carlsim

The sadowsky metro express basses have a SME or SMX serial on the rear of the headstock… metrolines and other sadowsky basses have simpler serials on the rear… would be quite obvious from the serial on the rear… plus it isn’t just printed, it seems to be embedded into the wood… I don’t have a picture at hand but can post one.

https://www.guitardecals.co.uk

all the information is on the other thread...

3 minutes ago, martthebass said:

For those of you who’ve changed the decal, how easy was it? Can someone give me the lowdown on how they did it before I attack mine? Maybe PM to avoid thread derailment.

I made a thread about this - it isn't totally detailed about the process but should cover most of what you need:

Basically,

sand the headstock (make sure the sanding is nice and even)

apply a few dust coats of your chosen finish (I used a matt finish poly which I buffed to a satin finish...)

wet sand a little and apply the decal

lay on some dust coats to seal the decal and then you can apply a few more heavier coats to level out.

I then wet sanded with 1200 W&D and buffed to a sheen. reassemble.

i couldn't get around not having a very fine outline of the decal showing (you can see it in certain light and angles) but I can live with that.

Hope this helps.

Carl

6 hours ago, mattpbass said:

Looks great but please pop the E string back into the bridge saddle, that extra wide gap is making my OCD hurt. 😅

Yep, spotted this about 2 seconds after I posted the images! All sorted now...

4 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Looks great.

 

The string spacing at the bridge is pretty wack though.

 

To me it looks something like 15mm - 18mm - 17mm - 16mm, from low B to high G string.

 

It's not at all, the E string wasn't in the saddle correctly - all fixed now. It's a great bass for the cash - would be hard pressed to find something this good for £350 new.

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!

Hi all... just a quick question to all the B6 users out there...

I have a B6 that I use with my QSC 12.2 as backline and monitoring, much better IMO than a backline amp. Anyway, that's another discussion... The only issue I have is fine tuning overall volume control. I have plenty of headroom, but I don't like to control overall volume on the bass and can't be going behind the QSC or bending down mid-song to alter the volume on the B6. The B6 has a master output volume control for each patch assigned to the right side button (the 4 encoders under the screen) - if I connect a volume pedal to the B6 (I have an old Bespeco one that still works), will that default to controlling this volume control or will I have to assign it in the patch? I just want it to control this volume output globally, I'm not interested in wah control or anything, just for volume so I hope that if I plug it in it will default to this control automatically. Anyone tried this?

I haven't tried it yet, will do when I get time, I just wondered if was as simple as I hoped!

8 hours ago, glassmoon said:

 

Last question... What are the dimensions you used for the decal. The "Sadowsky" part I mean? 

To be honest, Rob already had the Sadowsky logo so just amended the design he already had and added the MetroExpress…

initially he made a mistake and put a space in between the metro and express, but when I mentioned it he sent me another set FOC!

definitely recommended… read the instructions it comes with and you can’t go too far wrong…

don’t do what I did though - as per my thread, I tried to remove a hair in the poly, pierced the decal and it melted!

good luck and post results…

I went here for my decal:

https://www.guitardecals.co.uk

really helpful guy and you get 2 decals for about £10. I saw this as a just in case but it also persuaded me to buy a second bass!

My process:

rub the headstock down

mask up (get some good quality masking tape, I used frog tape for the edge.)

apply a few dust coats of poly (I used rust oleum satin poly)

let it dry for a couple of days and do a very light wet sand with 1200

apply your decal

Apply at least 8-10 very light dust coats of your chosen finish, after this you can layer it on a bit thicker to get the finish you are after…

the question lies with what finish you are after - gloss, satin or Matt. I didn’t bother doing a wet sand at the end and buff, I was happy with what I had. 

hope this helps - certainly improved the overall look in my view and it wasn’t a lot of work. Very gradual and don’t rush it!

carl. 

I have an Atelier Z 2 band preamp for sale. 4 pots, Volume, Volume, Bass and Treble setup. Works great. The only reason I changed it was for a volume, blend bass and treble. This suits me much more as I much prefer a single volume control, otherwise it's a great little system. For reference, the pics show the yellow and purple pickup hot wires so you can identify each of the volume pots.

Will include postage in the price.

Any questions, please ask.

47 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

The fretless fives have caught my eye. Does anyone have any experience of the PJ version of these basses?

That's what mine is... a PJ 5 fretless... I think I must have got one of the last ones Thomann had as they only did the fretless ones in black...

It's great though - a bit of fine tuning for setup but it plays great and as it has an ebony board, tons of mwah!

Carl.

On 20/03/2024 at 16:54, martthebass said:

I picked up a later first Gen fretless one off here and to be honest it's a great bass.  Put together nicely, lightweight but well balanced can't fault it really.  The fretboard is a great slab of ebony, the paint job is gloss (hate cheap satin finishes) and flawless to my eyes  Things I don't like; the headstock decal (yes, I'm shallow) and the adjustable nut isn't the prettiest.

You should do what I did… £10 for a new decal and voila!

sand it off, couple of coats of poly, apply the decal and a few more coats! 
reassemble and the Tesco style logo is gone…

I did my fretless and I’m waiting for my CAR fretted 5 to turn up and I will do the same to that one…

Having just pulled the trigger on a new bass - will do the bass with FREE POSTAGE for 1 week!

11 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

 

The manufacturer (Warwick) states "All basses are lightweight with max. 9.5 lbs (4.3 kg)."   Seems like quite a claim, although I suppose I've no reason to doubt them.

 

https://shop.warwick.de/en/instruments/electric-basses/sadowsky-metroexpress/21-fret-hybrid-pj-bass/22817/sadowsky-metroexpress-21-fret-hybrid-p/j-bass-morado-fingerboard-5-string

 

I've previously emailed Thomann ([email protected]) to ask for the weight of a specific bass (not a Sadowsky), and they did weigh it for me.

That feels about right for my 5 fretless... not super lightweight but certainly not boat anchors either... 9/9.5lb is a good weight in my mind...

My fretless 5 is amazing… I think the early ones were a mixed bag… later ones do seem to have fixed the issues… 

no idea what the new ones are like though.

For anyone interested, i picked up today a Sadowsky Metro Express 5 String in CAR for £369 from Thomann! Considering I paid £479 for a fretless 5 one of these a few months ago, this is a bargain!

I know these had a bad rep in the beginning but the newer versions of the old headstock design were much better... my fretless 5 plays great!

Anyway... just thought I would mention...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/sadowsky_metroexpress_5_21_hybrid_tb.htm - sunburst 5 at £369

The CAR and Greens are also at £369... some of the 4 stringers are even cheaper!! Considering these were £700+ when they first arrived... that's a second hand price for a new bass!

I feel your pain… genuinely I do. 
 

I just had to sell one of my favourite basses to raise some capital…

8 hours ago, glassmoon said:

Soooooooo want this bass. 

Soooooooo broke ass

For the money they can’t be beaten… if it was a p7 I would probably keep it!

I took this in on a trade recently and although it is great and plays amazingly, I just don't need another jazz 5 in the stable. Happy to look at trades - sterling Stingray 35, something with soapbars perhaps, p-bass maybe... would be happy to add some cash to the right deal.

It's brand new, still has the sticker on the plate and comes with a basic fender gig bag. The previous owner bought it new and took it out of the box and put it back as he has about 20 other basses.

It plays really nicely and is a lot lighter than a pervious Sire I had, the maple board and blocks looks great against the sparkly blue. Excellent versatile sounding preamp, for the money, the basses can't be beat. Way better than squires et al. I just don't need another jazz bass which is a shame.

Price is firm at £350 plus postage if needed. I can chuck in a fender hard case if postage is required instead of the gig bag. The case has been repaired with an ABS slurry in places but is still perfectly functional and looks fine. ( I can send pics of the repairs...)

Any questions and trade offers - get in touch!

Carl.

So... it wasn't today, it was Friday and a joy to behold and play it is. Feels great, sounds punchy and funky (shame it doesn't have a tone control in passive mode) but overall, very pleased with the bass.

I will add that I was a little disappointed in the condition it arrived in from the supplier (who I won't name but some of you may have seen the bass for sale there, in direct line of sight... ). It had an inspection sticker on it but it was filthy. There was some kind of liquid stain over the scratch plate, under the strings near the bridge was covered in grime and dirt and overall, it looks like it had come in to the shop in that state and gone straight back out again with no checks at all. I had to strip the pickguard, control plate, strings etc and give everything a thorough polish and make adjustments to the truss rod and lower the action (a bit too much turn up at the nut end for my liking). I would have thought a 30 minute check over and clean would have been a standard procedure. Oh well... it's proper sorted now, nice and clean, fresh strings and plays and sounds like a demon.

Atelier Z - you have a devoted follower.

One thing - the sticker is pretty tatty. Do I remove it or source a replacement? If a replacement, anyone know where?? The Atelier shop only ships within the far east as best as I can tell...

PMd!

Big price reduction to £1700 plus some new trade options added... circumstances dictate that I need to sell this now so get in touch with trade offers / cash...

Now pending payment - that was quick! Will update when complete

2 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

Looks wicked with the clear plate Carl.  This is a killer 70s jazz and sounds like one. The Nordy preamp is fantastic. Up there with any high end Jazz 5 ive ever played. The neck for me is quite Lakland, nice and flat. Around £2500/3000 to have one like this built now, and Mas Hino wouldnt be building it..  GLWTS Carl.

Thanks mate - it's a shame to let it go but I'm firmly sold on the Atelier Z brand!

@lee650 I would assume so - although I know is that it plays amazingly!

2 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

Nice colour on that!

Thanks! It does look great and it pains me to let it go... but this is on it's way to me:

I'm a sucker for a natural finish! 

Putting up for sale my Atelier Z DAL-5 Super Duper Jazz Bass in Pearl Blue. I got this from @Happypants a while back and love it so much that I have bought another in a natural finish. I just can't afford to keep two and prefer the natural finish.

Originally born in 1997, it was originally black, body re-finished by David Wilson in Hexam, commissioned when @bubinga5 owned it. This is the original thread about the refinish:

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/465355-atelier-z-body-assembled/

One of the early golden era AZ basses made by Mas Hino who made the early Sadowsky Metro series basses when he left Atelier. The neck is all original with original Gotoh tuners. 9.4lbs on bathroom scales

Generally excellent condition. There's a couple of very, very minor marks and swirls but no dings or missing finish. Some minor oxidisation of hardware but the neck is amazing and the gloss finish feels great. When I got it, i wasn't keen on the bare look and look the Atelier Z look with the clear perspex scratch plate so I commissioned someone I know with a laser cutter to make me one as a template from the original one I got from Andrew (Bubinga5). When fitted, there was a an issue with a stuck screw so the guy who did it had to remove it by making a slightly bigger hole. A smidge of wood filler and touch up and you can't barely see it. It behind the scratch plate and behind the screw so pretty much invisible.

Anyway, I think this really sets it off - looks like a jazz but plays like a super duper jazz! These easily equate to much more expensive custom stuff and I dread to think what this would cost you new now.

Specs are:

Maple Neck and Fingerboard

Chambered Alder body with Ash top

Neck: 34", Maple,  21 Frets

Tuners: Gotoh GB-30

Bridge: Gotoh 205B-5/18P

Pickups: Atelier Z JBZ-5

Preamp: Nordstrand 2B-4B (2 Band Preamps - Nordstrand Audio) 

Controls: Vol, Pickup Blend, Bass Boost/Cut, Treble Boost/Cut

Weight 4.3 kg

Nut Width: 47mm

String Spacing at the Bridge: 18mm

It balances well, sounds amazing and is a great bass. If you pay the asking price I will include the gator ProGo gig bag with the bass - this is pretty much new and about £150 a pop!

I can and happy to post - should be about the £30 mark. I kinda need a quick sale as have pulled the trigger on a new one and need to recoup! Can possibly drive to meet someway if that helps.

Get in touch with questions.

Carl.