Alucard817

It was Gibson for Indian rosewood. The wood isn't endangered, actually it had nothing to do with environmental concerns at all. It was all about bureaucratic bullshit. Gibson had something like 500 grand of materials seized, and as far as I know they have never been charged with anything, nor have they gotten any of it back.

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Deliriumbassist

It scores 1820 on the Janka scale, so it's harder than the rosewoods. It can splinter whilst being worked and wears down tools, but will take finishes quite well. They make baseball bats from hickory, so should work well as a neck wood, but also be hard enough to work as an unfinished fingerboard wood.

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anarkee

http://www.newsmax.com/US/Gibson-wo...08/07/id/447779

Update on the Gibson case.

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"I have suffered for my music and now it's your turn." Neil Innes

dark Mass

Bell brass is softer than nickel silver and stainless steel. It requires less force to press in and to pull out for refret jobs.

EDIT:Wenge is quite notorious for chipping during refrets.

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Alucard817

Was that from the '09 or the '11 raid?

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Tostitos

Plus hickory smoked meat is awesome, so if you had a hickory neck or fingerboard, in the event your bass was broken you could have a barbeque!

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Sliide90027

Spaz,

Me happier with my Basswood 456, 455, and 405 MIK BTB's than the MIJ Mahogany Core 1006 Fretless.

Since Fretless is supposed to be more like a DBV, flatwounds on it work out just fine.(Bought it on-line unplayed, just trusted the moment.)

I really should be quiet, because I talked at the other forum about my PB-1 too much to draw people out to talk about what their recent experience was. They went up from $200 used to over $400 on some deals on ebay.

Did the same on BP-8's, have not seen a single one on Ebay or even craigslist since before Christmas. I will expect them to start commanding more money too. (Glad I have my two. One is nothing, two is everything.)

I have started to see the same with the Basswood 400 series. I got into a 405 NEW at $300 or $395, I don't remember, in 2006. They want more than that for them used now.

I suppose we see eye to eye on the whole exotic wood craze. I am fine with Ornamental Tops on Basswood.

Still Fender could make all of their future instruments out of it, and I would not look at them. I would have to get a Status Neck to get me on to a Fender, and it would have to have thin aspects like the BTB.

I think that is strange coming from a DBV Player. Buy Hey! This is a Guitar.

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Ibanez BTB 1006 Fretless and 405 (no Barts)
456 & 455(w/Barts)
Genz Benz NeoX400 112T & NeoX 112T cab.
Digitech BP-8 (x2)
Yamaha PB-1
Boss: SYB-5, PS-2, OD-20, EQ-20, PH-3,BF-3, CE-20, DD-20
Morely A/B

John Swift

Do they give you a bell to ring with instructions to shout unclean when you go out?

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G&L L2500
Squier Affinity Jazz Bass 5
Ashdown RPM pre-amp
Ashdown Little Giant 1000
300 watt 15" powered cab
450 watt 15" powered sub bass cab
2x10 + horn
1x15x10 + horn

FatalGear41

No, but I'll bet there's an iPhone app for that.

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kangaxxter

When you look at the prevailing trends throughout the past 60 plus years and in modern music, isn't the question really; Are any basses besides Fender relevant? In a market dominated by a couple of models and copies thereof, really nothing besides the P and J basses (and their copies) has ever had the lasting and enduring impact of these electric basses.

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Guitar

Whenever I hear someone say that they play exclusively a single genre, I always assume that they're just a terrible guitarist.

Spanner93

Not really true, Hofner Violin basses, Rickenbackers etc. are just as relevant (and longlasting). Fender just trades on its name nowadays, there product really don't seem to be anything that special anymore.

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Alucard817

The Hofner violin/viola bass is more a curiosity anymore, since the only big musician to play one ( That I can remember) is Sir Paul McCartney.
Even now the only average person I see playing them are those who want a Beatles sound.

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John Swift

What people seem not to be aware of is that when Macca started out and bought the Violin Bass it was a price and availabilty issue.
When we went looking round local music stores at the end of the 50s into the early 60s the UK was still going through the hangover of WWII.
There was an abundance of low price instruments but the top end ie Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Guild etc usually had to be ordered.
In the UK in 1962 a Fender Jazz Bass cost around £170 GBP when the basic wage was only £10 pw which by comparrison is over £2,000 today.

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G&L L2500
Squier Affinity Jazz Bass 5
Ashdown RPM pre-amp
Ashdown Little Giant 1000
300 watt 15" powered cab
450 watt 15" powered sub bass cab
2x10 + horn
1x15x10 + horn

Tostitos

While Fender and Fender style copies/clones may have dominated the market for the most part, it isn't true in the slightest that other basses aren't relevant, especially when many simply don't have the merit of being as old.

Alembic's pioneering work with active electronics is certainly relevant to modern bassists, Modulus's work with carbon fiber (which also translates into the stiffening rods common to many wood necks now), Ned Steinberger's concern for the ergonomics of a bass guitar (in both the NS body design a la Spector and his own designs at Steinberger), Warwick's exploration of exotic tonewoods, the list of relevant innovations goes on. Then there's designs like the Rickenbacker 4001/4003, the Gibson Thunderbird, and Leo's later creations at Music Man and G&L. There's plenty of designs and innovations that are relevant to bass guitars and bassists today, even if they're not the "old standard."

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Spaz91

I was in the market for a short scale and I saw one of these going cheap, the only reason I didn't get it was the thought of people assuming me to be a Macca clone.

The original post is about whether these "copies" have surpassed Fender. Old trends aren't relevant any more, dial-up was the shit before broadband came along.

To summarize what I've said so far in this thread, I believe Fender to be, for the most part, way off the mark when it comes to price:features (particularly the made in Mexico models.) They aren't marketed as beginner basses so they should have reinforced necks and high mass bridges, these are the standards today. Pickups, active electronics and extended range are all subjective but you can see where corners have been cut on Mexican and some Japanese models. Personally, I think the Highway 1 series was the ideal (possibly the American Special, I've yet to try it) and many competing brands do the same combination of outsourced manufacturing followed by a professional setup in their home factory. (See Skyline, Electra and possibly the Tribute series.)

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fudger

Funky Hofner for the win, brought to us by a bass God. If I ever got one it was because of this.

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Spaz91

^ That's pretty cool. You can't get that E string growl on anything but a short scale.

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Spanner93

Hell yeah, that is cool. Anyway, a well eg'd Hofner is imo the nicest semi-acoustic sound a bass can make.

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Alucard817

That is a funky sounding Hofner.

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