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Eat The Rich — Motörhead

Mine was dispatched via 2nd class post the same day I ordered, so it could be with me later today or sometime next week.

Maybe sadness was the wrong word here. Disconsolate, maybe. Dunno. No synonym springs to mind. And yes, I get the 5% analogy. Umm. I recall a story about a multi-millionaire Japanese businessman that was obsessed with vintage and rare Rickenbacker guitars/basses and bought them like any normal Joe might buy a CD ir book. He didn't even play guitar or bass, it was just about ownership and - fair enough - that was his thing. This little yarn springs to mind every time I see something aligned to expensive/rare guitars. Someone with deep enough pockets will buy it and - using Geddy Lee as an example - it'll just sit in his house/lockup and likely never see daylight again. Probably digging myself into a big hole here.

I suspect a few hundred quid. I think they’re happy to be guided by me towards something suitable and decent. There’s a music shop in town so I’m going to take her there to have a look and try a few things. And keeping an eye on BC too obviously. I’ve got a surplus Markbass 2x10 cabinet that’s probably too big for her to practice with but she’d be welcome to use for gigs. I suppose at that age, relying on lifts to and from places etc, it needs to be something portable to be of any use. Some good suggestions tho folks - I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

I had one by the time I was 16 ha ha! Great amp. Silly heavy tho

The more I play the old ones I realise it's an entirely harmless indulgence, but an indulgence nonetheless. Some of these older basses can feel quite agricultural. We often ascribe onto them meaning, history and value that's not really there. These things aren't the history, it's the players. When I showed my dad one of my old vintage basses he appaised it and then said "It would look so much better with a fresh coat of paint. Why don't you make it look good again?" which made me laugh.

Well, I have (admittedly this example is at the device side, not the plug side) But if this had been at the plug end, I would not have been happy to find a soldered plug. Might have chucked it in the bin and got another one if that was the case. To be honest, in this day and age of moulded plugs, it's getting pretty rare to have to wire a plug. But I stand ready to do so. As for screws coming loose - you can always tighten them up. Not that I've ever experienced a screw come loose at a plug prong through basic usage. The cable grip, aye, occasionally. Never hacked apart a moulded plug, hmm - might do that one day if I'm at a loose end

If the screws are working loose then I would suggest the plugs are either poorly made or the screws haven't been sufficiently tightened. I don't think I've ever come across screws working loose. Even if they did, due to the construction of a standard UK mains plug it should make any difference if the cable is properly clamped in place there is nowhere for the conductors to go even if a terminal screw were to work loose. As for moulded plugs has anyone cut one apart to see what's inside? I doubt that they are soldered. AFAIK the moulding process holds everything together so there wouldn't be any need for it and besides the heat of the moulding process would probably affect the integrity of any solder joints.

This is my whole current collection: Modulus BassStar 1989 Squier Precision 1983 ESP/ Vox Humana 1987 Modulus Funk Unlimited 2008 Fender Jazz Bass 1965 Fender Mustang Bass 1970 Fender Vintera Bass VI The BassStar and the Squier (equipped with La Bella flats) get the most use at the moment at home. When my band will restart (hopefully next month) the Funk Unlimited will be the first choice.

That's good advice. Underpowered, so called practice amps are the best way possible to put off anyone starting out on bass. Get a small 'real' amp that will sound great at home and make the lovely full sound that made us all want to be bassists. They don't need to be huge either the BG250 has been mentioned. My first proper amp was a Hatrke Kickback 10, It sounded great and was good enough to see me through to first rehearsals with a drummer. I even managed a few gigs with it. Small enough to fit in any car but tbh it weighed more than it should have. It might be worth looking at separates if funds allow. Something like the Warwick Gnome will fit in a gig bag and combined with a 1x10 can be a very portable rig. Go for a good condition used amp and avoid the starter amps completely, they are a false economy as you can't really sell them and they really aren't fit for purpose. They will also kill any enthusiasm for bass. Probably the best thing you could do would be to go along and listen to a few things with her. Do you know what the budget is?

Personally, I wouldn't do anything beyond giving it a deep clean (while retaining the patina as much as possible) and a basic set up. Things worth considering that despite it being rareish, this is more down to it being left-handed, a niche 90s bass, with a Star Wars graphic. You have three fairly big boxes to tick here when considering a buyer; [you] could throw a sizeable wedge restoring this back to pristine condition and not realistically see a return on that outlay. In the same situation, I'd just source a buyer and let them take on any mods.

Then you might want to question whether you actually need a synth pedal at all? There are a few songs in my band's repertoire that would benefit from me playing synth on them at gigs rather than Bass VI, but until we are regularly playing on bigger stages and have more than 20 minutes to set up and sound check, bringing another instrument simply isn't an option. Using a pedal isn't really an option either. Unless it has the full set of facilities as the keyboard synth it is replacing, I'm unlikely to be able to get the sounds I want out of it, also from the PoV of space on stage I don't really have room for yet another pedal and one that would require an external PSU with the all the complications and unreliability that would entail. If I did I'd probably have room for an actual keyboard synth. So until we are playing suitably sized stages with enough time to sound check an additional instrument I will continue to use my Bass VI with a few standard effects on it. I can guarantee that the majority of the audience don't notice the difference and the few that do are would rather we play the song with a slightly different bass sound as opposed to not at all.

But why's that a sadness? It's a few pieces of wood and metal put together in a factory, to many people it's just as much a piece of visual art or a historic antique as it is a musical instrument (as I said above, you can get instruments just as good for around 5% of the likely price of this). As Leo would have agreed, there's nothing particularly special about them as instruments, it's not a Strad

Little desire for ownership of anything like this but there's thousands of (pro/minted) players out there with burgeoning collections that would consider a £20k-odd price tag as small change. We've no real idea of the provenance here, whether it's been used regularly or if it's spent 60 years under someone's bed. That said, rest assured there's Precision bass fanboys on this very site RIGHT NOW who are doing the sums to work out whether they could afford this. The real sadness is that if it went to someone like Geddy Lee or Sting or <insert name here>, it would just become just another bass in an already huge collection and likely never see any real action.

Help The Poor - Robben Ford

Kill the Poor - Dead Kennedys

This advice offended one Basschat member so much that they left when I gave it. But it’s true.

I’m not saying there aren’t, I’m just countering Kev’s idea that using an actual synth is more the mindset of the bedroom player.

Like putting wheels on a tomato, I guess. Not experienced a worn cable personally. I was mainly thinking of the effect of the cycle that, apparently, gradually loosens the screw. I wonder how moulded plugs are done?