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In the sixties the MM was the go-to music paper. NME just wasn’t in it. In the seventies I used to read Motoring News.

I have no great insight. It appears to be in the lap of the gods, more often than not. In any event, you always play your best and treat every gig the same. A guy I know played Woodstock and treated every gig with the same mentality.

Saxophones - Jimmy Buffett

I've had a HW 4005 for about 6 years (in my profile picture), bought secondhand but only a year old. I don't know how long Harry has been making them, and whether he hadn't mastered finishing then, but the paint finish wasn't great. It's a mapleglo and the clearcoat was very orange peely. It wasn't horrendous and the previous owner was happy with/hadn't noticed it, but it bothered me. I flatted and polished it and it was fine then. Everything else is fantastic, the woodwork and attention to detail is exceptional, checker binding, crushed pearl inlays, the fretboard colour, everything, perfect. I've seen many other finishes of his which are great so maybe mine was a bad day, who knows. It was my main gigging bass in my Mod/Northern Soul/Ska band, which has now folded but I can't see me selling it any time soon. It's a beautiful bass and after a couple of little changes to suit me better it's a one off.

Yakety Sax - Boots Randolph edit: with added Chet Atkins:

Acid test over what time period? go back a few years and that range of 80s custom basses, Wals and JD and statii etc were super cheap secondhand cos they weren’t fashionable. but we digress - your statement a load of posts back was “I don't see any of the newer makers as offering worthwhile alternatives to what those established brands offered.” - I suggest at least some of the makers I listed make exciting and interesting instruments that are worthwhile. I also dont think I would use resale value as a main metric to judge the worthwhile ness or quality of an instrument.

Just got this EBMM Stingray Special - Aqua sparkle.

In terms of custom instruments, that's not usually the case - people like to pick their own choice of woods, hardware, pickups, neck dimensions, number of strings, fretted/fretless, etc and the chances of selling it on the used market mostly rely on someone else who's in the market for that sort of instrument having the same taste as you, and not wanting to deal with the lead time or additional expense of ordering their own. Almost all basses, possibly with the exception of Wals and old Fenders, depreciate like used cars. Anyway, you buy a bass to play it, not as an investment. Then again, you're supposed to buy a house to live in it, and I suppose that doesn't stop people looking on them as investments...

Such a great track.

I just found this Hofner thread, and thought I’d contribute one of my deepest regrets: selling this when times were rough. It’s a Gold Label German-made black hollow body. Couldn’t fault it. Apparently they also made a fretless version, but I couldn’t afford it. I think they are fine basses for some kinds of jazz. I have big hands, but found the string length accommodating.

Thanks. Best wishes to David and Helen; hopefully things will work out ... Now Helen owns the company I guess David will have to do as he's told 😉

I have 10 basses of which I count 2 as my 'main' gigging basses. I like having the choice, though and I have gigged every one of the 10 over the last three years or so. My main band plays a wide range of covers which change quite frequently as we tailor the set to the function we've been asked to play. The feel of the set determines which of the main basses I use. For example, we play a long festival set every year which is usually heavier and rockier and for this I use my Sterling 34HH. We also have a regular Christmas gig for the Local Crown Court service and as this is a more laid back affair, the P Bass comes out. As we are a large band (13) if I know the venue is small I'll bring a headless bass and if space is particularly tight (I can think of two venues we've played several times) I have my Ibanez short scale headless. I like to have a spare guitar at gigs and it recently occurred to me that if I'm making the effort to match the main guitar to the gig, I should also match the spare to the main guitar. So I have a Squire PJ to use at 'Precision' gigs, and an incoming Sire Z7 to use at 'Sterling' gigs. The full list: Sterling 34HH Fender Precision Ibanez EHB100S Squire PJ (Sire Z7) Hohner 'The Jack' Spirit XZ2 Ibanez GSR 205 (5 string) Ibanez SR300 Ibanez AGBR 200 semi acoustic Edit: And a Harley Benton Fretless Jazz which I've used in rehearsal and on recordings but not gigged.

Yeah, I ran my Dave Hall through the power amp last rehearsal, needless to say, it was epic.

Can't see them getting even close to those 😀 Sold my Sarzo a few years back , got £500 and that was from someone actively seeking Sarzo 😀 Pink burst RJ-IV was another "actively seeking" sale, even specified the colour. Sold to a German fella in Feb this year. Got £400 and Virgin Money snatched £10 for accepting a £ sterling payment from a German bank 🤬 Final kick in the spuds as I was £600+ buying it from the US. I love this line from the Sarzo blurb "2 humbucker size pickups, inspired in the Alembic pickups" Peavey took old T-40 blades, magnets, spacers and bobbins from a dusty shelf in the stores and had a fella make the Sarzo pickups from them 🤣