Bass Woes

[Bankai]

A couple of months back I picked up my second bass, a MIM Fender Jazz. It was good for the first few days but it really didn't have that wonder factor that I was hoping for. There's quite a bit of fret wear on it and the bridge either needs a bit of work or replacing. Either way it's useable but not comfortably.

Although when that was causing me problems I could run back to my Shine. I've never seen anyone else using them so that makes it rather special I feel. I love it yet it recently developed an electrics fault and I'm waiting to see whether it's easily fixable or if I'm going to have to replace bits.

Either way, I have one unusable bass and one alrightish bass and I'm not too happy.


What would you do? Throw money at them and fix them, or go hunting on the market again...

Edited March 6, 2010 by Bankai

[lemmywinks]

Take em both to a decent shop or luthier and have them fixed/set up. If money is tight then just do one, no point in having 2 basses you're not happy with!

If the pre is gone in the shine it might be worth picking up a used one on here and dropping that in rather than spending money on fixing a sub-par one. Here's a top class Bartolini unit for £50 (bargain!):

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=79370"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=79370[/url]

[mgibson]

Its the price of fixing them, if you could get a decent bass for the price of reparing get that bass but if you like the shine and don't mind the mim fix those. My opinion but at the end of the day its your money.

Edited March 6, 2010 by mgibson

[Bankai]

I'm not letting the Shine go under circumstances It's just a question as to whether or not to fix it or just keep it for the looks

It's not an active bass though so am I right in thinking that unit wouldn't be right? I think it's a pickup problem but I can't find out until it's opened.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Bankai

[Eight]

Buy something new.

Solves the problem and generates that warm fuzzy feeling. Getting repairs just solves the problem - no fuzzy.

[Bankai]

[quote name='Bankai' post='766227' date='Mar 6 2010, 05:10 PM']It's not an active bass though[/quote]

I'd like to ammend that statement and announce I found the problem.

Battery is flat, I had no idea it was an active bass!

[Bankai]

However, I'm thinking about moving the Fender on and combining it with some incoming money to buy something new.

Hmm, another Fender Jazz or prehaps something else...

[The Burpster]

If you let us know where you are, there are plenty of talented hacks on here that would set it up the MIM for the cost of a beer and talking bass boll8x for a while..... (me included!)

[bh2]

Yes... your Jazz is def worth setting up properly. Can you post a piccy of it?

[Bankai]

Sure. It's a 2004 MIM Fender Jazz in Daphne Blue.

Will take some in the morning.

I am in Epsom, Surrey.

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='Bankai' post='766289' date='Mar 6 2010, 06:05 PM']I'd like to ammend that statement and announce I found the problem.

Battery is flat, I had no idea it was an active bass! [/quote]

Early active Shine basses were often shipped with standard jacks, meaning they sap battery power even when they're unplugged. The first Shine 6er i got had this problem, £15 for a local tech. Check yours for this, i paid for mine to be replaced with a switching jack. The price you pay for completey automated bass building! I think everything but the finishing was automated, even the fretwork!

[ThomBassmonkey]

If the MIM needs a complete fret dress etc and you got it cheap because it needs the work doing, it's going to be less hassle to move it on. If you're going to lose a lot of money by doing that, it might be better to sort out the problems.

[Bankai]

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='766608' date='Mar 7 2010, 02:55 AM']Early active Shine basses were often shipped with standard jacks, meaning they sap battery power even when they're unplugged. The first Shine 6er i got had this problem, £15 for a local tech. Check yours for this, i paid for mine to be replaced with a switching jack. The price you pay for completey automated bass building! I think everything but the finishing was automated, even the fretwork![/quote]
Well I bought the bass in Feb 09 and have used it since then as my only bass. In January it started becoming a bit intermittent and then it died completely in Feb. It had been going on one battery that whole time and however long the previous owner had it in there.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='766767' date='Mar 7 2010, 11:15 AM']If the MIM needs a complete fret dress etc and you got it cheap because it needs the work doing, it's going to be less hassle to move it on. If you're going to lose a lot of money by doing that, it might be better to sort out the problems.[/quote]
It was bought for £200 last month. Paid £30 for it to be restringed and setup etc. The bridge screws are worn so it'll lower itself down after about half an hour of playing. And the frets are rather worn.

I'm going to get those photos taken now

[Bankai]

Pictures

[Soloshchenko]

That Jazz looks nice. A bit of work would have it sorted I reckon. I had the same problem with the bridge on my MIM jazz, it was utter sh*te the original. The saddles flapped like crazy when I dug in so I replaced it with a Gotoh 201 and set it up myself and I now have a bass I'm never parting with.

Playing others I think I got lucky with mine but the porblems you report with yours seem very minor and sortable. I'd sort them (for little money) then sell if you still don't like.