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Roadworn Basses Opinions
- Thread starter Bassist30
- Start date
Your first post was about expressing your opinion and I am fine with that. You are certainly free to say you don't like RW's and why. IMO everything else you have said here has been a bit self-righteous and hasn't served any real purpose other than to disrupt this thread. We heard your opinion. We don't need to keep hearing it.
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Now, back to the original question - I played my vintage '66 Jazz bass at a show last night, after playing my RW Jazz for the last few days, and in comparison I think the RW does a very good job of capturing the vintage feel and tone. It may do it as well as, or better than, anything Fender is offering right now. The neck is superb - you are going to have to spend some $$ to find a neck that plays and feels better. And my experience is also that the bass benefits from better electronics, but not a lot. It is a nice way to get a bass that sounds and feels a lot like an early '60s Fender without having to take out a second mortgage. Try one - buy one used and try it. If you don't like it, you can always sell and you will probably only be out the cost of shipping.
I wanted a RW jazz for over a year. I finally found one in a store and unfortunately the neck had a major ski jump and I couldn't fall in love with it like that. I was also disappointed with the "worn" feel of the neck too. It felt artificial to me. I know I could have taken a sander to it and made it feel better than it was. I have played a RW strat in a local music store numerous times and the neck on it does feel like it was naturally worn. I honestly think people are better off buying something that hasn't been RW and doing the RW job themselves...just keep going at it with a sander or other tools and keep trying it until it feels perfect in your hands.
Gas got me!
Just ordered a sunburst road worn Precision from MF. Here's hoping for a lightweight player's bass with good feel and no dead spots!
Just ordered a sunburst road worn Precision from MF. Here's hoping for a lightweight player's bass with good feel and no dead spots!
Gah! Super... I have severe gas for one of those... closer looking to my birthyear bass (57).
Let us know how you get on with it, and pics of course!
Let us know how you get on with it, and pics of course!
This sounds like an instrument that might have benefitted from having a decent setup done at the store. Although sometimes it really is tough to get that level of service at a shop. Especially since it can sometimes take a little bit of time for a neck adjustment to settle in.
That being said, not all instruments are equal. And sometimes you can get significantly different results from one instrument to the next. And even the Roadworn instruments aren't immune to this. These days I tend to find most Fenders to be a lot more consistent than when I started playing. But still, sometimes you do need to play several instruments until you find "The One".
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I absolutely second that. The RW I own was near perfect right away. It came out of the box with a low action. Yeah, it has a dead spot that migrates around a little depending on adjustment and weather, but not a horrible dead spot, and it wouldn't be a Fender without something like that. It stays adjusted very well now. I got lucky with the piece of wood they used for the neck, most likely. I have had other bass guitars that required quite a bit of work to get right. The RW didn't require any to start with and hasn't needed much since.
But, there's nothing to say that another RW might have a neck that moves a lot. It can happen with any brand or any model, especially if the wood hasn't been aged for a zillion years before final shaping. Wood is an inconsistent material. There's nothing you can do about it, and some pieces move more than others. Some pieces do weird things. Unless you are spending a whole lot of money on a Custom Shop bass, there's going to be the risk of some anomalies in the wood structure of the neck.
But, there's nothing to say that another RW might have a neck that moves a lot. It can happen with any brand or any model, especially if the wood hasn't been aged for a zillion years before final shaping. Wood is an inconsistent material. There's nothing you can do about it, and some pieces move more than others. Some pieces do weird things. Unless you are spending a whole lot of money on a Custom Shop bass, there's going to be the risk of some anomalies in the wood structure of the neck.
Is shaving your head a form of relicing?? I mean it's gonna be falling out on its own so why would you shave it instead of letting your head just relic itself naturally over time. Can you shave your head and dislike relics? Isn't that a double standard?
I've played Mexican Fenders that have been worked on (by a GREAT Tech), lightly sanded the back of the neck and they were excellent.
Rewire with better components, put some good strings on it and then go compare it to a RW (which I think are nice by the way).
It's all a tricky business as people often pay more for an instrument in the store that was simply set up better.
Rewire with better components, put some good strings on it and then go compare it to a RW (which I think are nice by the way).
It's all a tricky business as people often pay more for an instrument in the store that was simply set up better.
I think I've mentioned this elsewhere (maybe even earlier in this thread) but I have a friend who's into buying cheap used MIM J's and turning them into art projects. He strips them (by hand, no chemicals) and then repaints them in wild designs, but still a very thin finish. I played a bunch of these and they all had that RW vibe; it was pretty uncanny.
/rick
/rick
Fine
but: why don't you just let the bass get naturally "worn by the road"?
Is it sort of the fascination of "the strange case of Benjamin Button"?
Suh a spiral subject that's gonna turn on itself forever!
Cheers,
Wallace
The same reason I never took a new baseball glove to a game without beating it in first using various techniques.
My RW P-bass is an excellent instrument. I've allowed many accomplished players to use it over the course of my recent stint as house bassist at a prominent local jam, and everyone of them came away saying "what a nice bass". You could do much worse.
For awhile I have considered buying one of these (based on the rave reviews of the feel) and taking the relic to further extreme so it at least doesn't look exactly the same as the other ones.
I actually think Sandberg masterpiece basses sound much better. It's not just the look of them, they make the tonality sound like a 30 year old bass that has been played thousands of times. The California TT and VS basses just have that warm 70s sound that you really can't find anymore unless you pay $15,000. But they're not cheap. A Cali TT masterpiece is about $3500 and takes about a year to make. Worth the money and wait. I'm gonna dump 3 basses just to buy one. 
Do a youtube search and hear how great they sound!
Do a youtube search and hear how great they sound!
I actually think Sandberg masterpiece basses sound much better. It's not just the look of them, they make the tonality sound like a 30 year old bass that has been played thousands of times. The California TT and VS basses just have that warm 70s sound that you really can't find anymore unless you pay $15,000. But they're not cheap. A Cali TT masterpiece is about $3500 and takes about a year to make. Worth the money and wait. I'm gonna dump 3 basses just to buy one.
Do a youtube search and hear how great they sound!
I'm sure they do sound great, but just an FYI.. vintage 1970s Fenders aren't $15K, actually most aren't even anywhere near $3500. That would buy you a real nice all original custom color '70s Jazz or maybe even 2 nice sunburst '70s P basses for $3500. If you want the authentic '70s sound, you can get it for much less than a $3500 Sandberg (not that they aren't nice and worth the price). The Roadworns focus on the '50s and '60s Fender sound though.
Well, that's absolutely fine, I must admit this should be the best RoadWorn advert ever
I'm not personally into relic'd looks but, you know what? you've been crystal clear
Serious
Thanx bud
Cheers,
Wallace
I know a number of people who have purchased Roadworn basses, and not one of them has ever showed any particular interest in the "image." Very few, if any, Roadworn owners on this forum have indicated that the image is more important to them than the sonic qualities of the instrument. On the other hand, virtually every one who has shown disdain of Roadworn owners for supposedly being overly "image conscious" or trying to "purchase authenticity" have themselves indicated their preference for a new-looking instrument. If that's not pretentious I don't know what is.
