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Paolo85

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Everything posted by Paolo85

  1. I don't do 5 strings. I have just bought a bass. I already have a Cort MM style bass and for what I play that's more than enough. But still I am tempted! Why isn't anyone buying?
  2. For what I understand, all you get with fake books is the melody of the intro of a jazz standard, and a chord sequence. The RealBook I had once was like that. So if that is something that, at your level, helps, then go for it. I imagine nowdays some may have audio files as well. They are not something that teach you how to walk per se. But if you know how to already at least to a certain level they help with practice. Ed Friedland's book instead is a manual. It teaches how to walk, from zero to walking. I tried, it did not work for me. Too succint. I am painfully slowly going through TalkinBass' course on walking which I think is great. It's a bit frustrating because, unlike Friedland, TalkingBass goes: "here is this little bit of new information now do in all keys and all over the fretboard and btw do learn your fretboard". That makes it slow but I don't get lost as much as with faster paced approaches
  3. Right, my Squier P is back for sale as part of an effort to fund most of the purchase of a new fretless through sales. I put it for sale in April, then decided to keep it. But now it may have to go. In the link below you find plenty of detail and comments from two previous owners Here is the original advert: " This is a great bass for the price for somebody who, like me, could not care less about scratches, dings and marks. Of these, this bass has plenty. Everything else is great. This bass has outlived a modern Squier Affinity PJ, an old Squier Affinity made in Indonesia and even a Squier Classic Vibe. I am selling it now after I have put together a bitsa with similar characteristics and Fender neck with Hipshot ultralight tuners. To be clear, the reason the bitsa wins is just that it's lighter. This bass is a Squier Crafted In China in 2008. I am not sure they went by the name Affinity. I bough it here last year and has been owned by Basschatters since at least 2017. Based on the research I have made, these would actally have rosewood fretboard and alder body, which apparently at the time was cheap to source locally in China. It certainly feels sturdier than my poplar basses, but don't hang your purchase to this info. It weighs 4.2kg according to my bathroom scale. Feels much lighter than a 4.2kg Classic Vibe I had due to its great balance.This is helped by the tuners, which, believe me or not, weigh one gram less than Hipshot Licensed Ultralight. That's not the only good thing about the tuners. I can play this bass, leave it overnight, pick it up the next evening and it's still in tune, or mostly in tune. It had never happened to me with basses in this price range. This is also helped by a stable neck. Originally lacquered, I have sanded it a bit but I would not say all the way down to a satin. Let's say thin and non-sticky lacquer. The tuners have one downside: two of them rattled. The problem is mostly solved (with masking tape inside the casing on the back, you don't see it), although very occasionally I can still hear a rattle, which does not get amplified though. (EDIT: be aware that this may depend on your strings and your touch) The neck shape is in between a J and a P. 40mm nut width. Not skinny back to front but not as chunky as say a Harley Benton JB75 either. Feels extremely nice. Frets are small, which to me gives it a bit of a fretless feeling and help not overdoing it with the fretting. Fretwork is good and allows for low action. In fact, for what cheap basses are concerned I only had an Ibanez once with equivalent fretwork. All others were not as good. I have replaced the pickup it came with (a Wilkinson ceramic) with a Wilkinson alnico which sounds great. I have installed it with a KiOgon loom. For people not too familiar with it, it means that - you can replace the pickup with just a screwdriver, no need to solder - the quality of the electronics is extremely high and well above the price point here The bridge, a bit battered, comes from a Squier Affinity PJ. Not really an upgrade but saddles in the stock one had become hard to move. It has a mirror pickguard which I understand that, much like the knobs, it was not stock. (EDIT Strings are old D'Addario nickels.) Pickup from Bromley (20min train from Victoria, with Oyster). I could meet in central London although I am not there regularly. "
  4. I bought this one not long ago from a gentleman here. Absolutely a stunning bass. Unfortunately, GAS being GAS, I have just committed to buy a fairly expensive (for my standards) fretless and I have to sell something. By the way, I am selling this for £190 because this is what I paid for it. I don't feel like flipping for profit here. But the price is too low. The neck is superfast. Just perfect. The Duncan Designed pickups sound great. Looks beautiful. According to my bathroom scale, this is 3.8kg. As I write this I wonder if I should really be selling. But the fact is that, quite frankly, among my basses this is probably the one that can raise the most money and the one with the least personal attachment (all my other basses are cheap, modded, and have quirks that do not bother me but would bother others). It's pickup only from Bromley. EDIT: I could also meet in London although I am not there very often. Note that Bromley is 20min train from Victoria with Oyster. No gigbag
  5. Same as those in an old Squier Affinity from 2000 I had. The seller believed they were stock. I asked him because I thought they sounded better than a modern Squier Affinity PJ
  6. Ha! I am the least visual person in the world! I did not notice it was not Fender!
  7. Yes, we all know how they look like. But we still need more pictures
  8. Interesting! I think I had heard that Westone Thunders are heavy. If that's not the case, I quite fancy the look of them!
  9. Hi all, I was putting my head around an issue lately, which came back back to mind with another thread here and this is I would say a "spin off". Are there cheap basses that sound exactly like a P, (or they would with a pickup replacement, because they have a split coil exactly in P position), have 19mm string spacing, but have a different design that make them lighter and better balanced (something like the Ibanez soundgears, a Cort B4 etc... maybe with small 2+2 tuners instead of big 4 in line)? The Yamaha TRBX174 looks like a possible candidate but I know the Yamaha BBs do not have the pickups exactly in P position and I am concerned it may be the same for the TRBX. The Ibanez talman long scale has 2+2 headstock but it's a big headstock so I am not sure it would do.. anybody tried? Maybe an Ibanez GSR 200b (although I don't like that headstock) Other options? Thanks
  10. I sold a strap to David. Everything went smoothly, nice to deal with him!
  11. I bought some tuners from Mike. All went great, good communications, quick postage, everything was good!
  12. The problem in general with P basses is that by design (the headstock shape and the type of tuners) they either are neck heavy or they are pretty substantial. So it is difficult to get one that is both light and well balanced "out of the box". Also, I am not an expert, but wood being wood, you have no guarantee of what you are getting in advance. I have a squier Affinity PJ, around 4kg. It was neck heavy. Not anymore with hipshot licensed ultralight tuners. I have an old Chinese Squier P. The neck is a thing of beauty but a bit substantial (slightly thick back to front, but also a heavy piece of wood I believe). It is 4.2kg (so not light, but not horribly heavy). It balances well but its tuners, stock, are lighter than hipshot licensed ultralight (which is normally not at all the case). I had an Indonesian Squier P. Not heavy I would say. Maybe 4kg or just a bit more. The neck was a baseball bat but somehiw relatively light. Certainly no more neck heavy than the Affinity PJ. For most people that would be ok with a good strap. I briefly owbed a Squier Classic Vibe P. 4.2kg. The neck was not thick but was fairly heavy for some reason. I estimated that not even with hipshot licensed ultralight I would have got a really good balance. What I would personalky do is to buy (again) a Squier Affinity PJ or a Squier Sonic P, which I understand tend to be very light AND buy hipshot licensed ultralight for another £100. If over time you want something more just replace the pickups and the neck. Lots of people think it's bonkers but to me makes total sense. Those lightweight poplar body have everything I want from a body: look nice, keep things where they should be, be light. Harley Bentons in general have a reputation of ranging from "normal" weigh to horribly heavy but it is a case by case thing. Somebody here had one of their P basses, those that sell for less than 100, at 4.2kg I have a Fazley fretless PJ and it weighs a ton.
  13. I started with guitar at 13, with lessons. Moved to bass at 15, and did not take any lessons. That was also pre Youtube. I continued to use fretting techniques that I was taught for guitar. That's one of the reasons I think by the tine I was at uni I had to quit bass because of recurring tendinitis
  14. I guess the downside with that is that, as a buyer, I would rather not pay through something I am mot very, very, familiar. Maybe, just because I have Monzo myself, I'd trust this one depending on how it looks. But in general, if I was to transfer hundreds or thousands of pounds before something gets posted to me, I don't want to have to figure out what the heck is that payment platform that I am seeing and whether is legit or just looks legit but has been created by a hacker
  15. I politely disagree For distance transactions, as said, cash is no use. In person, everything is safe unless one of the two people decides to get a kinfe out and mug the other: the buyer tries the bass, the seller gets the money instantly, be it cash, bank or paypal and that's it. No way the money can be clawed back in a scam. With the only risk being that the bass has hidden issues in that case I am not sure how having paid cash helps - indeed, having at least a proof that the bass has being paid for is a good starting point in that case
  16. If you pay on the bank account you know for sure that you are paying a person based in the UK, whose name and address can be found very easily assuming banks do their checks. Taking legal action could be straighforward. With paypal family and friensd not so much. I much prefer bank transfer. Paypal goods and services it's different but there are fees
  17. You mean if the buyer claimed in court that you sold them a faulty good or something?
  18. Good one. Yes I would totally check how pickup height change when you downtune. And make sure I compare the sound with identical height, noting that each half mm matters
  19. It should be safe, only you can get money out of your account. Maybe naively I never considered it would be an issue and never showed up with cash until recently somebody did not accept that
  20. Ha! Turns out the bass has been discontinued, that's why they were giving it away for free!
  21. Well, because the shim took 30 seconds and the risk of screwing up something was minimal. Bit that's a good idea
  22. ...when I say it fits Squer bodies alright, there is a caveat: it needs a massive shim to tilt the neck away from you as the Fazley neck is much thicker
  23. Well, I am also enjoing a lot. But I love to practice standing and it's heavy for me. Because of that, I was considering selling and getting a HB B450fl. GAS for the HB per se was not strong though. As it happens, however, I have figured out the Fazley neck fits Squier bodies alright. Then you have a massive neck diver.. but things would maybe be different if I chopped thr headstock and went for 2+2 instead of four in line. Basically I am mulling a bitsa monster...
  24. GHS sold. Only LaBella Jamerson left, reduced for this morning
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