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I just flew from Istanbul to Houston to get a birth year Rickenbacker. I tell myself I did it to see family but that’s a lie.

I haven't gone any major distances myself - no more than a couple of hundred miles one way - BUT when I resided in the U.S. I had a buyer who flew from Texas to Pennsylvania (1600 miles +) to pick up a fairly rare bass that I was selling and had zero intent of shipping under under any circumstances...

It is really strong now, there are 75m wood screws (8) although I know that the adhesive should be enough on its own. I have a surprise or two tomorrow as the project progresses.

It has taken me some time - quite some time - but I’ve finally got my hands on one of these. It’s about as close as I’m likely to get to an actual Status T-Bass. This was the bass that first brought me to BassChat as a longtime lurker, before a registered member. I never actually thought I’d get a T-Bass, despite coming very close a couple of years ago, there was one on Fb marketplace, but the seller was very cagey with his answers to my questions, and he just didn’t inspire any buying confidence in me at all, so that one passed. (A decision I’ve regretted for letting the bass go, but I always felt it was the right decision due to bad vibes from the seller.). And here I am today, making this post. I've the bass exactly a week now. Pros : It’s a T-Bass! That headstock (you can’t really want a T-Bass if you don’t like the headstock). The colour (I'm not sure if it's faded white or supposed to be this off-white shade). Cons : It’s a TE, not Status. It’s the 3-piece neck. Just before PoiDH, a super-massive shoutout to @NigeJ and @HeadlessBassist , who both took time out of their lives to go and meet the seller and check/inspect the bass for me. Just prior to Nigel’s viewing it developed an electrical fault - seller said it was due to a battery leakage and provided pic of removed battery box with green residue on it - which is why I needed Richard to go and check it out after the issue was fixed, which he did, tested the signal and all OK. Without these two, I wouldn't have this bass now, so thank you very much gents, your time was very much appreciated. The bass isn't perfect, there's some dings in the finish and a couple of splits in the finish as well, the black marks you see in some of the images in the Flickr album may just buff out, I've got some polish to try and remove those. I've got some Rotosound flats on order as well as some strap lock buttons. I'll revisit this thread once the above have been put on and I've had a go at giving it a cleanup. Enough words, PoiDH below … Plenty more images in this Flickr album. Mark

Especially for the price. This was about '02 when Alembic prices here were very low. Sold it later for a big return, not because I didn't love it, but I wasn't playing 4s much, and I used it as part of the deposit for a house.

Had to be done for a bass like that. 👍🏾

I travelled from brum to LHR then to LAX, then drove from there to Santa Rosa to pick up my Alembic from the factory. Also on another occasion drove from brum to Berlin to pick up my DB. PHEW…… good fun but never again. 🧐

Antique / junk shops, car boots, auctions, eBay, Etsy etc etc as others have mentioned. Or how about this? Vintage ‘Wash Board’ for £22 - gdads.co.uk Or even this although £56.44 - amazon.co.uk Search for ‘Behrens BWBG12 Galvanized Washboard, Large’ Same Behrens model as the Amazon one available for £37.50 - desertcart.co.uk Good luck! 👍

I saw these guys a few weeks ago too and got chatting about gear to the bass player after the show. Apparently he's just using an EBS Microbass iii preamp pedal. Can't speak for the guitarists though.

I saw these guys a few weeks ago too and got chatting about gear too the bass player after the show. Apparently he's just using an EBS Microbass iii preamp pedal. Can't speak for the guitarists though.

Spencer Dryden, for the most part, with a very different approach to 'rock' drumming. Superb inventive notions of rhythm and sound. RIP, a great loss.

Mexico City to York. For a Vigier (and a funeral, but that would spoil the story)

Ooh ooh, a 3 string 4 stringer Jazz Precision! Where do I buy one?

Thinking about it, I also bought my first two basses there - A Columbus Charvel copy and then a Hohner Jack Professional while I was at college.

I wonder did Janek pay to licence the Gran Turismo image.

Goitre Get You Into My Life - The Beatles

How Casady got that tone out of a shortscale Starfire strung with flats is beyond me. So much authoritative bark and grind. I know his Starfires were modded, but apparently they were still passive and just had a few extra tweaks here and there. I think Jack Casady is overlooked as a bassist, both for locking into grooves and for harmonic knowledge and creativity. John Entwistle did many things, but grooves weren't in his musical vocabulary at all, and he's never as harmonically inventive either. Jack's playing on the song Crown of Creation is amazing. Stomping along through the versus, adding chugging triplets here and there, through to the eerie outro with long held notes on the verge of feedback. Jack's playing sort of lopes along, through all the Airplane stuff. Interestingly as their drummer(s?) always seemed quite light-footed and skimpy, rather than pounding out a robust rhythmic grid for Jack to lock into.

I've used joinmyband successfully. Err and unsuccessfully. But if you take the rough with the smooth mostly a happy experience.

@Richard R isn’t that missing a tuning key? You’d best buy one … 😈

Maybe you'll find something to your liking in one of the excellent Fat Bass Tone demos: https://www.youtube.com/@FatBassTone/videos Just check out any of the ones featuring the blue Ibanez SR. Also, the usual follow-up for anyone asking about MK1 replacements: in MK1-equipped basses, it's usually the preamp that's the weak link, not the pickups. See this recent Space 5 owner's post on Talkbass: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/cort-artisan-space-5-my-experience-one-year-later.1670985/

Tremendous response. Thanks so much for such detail. I think I can now blame you for what is likely to be my next purchase. It sounds just the kind of bass I'll love. Will keep you informed. In the promo photos, the black one looks more than tasty to me. 'Dear Santa ...'

Not a bass, but I flew to the US to buy a guitar once!