My new Stealth Headless, 34" scale, 16.5mm spacing, Chris W pickup spacing, rounded body contour, Blue LED's
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Nice! Did you refinish the 'Ray for the black graphite look, or was it already that color?
It was already that color… It's a US-made SUB body. I've only played it for a day, but I absolutely love it! It is truly a mating of two of my favorite things – Status Graphite and Music Man Stingray.
Man, that's so hot! The way the sun glints off the frets, it almost looks like it's got white LEDs!
I did fit it myself. Here's the thread on it.
It was not terribly difficult. When the instructions say "use a bigger drill bit than you would with wood", they mean it! The toughest part was getting the screws to cut in. Graphite necks like these are tough as hell.
But talk about a rewarding project! What a difference.
And yeah, I've only really looked at the small pics. That does look like white LEDs!
It was not terribly difficult. When the instructions say "use a bigger drill bit than you would with wood", they mean it! The toughest part was getting the screws to cut in. Graphite necks like these are tough as hell.
But talk about a rewarding project! What a difference.
And yeah, I've only really looked at the small pics. That does look like white LEDs!
And a few more...
But my main player for the last seven years has been this one... There's nothing to touch it.
But my main player for the last seven years has been this one... There's nothing to touch it.
Amazing collection! You can complain if you like about England's weather and cuisine, but there are certain advantages to Colchester being a day-trip.
You didn't ask for one, but those basses certainly warrant a place on the Status Register. #31 to be precise - a prime number!
Amazing collection! You can complain if you like about England's weather and cuisine, but there are certain advantages to Colchester being a day-trip.
You didn't ask for one, but those basses certainly warrant a place on the Status Register. #31 to be precise - a prime number!
Thank you very much
Speaking of day trips to Colchester, I'm doing one tomorrow! Hopefully there's a new bass coming through production that I've snagged. Watch this space...
What does the CW pickup spacing do to the tone? It looks very close to the spacing I had on a Corvette $$ I had a few years ago. Just around the sweet spot, warm but with a lot of clarity & punch.
I never liked the pickup spacing on my original KingBass Artists (both 4 & 5 strings) - Maybe it was partially the single piece body, but I mainly found that the MK1 boomed too much.
Hopefully I'll have more luck with the JJ setup on the MK-II.
OTPJ,
I found the CW pickup placement to give more tonal options for my playing style.
I don't use slap much, just finger pick and tapping. I find the using the bridge pickup solo'ed, gives a lot more of a Musicman tones, thicker than the stock pickup placement. Still very clear and articulate, just bigger. Overall the CW placement is warmer, which works well for the Stealth.
Let me know how the JJ's work, I didn't find them to my liking in my MKII, I enjoyed the stronger mid grunt articulation of the soapbars I had built into my second one.
I have a Kingbass in the que now. Having owned 7 of them over the last 12yrs, I've had about every different option available. I found that the bolt on sounds best to ME, and the 32"/16.5mm is becoming more practical for my smaller stature, for ease in playing. Wish I lived close to Colchester, most likely would have saved me some money.
Good luck OTPJ
I found the CW pickup placement to give more tonal options for my playing style.
I don't use slap much, just finger pick and tapping. I find the using the bridge pickup solo'ed, gives a lot more of a Musicman tones, thicker than the stock pickup placement. Still very clear and articulate, just bigger. Overall the CW placement is warmer, which works well for the Stealth.
Let me know how the JJ's work, I didn't find them to my liking in my MKII, I enjoyed the stronger mid grunt articulation of the soapbars I had built into my second one.
I have a Kingbass in the que now. Having owned 7 of them over the last 12yrs, I've had about every different option available. I found that the bolt on sounds best to ME, and the 32"/16.5mm is becoming more practical for my smaller stature, for ease in playing. Wish I lived close to Colchester, most likely would have saved me some money.
Good luck OTPJ
Thanks, Doc - I'm going for the Mk-II, as I played one of Mark's basses in the Status workshop not long after they officially came out. I loved the bigger body, just seemed to have more tone than the regular KingBass & the JJ side by side single coils were that little bit grittier to my ears. But then again, that was through Rob's ancient Trace Elliott combo under the workbench!
I initially played the single coils on the first production (graphite necked) T-Bass. It was a seriously hard decision between that and my current S2, which was a brand new stock bass. In the end the S2 won out, mainly because I'd played S2's since 1990 and hadn't gotten along with my KingBass Artist as well as I'd have hoped, mainly due to the shorter body. I did try the KB twice, one with 5 strings and later another 4 string custom order, but neither stuck to me like the S2 did as my main player.
Was your Mk-II headed or one of the even rarer headless ones, btw? Also, what spec is your new KB? Paramatrix, perchance?
I know what you mean about the bolt on basses - What they lose in sustain (probably around five percent) they seem to gain in grittiness. I had a five string S2 with bolt on graphite neck and the birdseye effect phenowood fingerboard (it's the cocobolo one in my pictures.) It was a great bass for jazz playing as you could be really subtle with it or solo like a demon.
Well, it's off we go to the Colchester toy shop of dreams tomorrow...
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OTPJ,
Both my MKII's were headless, the JJ equipt I bought used from Daveski on Statii.com, the soapbar model I had built in white tint with a satin neck finish(which I didn't really care for).
My new Kingbass is a standard bolt-on, only option is a Nuetriks output jack, keeping it simple, and because I think my college bound son is going to steal one of my Statii away with him. I've given him the option of any of my quiver, he's leaning toward the Streamline or the new KB. Tell Rob and Dawn hello from me.
Both my MKII's were headless, the JJ equipt I bought used from Daveski on Statii.com, the soapbar model I had built in white tint with a satin neck finish(which I didn't really care for).
My new Kingbass is a standard bolt-on, only option is a Nuetriks output jack, keeping it simple, and because I think my college bound son is going to steal one of my Statii away with him. I've given him the option of any of my quiver, he's leaning toward the Streamline or the new KB. Tell Rob and Dawn hello from me.
I will indeed convey your well wishes to the Green family
The one I'm hopefully going for is a headed Mk-II with a particularly nice piece of ash for the body, finished in transparent cherry red lacquer. Not the usual mahogany/walnut I go for, but something quite different. I'm rather taken with the sound of ash bodies at the moment, particularly with my MM Classic Sabre, which has tone in bucketloads.
If I end up doing a fresh order, it'll probably be a cocobolo one. I loved the one Mark toured with in 2008-2009 which had the bookmatched twin backwards facing swirls. Usual 19mm string spacing and no LED's, though. I'd usually go for headless like all my previous Statii, but I always loved the Mk-II as a headed instrument. (The Sabre has made me careful of whacking the head against microphone stands, etc!!!)
The one I'm hopefully going for is a headed Mk-II with a particularly nice piece of ash for the body, finished in transparent cherry red lacquer. Not the usual mahogany/walnut I go for, but something quite different. I'm rather taken with the sound of ash bodies at the moment, particularly with my MM Classic Sabre, which has tone in bucketloads.
If I end up doing a fresh order, it'll probably be a cocobolo one. I loved the one Mark toured with in 2008-2009 which had the bookmatched twin backwards facing swirls. Usual 19mm string spacing and no LED's, though. I'd usually go for headless like all my previous Statii, but I always loved the Mk-II as a headed instrument. (The Sabre has made me careful of whacking the head against microphone stands, etc!!!)
My first bass with a Status neck:
My second bass with a Status neck:
My second bass with a Status neck:
The precedent was established last year that multiple Status necks were sufficient for a place on the TB Status Register. silky smoove gets #32 - a power of two!
