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Do i change to much?

Thunder_Fingers

Thunder_Fingers

Jun 24, 2004
1,942
132
39
Norway
#1
Ok, i have plans of a custom bass, but my GF thinks im not able to keep one bass for long enough that it would be justified to spend that kinda amount on a bass... and that i wouldnt get the money back if i wasnt satisfied with it...

over the last 4/5 years i have owned:
- Warwick Streamer LX4: owned it for about 1 month, doubt its gonna go as fast as any of the other basses, i realy love the neck and the sound of the Pickups.

- G&L L2000: Great bass in everyway, my custom gonna have about the same electronics(just a bigger preamp) and a neck inbetween that and the warwick, its out for sale ATM, after the warwick i have gotten problems with gloss and satin finish necks...

- Status Eclipse Series 1, 5 string: 9 months, traded for the Warwick.

- Ibanez Roadster RS900TV. owned it 3 months - sold it again when the sound wasnt "completely me"(i think that a trebly amp took the blame for that)

- Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass.(owned it for 1 year and 4 months - sold it, payment financed the Roadster)

- Fender Japan Precision 70's Reissue: owned it for half a year, kinda traded for the Status, got the same amount of money for it as i paid for the Status.

- Louder Jazz Bass Copy: my first bass, owned it for 2 years, was my main bass about 1/3 of that time, sold to finance the Geddy.

- Jackson KBX: 6 or 9 months i think, good bass, bad sound(due to the sound the Louder actually replaced it for a while) with a new pair of pickups i am sure i could have loved it, Sold to finance the Geddy.
 
#7
You can get as many basses and rotate them as fast as you want BUT ordering a custom is a different story.
IMHO, ordering a custom bass without knowing exactly what you want is :
- A loss of time
- A spoiled kid attitude
- A severe loss of money
- A lack of respect toward the builder who puts his heart into the instrument.
 
#10
Jazz Ad said:
You can get as many basses and rotate them as fast as you want BUT ordering a custom is a different story.
IMHO, ordering a custom bass without knowing exactly what you want is :
- A loss of time
- A spoiled kid attitude
- A severe loss of money
- A lack of respect toward the builder who puts his heart into the instrument.
Click to expand...

I can tell you this: i Know EXACTLY what i want, i have taken every aspect and my favourite features of every bass i have owned that i like in the bass and things i have noticed that would suit my playing, i have figured that an explorer or buzzard design(gonna be explorer, big like the alembics) will fit the best how my right arm works, i got it right down to exact neck thickness and width... ;) i know the sound i want, i know what possibility's the pickups gonna have, i even know what strings i want on it...
 
#11
Chris2112 said:
Trading a Status for a Warwick Streamer LX? Need I say more?

:rollno:
Click to expand...

well... no one wanted to buy it, and im not understating when i say that i HATE the feel 5 stringers.

The Neck on the Warwick is better, i kinda like both sounds alot, but the warwick dont become farty when playing fast on old strings... and it actually sounds a little more powerfull (imo)

and did i say that the Warwick was BRAND NEW for a 12 year old Status Eclipse?
 
#12
Actually, if you dislike 5 strings as much as me, I can see why you made the change. I actually think the Streamer LX models are great, and I've never been less than impressed with them.

However, if it's a good Status, I wouldn't trade it for anything less than a Stage I-maybe even a stage II, and even then I'd make sure I had another Status left to fill the gap!
 
#15
Chris2112 said:
Actually, if you dislike 5 strings as much as me, I can see why you made the change. I actually think the Streamer LX models are great, and I've never been less than impressed with them.

However, if it's a good Status, I wouldn't trade it for anything less than a Stage I-maybe even a stage II, and even then I'd make sure I had another Status left to fill the gap!
Click to expand...

if it had been a graphite Status with 4 strings, i would have kept it, i can almost guarantee it. :)

anyway, im realy satisfied with my Warwick, the neck feels like it fit me perfectly.. and i realy like the sound :p

anyway, i can give you guys all specs of the custom bass so you can see i have thought it through ;)

keep in mind some of the specs are replaceable incase it goes over my price limit, its pretty much an "entwistle tribute" bass tweaked to my prefernces :)

Neck
• Ovangkol neck
• Ebony Fretboard
• Cor of the neck gonna be Graphite(on all sides of the fretboard, think its gonna be like. 3 or 4 going the entire length of the bass(neck through)
• width: 38.25 mm with 12 fret, 63 mm width 24 fret.
• Thickness: 20 mm width 1. fret, 23.5 mm width 12.Fret.
• Roman number inlays including first fret.
• Zero Fret
• Oil Finish.

Body:
• Flame Maple top, Walnut Core(possible im going all maple there) , flame maple back.
• ”Explorer” shape(but more like the alembic spydfers).

Hardware:
• Hipshot Ultralight, with D-tuner.
• Luthiers own bridge.
• Black

Electronics:
• 2 x Bass Culture MM pickups.
• Noll 3 band EQ, (Volum/pan/Bass/mid/treble) (Volume control placed like on the Spyders)
• 2 switcher, 1 per pickup, 3 way.( 1 singel, 1 Hum, 1 “P Modus”(splittcoil like P bass pickup), pickup with bridge made so it get a mirrored P function in ”P modus”)

So is this throughout thought about enough? :lol:
 
#16
I'm an expert in this field. I've been playing for about 5 years, with the last 2 years or so up until the past few weeks being less active. I've never played bass in a band, I've jammed with someone a few times, and I have taken lessons. I'm strictly a basement jammer for my own enjoyment, plus I'm a drummer too and I feel it helps with my playing there.

To date I have owned (massive reading):

Ibanez GSR200 - My first bass. Had this for about 2 months I think. Traded it back for an...

Ibanez SR400 - Knew I wanted to play bass, so this was definately an upgrade for me and worth it. At this same time I got an...

Ibanez AEG Acoustic/Electric - Plunked around on it for a bit, but never used it much. A few months later I bought a...

Dean Edge 4 Fretless - Had a dream about this bass, walked into the music store the next day and there it was, used. I played this for about 2 years.

I eventually sold the two Ibanez basses and bought a...

Tobias Growler 4 - Got it from Bass NW. HORRIBLE bass. The neck wouldn't stay stable and the frets were in terrible condition. Buzzing everywhere, even a few dead notes. After of it being worked on for a few weeks and while making a dramatic improvement, it still wasn't very stable or statisfying to playing. Traded it for a....

Dean Jeff Berlin Standard - Owned this for about a month and a half. Great sounding bass, but the playability of this bass lent itself to someone with ultra light touch only. No matter how it was adjusted I got string buzz unless I played uncomfortably light. Kept it for a while until I sold it.

Carvin LB75P - Owned this for the 10 day trial period. Beautiful Koa/Koa/Birdseye. The neck was bowed more than a canoe and wouldn't straighten, tone was very bland, scratchy bass pot, sticky trebile pot, terrible grounding. Sent back to Carvin for a refund.

Schecter Stiletto Diamond Elite 4 - Great bass, but got this during a time when I felt like EVERYTHING had to be perfect about the bass. Wound up swapping the EMG's for passive Barts. The tone was great but I regret spending the money on an upgrade that didn't need to be done. Had this for a few months until I sold it. During this time though I also owned a...

Cort B4FL - Great fretless but I needed the $$ so I sold it.

G&L JB-2 - Bought off a fellow TB'er. Great bass but had a 7.5" neck radius I hated. Sold it on Ebay and got a...

Musicman Sterling Fretted - Great bass, obviously. Sold it eventually because I wanted something more versatile. During this time I also bought a...

Yamaha BB604 - Had this for about a week. Great bass for the money but couldn't justify having two fretted bass. Sold it and bought an...

MTD Kingston Fretless - Ordered it on Ebay and decided to sell it before it even showed up because I saw what I really wanted a few days later a...

Musicman Sterling Fretless - Again, great bass, but eventually as I said with the fretted Sterling, I wanted something for versatile. Sold both and got a...

G&L L-2000 - Owned this for about a year and a half. Great bass, very versatile, but it ultimately was too hot/bright for my tastes. Sold it and bought a...

Peavey Cirrus - Incredible bass as many people have said. I actually had two. Bought the first from a music store which surprisingly had one in stock and on sale, but it had strange upper fret issues and the tech gave me a hard time about it, ignoring the issues and instead telling me that "I'm never going to be happy with anything"...maybe he was on to something :) Bought the 2nd from Musicians Friend. I also wanted another fretless so I bought a...

Warwick Corvettet Std. Fretless - Had this for a few months but ultimately couldn't justify keeping it for $$ reasons and how much I actually played it. So I sold it to Tombowlus.

The Cirrus I had for about 5 or 6 moths but wanted something with a more vintage tone, so I bought a...

Read Custom Model P - Awesome bass, but a few months later I started playing less and less, getting bored, and for financial reasons sold it.

I was bassless for a few more months until I got the itch again and bought a...

Fender MIM Jazz - Got from a fellow TB'er. One of the "diamonds in the rought" among MIM's as far as I'm concerned. Had this up until last week (well it's still here but I'm sending it to CA) when I bought my new bass, because I was having hand problems due to my disability and needed a slightly different jazz neck and something that balanced on my lap better. So I got a...

G&L JB-2 - I saw this baby on the Buffalo Bros website, and as far as I'm concerned this is it. It's versatile, and can get me the vintage tone I like when I want it, plays and balances on my lap great and looks like a million bucks :)

What have I learned from this and what is the point of this long @$$ reply? There are some times when the bass just doesn't fit you either in style or tone. There are other times when the bass just doesn't play or sound that great in general. Then there are times when you nit pick over the tiny details and buy and buy until you find what you consider perfect. I've run through all the scenarios but ultimately I think I was just picky. Yeah I love my current G&L but if I could go back and do it again, based on what I do and my needs I PROBABLY would've just said forget it and stuck with the MM Sterling. The majority of basses up to it didn't play as well as I would've liked, some pretty badly, and tonally were "ok" and the Sterling was the first bass that had playability, and great tone, it just wasted as versatile as I would've liked. Wah. :)
 
#19
Thunder_Fingers said:
• ”Explorer” shape(but more like the alembic spydfers).
Click to expand...
Your spec looks thorough, but, have you played a bass with this shape? It might prove to be uncomfortable because of where the strap pins will likely be attached and consequently where your fretting arm/wrist will be positioned and the angle of your wrist. Just something to consider.

Personally, I'd love an Alembic Exploiter, or a similar custom.
If you can afford a custom, and are sure of what you want, go for it.
 

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