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Atelier Z Baby Z-4J represent! Easiest playing bass I own. The knobs have been replaced with Sadowsky-style aluminium knobs (Guyker) since this picture was taken, but otherwise it's still very much the same. I believe the Baby Z (or any Atelier Z with the KTS titanium rods in the neck for that matter) isn't actually made by Atelier Z themselves but by Fujigen Gakki. Either way, it's a fantastic bass! Controls are neck volume - bridge volume (pull for passive) - stacked bass/treble (boost-only). It's quite a powerful EQ that can add a lot of oomph and a pleasant zingy top end, while still sounding very musical. A passive tone control would have been nice, but is not a must. It has a slight neck dive, but nothing that a good strap can't counter. I traded my 1981 Ibanez MC924 for it with a lefty friend of mine in the US, and I have zero regrets. The Atelier Z weighs about half as much as the MC924, and has a lovely narrow U-shaped neck that instantly felt familiar. The 17mm string spacing at the bridge took a little getting used to, but is not unlike some of the 5-strings I've owned so wasn't a huge switch. It's brilliant! If I ever find a lefty PJ version (with a reverse split coil) I don't think I could resist.

Ohhhh I love this! What a sick finish! Have you had it long?

Here's my 76 Mustang. Lovely little bass. It's got an almost 40mm nut, so it's fairly chunky for a short scale. I've put Hipshot Ultralights on it because the original tuners were knackered, a stainless steel refret and it needed a refinish when I bought it, so I did a bad job of a white blonde nitro, complete with a black vinyl racing stripe decal and matching strap! All wear on the body is by me since refinishing it. It's been to Japan and back with me. I dont' have much call to use it right now, but I'm not sure I can part with it! It was my first Fender, and it just fits me. And here's me (when I still had hair) playing it on tour in Japan back in 2012.

If it was the Manchester to Shrewsbury train it’s a devil for being late or too few carriages to cope with demand. And they wonder why so many would rather drive!

Are you going to stain the back of the neck to match the body?

Thankfully I have the huge library of pedals that a friend has to test them out. I just go for what sounds best and what is good quality, if it’s cheap that’s a bonus!

Here are a few I’ve owned over the years - still holding on to my JMJ. I also own a Fender Mustang PJ II in white and have an Atelier Z Baby Z on order. Over the years I’ve probably had 10–12 Mustang-shaped basses in total. Highlights (and lowlights!) include: - A Firemist Gold Fender PJ - A second 1978 Musicmaster in white (honestly pretty rough, definitely not my favourite) - The natural-finish ’78 Musicmaster pictured below - one I really regret selling - A couple of heavily modded Squier Broncos - One pictured below So at the moment I’m down to three in the collection, but Mustangs just keep finding their way back to me.

#1 - Paul @NancyJohnson #2 - Paul #2 @prowla #3 - Martin @Merton #4 - Matt @Wombat #5 - Andy @Wolverinebass #6 - Stevie @stevie #7 - Lozz @Lozz196 #8 - Matt @neepheid #9 - @bassace97 #10 - Robert @bass_dinger #11 - Christopher @chyc #12 - jaco @Geek99 ** #13 - Alan @WalMan #14 - Trevor @TrevorR #15 - John @jonno1981 #16 - Gary @cetera #17 - @MacDaddy #18 - Steve @Stingray5 #19 - Russ @Russ #20 - Rich - errm, @Rich tbc #21 - Happy Jack @Happy Jack #22 - Silvia Bluejay @Silvia Bluejay #23 - Mike @mikelawrencecalleja #24 - @admiralchew #25 - Martin @police squad #26 - @Sean #27 - @silverfoxnik #28 - @SimonK #29 - @hen barn #30 - Andy W @basexperience #31 - @stevie #32 - @Mudpup #33 - @BillyBass #34 - Kebabkid +potentially @Shockwave, @Wombat & @Mike Brooks

In which case I'm a complete wimp. I recall it being a lot heavier

You made me curious, so I just weighed it on our ancient bathroom scale which only reads in stones and pounds. It's 2 stone four pounds, which is about 14.5kg

To be fair, you could put cooked spaghetti in there and it'll still be one of the nicest looking basses around (except it probably wouldn't play as nice). It still amazes me that some people claim you don't even need a truss rod if the neck is stiff enough!

How is the Harley Benton?

JMJ and Harley Benton wannabe.

A bit late to the party but I have one of his basses that I bought about 25 years ago in the old Eastbourne Music Exchange. I didn't realise how good it was at the time but I've now discovered that it's pretty high spec for what I paid for it (about £350 I think). Here's some pics of it. I only found out the other day when I changed the pick guard that it has a Bartollini pre-amp. I remember that he also made a friend of mine a custom copy of a Warwick Fortress which was really nice but weighed a tonne!

A Cali, and Ampeg and a joyo sharing a board?! You're braver than I thought (as they say...) hehe tidy looking rig

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