 Sandberg Lionel. It's surprisingly heavy for its diminutive size (I have one with an ash body) but it feels great to play and sounds fantastic.