What P? (decided on MJT!)

fretmeister

Aguilar 60s wind pickup. The AG 4P 60.

https://www.aguilaramp.com/pickup-series/p-bass-pickups/


Trust me. 

stickyfiddle

Ooh... I was thinking Lollars as I've never heard a bad word but now I have more decisions to make...

Actually, with that in mind, does anyone have any strong feelings about ash vs alder for a 60's style P bass? I assume alder is more "authentic", whatever that means

ICBM

It depends which direction you want to tip it in - alder if you want the soft and woody sound, ash if you want deep and piano-like.

I prefer ash, but you probably knew I would say that...

stickyfiddle

ICBM said:

It depends which direction you want to tip it in - alder if you want the soft and woody sound, ash if you want deep and piano-like.

I prefer ash, but you probably knew I would say that... 

Yeah, I did  

But it's not necessarily wrong. I've gone quartersawn for the neck which will make it a bit snappier if anything, so inclined towards alder, though ash is prettier. 

Frankly I'm barely beyond the "all basses sound the same" stage, so just looking for a decent blank canvas 

PhilKing

I'd recommend the Bare Knuckles 58 Split P-Bass https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/p-bass/p-bass-58-split-coil-p

I have one on my 66 P-bass and it really sounds great.  A long time ago I had a 62 P Bass and this gets me the same sound (as least as much as I can remember it).

stickyfiddle

Cheers. From all the recommends so far it looks like that Alnico V with 42 AWG wire wound to ~11k seems to be the sweet spot.  Will do some googles. 

John_A

Just popped in to say IMO a lot of the MJT stuff looks a bit rubbish, @lamf68 @rexter and @GoldenEraGuitars are all UK based and will do a better job for less money

stickyfiddle

John_A said:

Just popped in to say IMO a lot of the MJT stuff looks a bit rubbish, @lamf68 @rexter and @GoldenEraGuitars are all UK based and will do a better job for less money

Ta but I’m not UK-based and have previously had a bunch of MJT stuff and been happy, so... 

davros

I have a tele with MJT body and allparts neck, and it's awesome. Nicely (not over-) done relic too.

https://imgur.com/gallery/r4QsyNf.jpg

Would definitely recommend as you have the skills to put it all together

John_A

stickyfiddle said:

John_A said:

Just popped in to say IMO a lot of the MJT stuff looks a bit rubbish, @lamf68 @rexter and @GoldenEraGuitars are all UK based and will do a better job for less money

Ta but I’m not UK-based and have previously had a bunch of MJT stuff and been happy, so... 

Fair enough

stickyfiddle

Righto, Lollars ordered (sorry @fretmeister!). ;

What about strings? La Bella flats seem to be the main theme from what I’ve been reading. Is there a specific sub-type? What about gauge? I have no intention of anything heavier than absolutely necessary- life’s too short

fretmeister

stickyfiddle said:

Righto, Lollars ordered (sorry @fretmeister!). ;

What about strings? La Bella flats seem to be the main theme from what I’ve been reading. Is there a specific sub-type? What about gauge? I have no intention of anything heavier than absolutely necessary- life’s too short

La Bella are the Jamerson / Dunn tone.
Word of warning - they are really quite heavy compared to other more modern flats. If you normally like 45s you might prefer 40s, especially as the old tone masters had a higher action.

Also out of the packet the low E usually sounds very different to the others. Thuddy to the point of being very annoying. They take quite a bit of time to bed in and sound even across all the strings. Can take a few weeks if you are not playing that often.

I like them, but got fed up with the wait and the tension so I swapped back to Thomastiks. They have more mids than the La Bellas. Not a thumpy but more versatile.

Pino with Ti Flats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgFFNXahcg


A quick comparison that sounds realistic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_QXYJwt9kQ


The Ti flats with the tone down (and sponge if you want that) get close enough to the La Bella to me.

Flats are expensive though - might end up spending a fair bit to find your favourite. But then you should get a good 5 years out of them!

fretmeister

Another comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R2LOXMqyg8

KKJale

The Lollar Precision pickup is really fab. I've used one for 10 years. 

Thomastiks are a must-try,... I adored them at first but grew weary of what I heard as a slight jazz-rocky middly parp and reverted to the gorgeously Motowny Labella 760FL set, which looks to have nearly the same gauges as 760FS but in reality feels a lot more manageable. Labella Low Tension Flats might be a neat halfway house. 

fretmeister

KKJale said:

The Lollar pickup is really fab. I've used one for 10 years. 

Thomastiks are a must-try,... I adored them at first but grew weary of what I heard as a slight jazz-rocky middly parp and reverted to the gorgeously Motowny Labella 760FL set, which looks to have nearly the same gauges as 760FS but in reality feels a lot more manageable. Labella Low Tension Flats might be a neat halfway house. 

The La Bella Low tensions are a bit disappointing. I was really excited to try them and they just feel like supermarket own brand Thomastiks. Just meh.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Another +1 for the Thomastik flats for most versatile and easiest playing flat strings. 

stickyfiddle

Cheers all. I was actually just attacking that JM Trio trAck on drums so know it very well. 

From those vids I really like the sound of the Thomastiks so will give those a go first, then maybe La Bellas a year or so later..

fretmeister

A year? The Thomastiks will have only just settled in!  

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

A year? The Thomastiks will have only just settled in!  

 

thegummy

stickyfiddle said:

So today I got my hands around a Vintera series 50’s Precision. Lovely instrument and not too heavy but the neck was too wide at 44.5mm and no rolled edges. 

So I’m clear on 43mm being ok as long as the rest is ok, which means most things are potential options. 

The fly in the ointment is I’m now slightly obsessing about Rickenbackers and listened to Rubber Soul yesterday which didn’t help in that regard... I’m quite sure the correct answer is “Why not both?!” but there is still an initial question of “which one first”

Because the Ric costs about 3 grand and its tone is more like a "party piece" compared the Precision's "workhorse" tone :P 

Re: the strings - I've tried quite a few different of the well known brands of flats and found Thomastik-Infeld (TI) Jazz flats to be my favourite.

I did get a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats installed on my J bass for free during a GuitarGuitar promotion and they actually feel amazing and sound really good on that bass but haven't heard them on a P.