EMG456

On 21/11/2019 at 11:02, Jus Lukin said:

It's a shame they aren't very fashionable at the moment. I'd like a short-scale headless! Think I'll have to save that for a custom build.

It may seem silly but a capo at the first or 2nd fret would give you a medium/ short scale bass on a standard scale neck without any irreversible modifications...

On 21/11/2019 at 08:05, Pseudonym said:

That's worth considering. The model number is XZ-25. A shop in the U.S. has one listed at the moment for $550, so they do exist but are elusive. A bass like that, plus very good replacement electrics, would be well within the OP's price range. A nice project.

I sympathise with the OP's plight. I'm considering simply ordering a new Status because good, headless, full-bodied basses are so difficult to find. Good luck with your search, D-D.

The consensus in the Steinberger community seems to be that it's mainly the pots that let the spirit instruments down. Apparently replacing the pots with good quality ones from the likes of CTS will make a noticeable improvement.

Above your budget but someone is selling a real Steinberger XQ5 for (I think) a very reasonable price. Different league to the Hohner or Washburn. 

These are the proper 5 string neck and bridge/ pickups. The L2/5s were 5 strings on an already tight four string neck. 

15 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

You don't often see these for sale these days. As chance would have it, I'm going to Edinburgh on Friday, but I'm not going to... no, I'm not!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Steinberger-L2-XL2-Lined-Fretless-Transitional/323903175776

Go on - you know you want to...

Ah - if one piece I suspect the heat treatment may not do so well as I believe that the heat softens up the bond between neck and fingerboard allowing them to move slightly against each other.

What could work is a refret using fret wire with a slightly thicker tang - the bit that goes into the fret slot. the cumulative effect of 20 frets with oversized tangs may be enough to bring the relief back down.

13 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Heat treatment - Bass Gallery Camden. 

What he said.

I used to believe that the heat treatment thing was just crazy urban myth but having tried it myself, it works. A couple of years back I bought a beat up Hayman 4040 which had a neck with huge s bend in it - pretty much beyond repair I reckoned so I managed to  buy a replacement neck (Sheregold but the same really) from a friendly basschatter. That's good and the bass is nice but rather than chuck the original neck away, I decided to experiment. By a system of trial and error, I now have that neck straight apart from one little bend right at the heel end. I haven't taken the time to sort that last bit out but I will soon.

I reckon that a luthier who unlike me actually knows what he is doing would be able to sort it out for you.

Just keep doing it - it'll all fall into place eventually.

Lovely.

I would still be playing the bass - I love it but... I should have stuck in at my piano lessons when I was 6 and I should have started on the Chapman Stick in the early 80s. If I had done these I might be quite good at them by now! Hey ho!

I’m amazed he’s still going after all these years- more power to him. 

Away to dig out my Wal. 

I’m obviously more out of step than I thought!

i always set up the amp so the volume on the bass is at about 75%. That way I can adjust to allow me to play with optimal force for each song. If I want clank, I can dig in but the overall volume can match the smoother sound when I play softly. Or I can swap over to just the back pickup without losing volume. 

I don’t think I could play with a fixed volume on the bass. 

If the gig is set up to require fretted and fretless, that’s what I bring. If there are songs on Chapman Stick then it comes along too. 

I don’t tend to differentiate between 4,5 or 6 string- if the odd song needs a low note and I’ve brought a 4, I’ll just detune the E to get there. 

These are listening gigs though- you’re easily changed between the applause (hopefully) and the preamble to the next song. If it was a dance gig or a theatre type show then I would rethink to suit. 

Wouldn’t change between a P and a J because there would never be a P there. 😮

Bought basses from Europe on this site and had no issues. Also have bought basses from the US including one through eBay- again, no issues. 

If you communicate with the seller you’ll get a pretty good idea of how sincere they are. Pay by credit card using PayPal for eBay or a low cost escrow system if outwith eBay and high value. 

As an afterthought, fretless Steinbergers didn't have a zero fret- the fingerboard has a ramp at the nut end and the strings rest over that. Consequently the tone between fretted and open strings is about as closely matched as you can get on a fretless instrument.

late to this...

Interesting bass and have to assume that it is indeed a custom factory order and yet... I don't think there's any room for an extra fret at the top of a standard L2 neck/ fingerboard blank? And the neck is standard length as the double ball strings attest.

Also, never seen a genuine Steinberger fingerboard that has the double dot inlay at the 24th fret - always omitted possibly to do with Ned's minimalist tendencies of the time - no need to mark the 24th fret as it's the last one? Spectors which Ned also had a hand in originally don't have it either, I think.

4 minutes ago, Chris2112 said:

I had chosen a spec on a fretless Skelf model a few years ago, but ended up buying a house instead. 

Reckon Alan must have given me a real bargain then. 😂

As others have said, Speak to Alan. I chose the MC pickups because of the sound - punchy and detailed but maybe not for everyone. They are active pickups too so there is no true passive setting for a bass with these pickups if that is an important thing for you.

Also the DFM pre gives you a plethora of options for shaping your mids - each filter sweeps down right through the mid range with variable "Q" boost but you've got an additional dedicated sweepable midrange boost as well. You can also internally set the pickup blend that feeds the midrange stack - ie bridge, neck or any mix of the two. 

As if that's not enough, the pullswitch on the neck pickup filter stack activates a presettable low mid boost and the one on the bridge pickup filter stack activates another presettable for high mids or Wal style pick attack.

I love filter preamps and I think this is probably the best one I have tried - simple to use live but hugely flexible and creative for recording.

If you buy a MacBook you will definitely be paying the apple premium by comparison to most Windows machines. Apple's os is good but really no better than Windows despite what many claim. It can also prove frustrating for anyone who has a good grounding in the Windows ecosystem and likes to delve beneath the surface in terms of fine tuning for performance etc.

The issues you mention - juddery playback, hanging - are probably more influenced by a shortage of available RAM than anything else but remember intensive processing like real time video editing depends on a combination of things, all of which have to be in place for top performance. 

Must it be a laptop? Again, a mobile i5 or i7 processor is likely to offer less performance than a desktop one - careful comparison of specs is in order here. Also mobile processors more likely to be thermally throttled down during intense usage which can sometimes become self defeating.

Shotcut being multi platform is good as it means you won't have to build in re-learning into your upgrade but I'm not sure if all versions are updated simultaneously so that may also figure in your thinking if you're going to switch platform.

I run Shotcut on a Surface Pro 4 i7 16gb ram and performance is acceptable to me as I'm basically doing it for my own purposes. If I was doing it professionally, I think I'd want a much beefier desktop system.

On 25/07/2019 at 06:50, NikNik said:

The original prototype was a bit more whacky.

And a later one, from '78. I have never known of this one's existence until today!

I’ve seen the original but not this ‘78 one before. An angled Jazz pickup at the bridge and an acrylic core!!? Wonder who the “prominent New York” player was.

Just watched this- fantastic. Thanks for posting!

Well most of them are mentioned by now so for me, Chris Squire and Jaco Pastorius- both trailblazing bassists who pushed the boundaries of the instrument and whose sounds were intrinsically tied to the Roto RS66 tone.

while we’re here, how’s about an honourable mention for Graham Maby the cornerstone of Joe Jackson’s bands since the 1980s- great lines and impeccable delivery.

Play what you like. 

I've never been one to entertain any comment from bystanders re my choice of gear - I know better than they do what I want to play and I'm usually the one being paid for attendance as well.

Used my Alembic 6er at a wedding just after I got it in '98. Groom was a bass player, as it turned out and was over the moon that the guy in the wedding band at his wedding was playing a 6. He had a shot and got the photographer to take pictures!

Shop I worked in in the 80s sold a few of these. Really interesting instruments.

They were planning a bass but I don't think it ever materialised.

Surprised you can get spares today - who is Ashley Bond- family member?

I seem to recall at the time they were also talking about "fretless" fingerboards being an option for the guitar. The boards swapped out with 3 or four screws I seem to remember although I don't see any on your pics.

Great to see and a quick search shows me that Guitar Guitar currently have an Electroglide for sale at just shy of £2K

I suspect it's not a USA Curlee - I think the Curlee logo was kind of branded into the headstock and I can't see any trace of it in the pic.

So possibly an SD Curlee Intl. (international) - licensed replicas made in the Matsumoku factory in japan or more likely still an SD Curlee Design series made by Hondo.

As far as I know, all USA and Intl basses used DiMarzio pickups - if the bass you have has its original pickup, that would be a cream coloured DiMarzio Model P if it was a USA or Intl bass.

I love Curlees - mine is an Intl model that I've owned on and off since about 1980 and it's one of my favourite basses.

Birdsong Guitars in the States acquired the remains of SD Curlee USA and now build updated versions - you'll get the info on their site but here's a link to their Curlee history page. http://www.birdsongguitars.com/sd-curlee-info