Simon.

Hi there, I've got a non-export CIJ 75 Jazz, which I got from John at Far East (the one in my avatar). It's a great bass, but I'm ultimately realising that I prefer a rosewood board, so am a.) looking to get one direct from Ishibashi - and they seem to be able to sell direct rather that just through the U-box, and b.) will be looking to sell my current one. If you are interested, drop me a PM. Either way, I can say that they are fantastic basses! Cheers.

I've got a bunch of these, and have never had any problems with them. The bigger size works great with acoustics & my mandolin, while the smaller ones are fine for basses. I have a bridge ash-tray on my Jazz and find that if I seat the bass on the stand with the edge of the ash-tray up against the right-hand arm of the stand, the bass sits straight and stable. I'm less keen on the taller hanging stands Hercules produce like this: [url="http://www.herculesstands.com/guitars/GS412B.html"]http://www.herculesstands.com/guitars/GS412B.html[/url] although my problem with them is the users, rather than the stands. I've lost count of the number of guitarists I've seen try and balance their instrument on top of the little stick-out back rest, and then watch in horror (and complain bitterly!) as it falls on to the floor. Read the instructions, fool.

Played a function do at the Ghillie Dhu in Edinburgh the other night. Apart from the venue giving us duff information about load-in times (which they have since very nicely apologised for), and the client mucking about with how much ceilidh they wanted, it wasn't too bad. However, getting home was a bit fun! Whilst driving along a dark country road with no street lighting, come round a 90-degree bend only to find a f-off large black horse in the middle of the road! Managed to avoid it, as it wandered off down the road, and phoned the local police to warn them. You could tell that the bloke on the other end of the phone suspected he had a real chancer on the line! "So, sir. You've just finished playing a gig with your band and you are telling me you that you can now see a large black horse in the middle of the road..." For added irony, first song in the set is usually "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree".

Holla folks, I'm looking at getting a 75 re-issue Jazz from Japan, and was wondering if anyone had any experience or comparisons between going with either Ishibashi or Rakuten? Both seem to be of a similar price. This is what I'm after: [url="http://translate.google.co.jp/translate?hl=ja&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2F1484.bz%2Fshibuya%2Fc1"]http://translate.google.co.jp/translate?hl=ja&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2F1484.bz%2Fshibuya%2Fc1[/url]

I use 15dB ones in my Elacin plus, but have been considering getting a set of 25dB filters as I'm rehearsing and playing a lot more with my new band, even though they are generally a bit quieter than the old outfit. I've consistently said that my custom moulded plus are the single best piece of musical equipment I've ever purchased.

Cheers for the info folks - glad to know that I'm not alone in thinking along these lines. Bremen - having recently completed a Bitsa jazz build, I was tempted to go down the route of getting a body made and buy all the bits, but have fallen badly in love with this: [IMG]http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n535/Simon_Ritson/JB75-OLB.jpg[/IMG] Already having one MIJ 75RI, which is going to get moved on to part fund this, I love the neck profile, and can't fault the build quality, I was more than happy to go for the same basic bass, but do the mods. Was thinking of a set of either Wizard or Lindy Fralin pups. EH - nice idea on putting connectors on the terminations. Would make swapping back and forth much easier.

Holla folks, After many months of searching for a PJ style bass with a blocks & bound Jazz neck, and missing out on a Lakland Duck Dunn, I've been considering getting a nice Jazz, probably a MIJ 75 re-issue, and converting it to a PJ. Ideally I would like to be able to have it set up & routed so the neck pickup could be swapped between the J & P pup if so desired, with an appropriate change of scratch plate. Has anyone tried this or seen it done? Cheers.

Likewise, I spent years coiling my cables the 3rd wrong way - having been taught by a pro sound engineer! Although it does keep them in better nick than the first two methods, it does result eventually in kinking in the cable. It wasn't until I started a new job a couple of years ago, doing a lot of off-shore engineering work, that I was shown the correct method. We refer to it as 'French coiling' for some reason, but it works on the heavy duty sub-sea cables we use, and works equally well on guitar & mic leads. Another method, which is good for heavier duty cable (like multi-core runs not on a reel), is to lay the cable out on the floor in a figure-8 pattern, and build it up as you go. It's easy to spot and kinks or twists and take them out as you go. I've cables in my gig bag that get used regularly and are 15 years old, which work fine. No guitarist I've ever worked with has had a lead older than 18 months...

Sounds like good news. I don't know Chris, but his work looks good and his reputation is apparently pretty strong. Can definitely see myself putting some work his way in the future.

Hi there - nice review! Having read it, I would say that you could cut & paste it wholesale as a review of my CIJ 75RI as well (the one that's in my avatar). Mine is a MIJ 'U' serial number, I think it's an 1996 model. Build quality is great, although like yours, they possibly could have done a slightly better job on the frets. Being the ash bodied version it is heavy, but with a nice wide strap, not a killer. It's supposed to have US standard pick-ups in it, but I'm not sure how you can identify whether they are or not. However, that was one thing I was slightly disappointed in, and having put a set of Wizard 64's in a Bitsa project bass, the Wizards are vastly superior. Hardware could be better - agree about the bridge, and I replaced the strap buttons with a set of Schaller locking ones. The neck I love to bits. Not sure what the profile shape is, but it's great. I just wish I'd been able to get a rosewood board version. The binding has aged from white to a cream colour and looks lovely. For the money I had available at the time, I think it's a really top instrument. Could be slightly improved & modded, but it doesn't stop it being a very useable bass.

Probably the best place to check out trumpets in Edinburgh is the Wind Section, which used to be on York Place, but I believe has recently moved down to Cumberland Street. [url="http://www.thewindsection.com/"]http://www.thewindsection.com/[/url] I know my old man had been going there for all his clarinet and sax needs, without any cause for complaint. Good luck with the band, sounding pretty sweet.

Holla folks, This is our lead singer Jamie, from my recently acquired cover band. Definitely an improvement on the previous bands I've been in, but don't get your hopes up too high, as she is happily shacked up with the drummer!

Hi guys, Thanks for the input so far. Bilbo have very graciously offered to help out with charts for some of the tunes, which is great, and any other input is much appreciated. Prime_BASS - I'll definitely be getting the basic chord charts as a starting point and am quite happy to create my own lines, but was hoping to get as close to the original as possible. Cheers, Simon.

Yep there are some great tracks in there, although there is also quite a high cheese content in the standard covers set! All in there's about 50+ tracks in the main set, plus the Rat-Pack stuff and then about a dozen ceilidh tunes! Given that I knew less than 10 of the whole list before joining the band, it's been a very busy few weeks of learning.

Holla folks, After recently managing to fall into a working covers band, I now find myself in the awkward situation of: 1. Making money out of playing bass for the first time, rather than paying out all the time, and 2. Have a [i]shed[/i] load of tracks to learn, having steadfastly avoided covers for the best part of 20 years! So, I was wondering if anyone could help out with charts or tabs for a bunch of rat-pack tunes: Can't Take My Eyes Off You I Left My Heart In San Francisco Me and My Shadow My Way One For My Baby Fly me to the Moon Mack the Knife Beyond the Sea Ain't that a Kick in the Head L-O-V-E Come Fly With Me I've Got You Under my Skin Luck be a Lady It's a fair list, so any help would be much appreciated! Cheers, Simon.

Hi reacher - Colin Hood out at Penicuik is pretty good and did some work on my Hartke a couple of years back. I've not had any dealings with him since then so I don't know for certain if he's still working. If you want his number, drop me a PM. edit - just checked, and it appears he's very much still in the game. You can check out his website here: [url="http://www.colinhood.co.uk/"]>> Colin Hood <<[/url] Cheers.

[quote name='gafbass02' post='1281950' date='Jun 25 2011, 10:55 AM']I do have one that just nails it (imo) but ironically it's a wizard prototype. Only a few exist as Andy was unable to make it fit neatly enough into the casing. (Fixed mine by expanding the holes with scissors) It's called the gaffer and really is amazing. I used it on this recording (not the video, we mimed) [url="http://m.youtube.com/?client=mv-google&rdm=4n18m1gml#/watch?v=FnThxCeCJfg"]LAP IT UP[/url] Wether he's ready to knock up another I don't know, but it's truly the nuts!![/quote] I was looking for one of these a couple of months back and spoke to Andy @ Wizard. He said that they were not happy with the build quality of what they were able to achieve, so were not going to be making any more at this current time. Bit of a shame, as I think there would be a reasonable retro-fit market for a J-shaped pick-up with a decent P sound.

Holla folks, I'm in the middle of upgrading an old and slightly crusty mid 80's Fender Jap Jazz bass. After a good clearing, new pick-ups and general sorting of the electrics, it's sounding much better. The next stage is to put on the new, All Parts, neck. However, as I tend to do a lot of travelling with my work (which plays havoc with trying to get a band together!), my intention is that this is going to be the bass I can take with me, without worrying too much about it getting knocked or the occasional dent. Most of the time I won't have the space to take a hard case, so would be taking the neck off and transporting it in two parts. So, as the neck is likely to be on and off the body more than your average instrument, I was wondering about installing bushes in the heel and using bolts to attach it to the body, rather than the traditional 4 screws, which I suspect if screwed directly into the wood will wear out the holes over time. Has anyone had any experience of this type of arrangement, or seen it done elsewhere? Cheers, Simon.

Hi guys, thanks for the quick responses! tom - that wiring diagram is identical to the BassLines one I was using as a reference, so it good to know I was on the right track. BOD2 - Using the control plate as the common earth does make a lot of sense, especially if you are trying to cut costs, which I guess might have been one of the aims on Fender Japan. It's been a lot of years since this bass was played, but I don't recall having any real problems with it when it was in action. I [i]think[/i] it did suffer a bit with earthing issues/noise, which was one of the reasons it went off into storage. I always thought the pick-up outputs were rather feeble, which hopefully the 64's will improve upon. The tone cap position is a weird one. I'll put it all back together first and try it out, and then see what difference moving it to the correct position makes! Thanks again folks.