Jerry_B

[quote name='StraightSix' timestamp='1331889265' post='1580333'] Westone basses are available within that price range - here's a Thunder 1A: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Thunder-I-A-Fretless-Bass-Guitar-Flat-Wound-Strings-Shipping-Case-/130651889185?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1e6b759e21"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1e6b759e21[/url] This is the active, single pickup version of the Thunder III. Top quality, made in Japan by Matsumoku. More info here: [url="http://www.westone.info/indexthunderbass.html"]http://www.westone.i...hunderbass.html[/url] [/quote] Definitely worth it - amazingly good basses!

I'd say you'd be better off trying to build one as a bitsa project. It depends on what sort of bass you're after (P, J or P/J). Or see if one comes up for sale on Basschat.

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1331818681' post='1579382'] Sorry Jerry_B, I rather selfishly forgot to complement you on a very nice looking bass. [/quote] No worries - cheers

There's an Ebay seller called bluebass320, who sometimes has Mighty Mite unlined ebanol-fingerboard necks for sale. May be worth tracking him down to see when he may have some on order, etc.

Maybe it's worth just getting a new unlined neck. You can sometimes get Mighty Mite ones from a guy on Ebay for 100 quid, more or less.

+1 to what Paul and Luke have said. The band I'm in use beats put through a laptop. It hasn't been an issue thus far. That said, if you're doing covers it may be alot more time-consuming matching what you're doing with the software with the original drums on the song. Depends on the complexity of those, I guess!

Here's my recently completed bitsa project.

Yep, the production codes was what I was thinking of!

AFAIK, if it was a Tokai it would have some numbers on the body end of the neck...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1331569752' post='1575009'] At the hands of someone who can actually play it like Clara Rockmore or Bruce Woolley it's a massively expressive instrument with a tonality that mixes violin with the human voice. [/quote] Don't forget Louis and Bebe Barron, Lydia Kavina...

But it sounds the same as some pickups in a plank of wood... If you put together a cheap bass with as much care and attention to materials as you can (or want to) afford, you can end up with something very nice indeed. I don't think spending masses of cash on something for those reasons really makes it better than something that ends up costing much less.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1331577766' post='1575222'] I did say 'sensibly specified' - things like diamond encrusted coffee perculators, solid gold bathtaps and sports cars don't really fall into that category in my world... [/quote] But the asking price for some basses is on the same par, relatively speaking. Fender, etc are guilty of this, despite the fact that there seems to be no real reason for it. Even if we consider more 'normal' prices, is a new Fender bass (for example) really worth £800-1000+? Seems unlikely.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1331471654' post='1573221'] Provided an 'item' is sensibly specified, I tend towards the 'you get what you pay for' adage. That 'item' could be anything from a car to a camera or, in this scenario, a musical instrument. [/quote] Ever been in a TVR or some other performance cars? Money doesn't always buy quality or reliability

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1331451089' post='1572883']I personally think that a £70 bass fitted with £100 worth of new hardware\electronics is just that - a £70 bass fitted with £100 worth of new hardware\electronics. The same category as the 'yoofs' with their £300 Ford Fiestas pimped with £1000 of accessories. [u][b]But[/b][/u], as a way of experimenting in a quest to gain understanding of what makes things work 'under the bonnet', it's hard to beat. Others will insist that the 'final product' is a fully giggable instrument, possibly in an attempt to justify the time they have spent on it to themselves in some way. If that was the reality of course then manufacturers would never be able to sell an instrument costing over £170. [/quote] Hmm, I wouldn't say that's strictly true. Just because a bass has been cheap to put together it doesn't mean it's not as usuable or as 'good' and something that cost ten times as much. I tend to think that the owners of expensive basses live in a bit of dream land where money spent = always better. This doesn't have to be the case. At the end of the day, if a cheap bass is very playable as some bits of wood and the hardware doesn't break, the most important thing is the pickups and some decent wiring backing it up. Everything else in terms of 'quality' is entirely in the mind of the owner.

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1331458078' post='1572948']Mate of mine later went on to play with her .[/quote] Really...?! Oh, you mean in a [i]band[/i]...

Unlined mahogany Fender-like types are rare. You may be able to pick up an older (1990s) MIJ Jazz with an unlined rosewood fingerboard on ebay or gumtree.

But then again the Wilkinson stamp is not noticable - the strings obscure it and it's not easy to see at anything apart from very close up.

As someone once said to me: 'What are you worrying about? No-one looks at the bass player'...

Yuck - it's certainly been beaten with the ugly stick IMHO

Tasty

Thanks chaps! The BC pic uploader squashes and pixelates the images a bit, but I can post some bigger pics if anyone wants to see 'em.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1330786367' post='1563001']Add on £300 for some serious quality hardware and there's £1k. [/quote] 300 quid? You could get decent enough hardware for about half that if you shopped around here at Basschat and elsewhere So maybe 100 quid or so.

[quote name='cytania' timestamp='1330750933' post='1562538']Mind you £2824 is alot to pay and no furry, sparkly, crazy finish... [/quote] I'd go as far as saying that it's a ridiculous amount to charge, full stop!

I have 3 fretlesses with different fingerboards - this one's mahogany, then I have a lacquered maple Maya Pbass and a rosewood Jazz. There is a slight difference in tone from the fingerboard wood - not much, but a very slight difference. This new fretless has a good overall solid feel when playing. There's a short build diary about it here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/167834-fretless-precision-project"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/167834-fretless-precision-project[/url]

Right, the whole thing's done and dusted now. Here's some pics...