LITTLEWING

I used my new Player series Precision once or twice but actually preferred the sound of my old Squier Standard over it until I took the horrid farty mex pups out and put in some Custom Shop '62's. I'm not too fussed now about getting mojo dings on it as it sounds so bloody gorgeous and makes me feel good as I know the band will sound good too.

Okay, but it looks like you are saying you set the capo at the first fret and aim for 2.5 etc. I wasn't being sarky by any means, just trying to be helpful to other readers. Jeez....

Everybody blames strings when setting the witness point at the saddle gives the strings their tone and 'voice'. Maybe try this out when initially fitting strings.

FWIW, I used my small Hartke 15" tiltback combo rear ported cab (Fane 400 watt fitted/dead amp head removed) with my Hartke 3500 in our local pub garden and my wife recorded it loud and clear from our house 10 minutes walk away. You'd be surprised how it carries!

Ummm...you only use a capo to set the relief old chap, not for setting action. Just sayin'.

Absolutely this. So many players have surprisingly never heard of this uber important string set up 'must do' thing of setting the witness point. As Kev said, it makes the world of difference. Even if your strings have been on a while you'd be amazed how the string can gain a bit more tone just doing this simple thing right now.

Absolutely. I've persevered for ages with Fender's *own* strings which we know are made to their spec by D'addario but after fitting a set of actual D's EXL165's, my Jazz bass has come alive. Bizarre.

I had a '74 Precision back in the day (stupidly sold it before getting married or something) and although I've been playing again for the last 20 years I've never had anything 'decent' so treated myself to a Mim Player. Loved the neck, (set it very nearly flat), weight and everything but hated the farty pickups despite moving them up and down so after reading a load of reviews I put in a set of Custom Shop '62s. There she is, the best ever near as dammit to a USA you'll ever get. Dare I say although it reminds me of the '74 I think it's actually better. Can't put it down.

Well, FWIW I can categorically state that this thing did nothing to usefully enhance tone for me in any way or form. I tried out a F*nd*r himass brass bridge simply because I had a £25 gift card and added £2 so it wasn’t any real loss to experiment. I rehearsed and gigged with it on my P bass for a while and realised I lost all of the gorgeous Precision tone especially on the bottom E. It just wasn’t clean or clear and had me thinking there was something wrong with the fairly new strings. Today I swapped back to the old faithful Wilkinson BBOT and there was that beautiful Fender Precision round fat crystal clear tone especially on the bottom string once more. Maybe a £100 thoughtfully engineered Babicz could sound good on another bass but this hunk of metal casting completely ruined mine. Emperor’s new Y fronts 100% all day long.

Looking at replacing the jazz neck on an old Aria as 1/ the nut end width is wider than a jazz and 2/ the rod nut is as far as it will go and I don’t want to shear it off. There are some on the bay with nuts but no hardware around £78, ones from a reputable parts place at £129 and obviously pukka jobbies at £250 plus. Anyone had experience with the cheap ones? Bearing in mind the surprisingly more than usable ones on Harleys etc.

My combo has always done the loud ‘thump’ thing switching on and I can see the speaker visibly jump forwards and return. Can I disconnect the speaker (it has a jack on the rear) before and reconnect after switching on or wouldn’t the amp like it, making sure the master volume is down?

FWIW, the old Rumble 15 amp section is unbelievable. I had a Hartke 100 watt tilt back combo which the amp died so fitted the Rumble amp chassis in the empty void and for the hell of it chucked in a Fane 400 watt 15” just for indoor quiet rehearsals. Jeezo!! It’s so flippin gorgeous and even kept up with two guitars, electric drums and vocals in a small outdoor shopping precinct gig last Xmas for charity.

Got to be the Fender Custom Shop ‘62 pups to replace the farty junk in my MIM Player Precision. Absolutely sublime. Worst has to be the (usually very good) Legacy (Rotosound without silks) 45-105s. E string had some very bizarre overtones and warble going on. Got them replaced but still the same. Put my old Ernie’s back on, no problems.

Okay, update. I put some Custom Shop ‘62’s on the MIM and holy sh*t they’re goooood and all is well! Strange thing is I put the MIM’s on my old trusty Squire Standard P and they sound ridiculously good E to G. Only thing I can put it down to is the MIM has a maple neck and the Squier has a rosewood neck and I honestly think it’s ’warmer’. Damn strange things these electric banjos.

Tbh I have a tad mid scoop as I hate a honky tone but enough to stand out in a band situation. My rehearsal (and sometimes undesirable gig venue) bass is an old Squier Standard and annoyingly that always delivers. As it happens I have some Custom Shop ‘62s on their way so we’ll see what transpires. Tbh straight from the day I got the Player the sound was a bit ‘meh’ for £700. I reckon they’re building to a price point nowadays and everything is being bought in cheaper for profit.

My 2 year old MIM Player P bass G string seems quiet compared with the rest. The pups are actually slightly lower than spec height to keep the output cleaner but I’ve had to raise the G side of the pup right up so that its volume is equal and it’s now sitting at less than 4/64’” below the string. Anyone else have this? Are the pups ‘losing it’ or have I got duff pups? I’ve just put on new Fender 45-105s and can’t recall noticing it before but then my memory and ears aren’t what they were! I might put the old G back on and see (listen) later.

Play a whole day with each one along with your favourite music or band rehearsal and see which sound makes you smile. Nothing worse than trying to get a decent tone with something that just won’t do it.

I swear by this stuff. I always do the backs of necks and go up the sides including fret ends. This smooths the board edges too and makes a ‘meh’ neck very playable. Yes, try and tape off the pups but if any stray bits do get attracted just get a lump of Blutac and dab the bits off. Dead easy and 100%.

FWIW I did a little experiment with my old Squier P bass and swapped the tone pot for a 500 leaving the volume at 250. Holy moley, it speaks now big and clear without being at all harsh. At the end of the day it is essentially a humbucker and needs a little extra voice. Tip of the day - check out the actual value of a pot before you fit one. I measured the volume pot and it was reading 230. I went through my sh*t drawer and found one that actually read 251 (which I fitted while everything was on the bench) and the said 500 was about 497 so both near enough to ‘breathe’ properly.

Any recommendations for a decent not crazy expensive tuner? I like to get intonation as spot on as I can and am still using my Boss TU-88 but fancied a strobe so I bought the headstock Peterson HDC to see what I was missing. Huge mistake, it was all over the place. Keeping the bass in a playing position sitting down if I leaned forward it went backwards and leaning back it went forwards. Then it kept telling me I was sharp so I started moving saddles back and it was an absolute nightmare. Strobe tuners DO NOT work on headstocks. Sent it back within exchange period. I’ve heard the plug in type Polytune is rather good so see what users on here say.

Funny you should say that. I was there with a pal a couple of months ago who was after a high end acoustic and it actually did feel like a music equipment exhibition which someone forgot to advertise.

Blimey, it’s closing down apparently. Can’t see a final day at the moment although the other 12 stores will still be open. I imagine there will be bargains to be had. Need to keep an eye and ear out. The online purchase dragon strikes again I guess.

I acquired an older 300 watt combo and not knowing its history just wanted a quick MOT so I can rely on it. I removed the head from the cab, sent it by courier and Dave Green turned it around within a day changing the control pots and deemed it all okay to fight another day. Charged me £9.20 and £10 shipping plus vat, came out at an amazing £23.04. In this day and age of utter wangers out there, it is so refreshing to have an absolute smiley encounter with an amazing company. Thanks again DG and Ashdown.. 5 stars!!

Sorted. Got one for less than £14 from Black Dog on eBay. Okay, it’s got the four corner screws rather that the usual five along the rear but it’s deffo done the job and to me it’s slightly comfier to play being overall 3mm wider finger spacing too.

Now here’s a new subject that I’ve actually had experience of. I’ve just seen an advert for a neck plate that gives all sorts of improvements like sustain and general liveliness. Now for my 10 pence worth - my Frankenstein P bass had a dull A (fifth fret) on the E string. Tried a few weight things on the headstock to no avail except losing a little tone on other strings. Next thing I removed the neck plate and refitted The screws with cup washers. The dead note improved considerably and there is a definite overall livelier voice going on. When you think about it, a lot of top end basses don’t have plates, they have recessed screws and ferrules and you always hear positive reviews about those. I’m assuming it was a cheap quick production process by Leo back in the day to chuck an easily removable big plate and screws for future maintenance etc.