The elusive features. . .

[Mechayoshi]

Old Kramer Forum bass. The ones with the Spector electronics. Any version will do bolt on or neckthru. In the past I saw them pop up here or there but always beat up or slightly too high. Now I don’t see them at all!

 

[primussucks9126]

It's just the look of the thing that bothers me. I know... it's ridiculous.

Not that ridiculous. I hate the look of MM pickups in everything but MM basses. The asymmetrical ears and big doofy pole pieces. No thanks.

I took the j pickup out of my Ibanez Talman and just covered the bass in black tape to "refinish" it and cover the gap. In theory you could also just fill the cavity and refin the bass yourself.

 

[devnulljp]

For me, It's a maple board on a fretted bass.
I've wanted that from the third bass I ever owned and never managed to get one so far.

Why can't you find a bass with a maple fretboard? Pretty much half of all basses available have maple.Or do you just want one, but keep buying basses with rosewood or ebony or something else boards?

 

[micguy]

24+ frets, 30 inch scale, passive bass, graphite neck and under six pounds...

Just an observation:

Graphite is about 2.5x the density of maple, so that neck is going to be heavier than a wood one. 24 frets makes the neck even heavier. Couple that with a body light enough to meet your weight spec, and...I think you’re asking for a neck diver.

 

[mikewalker]

Just an observation:

Graphite is about 2.5x the density of maple, so that neck is going to be heavier than a wood one. 24 frets makes the neck even heavier. Couple that with a body light enough to meet your weight spec, and...I think you’re asking for a neck diver.

Correction: HOLLOW graphite neck(/body)...

 

[fishdreams]

I love maple boards & necks on fretted basses. I find it actually difficult to avoid them - there are plenty, and usually the cheapest option too. (if Fender, or Fender derived, that is)

Here is the latest - a custom built Martin Keith. Official NBD post to follow soon!

 

[fishdreams]

Now what would be rare is a maple board on, say, a Wenge neck. That would probably sound, but def. look, amazing.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

MM style humbucker at the bridge and neck with radiused faces. I've never seen such a thing and I don't know if such a thing exists (possible, but never seen a bass equipped with one).

Kiesel, Ibanez and a few others here and there offer soapbar-sized humbucker and single-coils with radiused faces, but that's as close as I've been able to get to what I actually want. I had a Bromberg 5 string with radiused humbuckers in it, and it was divine to play once I got the PU height where I liked it. But I wasn't in love with how it sounded and I always wanted a MM style pu there. My Carvin Bunnies had MM pickups at the bridge, but they were flat.

I've always struggled with makeshift ramps and buildups of bits of wood and tape, etc., and I've been able to get by.

An L2000 with radiused faces on the MFD's would be a "shutup and take my money!" type situation.....

L

My L2500 pickups have a very slight radius to them...then again mine are from ‘96, so I don’t know if they are flat now.
But in any case, with exposed pole pickups, I admit that it would be interesting to see a radius cover along with radius pole pieces.
Tom Stenback does that with his Jazz pickups.

 

[57pbass]

I purchased a Nash 57 PBASS in 2007 with a maple board. It has a reliced finish and it in my steady rotation.

 

[wmhill]

I had a similar quandary a few years back. As much of a list of things I had to have was the list of things I wouldn't accept (mostly the Fender name). I ended up with an MTD artist. It had everything I wanted (the zero fret and asymmetrical neck were just an added bonuses).
* Maple fretboard
* 3 band EQ
* MM pickup
* NOT an FMIC product
* slim narrow neck
* under $1000
These don't sound like unreasonable features, but it was a pretty small field when everything was factored in.

 

[micguy]

Correction: HOLLOW graphite neck(/body)...

Yes, graphite composite necks aren’t graphite all the way through. But it isn’t air in there. The Status instructions talk about there being 1/4 inch composite thickness - doing that front and back on a 1 inch thick section means, even if it was air in the middle, that more than half of the volume is composite. Add in the side walls, and it’s clearly more than half composite. Graphite composite is 2.5 to 3.5 x the density of maple, so at half or more of the occupied volume,...it’s a heavier neck.

 

[Spectrum]

Does anyone here share my, for want of a better word I shall call it -problem-, that you want a certain spec on a bass, but simply never get it?

For me, It's a maple board on a fretted bass.
I've wanted that from the third bass I ever owned and never managed to get one so far.

I even broadened my criteria to a 'blonde' board when I was looking for a bass the last time, but instead I went home with a redhead.

This is a luxury problem, because basically I always fell in love with something else - so strongly that I abandoned the quest for the maple board for this purchase and told me that the next one will be blonde. I don't have a specific goal that only can be achieved by owning a bass with a maple board other than owning a bass with a maple board - so you don't see me in tears here. I was just wondering if that is something others experience, too.

I have a really nice Squier Jaguar which has stacked knobs, block inlays, and a matching headstock (black finish).

I would've liked a Fender (or Squier VM or CV) to make a Jaguar bass with all of the above, but also with the cool Jaguar switchplates and maybe in a surf color like seafoam or surf green. The now-discontinued American Standard Jaguars were really nice, but didn't have the color I wanted, nor the matching headstock, nor the stacked knobs.

In any case, I like what I've got and my Rickenbacker is my main player anyway so it's just whining on my part.

 

[el murdoque]

Why can't you find a bass with a maple fretboard? Pretty much half of all basses available have maple.Or do you just want one, but keep buying basses with rosewood or ebony or something else boards?

Exactly. I set out to buy a maple one and come home with something else.

You see, I bought three 'serious' basses in close to three decades of playing.
Each time, I carefully researched, planned and then got sidetracked by something.

In the first case, I went to the German Carvin shop in the nineties. I wanted to have one built.
It should have been a maple neck with birdseye maple board, glossy transparent green and gold hardware.
I entered the store and my eye fell on that sunburst LB75 with an ebony board. Love at first sight. I haggled them down because of a minor ding in the finish and left with that bass.

In the second case, I was already in contact with a luthier to have the bass build. I told him the specs I wanted. We started planing the whole thing, but I was unsure whether I should give him the go and send money, because I never played an instrument of his. So I sent him money and he sent me a bass he had already completed, so I could try it out.
It was very close to my specs, but it had a wenge board. I tried to resist for a couple of days, but in the end I did not commission the build because I kept that one.

Case three - in short: I was blown away by the bass in my avatar. It has a padouk neck and board and is stunningly beautiful.

I am happy with all my bases.

 

[braud357]

3 of my 5 basses are fretted, maple boards !

 

[GlennRH]

Here's how I relate to the OP...

After my first three basses (owned & played between 1984 and 2003) I vowed to myself that any bass I buy in future must have a maple fingerboard.

I special-ordered a G&L L-1500 in 1997 with a maple fingerboard + 1.5" nut + 9.5" radius (my 4th bass). I have loved it ever since.

However, after 23 years of playing the L-1500, I finally realized that I must play a light-weight bass (lighter than this 10 lb G&L).

This resolved, the very best bass of all I could find had a rosewood 'board and could not be ordered with maple.

I am happy with this Cort Action DLX Plus despite the rosewood 'board.

 

[Peteyboy]

By "build" do you mean "grow"? Because it looks like you got a little homegrown Ric Orchard going on here.

 

[Cutter8]

32" scale Precision with a Jazz width nut. Want one real bad, but I don't have Warmoth money. Also I hate J pickups so I won't get the Classic Vibe Jaguar because the J pickup is a deal breaker for me... I am extremely fussy.

Have you considered a Lowe 32” Scale Conversion Neck? That’s a simple and high quality solution. Pop one on a Precision you love and you’re good to go.

 

[Chickenwheels]

I wish my Fender Roscoe Beck V was a tad less heavy. It’s balanced luckily.

 

[DonaldR]

Yes, graphite composite necks aren’t graphite all the way through. But it isn’t air in there. The Status instructions talk about there being 1/4 inch composite thickness - doing that front and back on a 1 inch thick section means, even if it was air in the middle, that more than half of the volume is composite. Add in the side walls, and it’s clearly more than half composite. Graphite composite is 2.5 to 3.5 x the density of maple, so at half or more of the occupied volume,...it’s a heavier neck.

Graphite composite heavier than wood? Tell that to hockey players...

 

[DonaldR]

OP I'm hearing you. Always love maple fretboard but only got my first one after 30 years of playing.
I was even thinking going to see a luthier to swap the rosewood fretboard for a maple fretboard on my Yamaha TRBX-505!!!!