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LowEndLobster on YouTube has a video series comparing various preamps and pickups on a SUB4. I think he liked the John East the best, but it's alse the most expensive one he tested. I am fully unqualified to comment beyond simply pointing out that it's out there.
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Sep 8, 2023 22:31
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Thanks guys I'll let him know. E: Found this link for John Eastman preamp and the like which costs 175 bucks. https://www.bestbassgear.com/ebass/...-ray4-bass.html Maybe its just time for.me to get an American made stingray lol Shageletic fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Sep 8, 2023 |
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Sep 8, 2023 22:38
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East preamps are baller as gently caress - I've got a Uni-Pre in my main - but yeah you gotta pay up for em
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Sep 8, 2023 23:48
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Honestly tempted to get it. American used music man's Iv heard are like 900 E: and the sub series is so good for its price range/knock off status
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Sep 9, 2023 01:49
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Is your friend just not comfortable doing PCB soldering? Because you can 100% swap out that pot if you don't want to drop money on a new preamp.
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Sep 9, 2023 18:56
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I've been wanting to pull the trigger on an East for my cv70's squier jazz for quite the while, I'm just trying to decide between the J-Tone and the J-Retro, has anyone A/B these? I know the J-Tone gets its preamp from the Uni-Pre which is great but sounds fiddly, requiring opening up the cavity a lot to reset, and also its 2-band, and the J-Retro has the mid-sweep but on the other hand they've mostly sold-out of the flat response and I'd have to make do with a built-in contour which may colour the tone a bit. Decisions!
ewe2 fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 22:29
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ewe2 posted:I've been wanting to pull the trigger on an East for my cv70's squier jazz for quite the while, I'm just trying to decide between the J-Tone and the J-Retro, has anyone A/B these? I know the J-Tone gets its preamp from the Uni-Pre which is great but sounds fiddly, requiring opening up the cavity a lot to reset, and the J-Retro has the mid-sweep but on the other hand they've mostly sold-out of the flat response and I'd have to make do with a built-in contour which may colour the tone a bit. Decisions! I have no experience with those preamps, but man that's super cool that they're self-contained and don't require you to route the body for the battery compartment.
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Sep 9, 2023 22:45
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Scarf posted:I have no experience with those preamps, but man that's super cool that they're self-contained and don't require you to route the body for the battery compartment. Thats true (I just edited the comment above to note that the J-Tone is also only 2-band) and also it makes switching out pickups later if you want to easier too. I think it's a matter of whether you really just want mostly passive tone with a bit of tweaking (J-Tone) or you really need some mid-sweap for specific reasons (J-Retro) ewe2 fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 22:52
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Scarf posted:Is your friend just not comfortable doing PCB soldering? Because you can 100% swap out that pot if you don't want to drop money on a new preamp. I guess not. Either way he minimized the noise and it sounds pretty alright, good enough for now until I decide to get a proper Music Man in a yr or two
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Sep 11, 2023 14:02
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Shageletic posted:Honestly tempted to get it. American used music man's Iv heard are like 900  Anyways the secondary market price for American stingrays went up after they went from sort of pricey to the higher end price, used market picked up around 2019/2020. I picked up a used 2016 Stingray 4H 9v model for $1100-1200 IIRC before, now I bet they fetch closer to 1600-1700. There are 'newer' stingray special models with 18volt preamps which cost more than the old 9v models. For what its worth, the Sterling ray34s are pretty close to American 9v stingrays though definitely heavier, sometimes with a different neck nut width too. On a budget for the sound you could also look for the USA made SUBs from the early 2000s, and refinish the neck to be like a stingray for pretty cheap. These were US stingrays in all but fit and finish selling at a lower price point which is kind of cool. Shageletic posted:I guess not. Either way he minimized the noise and it sounds pretty alright, good enough for now until I decide to get a proper Music Man in a yr or two Stingrays are the prettiest
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Sep 14, 2023 19:40
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So I’ve got this VM Squier Jaguar that I wasn’t too thrilled with the stock sounds. I slapped in a Darkglass tone capsule thinking that would be a nicer sounding preamp, but having only that bridge pickup it sounds a bit flat and nasal still through the range. The low mids remove a bit of honk it has and the upper mids and lows move the sound around a bit. It’s an EMG size35 pickup, so there’s a few options out there for replacement. Nordstrand makes a bunch and I’m not sure where to start. I know it won’t sound like any particular other bass because of pickup location/etc, but I’d like a bit more chime in the sound if possible. The DG preamp doesn’t have a treble boosting pot, but I think that would bring in harshness and not what I’m particularly looking for overall. It feels like I’m using the preamp to make up for a sound I’m not happy with rather than enhancing it like a sauce when cooking.
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Sep 15, 2023 20:26
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Risky Bisquick posted:On a budget for the sound you could also look for the USA made SUBs from the early 2000s, and refinish the neck to be like a stingray for pretty cheap. These were US stingrays in all but fit and finish selling at a lower price point which is kind of cool. 1) They have the painted neck, as mentioned here. It seems like a good number of the ones I've seen for sale have had the paint stripped off and refinished. 2) They have a textured matte finish on the body, and while there are a few non-black ones, they seem to almost all be black. I like it, but it's maybe a bit divisive. It feels EXTREMELY tough, even by general instrument finish standards. 3) They have a ridiculous metal pickguard - mine was replaced with a normal 3 ply white one and looks very classy, but you can see what the original looks like in the reverb listing below for the blue one. 4) 2 band EQ instead of 3. Again, some people love it, some hate it, I don't know that I care that much honestly. 5) Slab body, so no comfort carves. This and the 2 band EQ make it seem partway to the Stingray Classic to me. 6) Body is made of poplar, I will not start the tonewood debate. None of these are strictly negatives, but they are differences that you might want to be aware of if you decide to go for one. They're fairly difficult to search for on reverb, because all the words in the name also refer to other instruments, but they are out there, though the deals aren't as great as they apparently used to be: https://reverb.com/item/66294370-ernie-ball-music-man-usa-sub-stingray-bass-teal-2003-textured https://reverb.com/item/70027067-musicman-stingray-sr4-usa-sub-2004-black
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Sep 17, 2023 18:06
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Sockington posted:So I’ve got this VM Squier Jaguar that I wasn’t too thrilled with the stock sounds. I slapped in a Darkglass tone capsule thinking that would be a nicer sounding preamp, but having only that bridge pickup it sounds a bit flat and nasal still through the range. The low mids remove a bit of honk it has and the upper mids and lows move the sound around a bit. Ordered the Nordstrand pickup- “Nordwall Dingstrand” to replace the stock one and jive with the preamp better I hope. I definitely went past “chime” and into clank territory Sockington fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Sep 21, 2023 |
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Sep 21, 2023 10:46
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Sockington posted:Ordered the Nordstrand pickup- “Nordwall Dingstrand” to replace the stock one and jive with the preamp better I hope. I definitely went past “chime” and into clank territory Said screw it, and ordered up the Hipshot Rickenbacker replacement bridge for my Greco and the Nordstrand neck pickup for it as well as the stock one isn’t very impressive. Everybody’s getting Nordstranded 
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Sep 27, 2023 07:18
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 yo dawg, I heard you like switches, so we put switches for the switches to control the switches on your bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTc2vdkPM0w e: this is actually a fantastic video to watch despite looking like a gigantic gimmick Risky Bisquick fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Sep 27, 2023 |
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Sep 27, 2023 16:16
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Puts my Bass vi to shame. Unrelated but if you want to see a living bass legend dropping truth bombs, go look up Carol Kaye on Facebook. She is savage.
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Sep 27, 2023 16:28
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Will do lol. Speaking of switches another bassist was trying to convince to invest in a aby switch pedal. Basically have the Bass Vi hooked up to a guitar and bass amp and switch btw them is the idea. Right now I'm using my bass vi to make both bass loops and guitar chords and leads, but feels like there isn't enough oomph in the bass or guitar, even with the trex octave pedal. Honestly sounds better when I just use a bass amp, at least I'll get some bass, tho the guitar chords I lay on top sound muddled. E: looks like Kaye isn't allowing non fri3nds to see her page? What was she talking about? Shageletic fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Sep 27, 2023 |
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Sep 27, 2023 16:35
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Re: switch chat, my current 5 string has on/off mini toggles for the single coils and a master tone pot. I mainly DI through a modeler so I can control the volume on the expression pedal but I like the ability to just turn it on or off. I also put mini toggles on some 4 strings to coil select the dual humbuckers. Switches rock.
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Sep 27, 2023 16:47
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Schwza posted:Re: switch chat, my current 5 string has on/off mini toggles for the single coils and a master tone pot. I mainly DI through a modeler so I can control the volume on the expression pedal but I like the ability to just turn it on or off. I also put mini toggles on some 4 strings to coil select the dual humbuckers. Switches rock. That's exactly what happened in that video I linked. They are side by side humbuckers in a J pickup, so he's coil tapping everything straight to switches and has a toggle for series/parallel. Switch insanity but the flexibility is insane. To your point though yes switches are amazing if positioned correctly. Everything you're doing with switches is great.
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Sep 27, 2023 16:58
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Is Carol dropping political rants and idol worship again on FB? She got super trump-worshippy a couple years ago, to an extreme degree. I don't mind a bit of opinion dropping on social media (Lee Sklar does plenty of it too) but she was throwing down some novel-length posts about how Donny Boy is basically the second coming and it was pretty cringey. Lee is a great follow if you want Bassett hound pics, btw, and Ron Carter posts some gems too. E: switches do rock. That above one is maybe a bit too much, but a smidgen of switches is good.
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Sep 27, 2023 17:44
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Shageletic posted:Will do lol. Haha it looks like she must have limited her account again. No trumpy stuff. She's mostly putting Tommy Tedesco on blast. It looks like she actually deleted the posts even lol Edit: she was actually posting it on one of her alternate pages. She mostly just posts stories about her session work and drops ads for her books with excerpts https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064727737776&mibextid=ZbWKwL Armacham fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Sep 27, 2023 |
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Sep 27, 2023 20:12
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Lol the first post I read she mentions how you can play on heroin but not if you're high on pot(as much you'd thknk) or coke. Disagree, but that's a definite follow. Anyone get her book? Is it much use for bass lessons?
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Sep 27, 2023 20:39
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When she sticks to stories (with the occasional plug for books and lessons etc, a gal's gotta eat, I get it) she can be very entertaining. She's obviously seen it all, so a bit of a glimpse into that world is fascinating.
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Sep 27, 2023 20:49
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Shageletic posted:Lol the first post I read she mentions how you can play on heroin but not if you're high on pot(as much you'd thknk) or coke. Lmao that's another good recent post. I've actually been meaning to get one of her instructional books to try out. I do have her auto biography. It's a good read The Science Goy posted:When she sticks to stories (with the occasional plug for books and lessons etc, a gal's gotta eat, I get it) she can be very entertaining. She's obviously seen it all, so a bit of a glimpse into that world is fascinating. She has quite literally seen it all. She got knocked up by her guitar instructor when she was like 16 and it kind of just goes from there. She kept such a detailed log a of all her studio work, it's insane how busy she was.
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Sep 27, 2023 21:27
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Sockington posted:Said screw it, and ordered up the Hipshot Rickenbacker replacement bridge for my Greco and the Nordstrand neck pickup for it as well as the stock one isn’t very impressive. Love the nords that came with my Ibanez, enjoy them!
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Sep 28, 2023 22:08
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The hipshot rick bridge is so sick
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Sep 29, 2023 03:16
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Although I should probably not, thinking of putting together a parts bass. If for nothing else just increasing my functional understanding of the thing for bettering my own setups and maintenance work. All the companies I fussed with in the 00s are all gone now. Anyone know of a good supplier of parts including necks and bodies or blanks along with the rest of it? I do have most if not all the tools, do wood projects regularly. Just tough to see who is good a trustworthy and whats just some aliexpress front
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Sep 29, 2023 04:31
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So I got a J-Tone for my CV70's Jazz but I need a different wirestripper because my Irvine stripper somehow can't cope with cloth-wrapped pickup leads so I can't get them into the terminals ughh. So that's on the backburner. Meanwhile I'm awaiting a fretless Sire V5 in Natural which will definitely get the LowEndLobster treatment and get a Lustihand preamp although I might go with the model j to get that scoopy snap. Or maybe that should go on Boris the CV70's ? (haven't thought of a name for the V5 yet).
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Sep 29, 2023 04:34
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muike posted:The hipshot rick bridge is so sick It'd be nice to see a comparison between this and the rickenbacker v2 bridge which has better adjustability over the v1. I kinda want to upgrade although my 4003 doesn't really have any issues with adjustments. I want a high mass bridge in my aerodyne for sure though.
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Sep 29, 2023 05:19
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Laserface posted:It'd be nice to see a comparison between this and the rickenbacker v2 bridge which has better adjustability over the v1. I kinda want to upgrade although my 4003 doesn't really have any issues with adjustments. I’m getting a weird chorus’d note on my low open E note, no matter how many strings go on it or what my setup guy goes. It sounds like a harmonic vibration from the bridge area based on muting things with my hand back there and picking open notes. The original muting foam is long gone and is just black crumbly marshmallow type material now. Here’s the old gal currently.   
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Sep 29, 2023 11:44
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Yeah ok that's interesting. Not sure if Greco copies have the "bridge lift" that people claim is an issue (rickenbacker say it is supposed to lift up off the body at the tail, mine does) but yeah don't bother replacing it to "fix" that issue. Then again my E string does sorta sound washed out like there's some harmonic over tone going on so maybe I should check that out. Thanks I guess?
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Sep 29, 2023 12:08
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Basic Poster posted:Although I should probably not, thinking of putting together a parts bass. If for nothing else just increasing my functional understanding of the thing for bettering my own setups and maintenance work. Warmoth is still going strong, and some of their designs are pretty cool. StewMac has body blanks if you're comfortable doing all the woodwork. I've also heard good things about APW guitars if you're a Eurogoon. My current white whale: a fretless 5-string (with fret markers if possible) and an active EQ that doesn't weigh a thousand pounds or cost $9k. Been playing a Sire V7 for a bit and I absolutely love how it sounds and plays, but I have a connective tissue disorder and the overall weight and neck dive are just absolutely killing me. This is my current frontrunner, but I'm also looking at building a Kiesel Thanos, which is coming out a little under 3k (basically max budget for me). Is there anything else I should be looking into?
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Sep 29, 2023 12:47
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Haaaaave you heard about Clement? Tom could probably build you what you want for about $2.5-3k usd. here's his website E: mine is fully passive and I got it a few years ago before he did a price update, but mine was 2k on the dot before shipping. The fingerboard is loving perfect, absolutely even response throughout the range.
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Sep 29, 2023 13:33
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Modal Auxiliary posted:Warmoth is still going strong, and some of their designs are pretty cool. StewMac has body blanks if you're comfortable doing all the woodwork. I've also heard good things about APW guitars if you're a Eurogoon. Wow. Exactly what I needed. None of the ones I could find had what I wanted but warmouth absolutely does. Im sure there is a reason why P-5s are rare as hens teeth but they got all the bits for it there. Big thank you. Warmouth is exactly what I needed and couldn’t find. Basic Poster fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Sep 29, 2023 |
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Sep 29, 2023 20:22
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Laserface posted:Yeah ok that's interesting. Not sure if Greco copies have the "bridge lift" that people claim is an issue (rickenbacker say it is supposed to lift up off the body at the tail, mine does) but yeah don't bother replacing it to "fix" that issue. Mine was raised on the last couple of inches by design as well.  The original uses a five screw mounting that left me making GBS threads my pants a bit for screw placement because what solid info you finding on an early 1980s Japanese illegal copy of an American made one. The outside four holes are identical spacing though.  Not the same casting as the Rickenbacker bridge from a cursory Google, so they did these somewhere over there. Seems like a lot of effort.  Recesses also finished under the bridge. It’s a decently made instrument.  
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Sep 30, 2023 13:58
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Laserface posted:Yeah ok that's interesting. Not sure if Greco copies have the "bridge lift" that people claim is an issue (rickenbacker say it is supposed to lift up off the body at the tail, mine does) but yeah don't bother replacing it to "fix" that issue. Bridge is installed. Ghost-overtones on the low-E are gone now. 10/10 would Hipshot again. The bridge also weighs an actual pound. The Greco is now second heaviest bass behind my Geddy  The Greco had the secondary bridge screws inside the routing - which Rickenbacker doesn’t do. This meant the forward screws would be pulling through a void before body material. I cut some dowels to make up the difference.  Getting Nordstranded. 
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Oct 1, 2023 01:16
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So this parts bass process has lead me down what I am sure is an extremely dumb and u healthy path. A few months ago I was saving up to get a mike lull built. At the price point though I could get a cnc router. How dumb of an idea money wise is it to get into building my own? Its hard to get a feel for whats out there. I am aware of some of the custom builders out there (lull, brubaker, mdt, sandberg, etc). But on some closer inspection, it seems there are loads of smaller builders that no one knows of. Are boutique basses a fools errand in terms of not having it eat you financially? I do have some ideas that aren’t atrocious as differentiators and am set up to wind my own pickups. Have an EE degree and a history of custom wood work (custom stair builder through most of college). Is the boutique market a thing that can at least pay for itself as a hobby deal? Or do you make basses for the five people you know and then put up reverb ads that no one responds to?
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Oct 1, 2023 19:55
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Basic Poster posted:So this parts bass process has lead me down what I am sure is an extremely dumb and u healthy path. My dad got really into luthiery for a while, mostly using discounted wood and remnants from the local Martin factory. He did some really amazing work, but because he didn't put any effort into advertising he never sold one, despite having a few in the local music store showroom. I think custom bass is even more of a niche industry, and while I have no doubt that you have/can learn the skills needed, without a herculean branding effort it will probably always be an expensive hobby and not a profitable business. Definitely try building one anyway if you have access to the tools, materials, and machines, it's fun af.
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Oct 1, 2023 20:06
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Does anyone have opinions about headless basses? I automatically assumed they were expensive, but Steinbergers are only $480, which is well within temptation range for me.
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Oct 2, 2023 08:11
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Did a quick and dirty demo before I sent it off for setup. It’s not intonated properly yet and the frets are clanking away, but you can hear the neck pickup (selector switch *up*) is very clear and clanky sounding. Combined, they make this MusicMan like mix that I’m pretty happy with. https://youtu.be/gFUtLlx9dyo?si=PegMb4cpPGaLlavl Dropped it off to my setup guy last night since I’ve just got a pedal tuner and he’s one of those old guys only asks a few bucks cash for the setup and polishes them up before return like a dealership washing up the car after service.
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Oct 2, 2023 14:38
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