Dom in Dorset

As far as I'm aware pickups don't wear out, they can get damaged (spilled beer etc). I don't think it's a lifespan thing. The only thing I can think of is maybe there's a broken connection inside the pickup casing.

My Fender Jazz is blissfully unaware that for the last two months I've been having an affair with a Westfield P that I got for £38 on ebay.

I tried some Fenders in Guitar Guitar and only the American Delux models were well set up.

It turns out that the band I as depping in were offered another gig on the strength of our performance on Saturday, which is both gratifying and annoying!

Depping with a country band at a wedding with a free bar! we were on at midnight after two sh*t hot bands ((Motown/soul and latin/flamenco) and what passed for a sound check was ten minutes of confusion while a dj let rip at extreme volume. For the first couple of numbers we couldn't hear a thing , the soundman couldn't seem to find the fader to bring up the lead vocals on stage..After about three songs things seemed to gel and all I could see what a sea of smiley people dancing. I was driving so couldn't take advantage of the. bar. Got home at 4am with money i my pocket. Not bad, not my usual gig but I'd certainly do i again.

I'm actually going to build from scratch. I would seem there is a lot of variability in the scale length.

Inspired by the release of "Black Sabbath for ukulele" myself and a couple of uke playing friends are planning a Sabbath bases camp fire sing song next summer. I thought about taking my acoustic bass but now I'm thinking of building a bass uke. I've done some research some info but I'd rather hear it from the horses mouth. They seem to tune EADG and use thick nylon (?) strings, what is the acoustic sound like? Where can you get strings from I've seen scale lengths from 20-25" , what's most popular/best?

I've got a 2006, if memory serves I payed about £600 (from the research I did that was a fairly good deal) It was second hand but looked virtually untouched , the set up was appalling but with a little patience it turned out to be the dogs dooh dahs. The fit and finish is great and all my basses have to be set up like this one now.

My main concern is recording. I've found that cheap basses can sound great live but in the studio tend to require a bit more fiddling to get a good sound.

If there is a constant turnover of basses in your house the presence of another new one wouldn't be noticed, just start a rolling system of cheap ebay buying and selling . Many of you will no doubt find it hard to believe that with all the quality advice I'm able to offer on this topic I am in fact getting divorced. It's the bagpipes she really objected to.

It's all in the timing of the purchase. Wait until she's feeling down , heard bad news, under the weather, feeling bit neglected etc.....Then cheer her up by buying anew bass.

This, but probably not note for note (probably too stoned to notice) [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPobsRcHhS8[/media]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1378468593' post='2200747'] I've tried a few including a Fender Original 62 and Duncan SPB-1 in my US Standard P and ended up back with the stock one! Sounds a bit brighter and louder than the others did. [/quote] My Jazz has stock Fenders and I'm happy with those. Fender do seem to produce several different versions of each pickup and not all of them are available as a spare.

As a matter of interest if you wanted to get close to the tone of John Entwistle's Frankenstien bass as used on Live at Leeds what pickup would you choose? (modern pickup rather than whatever the original was) Probably not the sound I'm after but I do like that sound.

I'm not in a hurry so I think I'll keep your suggestions in mind , take my time and scour ebay for a bargain.

Oh yes, very P. round and fat with slight metallic edge but capable of growling when angry.

I recently went crazy and bought a Westfield P copy for very little money. I spent a bit of time setting it up and the neck is superb. I've tried and couple of Westfields and despite being ludicrously cheap they are good, The stock pickup is probably ok, I've not had a chance to play at volume for any length of time. I'll probably replace the bridge at some point. Anyway.... I was wondering what would people recomend for a pickup upgrade? Passive only please.

There is a real sense of achievement in getting a cheap bass to work well, you can keep your exotic tonewood body, your graphite neck, weapons grade plutonium pickup, dark matter bridge etc - give me wood glue and G clamps any day. This is the real thing, welcome aboard.

You'd have got it if you'd bid another £3! There are others, better luck next time. BTW the offending pot is knackered!

I needed some good old fashioned retail therapy and managed to at least ease some long standing GAS pressure for £38 (+£15 P+P) I've always fancied a bass with a maple board, I like precisions and wanted a cheap bass to leave around the house to play while I'm cooking etc. I'm skint so after several days of trawling ebay backwaters I found this: It's a Westfiled, I tried one a couple of years ago and was impressed, set up and tone were head and shoulders above a Squier affinity I tried next to it. It turned up nice and quickly , the vendor had taped piece of wood to the back of the neck to support it in transit. He didn't mention in the listing that the vol pot goes round and round , I presume all the connections have come off which is why there's no output. For £53 I'm not bothered about spending five minutes with a soldering iron.It could do with new strings to but I'm in no hurry,

I had a Hohnerberg for years, seriously nice to play and sounded great, I hated the look of Stienbergers until I tried the Hohner in a shop for a laugh and left owning it

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1377721606' post='2190973'] Soundwise Wal probably, but lookswise Steinberger all the way. Nothing says 80s as much as one of those. [/quote] My thoughts exactly. I would add that the Wal must be fretless with a cheesey chorus effect.

For once it does seem that we are united in our opinion of a bass guitar, does anyone actually like this bass?

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1377194186' post='2184685'] Not just that, it's [u]very[/u] unique. [/quote] There can't be too few of these.

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1377191077' post='2184624'] It oozes sex ... like accountancy or paracetamol does. [/quote] or like a patient at a GU clinic.