Chris2112

I've always loved Thumbs. Great looking, great sounding and nice to play. I never found the ergonomics and issue and in fact, generally found them to be quite pleasant to hold and wear. Those curved edges are so nice to handle and play over. In a world where many basses are a pastiche of other ideas or an outright copy, the Thumb still really does it's own thing.

I absolutely love this record. As a great fan of Jeff Berlin's work, it was natural that I would end up at it at some point. In truth, I had always preferred Weather Report, despite preferring Jeff's playing to that of Jaco. 'One of a Kind' struck me as the sort of fusion that had evolved from putting a jazzy slant on prog rock, and it was definitely at the proggy-end of the fusion spectrum at the time. I preferred my fusion a little more free and improvisational, despite their being a number of very good pieces of music on that record. On the other hand, I thought the follow-up, 'Gradually Going Tornado' was a better record. I preferred the slightly more textural approach of John Clarke on guitar who seemed take a very Holdsworth-esque vibe but in a very melodic sense. As much as I love Holdworth, I don't think he really struck gold until the 80's when he was writing his own hit records. The production on this record was much better and moving Berlin into a more central role really worked. The playing and the harmonic quality of the bass guitar parts on tracks like 'Joe Frazier' and 'the sliding floor' still stand out as incredible performances even today. I would say quite plainly that I was a fan of Bruford more than Bill Bruford per se, and I didn't really follow his career much after Bruford were disbanded. I gather that by the end of the 80's he had said that he was entirely done with rock and fusion and effectively retired into soft jazz work. The true crowning achievement of Jeff and Bill working together in my eyes is not Bruford at all, but the records they did with Kazumi Watanabe, particularly the first volume of 'spice of life'. Those records are utterly flawless fusion and Watanabe is an utter master.

Probably a fretless bass, taking the time to get really good above the 12th position.

Insurers outed as rogues, imagine that.

It's not just dealing with those at the bottom, anyone will lie and cheat to further their own ends. We aren't so much worn down as hardened to cynicism. It's a funny old job and a right laugh but you need a strong stomach and a pair of stones to last.

I saw it yesterday on their Facebook page when it was revealed. I think it's fantastic, probably the nicest bass in that 'Larry Graham Moon' style.

It's a shame they didn't revisit this option in later years, once the technology had improved to the point where the necks can be made to a consistently high standard. I absolutely love graphite necks, and would really like a G.Gould bass as my next instrument. Geoff is one of the real legends of the graphite bass world.

They could be forgiven if they stuck with their inferior construction because it led to superior tone, but Gibson guitars sound awful.

It was Victor Wooten that turned me on to that sound years ago. I loved the fatness of the split coil aided by the 'cut' of the bridge pickup. For me, the Precision pickup on it's own just doesn't work unless you're Billy Sheehan!* It wasn't a sound that I ever really used myself, because as I found myself slapping less and less, I would tend to run based using only the bridge pickup. It wasn't until I'd had my Pedulla Pentabuzz for a couple of years that I decided to adjust the pickup heights to balance the output of the two pickups. In doing so, I ended up actually really listening to and playing with the splitcoil pickup and found it really had a cool sound of it's own. Maybe not one I would use that often, but that sort of low-mid bump of the splitcoil combined with the 'honk' of the singlecoil is really cool and adds a huge amount of beef to the sound.

You'd have to be a total scruff to let your instrument end up like that.

Lakland released this video years ago when they started using their own proprietary pickups and preamp. Their push at the time was to get the three 'big sounds' all in one bass. I don't think they managed it perfectly, but they managed to get a passable impression of the things they were going for.

This is amazing. How long have you owned it for and where did you find it?

I would be hesitant to sell a lovely bass like the Flea at short notice, but if it's not doing it for you, there is little more that can be said. Suffice to say, I've always thought nice jazz basses were ten a penny but for something a bit more special, you have to sometimes go out on a limb and that can include taking a chance on buying a bass that you're not sure if you'll get on with. You could end up with something that gives an experience far beyond what a jazz bass could provide, or you could end up with more fodder for the classifieds. If you don't think your feelings are going to change any time soon, just flog it.

One of the issues with shops dealing in any sort of volume of instruments is that their margins probably don't account for fine tuning or even basic setup in some cases. Added to that, they often don't have staff who know how to make a decent job of a setup. Sometimes you get a decent setup out of the box and the bass will play nicely, sometimes it's crap.

I had heard that those filter circuits on the early Overwater basses sounded fantastic. Why did they stop offering them?

34" scale was an option on the Quantum 4 string. I believe it was free of charge but had to be specified. It was a paid option on the 5 and 6 string basses but I can't recall ever seeing a 34" Quantum 5 or 6. I'm sure there will be some out there.

It looks to be in good nick for something that was used in a punk band.

They are just like flatwounds but they sound good.

I can and have done. The 'must have' fretless for me was always a Pedulla Pentabuzz and the one I have is lined. I prefer lines but I'm not lost without them. Indeed, after a little while playing unlined coming back to a lined bass is a little disorienting.

You can absolutely light it up on a Spector if you want to...

Jimmy has my favourite Alembic tone of all time. Back in the 80's he was playing graphite-necked Alembic in Lee Ritenour's band. The tone was absolutely insane and his playing was unbelievable.

Fantastic, what an insane rock machine. Not one for those with a glass back!