DF Shortscale

That’s probably the nicest way to handle it, I agree. Although one big issue that sticks out is that the song will potentially be played to an international audience who are at least in part going to be from those lands far away. Doesn’t sit right with me at all..

Lots of interesting viewpoints! Let's leave the 'woke / reform' stuff out of it if possible, it's not a political conversation, it's more about whether the meaning of things matters. If you want to expand this beyond music: Can we detach meaning from something we like the aesthetics of? You could ask, as a white British man, is it political correctness gone mad if I can't wear a t-shirt with a giant swastika on it just because it's a pretty shape and red and black looks good on me? Or, can I go to Millwall and wear a claret / sky blue t-shirt without getting my face punched in? Should I understand what those shapes and colours mean before wearing them? Does a piece of music symbolise and stand for something, or is it just a series of sounds that happen to make us feel good?

Yep, this 100% nails why I have some anxiety about it. Context matters (to me anyway). I think the lines and boundaries around this can be blurry, and I'm genuinely curious what people see as a line they won't cross. Is it ok to play a cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday? Is it ok to do it if you're from Surrey and have never been to Ireland? What if you're playing it to an Irish audience in an Irish pub? What about a Bob Marley cover? How about if it's to a black audience? Should a 52 year old white guy ever do a rap cover of Fight the Power by Public Enemy - at a street party in Brixton?

The issue is more about playing it as a tune to dance to without being aware of the context. And potentially to an audience that is more aware of the context than members of the band are. That’s the part that gives me Partridge vibes.

Got a gig coming up and I’ve been asked to play a cover of Zombie by Fela Kuti which someone threw into a vaguely afrobeat-inspired playlist, and given the historical context of the song, and the fact that this band is a bunch of white guys with zero genuine connection to African culture, I feel like it’s not a good idea. I don’t think whoever came up with the playlist knows the context of the song, they just thought it would be a nice tune to jam on. I’m gonna say no to the gig (and the whole thing reminds me of that Alan Partridge scene where he talks about ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and washing his car). But I’m curious if anyone else has come up against stuff like this - cultural appropriation and being uncomfortable playing covers of tunes that have historical / political significance. Doesn’t sit right with me at all. I feel similar about some other tunes too, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye etc. Am I over thinking this? Where do you draw the line with stuff like this?

Yeah very nice basses. If I ever come across one with a maple board I may not be able to resist. Expensive, but similar to other used high-end basses, I guess Musicman basses are in the boutique realm these days price-wise. I wonder how it compares to something like a Vincent Akkurat, those are almost the same price but brand new, and you can choose from a bunch of colours and options.

I agree the differences were huge before, and much less so now. I don't want to throw any shade at Mex or even Squier, it's all mostly good stuff these days. My personal experience is that the differences are minimal but they do come into play when it comes to fine tuning and setups. That is just personal experience though, and it also depends on what music you play and how you play.

Yep, I agree with you and in fact I've done this already, I have a lovely modded USA P which currently has a Mex J neck on it which is great, but there's something about a higher-end 'purpose-built' instrument which maybe makes it a bit more solid and fine-tuneable. My experience with USA & Japanese Fenders, as well as the more boutique Fender-ish brands like Sandberg, Vincent, Atelier Z etc is that they come with immaculate fretwork and necks that are rock solid, which means you can set them up exactly how you want, and the setup stays where it is, no rattles, buzzes, you can have an unreasonably low action if that's what you like etc. I'm aware this is a first world problem and most Fender-shaped things can be fixed with a little fretwork and a proper set-up, but really we all love those higher-end Fenders and FSO's for a reason.. (or most of us do anyway)

I would happily go for a Fender, in fact that would be my preferred choice, but I’d like USA / MIJ quality if at all possible. (No judgement on Mex / Squier etc, just my preference).

Yes, they definitely do, the Fullerton Deluxe SB2 would be good, but only the newest version comes with a tone control, previous iterations came without that. Sunburst comes with rosewood, black comes with maple, I prefer the sunburst (I have 2 black P's already..) but I'd rather have a maple board on it.

That’s a nice bass, I definitely prefer that finish to the other one. I’m after a maple board ideally but I should definitely give the higher end Yamahas a try, I know they’re great basses.

Hmm no suggestions other than the classifieds, is £2K not going to get me there? I’ve seen a few nice used Sandbergs that are close to my specs, maybe that’s an option..

If your budget was £2K max (preferably closer to £1.5K) with the following criteria, what would you go for? • Fender(ish) looks and feel, traditional 4 string • Passive • PJ configuration • Precision or v similar body, not offset / Jazz (too big and bulky for my short arse) • Jazz neck, maple board, 38mm at nut • Very high quality neck and fretwork, ridiculously low action achievable • Adjustable string spacing (somewhere between 18/19mm would be good) • Light-ish • Relatively readily available, let’s say 1 month wait max TLDR What are my options for a high quality PJ with a J neck?

I use a Magellan 350 with a 10-2 cab or two Genz Benz 12’s depending on where I’m playing. Warmth is very dependent on context, for boomy stages with the bigger cabs there is often too much of that warmth and I have to dial the lows back and use a high pass filter. The 10-2 cab tends to sound great in any context, the older cabs need a little more attention. Either way I have the mids on the blue setting most of the time at around 11 o’clock, treble is rolled off a tiny bit, and the rest depends on the acoustics in the venue. For context I mostly play jazz either on a P, a PJ or short scales.

Probably a simple question here, a nut fell off one of my speaker cable ports in transit so I need a replacement, does anyone know if these are just 6.35mm socket nuts? (Like these). If so, do any high street shops sell these? I can order one online but it costs 11p, with £3.99 shipping which seems silly so if I could get hold of one locally it would be better.

The Albridge is about as good a bridge as you can find for Musicmasters, but yeah AmpShop can be tricky with shipping. If I ordered from them again, I’d pay a little extra and ask for FedEx shipping, they normally use USPS which is a diabolically unreliable service. It’s worth emailing them first.

I love the one I have, it’s the easiest, lightest, fastest playing bass I own. The build quality is brilliant, I think they’re actually made by Valiant in Ukraine who tend to make decent stuff. I added a bridge pickup to mine, the tone was a bit one dimensional but that’s more of a Musicmaster characteristic rather than a problem with the bass itself. The only thing I would say is that the paint on my bass is a little thin so it started to ‘relic’ quite fast but I don’t mind that. Also dealing with the people at Woodcraft can be a bit sketchy, they’re very nice but it’s a small operation, there’s lots of stories about orders taking a while to turn up so you have to chase them at times. But the bass itself is amazing and gets lots of compliments and questions, people generally don’t know this brand so they can’t figure it if it’s a modded Fender or something else. It doesn’t have the charm of an original Musicmaster like the one above tho!

Yeah, I think their intention was to update the functionality while allowing it to be a drop-in replacement so it’s definitely not a vintage-styled copy. Same applies to the Ampmaster basses, they’re basically refined Musicmasters without the issues that can affect the originals (noisy pickup, intonation, neck dive etc) but all the individual parts fit Musicmasters perfectly.

If you’re feeling brave and don’t mind paying shipping / taxes etc, Woodcraft in the US sell excellent replacement parts for Musicmaster basses. Their bridges and pickups are really good and should be an easy fit. Dealing with them can be a bit hit and miss at times but check out their replacement bridge, it’s nice: https://www.ampshopbassexchange.com/product/albridge-parts-mms18-vintage-bridge-for-musicmaster-short-scale-direct-replacement/ (No affiliation, I bought one of their Ampmaster basses a while back, wasn’t the smoothest transaction but the bass is great)

Bought an Aguilar compressor from Paul, all as described and sounding great, and just in time to be gigged this weekend. Thanks Paul!

Thanks Paul, it worked out well! Great to meet you both, hope you enjoyed the show.

editing this because it turns out I was shipped the wrong gauge set - problem is now hopefully solved

*edit: I'm deleting this comment because I was shipped the wrong gauge strings previously so it turns out I re-ordered the wrong set.

I have a recent set and they only have silk at the peg, and they do have the coloured ball ends. They all feel the same though, same level of rough/smooth across all strings.