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The official "Show your basses" thread part 19!
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
Just took a family shot, after the last add (first on the left)
Here's 3 of mine. Left to right, the heavily pimped Squire fretless in Burgundy Mist I described in this thread a month ago, on Page 258 of Part 19.
Center stage is my fantastic Maton JB-4, an Australian bass that is easily the most playable I have ever touched. This is my second of these rare, set-neck beauties. Made of Australian Sassafras wood and quarter-sawn Rock Maple with a Rosewood fingerboard, it it just beautiful. This is my second JB-4, my first was bought in 1980, and played on several records. This one has Dimarzio pickups fitted by the factory, my first had Bartolini's that I fitted and they suited the tone so beautifully I'm going to fit a pair into this re-issue from 2011. If anyone has a set of older (or new, come to that) Bartolini P/J pickups they want to get rid of, let me know please. I understand that the J pickup is a short body that is normally used in the neck position of less graceful guitars (it's a DiMarzio Model J DP123S). Light gauge roundwounds suit this gorgeous piece of art that is again no longer available. Only 473 of the original series were made, and I believe that around the same number of the new ones exist, with no more being made yet again. I have numbers 53 and 1029. This type of bass isn't very well known outside Australia, but some escaped with the Violent Femmes, Goanna, and the Little River Band so you may have heard one yet.
Family portraits
On the right is my Washburn Status Series 1000 model S70 from around 1991, with hardware and pickups made by Status (same as found on the Status S2000 Graphite) - the only difference is that this is a wooden neck-through as distinct from the English guitar's carbon fibre composite neck. It is also a fantastic sounding, easy balanced bass, is easy to play up to the 24th fret, and is adjustable from dark through to very bright when needed through its active electronics. I have been using ordinary strings cut to length until recently, but I have sourced some sets of light gauge double ball ended roundwounds made for Steinberger headless bases, and they are just terrific.
I also have an Aria Pro II that is under renovation that I will show after Christmas if I ever get the time to re-spray its body and re-do the electrics.
Let me know what you think of my humble set.
Center stage is my fantastic Maton JB-4, an Australian bass that is easily the most playable I have ever touched. This is my second of these rare, set-neck beauties. Made of Australian Sassafras wood and quarter-sawn Rock Maple with a Rosewood fingerboard, it it just beautiful. This is my second JB-4, my first was bought in 1980, and played on several records. This one has Dimarzio pickups fitted by the factory, my first had Bartolini's that I fitted and they suited the tone so beautifully I'm going to fit a pair into this re-issue from 2011. If anyone has a set of older (or new, come to that) Bartolini P/J pickups they want to get rid of, let me know please. I understand that the J pickup is a short body that is normally used in the neck position of less graceful guitars (it's a DiMarzio Model J DP123S). Light gauge roundwounds suit this gorgeous piece of art that is again no longer available. Only 473 of the original series were made, and I believe that around the same number of the new ones exist, with no more being made yet again. I have numbers 53 and 1029. This type of bass isn't very well known outside Australia, but some escaped with the Violent Femmes, Goanna, and the Little River Band so you may have heard one yet.
On the right is my Washburn Status Series 1000 model S70 from around 1991, with hardware and pickups made by Status (same as found on the Status S2000 Graphite) - the only difference is that this is a wooden neck-through as distinct from the English guitar's carbon fibre composite neck. It is also a fantastic sounding, easy balanced bass, is easy to play up to the 24th fret, and is adjustable from dark through to very bright when needed through its active electronics. I have been using ordinary strings cut to length until recently, but I have sourced some sets of light gauge double ball ended roundwounds made for Steinberger headless bases, and they are just terrific.
I also have an Aria Pro II that is under renovation that I will show after Christmas if I ever get the time to re-spray its body and re-do the electrics.
Let me know what you think of my humble set.
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I think this might be my first post on this forum... I was doing some research, got distracted by the old Huff bass thread, and a week later, here I am. Here's my 1990 Pedulla MVP4 Quilted Maple (apologies for the crummy pic). I'm the original owner and I love it. Below that is my little Ric family.
I'm looking for that exact Pedulla, she's beautiful!! .... Let me know if you ever think about selling her!
That is beautiful! Incredible woodwork. What are those slots in the fretboard? Also, I've seen a few fretless basses with non-adjusting bridges, is precise intonation less of a concern because the player is not restricted by fret position?
The slots have truss rods (accessible and adjustable with strings fully in tune) at around the 27th/28th fret(less) position - and the bridge saddle can be slid/adjusted by hand to the proper position for intonation - and believe me - precise intonation is MORE of a concern with fretless!
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How do you like those fanned frets? What advantages/disadvantages do you see them for you as a player? I've been thinking about getting a new Brice Defiant to see if I like them. I have an standard fret Defiant 6 that I really like and was impressed with the quality.
Finally, Leo got the pickups installed the right way around!
Can you make a thread detailing this process in luthiers' corner? I would absolutely love to see it, and I'm sure the bulk of TB would eat this up!
Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I'm not a pro player or luthier, and I do appreciate the value of this instrument...that being said, I certainly couldn't make it any worse than it was...it is my mission to repair and refinish the body to the best of my abilities, and get it back to a proud state. The original pick up and pots are not there, or the pickup cover or pick guard...the first pictures are as I saw it the first time. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to be able to own this time capsule, and it actually was an attic find. I don't know when the original molestation took place, but the precision pickups that were jammed in it have 1968 dates on them, the pots from 1983..I'll get some pictures in order and meet you all over in the Luthier's corner....
Awesome! Could you link to the thread once it's up? I'm stoked to see this play out!
