Looks like an Epiphone T-bird Goth, @ChrisThomason. How do manage the neck dive?
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That’s a great question! Currently? Horrendous!!!
Honestly that’s the reason I own the P. I was “young” (25) when I bought the TBird. So the color and growl of the bass just had me head over heels. Back then I was just dabbling and wasn’t really serious about my playing. Nevertheless, I still cared enough about playing, that eventually the neck dive was just too much to bear. So being that I was only dabbling, I didn’t really want to spend $200+ on a traditional bass (P or J) that would be functional but not that pretty to look at. I know a silly motivation, but in my mind if I’m only dabbling and barely playing the thing at all. I want to at least feel good about looking at it in the corner of my room.
So after hearing so much about SX basses on Talkbass, and noticing they had a non-B stock on clearance for what turned out to be $90 to my door, I pulled the trigger. To say the least it was a breath of fresh air in regards to overall comfort and play-ability.
Back to the topic at hand however. So yes its awful. Unplayable IMO. However, I’ve heard there is light at the end of the tunnel. Back then I didn’t feel comfortable modifying my own bass. I would rather drop $90 on a new bass, then nearly the same money on a pro installing a new strap button. The trick is, as I’ve found online, is to drill a button vertically into the neck joint as below.
So now that you have the backstory, you may be interested to know that I plan to install a new button myself over Christmas break. Pulling the bass out of its case for the first time in at least a few years, for the “family” picture in this thread. I messed around with it a bit and missed some if its great qualities. At this point, for a whole host of reasons, I’m no longer scared about adding a new button to it myself anymore. Just looking forward to once again spending regular time with an old friend.
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I did a bit of research on solutions but wasn’t comfortable making the sort of adjustments that were recommended, especially those that meant drilling holes. I did give some thought to adding an extension frame to the front upper edge to attach the strap button, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
In the meantime I picked up a cheap Peavey that is lighter and better balanced, so the T-Bird stopped being a problem. I also bought a padded strap for the Peavey and thought it was worth trying on the Bird - imagine my surprise to discover that it provides a very workable solution to neck-dive. It’s not well-balanced, and you do feel it trying to dive, but it’s much more playable.
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Yeah I tried the strap as well. I even tried adding counter weights to a strap on the body end. Neither fixed the overall problem of comfortable play-ability.
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I made that same modification you’re talking about to my T-Bird (see pic here: TBird mod). Between that and a nice thick strap, the neck dive is 95% dealt with.
My only advice is be careful not to scrape the rotating parts of the drill onto the neck!
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Very very nice.
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Nice old fashioned sunburst finish there! And a PJ at that…lots of flexibility!
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Excellent choice!
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In the last two weeks I have changed basses twice. I started with a Sterling, traded it in for a MIM P-Bass, and now am totally in love with a used 20 year old Carvin LB70A I found at a local guitar store…plays like butter!
I look forward to meeting my fellow students…
Allan
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I recently purchased the lessons and a total beginner at 58yrs old. I’m going to take my time and learn well instead of quickly. Thought I’d share a pic of my basses. They’re all Squiers, I’m partial to the Squiers. Don’t really know why.
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welcome!
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Welcome @oneaglewings. That’s a nice collection you’ve got. Unusual around here to see somebody who has multiple basses of only one brand. Have you played many others? The Squire VM 70s was (and still is) on my wish-list, but I haven’t found one to test drive (and don’t really have the money).
Why not pop over to the Introduce Yourself! (2018-2022) thread, if you haven’t already, and erm, introduce yourself to the wider forum.
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Welcome aboard, @oneaglewings . . . 
I love my Squier too! 
Good luck with the lessons and see you around the Forums.
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Hi everyone! Happy to join this community and get more of Josh’s classes!
These are my two beauties:
Top one is a Fender American Pro Precision Bass. The bottom one is a Fender Flea Signature Jazz Bass.
I am clearly a Fender boy
I have been playing for only a little over a year, but I was fortunate to find many instrument stores here in Germany where I was able to just try every single bass they had.
That p-bass is, hands down, my favorite amongst all basses I’ve ever touched. Everything about it is top quality, comfortable to play and it packs that classic p-bass tone that is simply unbeatable to me. Plus my huge hands love that chunky neck and string separation.
I’m also a Flea fan, but I didn’t just buy his jazz signature because of that. First of all, I think it looks amazing. Second, it feels amazing, it’s super comfortable and has a beautiful resonance. Those stacked tone/volume knobs for each pickup also give me a huge tone variety.
I got two basses because I was travelling weekly for work, so I wanted to have a bass at home (Berlin) and another at Stuttgart, where I was working from Mon-Thu. Now that I’m 100% of my time in Berlin I just cannot get rid of any of them. Plus, amongst the two, I can cover a lot of styles and tones…
…but you all know how good old GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) works, right? I sometimes catch myself thinking “I should really get a 5-string one” and “wouldn’t it be awesome to also have a Music Man around?” and “that Marcus Miller Fretless feels amazing!” and so on… 
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I can understand that 
oh yes you can. with a P and a J you can play in any style you want ; I can’t find any exception right now.
anyway welcome aboard, Fender boy !
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This is the kit bass that I built to start my glorious musical journey (or as my wife calls it making a racket). It was just a cheap $70 DIY kit that I found online. It has a few issues; mainly the electronics for the tone controls are super buzzy sounding because of improper grounding. Other then that it plays like a champ for someone just starting out. I forgot to shape the head when I built it so when I replace my strings I’ll probably go ahead and do that.
I did have a few questions about what to upgrade as time goes on with my bass to make it sound and play better. And in what order should I upgrade things? I have a little cheap amp (not pictured) that I use when practicing. But even on that front I could use some advice.
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at this point I’d say the most important thing is to do a proper setup , and to fix the electronics issue.
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