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Moon Owners Club
- Thread starter gimmeagig
- Start date
Just got one of these recently. Figured I'd chime in
I just took receipt of the LARRY. I cannot, without profanity, express the radness of this bass. The neck radius is way flatter than 12" (it's "500r", is that in mm?). I've never played lower action and a straighter neck, it's like my dream setup. Pics to follow, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all.
Its manufacture has just been completed. I ordered it new, with the old Moon palm tree logo.
Question about these. Is it the Oxalis PU? How do they sound compared to other J-types?
Top marks to Danny Stewart of Bass Japan Direct for handling all the particulars. This began life as a "bass hunter" job, where I told him to find me some JJ-5s. There seem to have been a somewhat limited supply of colors in the past, and I just had white on the brain, so I eventually ordered a new Larry Graham with the tree logo to match my 1984 Moon. With the white fingerboard lacquer it's a little bit of a show pony that way, but I recorded a bunch of examples with it and it brings the goods.
Neck radius is 500r (in mm) which is a ridiculous 19.69" radius. Nut is 47mm. It's comfy. Bartolinis with preamp (XTCT) seem like a great choice. I was quoted 9 months, it was built in FOUR.
Neck radius is 500r (in mm) which is a ridiculous 19.69" radius. Nut is 47mm. It's comfy. Bartolinis with preamp (XTCT) seem like a great choice. I was quoted 9 months, it was built in FOUR.
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Beautiful. I love the all white with gold hardware. A dream bass for sure!
These are late 90s model, back then there's no Oxalis pickups yet. The pickups are Moon original hand wound vintage pickups. It's characteristic is comparable to Custom Shop 60's. Vintage tone but very responsive and snappy.
The thing I find with many of the Fender J pickups, even the CS ones is that they can be limited in the high end, which for many is no big deal, for me a deal breaker. Just wondered if Moon kept to their roots and let the treble fly even on their vintage-style instruments. It's a beauty for sure.
Looks great! I bet the Graham model would also look great with a dark ebony board instead of the white. Not sure if they also made it like that?
Did Larry Graham always use Bartolinis with an active preamp himself?
Made a video with my beloved Walnut 80's Moon. Still happy with it. Best sounding jazz bass I have owned, and I have owned a few Fenders (old 1973 one and a few modern ones) and a Lakland amongst others.
Not sure about "Always", but the Moons were commonly known for active preamps or pickups. It wouldn't surprise me if this is his preferred setup.
Sounds great. My four string JJ is still the best bass I ever played. So much love for it.
I got a Moon JB-4, but I have no idea about the year, the S/N is 27940. I made a YouTube video (in Portuguese but with English CC) of the unboxing, and how it compares with a Fender Flea Jazz Bass (same price range, but very unfair comparison in my opinion).
Does anyone have an idea of how to find the year? Here are some macro shots of the beauty!
Does anyone have an idea of how to find the year? Here are some macro shots of the beauty!
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This one is of PGM era, possibly the early one maybe early 2010s late 2000s. It's early PGM because it's still have the Moon stamped Gotoh OEM hardware plus the curved neck heel. You will have to look under the neck pocket to know the exact date. Great buy, how much you paid for it and how well does it stand against the Flea signature?
edit: Wait, I know this bass lol after watching your video I know exactly which bass this is since I was looking at it as well. Anyway, you'll have to look under the neck pocket to get the exact date. Mike and Mike have great Japanese bass collection but I find their price to be too much compared to the Japanese market. I hope you enjoyed the JB4 as much as I do, the best Jazz bass I've ever own.
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Yeah, I don't want to remove the neck because it's so well-tuned and I'm afraid of messing things up when screwing it back. I offered $1,300+shipping and they accepted it, it was listed by $1,500 (or 1600, I don't remember). The shipping was perfect, took 2 days from Seattle to NJ, and came with lots of bubble wrap. It killed the Fender Flea so nicely that I got sad for Fender, LOL.
Haha, I hope you were not the one that got it in the cart when I took it
Yesterday I recorded and published a conversation on my channel with a Brazilian friend (also a Japanese bass nerd) called "We Need To Talk About Japanese Basses", where we talk a lot about Japanese craftmanship, lack of tracking (like manufacturing dates and stuff), marketing and branding. Let me know if you are interested in watching and I can add English captions to it (the conversation is in Portuguese).
