Tait

i'd only like it in a nice solid colour methinks. white, with black binding would look good to me. or CAR, with white binding. all black with matching headstock would look good. i think i'd also prefer it with HH or just H, but then, i've never liked the way single coils look on musicman basses. they're so fat and with the big pole pieces they don't look right to me, im too used to the eight small pole pices either side of the strings on a jazz style pup.

[quote name='Josh' post='332599' date='Nov 19 2008, 08:08 PM']If it changes the feel of the song from just being a classic groover then I'd politely decline the offer.[/quote] these guys know what theyre doing. theyre all professional musicians, and are all music teachers. last year i did my bass solo in sweet home alabama, i got to say it went down well! it wasnt too complicated though, just messing around around the chords and guitar riff, but on bass, with a few twiddly bits in between. im thinking im probably gonna do the same for superstition. as you said, i dont want to loose the groove.

[quote name='Josh' post='332561' date='Nov 19 2008, 07:15 PM']Do you HAVE to do a solo or are you just trying out sololing?[/quote] well, ive been asked to do one. i can always back down, but i wouldnt do that! [quote name='lowdown' post='332564' date='Nov 19 2008, 07:18 PM']Funny how things have changed. I thought soloing...'was making it up on the spot', as you say. Oh well.... Garry[/quote] it usually is, but like i said, me and the guitarist are doing bits in unison. so although i will be doing bits that are made up, i also have to write bits that me and the guitarist can do together. basically my task is to write a solo, find out what works well then incorporate it into a guitar & bass solo.

damn it! i was hoping for something useful here! i have to write a bass solo for superstition by stevie wonder and just don't know where to begin. and i cant just make it up on the spot cos i gotta join it with the guitar solo, you know, do bits that you play in unison, then let the guitar go off and do what he wants, then i solo etc. i was actually expecting you to break down how to do a solo! twas a funny post anyway!

is it that the entire neck is the same length? cos that doesnt matter. its the distance between bridge and nut that matters.

[quote name='Telebass' post='331776' date='Nov 18 2008, 08:41 PM']Leo got it 99% right in 1951, upped it to 99.5% in 1957, then added a different flavour in 1960... Anyway you look at it, no-one is [i]capable[/i] of revolutionising it that much... Avtive, woods, other materials - just icing on top of a cake who's fundamental (!) recipe is un likely to be bettered any time soon. Of course I'm biased! But it IS what I think.[/quote] i wouldn't say 99% right, there are a lot of, well, not so much problems, but ways to improve the 1951 precision. a four saddle bridge for starters. he originally had the thumb rest below the strings, not above, but that idea didn't catch on. i think i read somewhere about the machineheads turning the other way but people preferred the way they are now. fender later improved the precision pickup to the split one, so they obviously thought that was an improvement. they added mass to the headstock when they brought in the new headstock design. and the first twenty or something like that had a different material pickguard that cracked and broke so they changed pickguard material. im sure there were many more, not so much flaws, as thing that needed improving that i haven't mentioned. i'm trying not to use things that are a matter of opinion here (although of course it all is, i just mean i'm trying not to use things like "some people prefer active basses" and "mahogany bodies sound better") but are more... a general agreement. most people will agree that a four saddle bridge is "better" than a two saddle. most people agree that the more balanced strat-like fender headstock is "better" than the old tele-like headstock that results in neck dive (although i'll admit it - they look cool! my taitycaster has a tele headstock, but it did have neck dive. i moved the strap button). most people agree that the hum-cancelling split p pickup is a "better" design of pickup than the original single coil p. ok, its all just small things, but i think when you put it all together, it shows that the original 1951 precision wasn't so great. a huge advancement, but not 99% right, IMO.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='330028' date='Nov 16 2008, 11:28 AM']the newer musicman's (musicmen?) have the waxy kinda finish to them, which i aint that keen on as i find it makes the neck kinda sticky. i think you'd be lookin at late eighties/early nineties for a gloss finished neck?[/quote] just as a bit of useless information, i asked about if it was musicmans or musicmen a while ago. we all agreed that its actually neither, but is actually musicman basses. technically it shouldnt be fenders, either, but fender basses. not shukers, but shuker basses. you get the idea. i'd just say stingrays if it was me, its easier (although again, incorrect i think? might not be, what with stingray not being the brand name, but the model name? then again it might, because stingrays isn't the noun unless you're talking about the animals, its just a model name and i cant see how thats any different to a brand name. any grammar geniuses, help? the point is, its not musicmans or musicmen!)

[quote name='thebeat' post='331629' date='Nov 18 2008, 05:24 PM']Thanks, but no thanks.[/quote] what makes you say that?

[quote name='odub' post='331278' date='Nov 18 2008, 09:50 AM']Zombie basses![/quote] i'm kinda glad im not the only one who's reminded of zombies when i see these.

[quote name='simon1964' post='331419' date='Nov 18 2008, 12:41 PM']In that price range, I would also have a look at the Ibanez ATK 305. The string spacing is wider than the Ibanez SR505 (which is a great bass by the way), and personally I find it much more comfortable to play.[/quote] [quote name='barry44' post='331501' date='Nov 18 2008, 02:52 PM']Ibanez K5. the older ones with the paduak/mahogany/paduak bodies are luvverly!![/quote] [quote name='agoulding' post='331590' date='Nov 18 2008, 04:42 PM']i have the srx595 and its rather good[/quote] you can't go wrong with ibanez IMO. i play an ibanez SR500, but have played a SR505. they're absolutely amazing for the money, seriously. i can't say enough about how good they are, but basically they do anything. its my favourite bass in the world (favourite mass produced bass - i love my custom taitycaster more, but it was over twice the price!), i'd never sell it. ever. period. and i know if you read the ibanez thread, a lot of people love their SR500s and SR505s. i've played my dad's (simon1964) ATK 5 string, again, brilliant. sounds a hell of a lot like a musicman, for a fraction of a price. my dad prefers the ATK sound to the musicman, whereas i prefer the musicman, but if im honest there's only a very slight difference between the two. i like a treblier sound than my dad, so the ATK's treble boost probably isn't as good or something, but its still the best musicman sound you're going to get without buying a musicman IMO. does a great P sound, too. i also played an ibanez iceman bass when bass hunting a while ago. i seriously considered it, again an astonishing bass for the money, quite thumpy set flat, but with the EQ you can, again, get pretty much any sound you like. looks cool, too. especially those checked one. if you read the ibanez lover's thread, most of them will agree that you really can't go wrong with an ibanez. even the cheaper ones are supposed to be excellent for their money.

i like that finish. never seen any bass that colour before,

[quote name='ezbass' post='330833' date='Nov 17 2008, 05:28 PM']My point exactly.[/quote] i think your sig pretty much sums it all up.

[quote name='Prosebass' post='330690' date='Nov 17 2008, 02:31 PM']Bass design hasn't progressed any since Leo Fender did his stuff back in the 50's Body shape has changed and you can have as many strings as you want it would seem but the basics are the same as ever. We now use attractive woods and carbon fiber but essentially its same old same old... Do any changes need doing or are we destined to be playing Precisions in 2058 ? (not me personally I'll have croaked) Midi bass failed, headless is still a niche, 4 strings tuned EADG still rule, is there anything that can be done to improve future designs ?[/quote] what else is there to do to it? theres a reason "different" designs fail, and thats cos they're not needed and (usually) very expensive. [quote name='Prosebass' post='330735' date='Nov 17 2008, 03:41 PM']I agree entirely, but we have not seen that leap that Leo Fender made in 1948-1950 to change the "popular" bass from an upright fretless to the Precision. That was a major design change. What I want to hear opinions on is whether that leap will ever be made again rather than just tinkering around the design envelope of present basses. Granted uprights still sell alongside modern basses and I love EUB's having owned a Framus but I would love to see a different "mindset" in how bass design could go forward.[/quote] i see what you're saying, but the double bass and electric bass are two very different instruments. you can simulate a bass sound using keyboards or MIDI or even things like guitar pro? surely thats a leap like Leo Fender made, playing a bass without an instrument there? then theres the ERB, i;d say thats a completely different design. tbh i don't think theres ever going to be a "better" kind of bass than the electric, with the range of sounds you get, the accessability of every note on the fretboard, not to mention all of the options. you can present it differently, but its more than likely going to be more difficult to carry around, less fun to play on stage (for instance, you may have to stand stationary like you do with the double bass), and just in general less convinient. then you'd have to come up with things it does better in order to make it worthwhile, as well as it having everything the electric bass has, you'd have to be able to slap, double thumb, change volume and tone, theirs just so much that you can do on the electric bass that its going to be hard to improve. bear in mind that the electric bass was based around another instrument, the electric guitar, that evolved from another instrument, the acoustic, that evolved from other instruments, the lute etc. its all about evolution, and everything finishes evolving at some point. perhaps next we'll mix the bass with another instrument? find a way of playing bass and guitar at the same time? its a problem i had in my graphics coursework, that you had to give a reason why you were designing what you were designing. there had to be gap in the market or a problem with the original product. their isnt either of these things with bass.

squier standard precision? excellent basses, and they have a jazz neck and extra jazz pup, so will be able to do the precision sound but also the same sort of sound and feel of your jazz.

[quote name='jerseytrev' post='329785' date='Nov 15 2008, 06:46 PM']hi i see a lot of people rate the fender geddy lee sig bass ,right colour for me too .is there any common faults on this bass or short comings . also the marcus miller sig . which is the most popular with you ? sorry for all the questions ,just trying to get a good picture of the models availiable .[/quote] dunno mate, but i do like the bass in your avatar never seen a a corvette $$ in that colour, i really like it.

i think they're closer to a precision neck than a jazz neck, but slightly smaller than a precision. i prefer a stingray neck to any fender necks, but thats just me. i'd love a stingray one day, my dad used to have one but he sold it.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='329531' date='Nov 15 2008, 02:39 AM']These are lovely basses - I was looking at a white one. I like white with chrome hardware and ebonol fretboard. I modified my Geddy Jazz with black scratchplate and black control plate. I think any more black would've been too much [/quote] thats the first bass ive seen with white pickups that i like the look of. normally they look cheap to me, but i do like this.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='329001' date='Nov 14 2008, 12:00 PM']Having watched him at close hand for over a week, I have to say a lot of his skill is in the handbuilt nature of what he does. I expected lots of jigs and templates but he does a lot just by eye, especially the necks and even though my bass was relatively quite unsophisticated construction wise, it all fits together well. My bass built under his tutilage is on the "Build" section and called 1-2-1 with Jon Shuker or something like that, it's now on p2.[/quote] +1. ive done the same course as york4stringer, and what he says is true. a lot of it is about measurements, but then a lot of it is just done by eye, and jon's done so many it just comes naturally to him. anyone else think jon's got one of the best jobs ever?

they need to do a 4 string version of this.

to be fair to the guy, he added this on november 1st: On 01-Nov-08 at 10:52:31 GMT, seller added the following information: ***I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS A 'STAGG' GUITAR AND NOT A 'RITTER' AS THE MAIN HEADER READS. IT WAS A MISTAKE I MADE WHEN PLACING THE ADVERT AND APOLOGISE TO ANYONE WHO IS LOOKING FOR A RITTER GUITAR AS THERE WAS NO INTENTION TO MISLEAD ANYBODY.*** I dont think he was trying to rip anyone off at all, it looks as though he just didnt reread his title when he wrote it to check if it sounded ok.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='328003' date='Nov 12 2008, 10:33 PM']Everytime a thread like this comes up I always say the same thing... [b]Yamaha BB614[/b]. You're getting a great jazz sound, a great precision sound & 3-band active preamp into the bargain. I've got one knocking around at the moment & it's fab! Rich.[/quote] +1, i tried one of these when i bought my old precision. it was a bad choice going for the precision over this, as the yamaha was just an all round better bass. you might want to try one out first though, although it does seem like me to go for the precision over a much better bass, i get the feeling there was a reason i didnt go for the yamaha eventually. if there was i cant remember it.

J pup? nah, slap a MM pup in there... P/MM, thats growl for ya.

they should do 4 string version of the squier DJA

the seymour duncans sound great, i use it with the seymour duncan 2 band eq though, so i couldnt tell you how it osunds passive.