Willing to trade for my "dream bass series"1

[Mlazarus]

I own a really nice 82' Series 1. I bought it this year. A nice walnut brown top. 34' scale. Great sounding as usual, but I realize I can play more comfortably with a 32' scale because I realize my arms are shorter than I realized (you don't realize your physicality until you try). The neck pickup is only 1/2 inch from the 24th fret which means (for MY playing style) harder to place index finger into tight 1/2-inch area to pop. This is what I am looking for to make trade.

   1. 77-83 series 1 4 string bass

   2. 32' scale

   3. truss rod plate at least 1 inch in width

   3. most woods except the yellow and quilted bodies.

   
          must show pictures

   

   

[jazzyvee]

I understand your point with the pop space being narrow with the pickup location close to the neck. I have the same situation on my 1980 series shorty however when doing that style on this bass, I have trained my "popping" ,middle, finger to pop the string between the pickups. But then most of my playing does not require slap so for me that is not an issue so I hope you manage to find a bass to match your style. 👍🏾
Lovely bass, by the way.

[Mlazarus]

Yes, using the middle finger can help. Also streaching th top left fore arm muscle helps to easily play the 1st position of a 34' scale.

[sonofa_lembic]

Not likely to fond a Series bass from those years with anything more than a 1/2" truss rod cover.  They just did not do them then.

[Mlazarus]

1 inch truss rod plates came after 84, I think. Before then, the bass was set up for regular finger playing. Alembic realized the slapping style was becoming more and more popular with the Mark King craze and before him Louis Johnson.

[edwardofhuncote]

I almost hate to turn a box of squirrels loose, but it's a rainy Saturday here in Virginia, so here goes.

Here are two medium-scale Series basses, an '80, with the neck pickup offset by maybe a 1/2" (it's more like 5/8"...) and a '77 model with a clearly larger space between the end of the fingerboard and the neck pickup. (the brass trc is homemade... by me) I don't know how big this space is, but it's at least an inch and change. And it is not unique, but common to its time.

Now, here are two Distillates. The first is an '81... neck pickup shoved way up to there. The '85 fretless though, waaaaay down towards the bridge. Those two basses sounded radically different. I think the pickup placement had a lot to do with it.

#77-954 is a Peruvian Walnut medium-scale Series I that belongs to a friend of mine on this forum. His has been modified to make it more slap-friendly.

The good news is; what you're looking for is out there. With every posted thread, clearly the bass you have isn't it, but you've only scratched the surface. Read. Look. Watch. It'll happen.

See... if you leave some peanuts and raisins, they'll run back in the box by themselves. 

[JimmyJ]

Are we also allowed to use the term slap-happy?     

Ironically, my original 5-string bass from '76 had tightly spaced pickups and a fairly wide gap between the end of the fingerboard and the bass p/u - as you can see in the rough screen shot below (in the next post).  So when I had to replace that bass in '87 I requested a similar spacing - as in the pic below.

Thing is, the extra space is wasted on me as I never developed any thumb / slap / pop skills.  I leave that technique to you professionals!  And these basses still have plenty of low-end, IMO.

Jimmy J

[JimmyJ]

Oops, try that first pic again...

[Mlazarus]

Jimmy J thats a very nice bass. A lot of space. And you are a professional with out being a slapper. I read one of you solos about a month ago. Good stuff. Finger playing. I like slapping but im focusing alot on finger solos too. Both are important to me so its ideal i have some pickup space. Playing in the 1st position on my 34 scale requires physical tharapy and stretching (lol) but i 'm getting better.

[Mlazarus]

My 80s Distillate had about a i inch space. A bit easier to pop strings. The scale was a medium. I don't remember having as problem with the pickup selector in the way. I think the selector was further away than the series 1. Look at the picture of this bass truss rod plate.