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It’s Miller Time...NBD x 2


AndyTravis
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I put a wanted ad up a few weeks ago for a White Fender Marcus Miller.

I had a MM for years - gigged it regularly and loved it.

My ex got into financial troubles and we had a brand new baby. I duly sold off about 15 basses I’d amassed over 13/14 years and quite a few left through basschat.

My old one went to Nick Smith (of Enfield/Grainger Guitars game). He sold it on and the trail goes cold.

I’ve bought and sold a fair bit recently - and still missed that Miller Sound.

So, sure enough I set out to find one - I really fancied a white one this time. They’re like rocking horse poop.

I’d narrowly missed a sunburst on here...a shame.

Like busses...a very clean 2004/5 white one came up on Facebook (in Portugal...) and as all arrangements were finalised and I paid the guy, a natural 2003/4 one shows on another FB page - 3 miles down the road. It was rough, but very reasonably priced. So I thought “I’ll go for it...”

2 for the price of...well 2, by the time shipping, insurance and currency charges from banks are factored in on the white one, I’ve paid the going rate for 2 MIJ millers - even though the natural was A fair bit cheaper than the white one.

As a side note - I had so many messages telling me that people had Sires for sale - that they’re “better” and I should save my money by buying a Sire...

I was also offered 3 USA 5 string Marcus Millers...

I also had the “the preamp on the Fender MM is cr*p” brigade on - that I HAD to buy an East Preamp if I was adamant it had to be Fender.

Do you know, I had thought about it...but really...I actually don’t want more to mess with and if used tastefully - the limited preamp absolutely dials in ‘that‘ sound (kind of the reason you’d buy a Marcus Miller bass really).

There is a plan for the natural one.

The car went pop on Wednesday and I’m picking it up today so the plan is delayed because I’m skint...This should become clear in time.

My original Wanted ad IS still running for the last run of Millers made in Mexico - they had an 18v circuit, ran in true passive if the battery failed and had a different pickup set in them.

They only made them for a year - so don’t crop up often enough for me to panic. There’s one for sale in Australia but I’m not getting into that.

In the Meantime...

 

9ADF7CBE-16CD-4404-B5FB-6F58F2A28848.jpeg

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2 hours ago, bassfan said:

That’s a lovely pair... 😍

Weird one.

Natural has domed chrome “tele” knobs, the white one has flat top P Bass ones.

Minor, insignificant difference.

Also, natural has the decal up near the string tree like MM’s actual bass, the white one is in a more “standard” position.

God bless Fender 🙄😂

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8 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

Very nice - love the white one especially 👍

The natural one has had a tough life. There is a plan in place and it’s all been agreed - then the inevitability of life finding a way to dash the plans...

C3EA268C-0483-446C-9025-08CB5BFF7B4D.thumb.jpeg.2ebd6319c1f1e35e07dfa14ef61c5471.jpeg

It’s not over though - just on hold. 

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While I can’t afford to pursue the plan with the natural - I’m not destitute.

When I owned my old MM - I used to tape over the bridge pickup polepieces, I seem to press into the strings and catch my fingertips on the raised polepieces.

Now I’m older, and wiser - I can see the pickups aren’t sealed into the covers. 
 

So - to eBay...

Had to buy two sets - but at £4 a Chuck, not bothered in the slightest. Probably won’t need the neck pickup ones - but might do if there’s any “clicking” from contact.

my Sadowsky doesn’t have raised polepieces on the j pickup, so it doesn’t bother me - but on all of the stingrays I’ve owned it’s been an issue too.

Just got soft hands 😂

F075737A-A36A-468D-A62D-453B91AC28C3.jpeg

ECFEB12F-1602-476D-8A87-9B0F6438E12F.png

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16 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

While I can’t afford to pursue the plan with the natural - I’m not destitute.

When I owned my old MM - I used to tape over the bridge pickup polepieces, I seem to press into the strings and catch my fingertips on the raised polepieces.

Now I’m older, and wiser - I can see the pickups aren’t sealed into the covers. 

That's always been an annoying issue to me. I'm not suggesting this if you have expensive pickups and are worried about damage but on the restoration of my old Aria Jazz which has pickups epoxy potted into the covers, I found that you could carefully push the pole pieces down till they were flush- didn't affect the sound at all and kept the appearance.

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6 minutes ago, EMG456 said:

That's always been an annoying issue to me. I'm not suggesting this if you have expensive pickups and are worried about damage but on the restoration of my old Aria Jazz which has pickups epoxy potted into the covers, I found that you could carefully push the pole pieces down till they were flush- didn't affect the sound at all and kept the appearance.

I know what you mean - I’ve actually always preferred solid cover pickups - for the same reason people use those ramp jobbies.

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17 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

I know what you mean - I’ve actually always preferred solid cover pickups - for the same reason people use those ramp jobbies.

Some people do have this problem and I've seen insulating tape over pole pieces on Stingrays as a result. I once got recorded via a DI on a live gig and was mortified to hear the clicking - however it never happened again as I started using the floating thumb technique of muting rather than planting it on a pick up cover - and also not plucking hard directly over the pick up - seemingly it works 👍

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On 22/05/2020 at 11:12, AndyTravis said:

I put a wanted ad up a few weeks ago for a White Fender Marcus Miller.

I had a MM for years - gigged it regularly and loved it.

My ex got into financial troubles and we had a brand new baby. I duly sold off about 15 basses I’d amassed over 13/14 years and quite a few left through basschat.

My old one went to Nick Smith (of Enfield/Grainger Guitars game). He sold it on and the trail goes cold.

I’ve bought and sold a fair bit recently - and still missed that Miller Sound.

So, sure enough I set out to find one - I really fancied a white one this time. They’re like rocking horse poop.

I’d narrowly missed a sunburst on here...a shame.

Like busses...a very clean 2004/5 white one came up on Facebook (in Portugal...) and as all arrangements were finalised and I paid the guy, a natural 2003/4 one shows on another FB page - 3 miles down the road. It was rough, but very reasonably priced. So I thought “I’ll go for it...”

2 for the price of...well 2, by the time shipping, insurance and currency charges from banks are factored in on the white one, I’ve paid the going rate for 2 MIJ millers - even though the natural was A fair bit cheaper than the white one.

As a side note - I had so many messages telling me that people had Sires for sale - that they’re “better” and I should save my money by buying a Sire...

I was also offered 3 USA 5 string Marcus Millers...

I also had the “the preamp on the Fender MM is cr*p” brigade on - that I HAD to buy an East Preamp if I was adamant it had to be Fender.

Do you know, I had thought about it...but really...I actually don’t want more to mess with and if used tastefully - the limited preamp absolutely dials in ‘that‘ sound (kind of the reason you’d buy a Marcus Miller bass really).

There is a plan for the natural one.

The car went pop on Wednesday and I’m picking it up today so the plan is delayed because I’m skint...This should become clear in time.

My original Wanted ad IS still running for the last run of Millers made in Mexico - they had an 18v circuit, ran in true passive if the battery failed and had a different pickup set in them.

They only made them for a year - so don’t crop up often enough for me to panic. There’s one for sale in Australia but I’m not getting into that.

In the Meantime...

 

9ADF7CBE-16CD-4404-B5FB-6F58F2A28848.jpeg

If the plan is to paint the natural one in blue metal flake, it’s a thumbs up from me. 😉

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On 22/05/2020 at 23:49, AndyTravis said:

When I owned my old MM - I used to tape over the bridge pickup polepieces

In ar ironic twist, I've done this on my Sire MM V7 :lol: solid covers would be better, but I'm reluctant to buggger about with the pups just in case I make a horlicks of it.

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4 minutes ago, Rich said:

In ar ironic twist, I've done this on my Sire MM V7 :lol: solid covers would be better, but I'm reluctant to buggger about with the pups just in case I make a horlicks of it.

It depends if the pickups are sealed units.

next time you do a restring, unscrew the 4 mounting screws - see if the cover pulls out without the pickup magnets etc.
 

If it does, it’d just be a matter of slipping the new cover on - nothing too hectic. If it doesn’t - leave as is.

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Another simple idea - lower the pick ups a little (the bridge one is usually too low on a Musicman to be a problem but the bridge can be an issue) - I think that's how I've normally got around the clicking issue - this is another option if you can't (owing to being glued on) or don't want to change the covers. My experience has been you only have to lower the pick up marginally to make a difference. 

Have you decided what colour yet? Sunburst perhaps?

Edited by drTStingray
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