Cat Burrito

Last week I bought a Crafted in Japan Fender 75RI P-bass. Except I didn't. I've been playing Fender CIJ (or MIJ as they were & now are again) for 20yrs. The 24hr rapid despatch turned into a week later and I have what to me looks exactly like a Vintage Modified Squier with a Fender decal [url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/squier-vintage-modified-precisi/71000"]http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/squier...d-precisi/71000[/url] this is what it looks like to me! The advertised Crafted in Japan logo with the serial number at the base of the neck is nowhere to be seen! I was told it would be there and is in the listing. When did Fender Japan do "Duncan designed" pickups? Hmmmnn! The £880 bass that was sold as BuyItNow at £350 is basically a £229 bass with a £5 decal. Ironically it's quite a nice bass BUT I'm not paying nearly double for a second hand Squier. It's nice & light (agathis body, I reckon!) I've flagged it with EBay but now I've got a few weeks of being £375 down whilst it is all sorted. What a pain. Anyone think I'm too cynical here? Pics attached from the listing.

Nail polish remover. Whatever you use, do a small tester first but nail polish remover is great.

I started a similar thread a few weeks ago where I wanted an amp for playing along with friends in an acoustic set up. I spent ages going through old threads (to my surprise this isn't that hotly debated as topics go). I settled on a Kustom KBA16 which is no thrills and to the point. I've tried Marshall & Fender - both lacked decent tone. This makes my P-bass sound like a proper bass. I had a lot of people recommend the Ashdown stuff but this was a winner for me. There are a couple of 10w versions on EBay for less than £50 right now.

[quote name='Clarky' post='545853' date='Jul 20 2009, 11:01 PM']Also MIJFenders import but carry a narrower range [url="http://www.mijfenders.com/"]http://www.mijfenders.com/[/url][/quote] I emailed MIJ Fenders explaining I was ready to buy - no reply so I phoned MIJ Fenders & spoke with the guy. He was going to call me back. That was about 6wks ago. Go with Guitar Emporium. I was seriously unimpressed with MIJ Fenders. Perhaps he doesn't want polite customers with money to spend? Not to worry, I won't be troubling him again! Ditto Guitarshogan. I've been playing MIJ Fenders for 20yrs and right now there seem to be a couple of companies out there that don't want business or lack the basic courtesy to explain they have stock problems or whatever the issue was. A shame as MIJ Fender basses are really great.

I certainly feel raising the height of your speaker will put you in a better place.

I think I have most of these [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/fender-bass/s/qid=1248007917/ref=sr_nr_i_0?ie=UTF8&rs=&keywords=fender%20bass&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afender%20bass%2Ci%3Astripbooks"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/fender-bass/s/qid=...Ci%3Astripbooks[/url] I'm unaware of a J-bass specific book (likewise P-bass although Barry Matthews does cover the slab body P-bass exclusively in his book) but they're all good fun for Fender fans. Klaus Blasquiz's book is good for details / facts with a few decent pics to boot where as if you want drool inducing GAS inspiring porn then go for the Black and Molinaro book which is a great coffee table book. All that said the Jim Roberts book is good fun and anything by Tony Bacon is worth a look too. As a point of interest ALL these books contain plenty (& I mean plenty) of Jazz bass pics / info to keep you happy. Hope this helps

I just picked up a 75RI CIJ Fender P-bass for £350 so I'm well happy - I wish I could afford a few more bargains!!!

I used one of these for recording back in 1999 & it was awesome.Big fan of them.Not sure I'd gig with one too heavily though but a great addition to a collection

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='543639' date='Jul 17 2009, 10:03 PM']I always use a wide Levy's - black, neoprene material. Cheap, comfortable, long, long-lasting. P[/quote] Me too! Spreads the load & doesn't detract the eye from a cool looking bass

I say this from experience of working in partnership with Trading Standards but they are extremely unlikely to be interested in dead batteries. I'm not saying it's right but with the resources they have, they have bigger fish to fry quite frankly. Stock up with spares from decent shops and problem solved. I always carry spare stuff for these emergencies - especially as I hate string prices in rehearsal studios!

I too like Grolsch rubber bottle tops - cheap, simple & effective. Job done. Cable wise I use those Fender Bass cables. Never skimp on cable!! I'm sure there are better cables out there but these are plenty good enough & don't kill my tone

I agree with the comments made by Pete. I think there has been a lot of talk in the media recently about respect. This is a good example. I always ask before I try and I do buy. I wouldn't dream of picking up a instrument without asking. The newsagents signs are a sign of the modern times. All of this is a shame as most young people are great. It's a few that spoil it for the others.

[quote name='Ray' post='541919' date='Jul 16 2009, 08:44 AM']I did a gig in Spain a few years ago and the house amp was a 100w BA115. Good points: - Nice creamy tone with my Jazz bass. Solid state but still quite warm. Never tried an SVT so can't compare. - Still sounded great when turned all the way up. No distortion. - Looks awesome. Bad points: - Very noisy DI. Unuseable in fact. The sound guy had to mic it. - A bit on the quiet side, I had to turn it up to maximum volume. - Heavy. On the whole I really liked it. I think it would be ok for small pub gigs etc. but for anything bigger I would want more power. Hope this helps![/quote] It sure does, thanks. Any other users?

Who's tried one? Who owns one? Are they good for small to medium gigs?

I just bought some Fender flatwounds for my P-bass. I'm sure everyone will tell me this is wrong but I quite like Fender strings & they are cheap so I thought it'd be a good introduction to the flatwound world. Mail order so they haven't arrived yet.

Anyone who says "it's just about the music" is missing the point. Music is about passion AND music is about fashion. Even NOT having an image is an image! You are unlikely to see a BC Rich in a Jazz band. I don't think all bands need a uniform (although it *can* work) but I think you do need to look like you belong together. I often make sure that we all know to be smart or we all know to be casual. I like to see a band present a united front.

Works for me.... although I don't want to be quoted as liking your prick! Um, so to speak!?

[quote name='Protium' post='539827' date='Jul 13 2009, 10:36 PM']Try to learn the more difficult songs by those artists Open mic/jam nights/a band?! - playing with other musicians teaches you a lot IMO For improv, make up your own basslines to "easy" songs. For example a lot of Blink 182 is mainly straight root notes - try building more interesting lines to them[/quote] What they said!

[quote name='bh2' post='539297' date='Jul 13 2009, 01:08 PM']Mine of course... [/quote] That is [b]very[/b] cool!

Have you tried the banjo? I've experimented with a few basses over the years but I seem to have settled on P-basses. I've owned up to 12 basses at one time but am now down to 3. My needs are met. My one thought is you get a custom made bass built to your specs. Not cheap but presumably you like aspects of all these basses you've bought? I reckon that's your only real light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm happy to say that I've reached that stage where I don't really care what what the shop assistant thinks of my playing. I think once you get to a certain age you either 1) look like you have money or 2) look like you can put it on a credit card and worry about it later! Therefore I get treated a lot better in shops than I did in my teens and early 20s. I used to hate the way shop assistants played slap for a couple of minutes and then hand it to you. I tend to play unamplified to check each & every note to see what fret buzz there is and then just play a few of the songs I play with the band. My priority is finding a bass that is right for me, not wowing (or not!) some shop assistant who won't be working there next time.