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They're big fellas, two are about the size of a beer can! I suspect they'll be alright for a bit, the ones at BBC Maida Vale are still going and they're older and more heavily used than mine...

I'm finding my sterling sub 4 running hot and I'm thinking of changing it from series to parallel (like the classic Stingray's). Have any of my fellow low enders done this and if so are there any tips? Thanks

My Jim Deacon shorties were as cheap as chips and they are great, and the construction is more than good enough to warrant pickup and tuner upgrades. I love them! Hopefully one day I'll find the very elusive J version too.

The Classic Sabre reissue was very good - I had one for a couple of years, but they were very expensive. I guess the Stingray just sells more units. Similarly, the twin humbucker version of the Fender Dimension Deluxe/Elite would be an excellent choice here. They were true Stingray killers.

ok, looked into it a bit further on my main basschat machines, which is a windows computer 8:30-5 and a mac with safari the rest of the time, and the one that controls this is 'notificationPushRejected', which in your cookies is ips4_notificationPushRejected. I have it on both the PC and the Mac, which as far as I know has standard settings (and just checked my other mac up here, it has the same cookie and is standard). In the cookie window in safari it shows as: ips4_notificationPushRejected true www.basschat.co.uk / 16/02/2027 11:11:38 which I notice is a year away from when I opened basschat on that machine this morning. Quiting and restarting safari doesn't seem to change it. Yep, looking at the javascript, clicking the close box on the 'stay up to date' box writes the cookie ips4_notificationPushRejected with a timeout of a year + 100 seconds (no idea why the 100 seconds). Everytime there is a notification, the first thing it does is check if that cookie is present, and if so it doesn't put the box up and goes on its merry way. If it isn't present and you haven't actually had that box displayed to you in the current session it puts the box up. It seems like maybe somehow that box is getting dismissed without pressing the close box somehow?

Sabre would offer more possibilities. Why was is it so short lived, I don't know.

To be honest, the gap between a Supertone bridge and the edge of the fingerboard, it would be hardly noticeable...

Well, there's the old Fender trick of a ribbon of copper foil going from under the bridge to (in the Ripper's case) the underside of the pickguard? Yes, it's visible, but it's electrically sound, reversible, and easily achieved...

Caps will go pop any day now, no doubt.

I have no doubt at all that a Serek or a Wilcock would be sublime. But having a tragic history of expensive = better, the joy of the NEWPORT is that it was as cheap as chips. It is entirely functional, the finish is exemplary and the neck pickup solo'd just delivers. All for £230 on ebay. The seller had put a deeply weird custom pickguard on it which looks like something I would have designed when I was 8. That is not a compliment. But this does not matter becaue it was cheap as chips.

Black plate, a la George Harrison telecaster.

I'm up for a zombie thread resurrection when it comes to lauding Yamaha basses! Currently have a BB1200 and an SB500S. Both fantastic instruments, the BB1200 is simply consummate. It isn't flashy, it isn't particuarly exciting to look at, but in terms of playing feel and sound it just gets on with the job of delivering excellent results in both departments. The SB500S is a quirky number which I enjoy because of that - the somewhat wonky body shape is what chiefly appeals, and despite being a J bass in disguise, there's a bit more going on in these pickups than a standard J, couldn't tell you why, must be the way they wind 'em. Historically I've had a BB300, BB350F, BB450, BB614, BB434. Honestly, if I could have any of those back again, it would be either the BB300 or 450. I don't really like where the most recent BBs have gone - they've done something to the body shape that makes it seem less "broad" to me, streamlined it. Didn't keep the 434 long, didn't appeal to me as much in the sense that it seems to have had much of the quirkiness tamed out of it. It seemed like a slightly different shaped, generic PJ bass to me. And if I could have any Yamaha which I don't already have, it'd probably be a BB1200S, just as a counterpoint to my 1200.

I remember back in the 80s a M8 of mine had an Amstrad Tower System that he proudly told me was 500W... It even said it on the box. But that was the only quoted figure, and it said in tiny letters, PMPO. So things haven't changed! By contrast, my hifi power amplifier comes with an individual test certificate for that particular amp, signed by the tester, which quoted a whole raft of figures for outputs at various loads and frequencies, slew rates and who knows what else+ the most exciting of which was 962W/ch @4ohms for 1KHz with THD <0.05%. There was also a 20 year guarantee, which has just run out!

Vincen Garcia plays the hell out of his BB, whether with his own band, or when backing Cory Wong. But yes, you're right - they don't seem to be a popular choice these days amongst visible pros. I've had a few in the past, such as a TRB6-II, Nathan East TRB5, and a Sheehan BB714BS which was the boomiest thing I've heard in my life. If you want to vaporize the underwear of the girls in the front row, the BB714BS is the bass for you! My one small complaint with the TRBs is that the preamps are always a little artificially 'plinky' sounding. Apart from that, Yamaha make seriously nice instruments.

I'm really sorry to hear this, but it's super helpful to see honest feedback, so a heartfelt thank you for posting it! Unfortunately the drawback of and being effectively a one-man business* and making everything entirely by hand is that we do need to charge a little more than some other business models do in order to cover our labour costs. Just as a bass made using hand tools will take more time and therefore cost more than one made using a CNC machine, so does a scratchplate. For anyone interested, here's a short video showing how we make each pickguard by hand As it's mostly just me here, at busy times (over xmas and new year in particular) I do have to prioritise making scratchplates over responding to emails- however, we do have a direct order form on our website now, so the old system of needing to message us directly to request a price is obsolete for all but the most awkward of jobs. (Basic modifications are free of charge when ordered via our builder) Despite setting up the order form, I still get a vast number of emails and quote requests a week, but also need to actually fulfil orders, so it can be a difficult balance to strike during busy periods! However, I do personally respond to every single email and enquiry that reaches me as soon as I am able to. The advantage of making everything by hand though, is that in addition to being able to make pretty much any shape imaginable from over a hundred materials, we also offer a 'perfect fit guarantee' and are always super keen to rectify any errors where possible. @three -If you haven't already, please do get in touch if there's anything I can do to correct the 'not perfect' bits you mentioned 🙏 For anyone else interested in giving us a go, we do offer a one-off 20% discount to BC'ers- just drop us a message via our website for a price A typical bass pickguard from us will currently set you back around £55-70 plus shipping, (pre-discount), lead time is approx 10 working days once I have both payment and your original guard/template(there are no standard guards!) Appreciate this is a bit of a long response, hope this is helpful..! Huge thanks also to @Buddster for the kind words! Cheers, Steve *just for clarity- Jack's Instrument Services and Tiny Tone are separate companies- Tiny Tone was set up in 2020 to handle all pickguard orders separately- this way Jack can focus on his luthier work at JIS, and as his sole employee at TT, I handle all pickguards, pedals and wiring here.