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The prettiest bass I've ever seen - NBD

Congrats @musicman556 ! Looks great. Had you ever played a MManP before? I don't think I have ever seen one. I know what it's like to pick up a bass and feel like it's 'the one'. Happened to me recently.

Great question! No, I had not! I have played a LOT of Brian's LEJs over the years and knew I loved the feel and shape, etc. I love my newer Sterling Stingray and almost 15 years ago I had a real MusicMan Stingray 4, so I knew I liked the pickup. Then... who can say no to a nice P pickup? When I started this build, Brian had just started doing the MMP configuration, I think. I had seen pictures of them but never actually played one, so it was a bit of a gamble!

Some day I'll get another straight ahead J, but I've had a few over the years and I just don't really connect with the two single coils very well. I just never felt like I got what I wanted out of them, and my last MIM J I even played with pickups, etc. Last iteration we had it loaded with EMGs. It was aight... but just not... right.

What bass did you get recently that was "the one"?
 
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Ah- I got a Carl Thompson. It is super light. the neck is perfect; not too wide, not too narrow, not chunky. It looks amazing and sounds perfect. I want to record it and post a sound clip but I don't have a recording setup at the house and off my phone would do it dis service. I posted my NBD recently if you want to check it out.
 
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Also took your lead and updated my avatar. I'm not as photogenic though so you'll have to assume my enthusiasm :)

haha! I don't know about photogenic, but a lack of maturity shackled in an oversized bearded body does make for some amusing caricatures from time to time. But dude that composition is cool, using the window shades to cast the light in rays across the bass is super nifty!
 
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Just curious...what's the advantage to being able to switch between 3-band and 2-band preamps?


It's a ripoff of the Lakland setup on my Skyline 55-02 (which I also got from Brian, haha!) so Volume, Hi Mid, and Low tone controls down the outside, and that one just above the switch is a blend pot. =) That setup just makes the most sense to me, so I asked Brian to just copy it.
Also, the mid-tone knob pulls up to make it a 2 band eq instead of 3, and the volume knob pulls up for passive mode.

Thank you!
 
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Japn Jazz Bass (2).jpg


I own the prettiest I have seen.
 
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I don't believe you can have both pickups in the original locations as there's a wee bit of overlap. I opted to have my humbucker in the factory Music Man sweetspot location... and as a result, I had to bump the P pickup toward the neck by 3/16 of an inch.

Trust me, man... you won't hear a difference. I own/have owned many vintage Fender Precisions and and can assure you that when I isolate the P on my blue Valenti, it sounds like a dang good Precision. And blending the P with the BigSplitMan yields a variety of really sweet and completely usable tones.

So what you are telling me is that it is impossible to make and MM/P with both pickups in their original positions?