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Simple Pleasures

FL Knifemaker

FL Knifemaker

Apr 9, 2006
12,453
55
Lakeland, FL
www.blackwoodknives.com
#1
If someone told my 5 years ago, that I would probably sell off several customs and other high end basses in favor of two old Squiers........I would have told them they're crazy.

I just picked up this full scale bullet bass here on the for sale boards. (thanks again Don) So far with shipping and new Fender Nickels, I have about $300 total invested in this bass. It's an SQ serial number from the early 80's, MIJ.

When it arrived it sounded fine but after removing the old strings I gave it a good wipe down and polished the frets. After stringing it up I checked the intonation and it was DEAD on. Some minor string and pickup height adjustments and it plays like a dream. The neck is AWESOME!! The build quality is EXCELLENT. For some reason, IMHO, people don't care for the little rounded split P pups but when properly adjusted, they sound fantastic. The tone is warm with the nickels but I can dial in some trebble for just enough brightness. Best of all it only weighs a measly 8.3lbs !! :bassist:

Soooo........ Between this and my JV era P bass, the rest of the arsenal isn't getting much attention these days!! I might treat it to a vintage pearl pickguard from WD music, that I would dull off to match the rest of the finish.

What are your simple bass pleasures??
 
#3
She's a beauty. I have been wanting to give a bullet b-30 (short scale) a try for a while now. Great catch.

As for simple pleasures -- I'm really loving my Hofner Icon right now. Its nowhere close to the best built basses I have owned, but with a proper set up and a set of flats, that little hollowbody really puts a smile on my face.
 
#5
I have done similar recently. I have sold 3 basses recently for various reasons, but have used the proceeds to mod my first bass...a 99 Squier standards series. The end result is a bas I like more than the other three put together and play more than my others!
 
#10
I find that no matter how many fancy basses I try, with the expensive wood, 567.7 strings, active electronics, 24k gold plated everything, and switches that probably control the ISS, that every single one sounds like total crap next to my measly MiM Precision.

Heck, on that note, I prefer the tone of my plywood MiJ Jazz copy to that of the real thing. (Its neck issues aside.)
 
#11
That's a beauty FL!

My simple pleasure is my single coil Fender P bass with Fender flats... I love simple :bassist:

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#12
Simple Pleasures? I'd have to say that's my 3 basses in a nutshell. I wanted a JJ, a fretless and a P to cover all the bases. (no pun intended... well, ok, it was intended.)

My Warwick may not seem simple, but for $800 used, it was a steal (the old all-wenge narrow necks.... I love 'em). My Ibanez wasn't a fretless originally, but with the 'wick, I had to find a way to use it more, so I fretlessed it and replaced the electronics. My home-made '57 P body / '75 Jazz neck was $300, and it's perfect. All MIA electronics, all customized to my liking (there isn't one out there like it, that I've found.)

In fact, I am a huge fan of hunting down a great body/neck for cheap that feel amazing, and then spending all the money on the electronics and doing it yourself.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's made me remember just how happy I am with my collection.

Maestro
 
#14
Nice Bullet....She's in really great shpe. I have this exact bass but made in USA before they were shipped over to Squier and although I don't play it out that often, she really sounds amazing and I use it a lot to warm-up/practice on. In this pick I had Jazz bass knobs on it. I do have the originals, but now I have chrome Tele/P-Bass knobs. And I noticed that yours has a 3 ply W/B/W pickguard....mine is one ply white.
The only real issue I have with mine is that with that full scale neck it's a little neck heavy, even with Ultra-Lite tuners.
But it's still an amazing bass. Congrats on yours...
Oh, and BTW, I have '68 Jazz parts bass that's wicked sweet and a 2006 Hiway 1 Jazz and I just put a Squier VM fretted Jazz on lay-away at my local GC. I've been looking at this bass for awhile now...It's the one with the maple body and the bound and blocked neck. I went into GC on Thursday to see if they had one and they only had one so I sat down and looked it over. I could NOT believe the quality of the workmanship I was seeing from Indonesia. It had good balance, the weight was good, the frets were great, the nut looked good, the neck was fast and felt great and with NO DEAD SPOTS anywhere on the neck, the attention to detail was great, and the finish was excellent. I did have to take about 1 full turn on the truss rod, I know the salesman and he got me an allen wrench, so the whole deal will hinge upon whether or not the truss rod holds over the next week or so. After I got done looking it over, I plugged it in to a Markbass head and 4x10 rig and even with a dead E string, it really sounded good. I'll be changing out the pickups for DiMarzio's and also be putting HipShot Ultralights on it because I already have them, but I look forward to using this bass a lot. It is truly amazing what Squier is putting out these days. I'll have no problem standing onstage with that Squier any place I play. :ninja: )-(

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#16
FL Knifemaker said:
Some minor string and pickup height adjustments and it plays like a dream. The neck is AWESOME!! The build quality is EXCELLENT. For some reason, IMHO, people don't care for the little rounded split P pups but when properly adjusted, they sound fantastic.
Click to expand...

It's true... I have some pretty cool basses including a '79 Ric 4001, an Aerodyne Jazz, and a Jaguar bass. But when I was playing in the band the Bullet was my main bass. I threw a Badass II on there and a new set of strings shortly after I got it and was blown away by the sound. When I played through a GK 800RB, I'd crank the upper mids and the treble on the EQ and got the meanest tone ever. It wasn't uncommon to have someone come up to me after a gig and compliment my sound. I could never replicate that tone with any of the other basses, just the Bullet. Just an awesome cheap bass.

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#20
hankazoid said:
It's true... I have some pretty cool basses including a '79 Ric 4001, an Aerodyne Jazz, and a Jaguar bass. But when I was playing in the band the Bullet was my main bass. I threw a Badass II on there and a new set of strings shortly after I got it and was blown away by the sound. When I played through a GK 800RB, I'd crank the upper mids and the treble on the EQ and got the meanest tone ever. It wasn't uncommon to have someone come up to me after a gig and compliment my sound. I could never replicate that tone with any of the other basses, just the Bullet. Just an awesome cheap bass.

3315551418_0a4749835a_o.png
Click to expand...

That looks nice. I'm keeping an eye out for another one to hotrod :D
 

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