Basses and bad backs!

Some bands don’t rehearse much and it shows. Some consider it to be part of their slightly chaotic or  anarchic charm. Others will play strictly the same set every night and, after a while, the audience will sense that they are merely going through the motions. We are often accused, if that is the right term, of being as tight as a duck’s arse. Since I haven’t had said pleasure I usually take it as a compliment.

I prefer for the Stranglers to rehearse much more material than is necessary so that we can chop and change our sets as and when we feel like. Another advantage, as I see it, is that I can feel much freer with my instrument and I don’t have to keep looking at it to see that I’m playing the right notes. In that way the bass player can groove with the music. I absolutely love to dance when I’m playing, 'Daddy dancing' to some but, ladies and gentlemen, "thems my own legs!"

I don’t always get it right, there is the occasional howler but bollocks it’s rock and roll! Obviously when there is the odd bum note then I repeat it just to show that it was meant and no mere accident. Of course...

However, before this last “Feel it live” tour, we rehearsed more than ever. Some days we had to actually play two whole sets. The end results makes it look effortless but there are many hours to make it look thus. The only problem for me was that some evenings my back was killing me. My bass is quite a heavy thing and without the luxury of being able to move around so much in a small rehearsal room and maybe playing 5 or 6 hours it was starting to be an issue.

I called Jon Shuker to see what could be done. The great thing about a close relationship with an artisan manufacturer is that personal contact.

For many years I used the Fender Precision. I eventually got fed up with the fact it was a distant and remote manufacturer and was determined to find a British manufacturer who could follow the Fender P blueprint or, indeed, improve on it. I found him in the shape of Jon Shuker. For a few years now we have been collaborating on a JJB four string bass which has a great sound, is British made and is custom built.

In fact, I’m trying to have as much locally made equipment as possible. If something is better than my locally made equipment the challenge is for our manufacturers to improve and beat the competition. At present I use Rotosound strings (Kent ) Ashdown amplification (Essex) and Shuker bass (Derbyshire).

Now it was time to update my bass to accommodate my back issue...

Near the beginning of the tour I took delivery of a somewhat modified JJB bass. What a difference. Jet immediately said after the first show that he heard it that it was the best sound he had ever heard from my bass. It was much lighter and balanced. Jon will still be making the original JJB spec fender p type model but this one will be my spec from now on.

So now, with Jon’s permission, for all you bass anoraks out there, here are the new specs...

JJB/4th May 2013

Thanks to Louie N. for bass & case photo

J J Burnel P bass original body

The body is made of two woods, dense white ash and lighter swamp ash, 3 pieces in total. The centre section is made from white ash where the neck, pickups and bridge are fixed, the reason is as the new body - the dense ash in the centre section is where all the main components are bolted, the theory being that the denser ash gives a more defined sound, stronger bass response and brighter trebles, overall a more aggressive sound with stronger sustain and more harmonics.

The wings are made from swamp ash which is a lightweight ash, traditionally used for guitar and bass bodies in the past, but it lacks a little in sound but helps with weight. The idea in the original body was to emulate the sound of the 70’s black P without the extreme weight of a soild white ash body (which is what it is made from and certainly helps the sound) but to get closer to the weight of the green bass, which I think was all swamp ash.

The body was finished in the same way as the new body.

J J Burnel P bass Neck

The neck is made from rock maple, with a rock maple fingerboard. It has a truss rod that is adjustable at the body end, accessed behind a small cover in the scratchplate. Two lengths of carbon graphite rods are installed either side of the truss rod, these dramatically increase the strength and stability of the neck, making it extremely strong and solid, also the carbon graphite increase sustain and harmonics, eliminate deadspots.

The headstock is slightly thicker than normal, this increases sustain and neck strength. The frets are made from stainless steel, this makes the bass brighter, but the main reason is to reduce the wear as normal nickel fretwire is just not up to the job…..! The nut is made from brass, this gives a brighter sound to the open strings, a more fretted note sound, also it is pretty much unbreakable and brass is self-lubricating, so doesn’t pinch the strings.

On the Mk1 bass the headstock was fitted with Gotoh GB2 tuners which are extremely well made and will last a lifetime, one of the best tuners on the market. On MkII we went for Schaller bml lite tuners which are the lightest tuners available and are made by one of the most respected manufacturers of guitar hardware, not cheap because they are made from lightweight alloy and cast carbon resin.

The neck is finished is satin polyurethane lacquer

---------------------------

J J Burnel P bass

Hardware

The basses are fitted with a gotoh 203 bridge, which is a traditional bridge but with huge improvements, the outer saddles run in grooves that stops any side to side movement, the baseplate is much thicker than normal, a heavy duty bridge!

Pickup

The pickup is custom wound to suit JJ’s sound, its based around a ’62 pickup but slightly overwound to give it more output and a stronger midrange and a more aggressive attack. The pickup is complemented by the bass construction giving an increased dynamic range, fuller more defined low end and a crisp, strong treble response.

Controls

Just a volume and tone. The tone control is set to cut more treble than usual.

--------------------------

New bass spec – No. 1 mkII

34” scale

20 frets

44mm nut width – neck measurements taken from green bass

rock maple neck

maple fingerboard

two way adjustable truss rod

carbon fibre neck reinforcement – 2 rods either side of truss rod

black face and side dots

jumbo stainless steel fretwire

brass nut

Schaller bml lite tuners

Black neck hardware

Satin neck lacquer

White ash and lightweight alder chambered body (as previously described)

Polyester basecoat

Wet look gloss black polyurethane topcoat

Black scratchplate

Custom wound P pickup

Volume and tone

Chrome body hardware

Gotoh 203 bridge

------------------------------

Original bass spec – No. 1 mkI

34” scale

20 frets

44mm nut width – neck measurements taken from green bass

rock maple neck

maple fingerboard

two way adjustable truss rod

carbon fibre neck reinforcement – 2 rods either side of truss rod

black face and side dots

jumbo stainless steel fretwire

brass nut

Gotoh GB2 tuners

chrome neck hardware

Satin neck lacquer

White ash and swamp ash body (as previously described)

Polyester basecoat

Wet look gloss black polyurethane topcoat

Black scratchplate

Custom wound P pickup

Volume and tone

Chrome body hardware

Gotoh 203 bridge

------------------

J J Burnel P bass Lite body

The body is made from two woods, a dense white ash and lightweight alder, six separate pieces of wood in total. There is a solid centre section and two chambered ‘wings’. The centre section is a sandwich of the ash and alder, the ash is the upper piece where the neck, pickups and bridge are mounted, the rear the alder. The reason for using the ash on the top is that all the main components are bolted to this dense wood, the theory being that the denser ash gives a more defined sound, stronger bass response and brighter trebles, overall a more aggressive sound with stronger sustain and more harmonics, using the alder on the rear keeps down the weight but also the alder has a more full range sound and adds an amount of warmth to the sound.

The wings are lightweight alder, the upper bout is chambered to lighten the body further. The chamber starts just forward of the forearm contour and stops just before the top horn and is routed to two depths so that the rear contour can be carved. Then a top laminate of alder is glued over the upper wing, this is 6mm thick, which is a fair bit thicker than a top would be for a bass that’s chambered for acoustic reasons, this is because it tends to get thumped often…..

The lower wing is also chambered but just forward of the waist and up to the lower horn, so that the cavity for the controls can be routed from the front without breaking into the chamber.

The wings are glued to the centre section and the bass routed and carved. The body is finished in a polyester basecoat then a gloss black polyurethane topcoat. So all in all quite a complicated build for a P bass, but when together this makes for a bass that weighs only 7 ½ lbs.

The other main change to the first model is the tuners, this bass has Schaller BML lite tuners, which are the lightest tuners available, made from lightweight alloy and cast resin.

We’re looking to develop the bass further, looking into the possibility of a carbon fibre cased neck with a maple board.

Jon Shuker

http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/jjpbass.html