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It's finished - Introducing .... The Status "JazzRay" Bass !!! (long post with pics)

#41
Chris2112 said:
...
What kind of neck is that? I'm liking the weave!

...
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Yeah, sorry Chris, it's a crappy scan of an old photo :(.

That, my friend, was made by your good friend and mine, Mr. Rob Green - back in the days when his company was called, "Green Machine Technology" (GMT) and you when were still several bottles of Newcastle Brown away from conception :D.

The lacquer was a clearish amber colour, so the weave was easier to see, but you could also see all of the folds in the cloth and the imperfections :hmm:.

I prefer the latest version, myself.
 
#42
Fender32 said:
Normally :eyebrow:, I'd have to answer, "No", to that one. In this case though :smug:, we can make an exception :D.

"It's very expensive for a bass/volume/treble control", goes one side of the arguement, but it does fundamentally change the tone of whatever you plug into it and, in the case of a good Jazz Bass, will make it sound very Sadowsky-like, to my ears.

Try one, if you ever get the chance ;).
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I'd like to; does anyone know of a store that stocks the Sadowsky outboard preamp in the LA/Hollywood area?
 
#43
danomite64 said:
Sez you. My 11 lb Moses Jazz sounds incredible. The trick for me was combining Quarter-pounders with a Sadowski pre; that keeps things phat.

MosesJazz50a.jpg
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:smug: I think that we're just talking about different flavours of "incredible" here, danomite64 ;).

The red one that I built (20 years ago) was sold by me to The Bass Centre in Wapping (LONDON). The sales guy that took it off me thought I was nuts :D. He was an absolute slap-moster and he couldn't get enough of the biting, bell-like highs and the the lightning fast response. He did, make an "awesome" sound with it.

I, on the other hand :bawl:, well ... let's not go there ;).

My point is, I know what tone I wanted from this one and I got it! Ash, walnut, plexi-glass :p etc. would have been too responsive for my tastes. I wanted something to almost "soak up" a little of the "strength" of the graphites' personality. The Sadowsky preamp does open up a whole other dimension, though.

Anyway, looks like we're both happy with we got. :).
 
#44
TrooperFarva said:
That's a nice bass, but I think it was a mistake sacrificing the Stingray for it. Sure, the jazz looks great, but that Stingray looked amazing.
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I find it pretty hard to disagree with that statement, from an aesthetics viewpoint, TrooperFarva :smug:. The "StatusRay" looked pretty damn HOT :eek: !!!

Sadly though, I just couldn't get on with the sound of it :(. It lost some of its' mid-range punch, once I changed the neck and pickup and I found myself getting drowned out a lot more easily by our guitarist. That said, even back in the "standard" config, the EBMM 'Ray just lacks the punch of my pre-EB 'Ray and so I don't use it any more :hmm:. I guess it's just not "the bass for me".

In fact, I can't use it, until I find another neck plate (I stole the neck plate from it to use on the "JazzRay" project :ninja:).
 
#46
silky smoove said:
Maybe you could buy another Stingray and steal the neck plate from it ;)
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:smug: I can't afford to have any more "spare parts" lying around. I have this compulsive disorder to turn them into complete basses :(.

This latest JazzRay came about because I had the following parts, lying idle:

1. Neck:

IMG_0126.jpg


2. Jazz Bass knobs:

4dea32d5.jpg



:( What worries me now, is that I had a bag of pickguard screws that I bought and didn't use - I may have to build a P'Ray, just to use them up :D.
 
#52
Koki said:
why not get black hardware?
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because the frets are...metal colored, i have no other way to describe it....

that, and the pole pieces are exposed, so chrome hardware would add a sense of balance to the whole aesthetic of the bass.

That's why on some basses, it's nice to have touches of chrome, here, and there.

and Fender32, You've got me GASsing for a graphite neck...however, it's for a baritone guitar project, that I've been mulling over for a long time.

hahahha, Fender32, I'll send a parcel of miscellaneous bass parts, and see if you can make anything out of them.
 
#53
Great job there man. I much prefer the 3+1 headstock of the MM, but hate the huge MM body, so when I saw this a light bulb went on. If I read your first post correctly, the MM neck heel is the same as the Fender one? Ignoring pickup distances and bridge placement? I know where theres a partly completed P body with none of the routing done, I love Status necks and have all the parts for the rest of it........
 
#56
Great job my friend!! While black is not my color, this one oozes sexiness!

What slays me are the lefthanded compliments from some responders. Such as; " Nice but I would've done it in walnut with a mirror pickguard"

I do have a question:
What do you think the Sadowski pre would sound like with a pair of Dimarzio Model Js on an alder body.

Again, my compliments on a fine looking axe!
 
#58
A9X said:
Great job there man. I much prefer the 3+1 headstock of the MM, but hate the huge MM body, so when I saw this a light bulb went on. If I read your first post correctly, the MM neck heel is the same as the Fender one? Ignoring pickup distances and bridge placement? I know where theres a partly completed P body with none of the routing done, I love Status necks and have all the parts for the rest of it........
Click to expand...

That's right, A9X. When I first thought about doing this, I posted a thread here about it and at least one person told me that the Fender and MM neck heels were different :hmm:. That certainly wasn't the case when I tried the Status MM neck on my '76 Fender Jazz, so I went ahead and ordered up a replacement body from WD Music in the UK ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]).

As you can see, it was a perfect fit - not a single gap anywhere :):

99d409c2.jpg


Another important consideration with the MM neck over the Fender-style Status one, is that although it is a fraction "longer" (fretboard-wise), the 3+1 headstock does help to keep the centre of gravity further back. The WD body is made from very light alder and I suspect that a "proper" Status Fender-style neck, might just be enough to edge it towards neck-dive territory :(. As it is, the bass balances nicely, but you do kind of get the feeling that it's "on the brink", if you know what I mean ;). I also like the extra fret (very useful when practising scales in E :p).

A Status P would be a great little project, IMO :). I thought about it myself, but I'm more into the whole slap/funk thing atm and the JB just seemed the obvious choice for me.

Knowing how much you love your graphite basses, A9X, I think that you could do a lot worse than building a Status "P'Ray" ;). Let us know if you decide to go with it!?

:bassist:
 

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