Page 106 of 111
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2025 5:08 pm
by Frankie99
I have never seen a bass V before. It looks like the high and low strings are just b-a-r-e-l-y on the fretboard, and the pickup got stretched out by bad software. But in a nice way.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:25 pm
by mdc
They didn't make many of them, I don't think. The scale and note range is the same as a p-bass, just instead of 4 strings and 20 frets you have 5 strings and 15 frets.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:46 pm
by llllllllllllllllllll
I remember one Fender V going at a music go round for at least a reasonable price, around $2k maybe, and posting it here. That’s the kind of thing ai wish I would have just said fuck it and got because they aren’t going for that anymore.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2025 8:36 am
by Dr Tony Balls
Frankie99 wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 5:08 pm
I have never seen a bass V before. It looks like the high and low strings are just b-a-r-e-l-y on the fretboard, and the pickup got stretched out by bad software. But in a nice way.
They were designed for sight-reading bass players so instead of moving up the neck for higher notes there was a higher C string that you could play, thus the 15 fret neck instead of 20, as mdc pointed out. Most that i've seen in the modern era are strung like a modern 5 string with a low B instead of the high C which can crowd the fretboard a bit which is maybe what you're seeing in that pic.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 10:30 am
by W.L.Weller
I sold a 90s Les Paul Studio to a friend of a friend for a friendly price 6 or 8 years ago, with the condition that he offer it back to me before selling it to someone else. So I'm going to buy back this LP.
Here's the "TMOOI or JMP" part. FM Ben Adrian is selling a set of Mr. Fabulous "Old Black" pickups. Unfortunately this LP Studio isn't one of the "Gem" series with P90s, it's got the 490R/498T set. Sorry, Ben.
BUT, I could order a PAF-size Firebird pickup AND a PAF-size P-90 from Mr. Fabulous (and probably a dozen other pickup winders). AND I could get a Bigsby B7 + Vibramate!
Will I sound any better than I do on the half-dozen guitars I have? Obviously not. Do pickup construction differences matter when driving a ring modulator? Doubtful.
Should I spend money maintaining the gear I already own? Or, dare I even suggest it, practice instead? Probably.
But come on! A new project! (I hope the old, abandoned projects don't hear me) Chrome and things of that nature!
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 11:41 am
by cakes
W.L.Weller wrote: Wed Aug 06, 2025 10:30 am
I sold a 90s Les Paul Studio to a friend of a friend for a friendly price 6 or 8 years ago, with the condition that he offer it back to me before selling it to someone else. So I'm going to buy back this LP.
Here's the "TMOOI or JMP" part. FM Ben Adrian is selling a set of Mr. Fabulous "Old Black" pickups. Unfortunately this LP Studio isn't one of the "Gem" series with P90s, it's got the 490R/498T set. Sorry, Ben.
BUT, I could order a PAF-size Firebird pickup AND a PAF-size P-90 from Mr. Fabulous (and probably a dozen other pickup winders). AND I could get a Bigsby B7 + Vibramate!
Will I sound any better than I do on the half-dozen guitars I have? Obviously not. Do pickup construction differences matter when driving a ring modulator? Doubtful.
Should I spend money maintaining the gear I already own? Or, dare I even suggest it, practice instead? Probably.
But come on! A new project! (I hope the old, abandoned projects don't hear me) Chrome and things of that nature!
Eh, the 490R/498T ain't bad. I have a 2009 LP Studio with them in it and I like them alright. I do like P90s, too. It's not a bad vs good, just a taste thing. Is it worth upgrading? I dunno, depends on the price. The average price of a Studio right now is $800.
I'd say if you can get all that done for less than that price, it's probably not a bad idea. But, if you want an LP with P90s, you could probably do yourself a better favor and get the Epiphone 1960 Les Paul Special double cut reissue.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 12:18 pm
by W.L.Weller
The Mr. Fabulous pickup set would be ~$200 shipped to me, then $165 for a Bigsby B7 & $65 for a Vibramate. (The guitar itself is not part of this calculus, this is me trying to bling up and be excited about a guitar that I'm definitely re-acquiring for sentimental reasons (and also because the re-purchase price is well below MV)).
I should probably just get it back and see how it sounds to me now, rather than immediately replace pickups I haven't heard in a decade, just because "I'm a single-coil guy" and "I don't have any P90 guitars".
Also the existence of that Epiphone LP Special DC is very troubling. "Luckily" I don't have $1k at hand to blow at the moment.
going to repeat my mantras "more gear can't make you a better player" and "more gear doesn't buy you the time to play it."
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 12:59 pm
by cakes
W.L.Weller wrote: Wed Aug 06, 2025 12:18 pm
I should probably just get it back and see how it sounds to me now, rather than immediately replace pickups I haven't heard in a decade, just because "I'm a single-coil guy" and "I don't have any P90 guitars".
Well, I mean... P90s are single coils for people who like the idea of humbuckers.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 7:40 pm
by llllllllllllllllllll
Oh come on. How is choosing a cheap Gibson he already knows and likes over a $1300 Epiphone even a question.
Re: Gear: TALK ME OUT OF IT or JUSTIFY MY PURCHASE?
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 8:50 pm
by cakes
llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Wed Aug 06, 2025 7:40 pm
Oh come on. How is choosing a cheap Gibson he already knows and likes over a $1300 Epiphone even a question.
He doesn't know he likes it, and the Epi isn't $1300.