NJE

After reading about the system Nino Valenti had going on I seriously looked into doing a similar thing to what he does. Essentially get someone to CNC manufacture bodies and necks to my shape (like USA custom guitars) and the idea was that I would have two stock body and neck shapes for a 4 string and then two bodies and one neck for 5 string. I would then in theory offer a pallette of colours and then let the end user customise pickups, preamp, and hardware to an extent, so basically use the big players like, East, Bart, Aguilar for preamps and then Delano, EMG, Dimarzio etc for pickups and ABM, Schaller,Hipshiot for hardware. It would be a sort of kit that would need to be assembled and wired up and set up but there would be minimum woodwork involved similar to what Valenti does (from what I have read). Its a good idea but using named parts is expensive and you would need to do some bulk purchases to bring costs down. Its a nice idea but as someone said you would need to charge more than your avergae Squier if you wanted to put quality parts on and who would takle a punt on a expensive bass made by a unknown brand when you can get a good Jazz from John Shukers Stock page for £950 and get some brilliant basses for less than that secondhand. I still might do it for myself though and see how the process works. My friend wants me to build him a bass too.

Just picked up this months, Gail Anne Dorsey on the cover, cant wait to have a read tonight with my feet up and a brew! W&T Ergon on review looks tasty too. I bloomin love this magazine.

I am really envious of Bilbo and others who are completely happy with one bass and have no need for anything else. I have to admit there was that rock star part of my brain that wanted a room filled with loads of guitars and basses but for the last few years I have just been trying to find one bass I am just extremely happy with. I dont really want 4 or 5 different basses, just one that will do most things and give me some options and feel right in my hands. I have two basses at the moment and am 99% happy with my Overwater as my no.1. I also have a good Squier that my girlfriend bought me which I could never sell, but most of the time the Overwater is all I use. Its all about smaller, lighter and more powerful amps now so not GAS free yet.

If you aere running Mac have a look at Apogee stuff, they do two 'cheaper' model the 'One' and 'Duet'. I think the Duet may work on PC but the 'One' is Mac only. I bought a Apogee one and am so impressed with its simplicity and quality.

Wow, some of you guys have some serious bass related issues! ha ha fascinating reading but I dont even come close to some of the leaders. Bafore Basschat, BassTalk etc (over about 7 years): Yamaha RBX 260 Squier Silver Series Jazz Vintage Stingray 5 Copy Fender USA Precision Ibanez ATK 305 Tanglewood Rebel Fretless MusicMan Stingray 4 Since Basschat etc (about 3 years ish) Warwick Streamer Pro M Fender Roscoe Beck V Fender CIJ 64 Reissue Overwater Progress III Squier Deluxe Active Jazz Thats actually quite reasonable although my girlfriend would completely disagree. Only Got the Overwater and Squier Deluxe now so doing ok but thats only because I dont have a lot of money, there would be at least 6 more basses on there if I earnt even a little bit more cash.

I completely agree, I always used to discredit "pop" music when I was younger but now I find some of the best song writing, musicianship and production can be found on thi stype of pop tune. With regards to the bass playing I think a lot of it is synth keyboard bass rather than a live player but I could be wrong. However its recorded bass player or keyboards its all good. I love a lot of the production on Beyonce records and its amazing seeing it being reproduced by a real live band. With regards to Toxic if you like a bit or rock its well worth checking out the A Static Lullaby cover, its a bit of fun.

Streamer! Much prettier basses in my opinion and I loved the one I had, great balance and great build and very comfortable. Corvettes look a bit silly to me and as my good friend and guitrist once said about a Corvette "that top horn looks like a dildo" not how I would have phrased it but then guitarists arent usually known for their subtleness. To be honest both great basses and warwick are usually superb so its just down to trying a couple and picking which one you personally prefer the look and sound of.

Bought a new cable from Dave a week or two ago and just wanted to say how good the service, product and price was. I think it was made and sent ou the day I ordered it and I know it sounds sad but its a lovely looking lead. Finally get to use it tonight! Cheers, Nathan

This all sounds like like witchcraft and wizardry. The Devils work, basses with no pickups is absurd, its just not right I tell you! Seriously though I have long been interested in these basses and this technology but yet to try a bass out. A friend of mine saw a bass player in London playing a Sei with this system and he said the sound was fantastic and he managed to get a very upright type sound out of it which was interesting. When I get home I shall enjoy watching that review.

[quote name='chrisd24' post='807710' date='Apr 15 2010, 10:00 PM']Fender Kingman, not exactly high end but plays pretty nice , and sounds good plugged in or acoustic....and the neck is basically a jazz neck[/quote] +1 Not sure if these come with pickup inside or anything but I played one and was one of the best acoustic basses I have played. Saying that if I had the cash, Rob Allen or for a smaller budget an Epiphone Zenith, people seem to be saying very good things about them: [attachment=47791:67329_l.jpg]

Another for DONT POP! When I started I used to get them often after long practices and hot, sweaty, humid gigs. The blister will heal well if not popped and will harden very quickly and will very quickly become less sore. The body will reabsorb it and it all helps build up the hard skin on your fingers. Things that helped me get past this sort of thing were: 1. Turning up the backline so there is less need to play hard to be heard 2. Try and practice more regulalry rather than play for 5-6 hours and then do nothing for a week like I used to. 3. Keep a towel handy (I use beer towels and coincidentally have a BASS mild one) first to dry any sweat of your hands and also handy for wiping the bass clean. 4. If sweat and moisture is the problem try those tennis sweatband things. I had one for my old rock band and it stops a lot of sweat getting to my bass and fingers. I find superglue makes my fingers feel numb and not connected to the strings when I have used it in the past but know a few people who swear by it.

The Jazz looks interesting but I would like to see a 5. Is it just me or does the headstock look like a 4 string Lakland? Unfortunately the others are really not appealing and the headstock design goes down as one of the ugliest I have seen IMHO. Its a real shame I was hoping these would be really special, no doubt they will play very well like everything else I have played with Overwater on the heads, but they just dont have the aesthetic appeal of every other Overwater I have seen and nowhere near as eye catching as the lines on a Progress.

Oh man, I really want a second Overwater and this might be a good option, Cant wait to see these when they are released. Anyone got any better pictures, One very excited person here.

I will echo everyone else on the Garageband front. Its a superb bit of software and is capable of some good results. As mentioned it is also compatible with logic so if you ever decide to upgrade you can take your files with you. I used to have a Mac mini before they switched to the Intel processors and could run some pretty big files on garageband but obviously if you start running Logic and plug-ins it will slow down. I have no idea what the new ones are like but they look pretty powerful now so i am sure you will not have any problems if you buty a new one. After my MacMini I bought a PowerMac G5 Dual Core. It is a non Intel version but I upgraded it to 6GB RAM and it runs like a dream. I currently have Logic Pro 8 installed and runa few plug-ins and use some large files on Garageband and it doesnt even flinch. The new Mac Pros are really expensive so I would see about picking up a New Mac Mini, or get a Dual Core G5. You can get some good deals on them on ebay, I was looking the other day as I want to sell mine (need a laptop as I move around a lot) Interface wise decide what you need liek do you need midi, do you need phantom power for mics, how many tracks will you record at the same time? If you just want to lay vocals down and then guitar and build up track by track Line 6 make a UX1 I think which is good and not too expensive. The Apogee One and Duet is also VERY good but quite expensive.

I now have that picture on page one as my home screen image on my Blackberry, looks amazing! ha ha. Not sure about the Badass fit, I just like the look of badass bridges to be honest no real reason other than that. I think they have gone bust now anyway havent they? I am sure I read that somewhere. I think a Jazz pickup would be the order of the day for me as well though and a nice chrome cover over the pickup. I really want one now, major GAS!

AH CRAP! another bass on the want list now. I suppose its more achievable than a Sei Jazz 5 but still a couple of hundred pound more than I have. I have always wanted a Pino style Precision and if the other squiers are anything to go by this should be awesome. Slap a badass on there with a Jazz pickup at the bridge and that would be just what I am after at the moment. Another great bass from Squier.

I would agree, dont do it, it wont be a stingray. I have a Aguilar Pre in one of my basses and it isn't that great. People don't usually mod stingrays, they don't really need it and if the sound isn't right for you maybe try another MusicMan model or a different bass IMHO.

DO IT!!!! ha ha That is a great price and if your sale will cover most of it then brilliant. For what its worth I think the facing is really nice, there is a good contrast between the back and top, I think its stunning. I have a Progress 5 string and absolutely love it in every way, the Overwate r neck-throughs are beautiful and the access up the dusty end is fantatsic. My progress and I went through a small slump in the relationship recently and I was looking at other basses, but after practice last night I could not be happier it was just perfect. Its a bargain DO IT!!!!

I too am an addict and I loves it! To be fair though, I know so many people who spend all their free time on bloody facebook joining stupid clubs and finding out what their best friends little sisters boyfriends cat did today. Personally anyone I like I speak to regulalry on the phone, so I spend my time on BassChat rather than brain rotting Facebook. It's informative, funny it keeps my mind in a good place and stops me getting depressed in an office job, and there are some quality bargains to be had daily. Its so good they should prescribe BassChat on th NHS along with country walks in the sunshine. Edit: Spelling

If it's any help at all I have played a couple of these and they are really good basses, a real step up from the normal Mexican made stuff. The ones I played were very well built and had a real nice feel and were really not far of a Geddy Lee the shop had in which was a couple of hundred pound more new. Like any Fender (well any bass for that matter) pick carefully, Fender particulalrly can sometimes be inconsistant, I have played some stunners and some real dogs in the past, so try find somehwere with a few in stock and pick the best. I dont think you will go wrong with on though and good for modding

Thanks again for the feedback. The more I hear that the Skylines are reasonablty close to the US in terms of feel, the more I am put off even trying one. I don't like the neck profile on the Skyline 55-02 or the satin feel so I doubt the 55-94 is what I am after, Think I will stick with the Overwater after all. Off topic slightly but another thing I literally just found out is that Lakland don't actually make their own bodies and necks even for the USA models. Now I know there has been some talk of other companies having another party make the basic parts (Sadowsky NYC models to name one) and I know they do amazing finishing work and produce amazing instruments, but it takes away a bit of the romance for me when the bass is not actually made by the company. I suppose a small requirement for me at that price point would be a handmade instrument. You take Overwater, Sei, Shuker, MTD they all make their own stuff and thats what makes them special to me. Sorry off topic and not meant to insult any companies or owners, I am just slightly suprised.

Thanks for the links, I did a pre post search but must have bypassed one of those threads because it was about the Glaub, intersting now I have read it though. I think the posts I have read seem to confirm my thoughts that the Skyline is not far off the USA and that the woods and build are slightly better but they are quite similar. If the necks and feel of the instrument are similar then I think I might have to leave it. I was slightly reluctant about the satin neck (I hate them) and if the USA models still have a similar feel with angular fretboard but just with nicer neck woods, then maybe its not for me. I might still try and give it ago but just trying to get an informed idea of what it will be like beforehand. Thanks for the comments so far.