STATUS GRAPHITE BASSES

[jet_king]

Ever since i saw the status bass that was one of the first few headless guitars i really love! This is just a small request for any status owners out there. If you got a STATUS GRAPHITE BASS (headless or headed) Post a pic and maybe a little tidbit about your bass. I know this seems pointless but, whats wrong with abit of show'n'tell Cheers!

 

[ric stave]

Here's my Stealth Headless 6, green tint with gold hardware - also has green wrap-around LED fret markers.


I bought this as a culmination of my Warwick Thumb 6 + my Steinberger XL-25 to become my ultimate bass. If I could've bought a Status Streamline as a 6 string, that would've been IT, but the larger bodied Stealth was the next closest thing, and only option really available from Status.

I love the neck - very flat front-to-back, 18mm spacing - wide enough for comfortable slapping, thin (F to B) to be a pleasure to play all night long. Sounds great Finger picked, slapped or picked.

Customer service was another major point of why I purchased - Rob & Dawn are the best, and turnarounf time was less than 4 months.

Best of luck - the Status dive is scarey if you've never played one, but the most comforting thing about my experience was that I never saw a negative comment about the basses or the company - and that said a LOT!!!

IMHO

~ric

 

[Assumer]

I have always wanted the mark king status but too much money for me.

 

[rojo412]

No pics, but used to have a '97 Empathy 5...

Amazing bass, super modern tone, loudest output of anything I've ever played. Neck was amazing, fretwork impeccable, a true joy to own and one of the prettiest basses I've ever seen, too.

If I could afford another, I'd buy it. Sight unseen, from across the Atlantic, I'd trust that the instrument would blow my mind.

 

[atrapp]

Status Custom Shop Ltd Ed Eclipse #50/100

I Found this on the Guitar Center used website a few years back.
It would appear that that Status did a 50/50 black hardware at the neck and chrome hardware on the body for the 50/100 mark.

As with any Status bass it plays effortless and the action can be set silly low.
The chrome plated pup covers seem (rf) noisier than standard plastic covers.

 

[darthplagis]

here is my B2, john entwistle sig.
i still cant believe how nice the bass is even after a few years of owning it.

i would love a 5 string status.... probably a stealth, but it will have to wait

 

[plangentmusic]

Very solid basses. The necks are a little weird but I can get used to it. I actually prefer synthetic resin fingerboards. They're hard, smooth, are very consistent and can not warp.

But I just don't like the sound of the Status -- but that may be due more to the pu's than the composition.

 

[jet_king]

Sweet pics guys and great stories i hope more decide to post

 

[Flaked Beans]

Here's my Status graphite:

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S-1 6string, replaced the original graphite neck ^^^ with a wooden one (3 piece maple/ebony fingerboard).

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This bass sounds totally awesome!






Really!

 

[HalfManHalfBass]

Ok here's a bit of show and tell but this kind of thing usually drives my friends and family to boredom, but hey, this is Talk Bass and I guess that's all I'm doing....

The first bass (fretless) I bought in London from The Gallery many years ago, in fact Martin (Sei bassses fame) told me that it was one of HIS personal basses. Anyway, at that time it had gold hardware and a fretted neck.
The second Status I found in the same shop secondhand months later. Alex told me that John (Sei bassses fame) had had his eye on this one too! It is so light and I think the pickups are the earlier type because they really sound like single coils (without hum). I fitted a Status 3 way active eq to this bass and changed the gold hardware to black.
I liked that bass so much I had Status build me a 5 string lined fretless as close as possible to the 4 string's specs. However when the lined neck needed some work a couple of years later, I had it remade with an unlined fretboard. I have since then swapped the necks on the 5 strings and changed all hardware from gold to black.
Bored yet? No? ok: I was so fed up of the continual truss-rod adjustments on the Stingrays, especially the natural one (it was a 1995 model and had an unfinished birds-eye maple neck) that I decided to change them to Status graphite as soon as I could. I ordered these necks with an extra 22nd fret to cover the hole in the pickguard where the standard Musicman truss rod adjustment wheel is.

The second batch are all passive custom jobs by me. I always wanted a precision but didn't like having nowhere to rest my thumb when I play (after many years of Stingrays I always use the rear pickup) so I logically had a MusicMan pickup added to a precison setup and that's turned out very nicely for me.
The second is obviously a PJ, but whilst making it I decided to experiment with the placement of the P pickup. It's moved forwards and strangely with both pickups on it's one of the best slap sounds I have heard! Thick, yet snappy. Useless to describe sound here but to me like a Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten slap sound at the same time-weird!
The Jazz with the Musicman neck is a tribute to Fender 32's now legendary JazzRay, only I added a Dimarzio humbucker in the front to thicken things up: the placement of the 22 fret neck and subsequent repositioning of the bridge has shunted both pickups closer to the bridge and so it sounds more trebley by nature.
The fretless is exactly as it would appear except I have dismantled a Dimarzio humbucker to put it as close as possible towards the neck and under a new plastic cover to act as a thumb rest/ramp in the ideal place for playing the strings to encourage mwah.
The last bass was only cobbled together a few days a go and hasn't got all gold hardward yet -I had to cheat and use some chrome tuners I had lying around until funds and an order from Bass Parts is made.

So yes, I guess you can tell I hate black basses and especially graphite necks.

Peace.

 

[Fender32]

Ok here's a bit of show and tell but this kind of thing usually drives my friends and family to boredom, but hey, this is Talk Bass and I guess that's all I'm doing....

The first bass (fretless) I bought in London from The Gallery many years ago, in fact Martin (Sei bassses fame) told me that it was one of HIS personal basses. Anyway, at that time it had gold hardware and a fretted neck.
The second Status I found in the same shop secondhand months later. Alex told me that John (Sei bassses fame) had had his eye on this one too! It is so light and I think the pickups are the earlier type because they really sound like single coils (without hum). I fitted a Status 3 way active eq to this bass and changed the gold hardware to black.
I liked that bass so much I had Status build me a 5 string lined fretless as close as possible to the 4 string's specs. However when the lined neck needed some work a couple of years later, I had it remade with an unlined fretboard. I have since then swapped the necks on the 5 strings and changed all hardware from gold to black.
Bored yet? No? ok: I was so fed up of the continual truss-rod adjustments on the Stingrays, especially the natural one (it was a 1995 model and had an unfinished birds-eye maple neck) that I decided to change them to Status graphite as soon as I could. I ordered these necks with an extra 22nd fret to cover the hole in the pickguard where the standard Musicman truss rod adjustment wheel is.

The second batch are all passive custom jobs by me. I always wanted a precision but didn't like having nowhere to rest my thumb when I play (after many years of Stingrays I always use the rear pickup) so I logically had a MusicMan pickup added to a precison setup and that's turned out very nicely for me.
The second is obviously a PJ, but whilst making it I decided to experiment with the placement of the P pickup. It's moved forwards and strangely with both pickups on it's one of the best slap sounds I have heard! Thick, yet snappy. Useless to describe sound here but to me like a Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten slap sound at the same time-weird!
The Jazz with the Musicman neck is a tribute to Fender 32's now legendary JazzRay, only I added a Dimarzio humbucker in the front to thicken things up: the placement of the 22 fret neck and subsequent repositioning of the bridge has shunted both pickups closer to the bridge and so it sounds more trebley by nature.
The fretless is exactly as it would appear except I have dismantled a Dimarzio humbucker to put it as close as possible towards the neck and under a new plastic cover to act as a thumb rest/ramp in the ideal place for playing the strings to encourage mwah.
The last bass was only cobbled together a few days a go and hasn't got all gold hardward yet -I had to cheat and use some chrome tuners I had lying around until funds and an order from Bass Parts is made.

So yes, I guess you can tell I hate black basses and especially graphite necks.

Peace.

Hi Rob !

I'm speechless (so it's lucky that I'm typing this response ). I had no idea that you owned so many cool basses (so many basses, come to that). I thought that you just built them, modded them, sold them, then built new ones. I had no idea that you'd kept so many, but I'm glad that you did - they make two stunning collections .

I'm curious about a couple of things ...

Which bodies are you using for the Fender-based basses? Are they from Warmouth, WD Music or somewhere else? Wherever - the '60s placement of the rear pickup is probably a very wise choice, as the graphite necks seem to add so much clarity, that a '70s rear J pickup position would be almost painful to the ears, I imagine .

Also, are those Hipshot Type A bridges on all of the black basses (I can't quite tell from the picture)? Would you be able to describe the effect on the bass' tone, compared to a standard Fender bridge, or have you never had cause to try that ? I ask because I have just bought myself a Geddy Lee sig Jazz Bass and taken the Badass II bridge off, in favour of a Hipshot 'vintage' style bridge (as I've never liked the effect that the Badass has on the tone of Fender basses, unusually ). The tone is more 'twangy' and more 'Fender' now (and less 'piano-like') and I like the top-striging option a lot - but I hate the look of thing :scowl:. I'd quite like a Type A bridge (aesthetically), but only if it's not going to stop the bass from sounding 'warm and woody' . Any comments?

Anyway, I really admire your wood-working skills and the fact that you have created so many custom pickup configurations - that goes way beyond my 'kit assembly' approach to bass 'building' . The extra fret on the StingRay necks is a cool idea too - I'd never even thought of asking Rob Green for that .

So, do you have a firm favourite amongst the black basses, or is it really a case of them being 'different flavours of great'? For my money, the two variations on the P/J theme are probably the most GAS inducing to me right now, but I wouldn't turn any of them down .

Cool post! Thanks for sharing it with us .

 

[shakey_slim]

Here's mine. No. 402 for those who care about such things. I also had a Kingbass Artist and a Stealth 5 string (headed).

This one outplayed the Kingbass by far, but I sure miss the 5string.

 

[bassclef112]

I had a Kingbass Std for a few years and it's a great bass. Quality is tip top. It was only a roving eye that made me let it go.

I am still currently using a Trace T-Bass (made by Status) and it's a great version of a Jazz. Status has begun making them again with a graphite neck.

I will eventually make something with a Status neck.

 

[jet_king]

I had a Kingbass Std for a few years and it's a great bass. Quality is tip top. It was only a roving eye that made me let it go.

I am still currently using a Trace T-Bass (made by Status) and it's a great version of a Jazz. Status has begun making them again with a graphite neck.

I will eventually make something with a Status neck.

How will you get just a status neck? Just to add i think the bodies are pretty awesome as well

Too bad you had to let it go

 

[bassclef112]

If you go on their website you will find they sell graphite replacement necks for Fender and Music Man.

 

[drewfx]

If you go on their website you will find they sell graphite replacement necks for Fender and Music Man.

I've never been able to find this on their site. But maybe I'm just missing something. Does someone have the link (to the replacement necks)?

 

[fu22ba55]

I know you can never say "last one..." but this bass is probably the last bass on my Gas list.

 

[scowboy]

I bought a Kingbass earlier this year. Tonally it was all there for me. What I did not expect was how BIG it was. You look at the pictures and you expect a small compact body headless bass. It's not, but it is rather large and first position feels like it's a mile away. I wanted that bass to work out so bad! Nope. I may get another someday but it will be something else from their lineup.

+1 on what everybody else said about craftsmanship, fretwork it was the nicest bass I have ever owned. Simply a work of art.

Here is a picture of it:
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[mikezimmerman]

I've never been able to find this on their site. But maybe I'm just missing something. Does someone have the link (to the replacement necks)?

You can't link directly to the "Necks" section, but go to http://www.status-graphite.com and look under "Online Shop"->"Replacement Necks".

 

[Osprey]

I bought this Status Energy, dated from late 80s, for about £350 this year. Graphite neck, walnut body. One of the early ones with no truss-rod, but great low action and a range of tones from woody/mellow to bright/cutting. The new Status basses have more sophisticated electronics and some very fancy wood options, but this one will do me untill I can afford a Streamline (have you SEEN those things?) and that will just be fondle it: for playing I can't imagine anything better than what I have.
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