EMG456

Mmmm... with the passage of time, the memories become clouded and then other, possibly younger, people come along and take bits of the story, embellish it and before you know it we have genuine mythology. By the late seventies, Fender couldn't make a decent guitar in the states. Under CBS's ownership, standards had fallen and the focus on what their products were actually for had been lost. Most intelligent and informed players preferred the replicas or copies which were being made by the Japanese companies such as Tokai, Fuji Gen and Matsumoku. It's not difficult to manufacture a good Fender style instrument - it's a simple, industrial design intended for mass production - but care has to be taken and things have to be done properly and this is where Fender US had lost its way. When CBS sold what was left of Fender in a management buy out, the new owners decided to go to the competition and ask them for help. By licensing the designs to one of these companies, they could introduce instruments at competitive price points, keep the name alive and buy time to get their own domestic production up and running again. And this is what happened. The Squiers were a runaway success and the lessons in manufacture were transferred back to the States. Apart from some pickups in certain early Strats, the components were *not* US manufactured. Neck blanks may well have been sent to Japan, but they're just blocks of wood. All of the skill and craftsmanship was Japanese. In fact, if my own now clouding memory serves me well, when the much lauded American Vintage Reissue series was initially launched (now known as Fullerton Era AVRI) the production line was not quite ready in the States and the first batches of instruments were Japanese necks and bodies finished and assembled in the States with American components! The strategy worked. Fender which could well have just disappeared is now a dominant force in the guitar market. So are the JVs worth the money? Yes and no. they were unquestionably better quality than the domestic Fender production at the time, but no better than Tokai, Ibanez, Aria, Greco etc. etc. But look at the prices that 70s US fenders are achieving now and once again, the JV seems like a good deal. Me, I prefer the Tokais. Cheers Ed

Are you not answering your own question here? You don't like nylon tape wound. (The dullest) You don't like the sound of the flat wounds. (2nd dullest) The half rounds don't have enough growl. ( can you see where I'm going here?) So it would seem as though you need to be looking at round wounds. Nickel wound would be the next step up in brightness with stainless steel being the ultimate. I wouldn't worry about the boards marking- it's under the strings anyway and provided you refrain from string bending or side to side vibrato ( both pretty redundant techniques on a fretless) it will take a long time before the board needs attention. When it does, a quick trip to a decent luthier will see it sorted out for another few years. I find rounds much more responsive and alive on the fretless and wouldn't consider fitting any other type of string. If you don't want to sound like Pino or Jaco, roll off the high frequencies. Also control exactly how much mwahh you want by varying the action- lower = more mwahh. I use stainless Elites on all my basses but long ago I used Rotosound RS66 Swing Bass. Strings all sound different but it's an expensive exercise so once I find a string I like, I tend to just stick with it unless the quality goes down. One less thing to think about. Cheers Ed

Fabulous bass - enjoy!

Pretty much agree... Leo, then Ned - two professional designers who were not players and perhaps because of that brought huge "outside of the box" thinking to the party. In terms of influence over many years, mention must go to Rick Turner and Ron Wickersham of Alembic - multi laminate wood construction and active electronics. Rick Turner also developed the first graphite necks with Geoff Gould who started Modulus. And Roger Rossmeisl - like 'em or loathe 'em the Rickenbacker 4000 series is still one of the design icons of the electric bass world. Rossmeisl also gave Phillip Kubicki his start when he was working for Fender. Cheers Ed Apologies Kiwi - didn't notice you'd already made the case for the Alembic/ Modulus guys!

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1399378068' post='2443550'] Hey Ed I've heard of the Phil Jones briefcases, but never had chance to try one. I should look into that as they seem to get great reviews. My practice amp is only an 8" and it sounds a bit... woody I think is the best explanation. I really like 10's so I'd love to find a 10" combo with a versatile sound. Been looking for an Ibanez Promethean combo but someone always beats me to the ones that come up for sale here Bass-wise. I think it's the action - I know this is going to sound utterly ridiculous because the action is way under 2mm at 12th fret, and the relief is fine, but my hands are pretty weak and I think even this is too high. Strings are 40-95 which I think are ok - they're bordering on being a bit "flubbery" so I don't know if I'd want to go lighter than that. The neck shape is a jazz width but a fairly hefty profile. Feels pretty comfortable in that respect, and it's got J pickups which is fine. Balances well, weight isn't heavy by any means, so it must be the action. My other (much cheaper) bass has an action that's barely above 1mm and that's great for me. But it doesn't sound quite as good. [/quote] If by "woody" you mean kind of "boxy", "middley" ( it's difficult to describe sound!) then that's exactly what most practise amps always sounded to me. The Briefcase actually has two 5 inch speakers but still provides that nice sound so yep, it may be worth while checking out. Also, just out of interest since you say you like 10's, I noticed the other day somebody on here selling an Acme Sound Low B1 cab. That's a very small full range cab with a 10, a 5 and a tweeter and it will sound fabulous although you'd still have the head/ cab thing. Re the basses, it's more difficult. If a really good fret dressing would be able to get the action down on your better sounding bass then it may well be worth trying that. Of course, you could find that the higher action is a contributing factor to the better sound so perhaps as an experiment, raising the action on your other bass temporarily to see if the sound improves would incur no expense. If you do it yourself carefully, there's no need to worry about getting it back again if you don't like it. For each saddle height adjustment screw, turn it by the same number of exact turns - I would suggest 1 full turn as we're dealing with quite low actions here. Retune the bass as increasing the height of the saddles is likely to increase the tension on the strings and then try it. If you don't like it, one full turn backwards for each saddle adjustment screw takes you back to exactly where you were. I'm with you on the 40 - 95 gauges but my ears tell me that others can use much lighter strings and still produce pleasing, excellent and punchy bass tones from them. Yes, they will feel odd at first but once you adjust to them, you would be producing the same sounds but with less physical effort so for the cost of a set of strings to go on to your "better" bass to try, it may be worth a punt? And finally, there's thinking out of the box... the Ashbory bass, with it's ultra short scale length and silicone strings is physically extremely easy to play but still produces a great tone - very double bass like. Cheers Ed

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1399369703' post='2443430'] Well I would, for one. The book 'The John Entwistle Bass Collection' is proof. The clue's in the title of the book. A lot of those basses he didn't play on a regular basis, that's for sure. Edit: Of course, the ones he DID play, he played A LOT. [/quote] I do understand that, but you would view him primarily as a bass collector rather than a bass player? Simply based on the number of instruments he owned? I think he obviously was a collector but I would first and foremost characterise him as an excellent bass player. If you're interested in nice photography of vintage basses, it's a good book but there's too many guitars included for my liking! Cheers Ed ( bass play... er, collect...errmm... ach- who cares!)

Just reading up on your other thread - best of luck with it all. I always think that you have more connection with the instruments than the amplification so I guess I would sell the big rig and the practise amp, which you say sounds just "ok" and buy a small combo which sounds really good. My only direct experience is with my own Phil Jones Bass Briefcase amp. It's the first practise amp I ever found that actually sounds exactly like a really good big rig - only smaller and quieter. They now do even smaller ones as well and they come up secondhand occasionally. It's always sitting ready to go in the room and is loud enough for acoustic type gigs. Re the basses, do you know exactly why the heavier bass is more difficult to play? Is it neck shape, action, neck placement, pickup positions, body shape, balance? If its just needs a really good setup, it may be worth having that done by a trusted luthier. Also, don't be scared to move down string gauges - the commonly held belief that lighter strings somehow don't have as good a sound as heavier is a complete red herring - in many ways they can actually sound fuller and more dynamic, all with the added benefit of encouraging a lighter touch generally and easier fretting. Cheers Ed

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1399366982' post='2443389'] I never see the point of too many basses as that makes you more of a collector of them rather than a player of them. [/quote] I never understand this argument at all. Too many for what? If you are playing for the public then to my mind at least you should have a backup instrument so that if something goes wrong, you don't let anyone down. What if some tunes require fretless? Do you also need a backup fretless? Extended range needed? Mmm... 5 string, 6 string... should I have fretless versions of those as well? And so far this ignores the fact that a Jazz sounds/ feels different to a Precision or Ibanez or Alembic or Wal or Musicman etc. etc. In my opinion, owning and using lots of different basses makes you more rounded as a player. You are more able to cope with all of the different idiosyncrasies of tone, feel, action etc. and that can only be good for you as a player. Your only restrictions should be the practical ones - can you afford it, do you have room to store it? The others like can I justify it, do I really need it? etc. are purely imaginary constructs of your own making. Who here would claim that John Entwhistle was more of a "collector" than a player? Not that I'm opinionated or anything... Cheers Ed

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1398865400' post='2438425'] For the pickups, couldn't you make a spacer for the top? Perhaps even make one out a nice wood? Or even cut out of an old scratch plate? [/quote] I hadn't thought of that - it's a possibility. I'm trying to keep it "old Fender" appearance so a cut out of a piece of black plastic would certainly do the job. It seems obvious now that you've pointed it out- thanks. Ed

Beautiful vintage style Stack Pot control plate and shielding kit from [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/7835-kiogon/"]KIOgon[/url] of this forum. Thanks John!

So, this is the body with about 8 coats of Colron finishing oil on it. I botched it up the first time and had to take it all off and start again. The best method I found of applying it was to pour a small amount of the oil onto whichever side of the body you were working on and spread it out/ rub it in using a lint free cloth – in my case an old t shirt. Wipe off any excess with nice smooth strokes and leave to dry for 6 hours before adding another coat. The instructions on the tin said to wipe the excess off after an hour but I found that by that time, the oil had formed a sticky mass and was impossible to buff out to a smooth finish. By doing it in one process, you get a very thin coat each time but the actual finish is surprisingly good – glossy but you can still see the texture of the grain- I’m liking it!

So, with the neck away to be rebuilt, I now need to get the body sorted out. It seems to be finished in the sort of orange coloured stuff you usually find on garden sheds and fences so that needs to be sanded off to reveal what we have underneath. Now this bass has definitely had a life and when this project is finished, I want it to reflect that so I’m hoping I’ll be able to clean up the body whilst still retaining some of the battle scars. Firstly, strip out the control plate and pickups. I had to undo the jack socket nut before I could lift the control plate off because the earth wire from the bridge to the jack was so short. I’m going to fit a stacked knob control plate like the earliest Jazz Basses so this plate and pots will just go away into a box and kept should I ever decide to sell the bass again. I am hoping to re-use the existing pickups but I’m not a fan of the exposed pole pieces sticking up quite proud of the covers – the edges are quite sharp and I find that they can catch your fingers. The plan was to fit some kind of spacer under the cover so that the pole pieces would barely protrude. Unfortunately as you can see, it looks like the good folks at Matsumoku saw fit to pot their pickups in epoxy so that’s not going to be possible. Oh well, when it’s finished I’ll make a judgement call on sound and feel and if I don’t like them, I’ll look for a pair of DiMarzio model J’s to pop in. [size=4][color=#000000]With the hardware removed, this is what we have.[/color][/size] And the back... [size=2][color=#000000][/color][/size] [size=4][color=#000000]I start with the sanding block and the wood is starting to appear out of the murk. It seems that we have a four piece ash body so I’m quite happy with that.[/color][/size] More sanding and the wood is getting lighter and lighter looking. You can clearly see the original sunburst finish in the neck pocket, control cavity and pickup routes. The bass will be fitted with a tort scratch plate so most of the battle scars on the front will be covered over but any that won’t be, I’m hoping to preserve under the new finish so I need to be careful how far I sand.

Well, you won't be able to source double ball piccolo strings so unless you have an L2, you'll need a single ball string adapter. Apart from that, set action and intonation and I guess that's it. Or you could go halfway house and use the top 4 strings from a 6 string set- Status would be able to sort you out with those in double ball format. Cheers Ed

Pete, I was at the gig on Saturday- top job! You had a great sound and played all the bits I was hoping to hear- from a performance point of view, no one would even have suspected you were under the weather! I guess anyone who has done regular gigging over an extended period will have had to play through some kind of illness or injury. My best was tripping and falling down the last three stairs whilst carrying my amp rack out to the car on the way to the gig. 'Twas very painful but managed to finish packing and drive to the gig. When I got there, I couldn't walk and had to play the gig sitting down. Managed to drive home again in constant third gear trying to gauge the traffic lights so as not to have to stop! (Was my clutch foot which was the problem) My wife took me to A&E the next morning and x-rays revealed that I had torn all the tendons in my left ankle- they told me that it would have been better if I had broken the ankle instead. Was on crutches for a few weeks and to be honest, the ankle never fully recovered. Even better was the tale of a band I was in back in the late 70s. The drummer tripped up on his way from the house to the van and was rolling around in agony. We told him to man up and get on with it and he ended up playing the gig with what turned out to be a broken leg (bass drum!) It's true- the show must go on! Hope you're feeling better soon. Cheers Ed

OTOH it might just be an age thing! :-0

If you're up for a headless bass, Status will make you one with the "Bendwell"- a little depression between the zero fret and the string anchor which reduces their 34" scale down to about 32" and allows you to bend open strings/ harmonics as if behind the nut. Cheers Ed

Interesting how many things turn out to be a shared interest between like minded people - I like to think it's "great minds think alike" rather than the other one! Anyway, yep - great synths and hugely underrated at the time. VZ-10M rackmount expander here. Cheers Ed

Phone them. They are great people to deal with but a bit old fashioned when it comes to email. I know- it's the 21st century but there you go! Cheers Ed

If the screws have just unscrewed you hardly need a new bridge. This has always been a problem with the old BBOT bridges, particularly those with the plain baseplate. As you play, the saddles can move slightly side to side and this can cause the screws to undo. As the previous poster says, nail varnish or if you want to be a bit engineerish about it, a little bit of Loctite will do the trick. Cheers Ed

Or get a headed bass with a compact headstock and fit ferrules to hold the extra 4 ball ends. Use a standard 4 string headless tuning system at the bridge end to tune the octave strings. Still going to need a new bridge though, or at the very least custom saddles. Cheers Ed

Palmer was a bass player in his own right and has a bass credit on the Riptide album which "Addicted to Love" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" singles were lifted from. I don't know which tracks RP played but it certainly didn't all sound like Bernard Edwards to me. RP's bass of choice at the time was a Steinberger L2. Cheers Ed

In fairness, at the time the SBs were really a mass production "take" on Alembic basses and I would guess that most SB1000s (mine certainly) were bought because they were affordable and had most of the attributes of the unaffordable Alembics. They were also manufactured to exacting standards by Matsumoku. His big innovation which doesn't seem to get mentioned these days, was the tapered thickness of the body which down at the bridge end was noticeably thicker than up at the heel. This changed the weight distribution of the bass and meant that a SB balanced better and had no neck dive despite the long scale and 24 frets. His Atlansia instruments are certainly visually interesting but are definitely not designed for the mass market! I wonder how they play... Cheers Ed

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1396949394' post='2418940'] I bought an Aria Primary bass - a 1978 Precision copy - in a three guitar job lot for £50. It's an outstanding bass. I thought about looking for a Jazz version but too expensive...I think I saw yours on eBay a while back. [/quote] You got a fantastic deal there! Yep, mine came from the bay in November or December. With the postage I paid £105. Anything from Matsumoku of this vintage is really well put together with quality materials so it stands a great chance of being an excellent bass. Cheers Ed

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1396881679' post='2418319'] If it were me I'd replace the board altogether. Probably be a better job than defretting, slimming the board to the neck and refretting it again. [/quote] Well, I hadn't really intended to spend much on this but there were a few things about the fingerboard that led me to the same conclusion. So the neck went straight off to my pet luthier- Jimmy Moon in Glasgow. The old bass I'm using as inspiration for this one had one of those extremely dark, almost black Brazilian Rosewood fingerboards that Fender put on in the early 60s. It's not possible to obtain that wood any more so Jimmy has sourced a nice dark ebony board for me and will polish it up to a nice sheen. Position markers will be clay dots and I've supplied him with a set of the Gotoh vintage style reverse wind tuners to put on. Should be very nice- ETA for the neck is sometime in May. Cheers Ed