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Yes, isopropyl alcohol will work, but beware with nitrocellulosic paint as it will damage it. It's better to wipe the strings with a cotton cloth as paper will certainly leave some residues, especially on round wounds. There are packs of alcohol wipes, certainly what the Ernie Balls are, but they are always more expensive than the usual bottle and cloth.

Interesting. For some reason I’ve always wanted to give them a go but have been put off by the lack of truss rod. After reading this I might get one. Don’t mind a thicker neck as I come from a DB background.

I loved my Wem Westminster, wish I'd never sold. It is about as simple as a valve amp can be so anyone should be able to sort that

Good job it wasn't an obsession otherwise it would have got well out of hand I was looking to cull my 14 (guitars and basses down) but now I think I'm simply not worthy.... Rob

According to La Bella this is ‘100% OK’ but I would prefer it if only the silks were anywhere near the tuning post - any thoughts fellow BC’ers?

Most of them were in my spare room cupboard 😀 Had at least one of every model, US and overseas, released between the years 1978 and 2010. Total was 68 basses so luckily I had a very big spare room cupboard 😁 Only 51 manage this photo op.

I saw him 2 years ago at Villa Park. 3hr set, absolutely fabulous. In my top three gigs in 40+ years. Took a couple of songs to get the sound right and (oddly) Bruce's voice to settle, but rocking after that. All having fun rather than going for super-high energy and aggression, but the band were tighter than a torqued-up tight thing. And the crowd were up for a party which fed back to the band. I bought the recording afterwards too, which just makes me smile when I play it back You'll have a blast- wish I was going

Didn't they have a sort of primitive parametric eq too?

Reviewer was talking absolute bollocks. Reason Wishbass don't have truss rods is they don't need them. Steve uses old timber for his basses so it's long settled down, then does a 5 or 7 piece laminate which pretty much locks it straight; separate fretboard also adds strength. The final safeguard being his necks are thicker than most, whereas a chunky Fender P-bass might be 24mm thick at the 3rd fret and 26mm at the 12th that's a skelf compared to a Wishbass; 33mm and 36mm is what you get from Steve.

Or go for the volume approach: buy a reel of cable, a crimp tool and some RJ45 connectors, and make yourself a new cable for each gig.

Coo, a Westminster. My dad had one of those when I was about 7. You could talk to Paul Glazebrook, he looked at my son's Burman a couple of months ago.

Ooooh, we're trying to work out how to play Desertfest at some point! Glad you had a good time! I'll give you guys a listen.

One other comment I should make, when I mentioned each bass is checked, this is a pretty thorough process of setting the instrument up, rather than plugging in and checking it plays. One are where offshore manufactured basses can fall down is this final attention to detail. I have had to recut nuts, adjust truss rods, shim necks on mass produced basses and fret level, but this is done for you. I am sure if you had an issue Andrew would personally sort it out because he cares about his reputation. When Overwater Basses did their partnership work with Tanglewood(?) they had some issues with how basses were set up in shops, and it can make undermine even reputable brands.

Thanks for the thoughtful and thorough review! That’s a very good looking bass, but with some nice design choices that differentiate it from the many slightly tweaked but essentially Fender copies out there. I particularly like how the headstock has been done - it has a sense of proportion and the modern retainer plus careful tuner layout looks the business.

They have a unique tone but, imho, that's due to the pickup design and electronics and not the magic fairy wood used to make the basses from. I once had a Westone Thunder that I put a Wal style pickup on (made in Germany, eight individual coils, two per string) and it sounded like a Wal.

I expect a half decent luthier could take an aftermarket short scale neck and pop it on a bolt on Epi Bird, and tweak the headstock to be a bit more Gibson flavoured. Even doing it with decent kit would probably still cost less than a real short scale Thunderbird.

I managed to get in on the guest list for that gig. It was the last time I saw Adam and the Ants, they had, by then, fully changed from punk to a teeny bopper pop band.

Sold this gent a stand. No problems, smooth comms, recommend unreservedly!

Sires can be really good, I have a 5 string fretless, which has been problematic hardware wise (it was an earlier version). I work with a number of young bands and several of their bass players have had to bypass the electronics due to failures. The machine heads on the Anaconda are very good (among the best I have used, and light too). The Sire is essentially a good Jazz style bass, the electronics are certainly flexible, but the stiffness of the neck construction and pickup / electronics on the Anaconda is in a similar league to my Custom ACG basses, which is high praise indeed. Of course not everybody wants that clarity and zing. I can't say it would be the right upgrade for you, our tastes all vary of course, but for me it was an easy decision. People used to talk about a studio quality sound, and for me, this describes the Anaconda really well.

Nice one Unfortunately have yet to ever try one but I'm still on the Diamond Comp which I read is the "inspiration" for the Alma