Vibrating G String

[quote name='SignsOfDelirium_bassist' post='989534' date='Oct 15 2010, 10:39 AM']wow...over 4k and the strings still don't seem to line up with the poles properly...way to go fender *facepalm*[/quote] It has the traditional Fender neck shift so the strings are pushed over to the G string side. Probably a result of using hand selected neck bolts. After seeing Marcus many times over the last 20 years on different basses I've come to the conclusion that Marcus gets his tone from his skills and not his instrument choice. Personally I find one of the greatest insults you can give to a musician is credit the instrument for the tone. Marcus plays that Jazz because it was given to him by his Aunt. If she bought him a Ripper Gibson would be responsible for his awesome tone. Remove every label from this bass that says Fender or Marcus or masterluthiermagician and this becomes a $500 bass for a faux poser. IMHO

If I'm looking at those neck pocket pics correctly you're all missing the biggest flaw on this bass. The flat top un crowned frets. And I always thought re issues were poly, have they started doing them in nitro?

[quote name='mart' post='980559' date='Oct 7 2010, 06:20 AM']I've heard quite a few comments about how [i]nice[/i] Phil Collins is! I wonder if, when you spoke to him in '83 or '84, he was promoting his own work, so took your comments on Brand X as a criticism of his solo stuff. I know from plenty of interviews that he loved Brand X.[/quote] It could have also been him thinking about the record company and how they ripped them off for all those albums. I might have touched a sore spot. I can give him the benefit of the doubt but it was crushing No hard feelings though, I'd still play with him if he called

[quote name='lonestar' post='978917' date='Oct 5 2010, 02:16 PM']He's always struck me as being a complete git. Good drummer though especially with Brand X[/quote] I had a few minutes of interaction with him back in '83 or '84. Nothing about music. As he walked away I said "hey, I love Brand X". He rolled his eyes and sneered and crushed my little heart!!!

I get the feeling you don't really read all the words before posting

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='971135' date='Sep 28 2010, 12:42 PM']Out of the alnico and ceramic choices you have in conventional pickups, ceramic is the stronger. The only neodymium pickups I know of are far from conventional.[/quote]But are they super bright? [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='971135' date='Sep 28 2010, 12:42 PM']Pickups require an output level within a certain range, and are limited in size by a standardised form factor. Thus The output must be maintained through magnet strength or winding length. Alnico magnets were the only thing available when the size was established, and the output levels were correspondingly established at this point. So increasing the mass of the magnet using alnico would take it outside the size limit established. This limitation was removed by the advent of ceramic magnets and thus very hot pickups became practical, and there was space to work with regarding coil length.[/quote] No, just, no For example Fender pickups could have simply increased the diameter of the pole pieces. Alnico was not maxed out. Increasing windings will greatly increase output without increasing the shape of the pickup. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='971135' date='Sep 28 2010, 12:42 PM']Neither sounds "just like", it sounds "very similar". I'd guess it would have been the neck pickup, I generally favour that.[/quote] So one pickup sounds something like the un amplified tone, the other doesn't. So neither sounds like the un amplified bass.

I think it's the SUB is designed after the Stingray 4 and the SUB 5 is a 5 string version of the Stingray 4 and not a Stingray 5 which is more of a 5 string version of a Sterling, not to be confused by a Sterling by Ernie Ball. Any ways my SUB 5 stock pickup nails the old Stingray 4 tone to my ears so stock may be the one for you. IIRC the old Stingray 4 was wired parallel and the Sterling was wired in series. I find the parallel wiring is needed to get that very strong MM personality of the old pre EB models.

I'll bet you got a red one with gold hardware I've never touched one but always heard good things and have bid on a few myself. What's your impression?

I'll assume you've heard the Jauqo III X stuff. My ears just don't hear it well. It's past my range of useable hearing. As for money, the lower you go the more power and speaker you need. If you have something that handles a low B double that might be a good starting point.

[quote name='longtimefred' post='973718' date='Oct 1 2010, 03:23 AM']Another option I could Persue is adding the j pickup into my own bass rather than selling it. I'm not Arsed about losing value as if I can do what I want it to, i don't think I would ever sell it.[/quote]To your Ray 5? I have an OLP MM3 and I added a P pickup and absolutely love it. If you're not worried about the value loss and think you'll play it go for it.

Is it currently wired in parallel?

No, I didn't. But please, don't make the tens of thousands of posts here you do over there. You can live your life without correcting everything on the internet.

[quote name='Mark Latimour' post='969152' date='Sep 27 2010, 01:26 AM']I'm not telling you to "shut up", I'm telling you that you need to get over this chip you have on your shoulder.[/quote] If he does will you try to? Please don't make this forum like the other one you argue endlessly on for years and years and years. Can't you just get over it? It would be like applying your advice to yourself, it would be awesome. You've never accepted criticism before, let this be the first time. Do it for the children!!!

[quote name='Mark Latimour' post='969120' date='Sep 27 2010, 12:38 AM']Jason from Fodera posted on their pricing model on TB: 4. Options like solid tops (on our Elite instruments), exotic wood tops, 5-piece necks (or 9 or even 11 piece necks), matching wooden pickup covers, complicated inlays, Brazilian Rosewood FB's, wooden back plates, etc. all make the instruments highly personal, but they do NOT add to their playability and/or tone.[/quote] Awesome, Fodera says Brazilian Rosewood won't change your tone Respect!

[quote name='pietruszka' post='964799' date='Sep 22 2010, 11:18 AM']Here you go!![/quote] Damn! That's sexy. Other than that my favorite is a mint color. But a subtle mint, not too green.

If you're into used & much less expensive, and can find one, Fernandes made a killer Jazz Bass clone in the LEB series. I've got a 5 string version, [url="http://www.damprabbit.com/guitars/basses/16-fernandes-leb-j5.html"]some pics here[/url], that I just love. Tokai is another good choice for a Japanese clone but are more expensive. I also just picked up an SX for a friend that only needed a setup to play & sound quite nice, and new tuners and shielding would bring it into the great category. I got the [url="http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa4rnpbu.html"]Jaguar looking one here[/url]. It's functionally a jazz but doesn't look much like one. The quality of this one was much higher than one I got a few years back. The Guild Pilot and Hamer Cruise are some more nice choices in the used market. Unfortunately I don't know the bridge pickup placement of any of these but they should meet the rest of what you want. I could measure my Fernandes or the SX if you want.

For any one who only gets their tone "science" directly or indirectly from advertisers a quick look into this page may be helpful, and could save a lot of money. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics[/url]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='965704' date='Sep 23 2010, 07:33 AM']Just like speakers, the magnet material isn't the bit changing the tone.[/quote]Correct. Bartolinis are usually ceramic and are noted (incorrectly in my opinion) for being dark by many experts. [quote]Ceramics are brighter (if they are) because the stronger magnet needs less windings for the same output, less windings is brighter, I think because there is a capacitance to long lengths of wire that rolls off some treble.[/quote] Actually neodymiums are the strong pickup magnets. Are they super bright? Coil winding is unrelated to the material the magnet is made of. Any difference in magnetic field strength between materials can be compensated for by simply changing the mass of the magnet.[quote]Alembic pickups are very low output, as they have very few windings, and are correspondingly not very coloured by the amount of windings, the level is brought up by the preamp, similar to EMGS. The Alembic I've tried, into a fancy am was very transparent, the sound from the amp was very similar you the sound from putting your ear against the body.[/quote]No 2 pickup instrument has a pickup that sounds like the un amplified instrument. This can be suggested with simple logic. The 2 pickups sounds different from each other and therefore only one at best can be a close match to the un amplified tone. Most Alembics have at least 2 pickups. Is it the neck or the bridge that sounds just like the acoustic tone? Dismissing things like where you press your ear to the body, how the instrument is held and any tonality imparted by the amp and cabinets as having any bearing on the tone is troublesome.

[quote name='jazzyvee' post='965593' date='Sep 23 2010, 05:51 AM']Here is an article about pickups which is on the Alembic forum. It may help understanding of pickups. [url="http://alembic.com/club/messages/16271/16350.html?1107707912"]http://alembic.com/club/messages/16271/16350.html?1107707912[/url] Jazzyvee[/quote] This says the resonant peaks of Alembic pickups are very high. A direct contradiction to the previous claim in this thread. There's always an expert who says the opposite of any other expert when it comes to the magic of tone posturing. I believe this is related to the complete lack of science used in creating these conclusions.

So there are no non voiced pickups and ceramic magnets are brighter? How does the composition of the material holding the magnetic field influence the frequency response? Alembics peaks are below audible bass tones? Where are these peaks? Do you know Alembic used to advertise all their tone was the voicing of the pickups and wood was irrelevant?

[quote name='dood' post='963611' date='Sep 21 2010, 10:11 AM']Would I be correct in assuming that Fenders around the late 60's and early 70's were made with 'A' profiles more than say 'C's?[/quote] I remember things as being A = 1.5", B = 1.625", C = 1.75" with A being the default for Jazzes and C being the default for Precisions. Getting a Jazz neck for a Precision was the hot setup in the 1980's.

Sounds like non specific marketing. Can you tell me an example of a voiced and non voiced pickup?

Well since it is trademarked the term Jazz Bass would be whatever Fender decides at the moment. From a legal point of view. Outside of that I think the question is flawed as it tries to polarize a complex issue into a binary answer. I look at it as there are only Fender Jazz Basses, all others are Jazz style to some extent. Very Jazz like, a bit Jazz like and so forth. What do you do with modded Fenders? If you swap a P pickup in the neck position does a Fender Jazz stop being a Jazz? Many of the definitions so far would have real Fender Jazzes not be Jazz Basses Then we have companies like Tokai who made unauthorized copies of Jazzes and then later made a deal with Fender to transform them into real ones. Do the old fakes become real once the deal is signed? No real answer is possible. That's how I see it

Super Kawai!!!

I'm glad you're keeping it. It will cover your Jazz needs tonally and you'll have more character than all the other REAL Fenders Wasn't there a recent reissue of these as super cheap beginner sets? Just in the last few years. Those were under $200 on Ebay, mostly blue. The REAL Cruise basses like you have seem to be climbing here in the US as an unknown but killer Jazz substitute.