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Is this Richtone? There was a thread on The Fretboard about how several guitars weren’t what they claimed to be on closer inspection. It was felt this was naivety on the part of the shop rather than a concerted attempt to mislead. I’ve bought several jeans from them and all have been great.

TTFC's second gig last night at The Garden, Chorlton. Venue used to be Font Bar but has just changed hands, so all the signs still say Font. They're just getting live music up and running, so there isn't a ready made audience there yet. Fortunately it's a local gig for two of us so we brought quite a few people, to the extent where I knew almost everybody in the place! It's got a lot of potential once it gets a reputation and people know there's music on. Bar staff were super chilled and helpful, always a bonus and never taken for granted. We played well, although I made more little mess ups than I should have. The drummer is fettling the recordings, so I'll be able to agonise over them at me leisure soon despite being the only one who noticed on the night. Two 1hr+ sets and 30+ songs (most of them new to me) that haven't all embedded into the muscle memory yet. Gear was Fender Japan Kazuki Arai Jazz 5 -> HX Stomp -> GR One 350 -> PA. Footwear was Vans classic lace ups. One of my mates was on bass watch and sent me these little clips. The artsy filters were his idea. WhatsApp Video 2025-06-07 at 11.49.44.mp4 WhatsApp Video 2025-06-07 at 11.49.51.mp4

The string-through routes don't look factory, though..!

Thru body holes arent even in line... somebodys been at it with the dremel. Neck looks good but who knows and theres no-way to chk the bodies authenticity. Red flags everywhere, but if its a player, then for the right price.....

Thanks for your responses folks. I had thought they were all active - just thought I'd check. I had wondered whether the pickups would work well, without power, which I why I wondered whether they'd been swapped. TBH I still haven't removed them to check properly. They seem absolutely fine - so I guess if that bit ain't broke... Like you @casapete I think I prefer the bass as passive, which is generally my preference anyway. i need to get some fretwork done. They're all in good shape, with plenty of life left in them, but the ones at the heel end are a tad higher than the rest. I just need to get the action down a bit more, and this will be an amazing bass. These are so light for a 34" scale bass. The necks are also slim and Jazz-like, which I prefer, especially lately.

Wow, that looks gorgeous!

Yep, the 1977 Stingray. It certainly transformed my bass https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-stinger-77-classic-mm-stingray-bass-eq-pre-amp-2-band-pre-eb-circuit/

The cab is a Series 6 1153 (Classic) compact cab. It does have a single front port behind the grill.

Here comes that sinking feeling - Eurythmics

AFAIK all Precision Lytes have been active. 3 models , all MIJ. Precision Lyte - late 80’s to mid 90’s. Active 2 band eq ( bass and treble cut/boost) plus a pan and volume control. First editions had gold hardware, later ones had chrome. Both came in a number of colours. Precision Lyte Deluxe - mid 90’s. Humbucking bridge pickup , as above plus a mid cut/boost. Natural finish. Precision Lyte - recent ‘reissue’. Like the original but with 3 band active eq and a separate battery compartment ( unlike the original where the battery was included in the preamp cavity). Currently one of these is for sale at The Bass Gallery. I’ve had a fair number of Lytes, and my current sunburst one has been converted to passive after the original preamp failed. I actually prefer it passive now, but they’re all great basses IMO.

Cant see the neck clearly but the body is a wrong un!

Well im not surprised i got it wrong, but more that so many YT videos seem to have as well.

Hello. I'm Looking for some advice on a bass I've purchased via auction, I've yet to collect. It was listed as 1975 Fender Precision Bass mocha finish. From the photos I thought the neck and neck plate looked genuine. I thought the body had obviously had a hard time and had some bits changed but didn't think too much of it. 3 or 4 things looked obviously non-original for a Fender: bridge pickups knobs string-through - I wasn't sure about this but thought it was possible or could have been a mod. By chance, after the auction I saw an image of a P bass copy on Facebook that has made me doubt it's fully authentic - a Hondo H-830 Fame. Any one of those parts being different didn't ring any alarm bells but seeing the Hondo having 3 or 4 similarities is a bit of a co-incidence. The bridge design matches a Hondo exactly. It's also string-through with the holes on the back not in a straight line. The knobs are dom topped rather than flat. The pickups on the "Fender" seem to have "EMG" written on them, while the Hondo I think has DiMarzio, so nothing to conclude from that. What do you think? Genuine or partscaster? I've got other photos but hopefully you can zoom in on these. Hondo Fame 830 on reverb for reference: https://reverb.com/item/29455437-hondo-fame-830-bass-guitar-used Next steps will be to pass the info back to the auction house and suggest checking the neck pocket and pots. It's a 3 hour round trip so I'm hoping to resolve this without having to go in person. Cheers!

Reading this again made me listen to the long version of My Generation off Live at Leeds...always gets me every time, as does Marquee Moon for example. The tone colours and tone production and character from the musicians themselves is/are incredible, the dynamic range and stereo image also.

This happens to me quite a lot, ie realising I've been playing something very slightly wrong whilst being totally confident I had it right. One note can put a whole different complexion on things.

Whilst we still have a handful of jobs left to do to fully finish the Nick Smith Midas, today saw a massive step forward seeing the frets leveled, crowned and polished, electronics wired and fully assembled and strung! We heard her voice for the first time today and the pairing of Aguilar Amplification HJ pickups and two band cut/boost preamp are sounding sweet! It feels bittersweet that Nicks vision has reached this point yet he won’t be able to see it or make it sing 😢 She’ll now be given some time to settle before setup and the last few jobs completed at which point we’ll tie down and announce the details of the charity raffle!

I am pretty sure I'd have had worse. "Little Chef" anybody? That obligatory stop for anybody driving on the motorways in the 90s. It made Tunnocks Tea Cakes seem proper gourmet stuff.

The Mipro ones have a short delay of approx 1mS from memory, whereas the Lekatos are 5mS. Not an issue in most situations, but the Mipros really are pro bits of kit.