vintage_ben

I bought a Fender Jazz Bass Special from Simon. It was a very smooth transaction. Simon was communicative and the bass was shipped promptly and received as expected. Would recommend Simon and a good seller who is easy to deal with. Thanks, Ben

I've just come home from holiday to find mine waiting for me. This pedal is absolutely awesome. Having some fun with the pitch factor to get some thick harmonised synth sounds. [quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1462377057' post='3042534'] This may be 'distortion' in the sound engineer sense rather than the guitarist/bassist sense. [/quote] Check out an earlier post in this thread. There was a regular distortion circuit in the original DI apparently. It is very evident in some of the patches on the FI. [quote name='funkyjimbob' timestamp='1463069786' post='3048329'] Sorry I meant import duty into the UK. I'm sure I've ordered from Hungary before and been charged at customs. [/quote] Hungary is in the EU, so you pay their VAT, but no UK VAT or import duty. They joined in '04, so if you ordered before then, UK tax and duty might have applied.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1460960393' post='3030057'] I tried the Pitchfactor with my Deep Impact - it was OK but the Pitchfactor tended to compress things a little making it sound slightly less analogue and rich. [/quote] I guess that's to be expected. There's no such thing as a free lunch!

Just received an email saying mine will be ready to ship within days. From what I've seen on heard (physical niggles aside) this is an amazing (sounding) pedal. I'm thinking of hooking it up to my recently purchased Eventide pitch factor, so I can control some of the filters via midi using an expression pedal. Running before I can walk perhaps, but sounds like it could be fun.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1451432403' post='2940519'] Brill! Love it. Reminds me of my old MIJ P bass I refinished in Surf Green, I went for a similar level of relic'ing. [/quote] Thanks. Love your refin. The green works really well with the anodised guard. Those MIJ late '50 reissues are great. Had one and sold it about 10 years ago... big mistake. Loved ricking out on it - see below!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1450716564' post='2935168'] I do think you're nuts for choosing seafoam green with tort. [/quote] Yeah, it was a dilemma. I didn't want to go with sunburst, white or black for various reasons, so thought if the tort guard looked odd with green (and given the damage) I could swap it out with a repro white one. I must admit I wasn't that keen on gree/tort combination on instruments I'd seen online, but when I got it on, it looks a a real belter in the flesh. Don't think it comes across so well in photos for some reason.

So it's all done. In the end I decided to go for Seafoam Green. I've always original loved instruments I've seen in this colour. I've also worked on some quite heavy ageing. Now I know this isn't to everyone's taste, and I've seen some pretty strong exchange of feeling on this online - the hilarious futility of arguing that someone's taste is somehow 'wrong'. But the fact is the rest of the bass is heavily worn, making a new finish look a bit odd and inconsistent with the playing wear it exhibits. But more importantly, I like the look, and as it's my bass, that's what really matters. I know some of you will think I'm nuts for doing it. A bit on the process. After the white undercoat I finished it using coats of Seafoam Green, working to the instructions and examples on www.reranch.com and www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk which is where I also go the paint. I really took my time and thankfully avoided any major disasters. I then over-sprayed with a light tint lacquer to which I then sanded back a bit to mimic the uneven discolouring you often find on well used Fender blues and greens. For the 'relic' job I spent several weeks trawling the net for examples and instructions. This page was good start http://www.tdpri.com/resources/how-to-relic-your-guitar/ . I also examined large number of photos of worn basses, including my own, to try and get a feel for what looked 'right'. Managed to get some nice lacquer crazing using the air duster method (which you can get pick up in pound land for a £1 - surprise - much cheaper than elsewhere) after the finish had hardened over 3-4 weeks. It'll continue to harden over months, so I might try again for a more extreme effect in 6 months or so. I managed to create some matching pickguard screws to replace those that were missing using to some regular nickel ones left for a few weeks in salt water. They look pretty convincing. Fortunately I had some original 60s strap buttons from to go on as when I got it there were none. The frets have had a bit of a polish, the fingerboard de-grimed and the overspray on the back of the neck lightly sanded back. Assembly is a pretty straightforward with Fenders of course, but I I've tidied up the careless soldering from the previous refinish just for completeness. I wanted to put flats on it but was a little worried about stringing it up too heavily as the truss rod was screwed quite far in. I got hold of some La Bella's low tension 'flexible' flats after reading some good things. They are great, lighter than typical flats, but none of that floppiness you get with light guage regular flats. The bass now looks awesome (in my view) plays great and sound the part. It fills what was a real gap in my 'Fender' arsenal of a more traditional sounding p-bass (see below). I'm super chuffed with it. Now what next..... The 'Fenders' L-R 1966 P Bass (refinised), 1990 Jazz Bass (EMGs, Badass bridge, East J-retro electronics) , 1967 Jazz Bass (original), Sadowsky NYC Super Vintage P Bass (ok not strictly a Fender, but it's my go to for a 'modern' P Bass) Bass plus 10 months old daughter's sock. The sprayed body

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1447021757' post='2904269'] Wow the date stramp in the neck makes it 4 days older than me! [/quote] Unfortunately the 5 is not the day, but the code for a P Bass. But think of it this way, it could have been made on your birthday!