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Fbass Fancy Top vs. Standard BN5

#41
I have basses in 3 scales, 34( Jazz bass and SR5) 34.5 (BN5) and 35 ( Lakland 55-02) and I diffently feel the difference in length for the first position and general arm reach. The fact that the F sets closer to the body does make up for the extra 1/2 inch but it, to me , feels longer than a 34 and shorter than a 35. As regards to the finish. I may be one of the few F Bass owners with a pickguard on it! My F started to wear through the finish behind the first pickup where I place my thumb for an anchor after 4 days of playing it !! I called George about it and he said he could make a very thin plexiglass pickguard with tiny screws to my own design. I sent him an outline of a sort of MusicMan type guard and he fabricated it for me for about $100.00 . Finish problem solved. I know it probably changed the tone somewhat but I would guess far less than coating the whole body in poly would have. Mine is solid ash with maple board. Best sounding bass I've ever played. Jim
 
#44
I can't even tell the difference between 34" and 35" most of the time. My 2 basses now are a 34" 5 string jazz and a 35" MTD, and I can't tell at all. I think Ken's point about upright/fretless players being more tuned to scale length is a good point - my left hand technique is sloppy, and whenever I try to play fretless my intonation is horrible!

You guys that can tell the diff. between 34.5" and 35" are probably the type guys that can tell what fret you are on by the feel of the grain on your thumb.
 
#47
mac ebony board vs maple board is HUGE!!!!

I tried out a maple burl topped bn5 with a flamed ebony board, the slap sound was exactly what I wanted to hear. To, I ordered a flame top bn5 with a mac ebony board, while doing that I played a regular no topped bn5 with a maple board for about 4 months. Those two basses were pretty close, and the slap sound, along with great finger style sounds, was just happeing.

I got my bn5 with the mac ebony board, and the slap sound is definitely a little different. Not quite the spank, but I would say the finger style sounds is killer, maybe a tad different. actually, the slap sounds is very cool as well, but not like the maple boards that I was playing for a bit.

Just in case you didn't know that already. Great feeling necks.
 
#49
FYI for anybody that finds the F Basses to sit to far to the right when strapped on all you need to do is relocate or ad a strap button dead center of the rear of the body the bass will than move into more of a normal position..
Probably be smart to have a countersunk strap lock so as to not stick out to much..
To test my theory just strap up the front and than just hold the the rear in place dead center you will see the bass move left.
 
#51
AJ Brown said:
I never had an issue with the shifting to the right on my BN6.
Click to expand...
I did, but mainly because it was the only bass I owned that was like that, which really accentuated that difference. The part I thought was most odd, was the seated position was much more "normal". It was only when strapped on that the "shift" took place. I'd have thought it'd be all one or the other for consistency.

However, I don't think I could bring myself to screwing another strap button into the back of a beautiful F, so I think the only option for me was to do what I did and move on. Great basses, just ended up not being quite my thing after all.
 

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