oligoon Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) Guys, Hi - forgive me if this is a set of questions asked many times before! Anyhow i've had a Squire P Bass copy for 5 years now (my first bass) and have been quite happy with it - but recently have had a problem with some resonance on the open A string, even when not plugged in to an amp. After stripping the guitar down I found this was coming from one of the pick ups. The question is - is it worth fitting good quality new pick ups to a budget bass? Or should I get a better instrument? I did try a friends mexican Jazz and found the pick ups noisy but liked the way it played and the adjustability of sound - is the noise down to the pickups on these? In some ways money is not a major issue as a good intsrument retains its value (at least to some extent). So should I go US Fender Jazz or maybe even a Sadowsky (metro - I don't have stoopid money). Should I go 5 string or will it annoy me too much? Fot info I use an Ashdown ABM900 head and 1510 stack with Rotosound Monel Flatwound strings (45.65.85.105) on the P and play mainly with a plectrum. Material is rock based (ac/dc, greenday, metallica etc). Sorry for the questions being quite open - but i'm just not sure which way to go. oli Edited July 26, 2009 by oligoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Ditch the squier methinks. And go to music shops, try as many as possible that are in budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oligoon Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Buzz, ta for reply - better get my arse up to the big smoke (london) as decent music shops aren't plentiful in somerset! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisba Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 £50 and a bit of soldering will get you a pretty decent bass, better than you had before. However, if you want to buy a new bass, and have the money to do it, then buy a new bass. Sounds like you have GAS to me, and there is only one cure ( and that is probably only temporary ) Alternatively, do both, and have a spare. I was in a pretty similar situation myself, I was going to upgrade my Squier, then joined this forum, and caught GAS. Ended up with a MIJ P, which I'm really pleased with. Sold the Squier to my nephew, but I wish I'd kept as backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) [quote name='oligoon' post='552381' date='Jul 27 2009, 10:11 AM']Buzz, ta for reply - better get my arse up to the big smoke (london) as decent music shops aren't plentiful in somerset![/quote] how does the pickup resonate when not plugged in, do you think a set up would fix it you anywhere near burnham on sea? Edited July 27, 2009 by mrcrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oligoon Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 ta for replies:- crow the pick up resonates when the open A is played - sounds like there is something vibrating inside the pickup. i'm not near burnham - but near Yeovil - out in the sticks! although do go up the m5 fairly often - is there a good shop in burnham? chris whats GAS? Gear Aquisition Syndrome??? I certainly have that - the missus is doing her nut already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 [quote name='oligoon' post='552803' date='Jul 27 2009, 04:19 PM']ta for replies:- crow the pick up resonates when the open A is played - sounds like there is something vibrating inside the pickup. i'm not near burnham - but near Yeovil - out in the sticks! although do go up the m5 fairly often - is there a good shop in burnham? chris whats GAS? Gear Aquisition Syndrome??? I certainly have that - the missus is doing her nut already![/quote] yes there is a good shop in burnham with a couple of musicians running it i sold my bass via them when i lived there the vibrations from your pup for just the A frequency are strange can you take the pup out yourself....if you do your own restringing...and who doesnt then taking out the pups isnt a really hard job...its just 4 screws..no unsoldering...then you might see something in the hole the pup goes in to it could be the wires vibrating etc your pups should be sitting on foam rubber yeovil is the centre of the universe man!!! all those helicopters cheers geof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisba Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 GAS = Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. This forum is deeply infected with it. It's very contagious and usually incurable in the long term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oligoon Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 crow, what's the name of the burnham shop pls? I agree the vibration is strange - I got the pickups out easily enough expecting to find something vibrating against them - but there wasn't. I did try prying the pickups open, but they seemed to be sealed with some sort of gunk so gave up. GAS ftw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowfer Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 Hi There, if i were you i wouldn't consider a new one, decide on your budget and watch the for sale thread. There have been some lovely boutique bass's going through for around a grand. Not the same as new bass but you will get a lot more for your money. If looking for new rather than Fender i would look at Sandberg. Just as an illustration 5 string sandberg california JM new 1k second hand around 650, the bass should hold its value from there. I'm going second hand from now on, looking at selling a music man and sitting tight for a boutique in my price range, shuker, sei or sadowsky will be on my radar. Good luck and happy hunting Nathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oligoon Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 lowfer, agreed I would prefer to go second hand - however I still need to get to a decent shop to try out a few different bases. I'd hate to pay a grand for somethung that wasn't comftable to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 [quote name='oligoon' post='553238' date='Jul 27 2009, 09:34 PM']crow, what's the name of the burnham shop pls? I agree the vibration is strange - I got the pickups out easily enough expecting to find something vibrating against them - but there wasn't. I did try prying the pickups open, but they seemed to be sealed with some sort of gunk so gave up. GAS ftw![/quote] [url="http://www.gcmusic.co.uk/"]GC music[/url] could it be your truss rod...is it tight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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