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I had a fretless with Pau Ferro and I really didn't like it, it felt cold and brittle. I also feel like that with Rosewood a little but not as bad. Ebony for fretless is unbelievable and my preferred wood for fretless followed by graphite. For a fretted bass then I don't think it makes any difference as you are fretting onto the frets.

Thats the direction we are headed, or at least slowly trying to get there

Also had a fretless (Warmoth Jazz) with Pau Ferro board and neck, great to play and very hard wearing. As a fingerboard wood it's like a halfway house between rosewood and ebony really, definitely didn't find it dry although I think my bass (I got it used) had an oiled finish. As a neck wood it felt nice and smooth, I never needed to adjust it (it did also have carbon rods IIRC) and great to play, again not dry at all. Liked it and would have another, in fact if I was to spec a custom bass I'd probably lean towards it as it was both practical and visually appealing. I wish I hadn't sold the bass tbh!

Lol. I’ve still got one of those (in storage) and it really is unfeasibly heavy. When I recover it I am toying with putting the amp bit in a sleeve and dumping the cab as it is unusably heavy all together.

One of the most recognizable and enduring hits of the disco era. Also a good octave exercise Lipps inc. - Funkytown | Terry Grant

I just love reading old Trace Elliot brochures describing the 4x10 combo as a 'portable gigging solution'

I found a kijiji ad that was about six months old , someone in Cape Breton was selling a Dan Armstrong for about $450 Cdn. Messaged the seller , no reply. And made a post on Facebook about the one that got away. An old friend in California told he had a Chinese copy , and it was mine , completely unexpected. And when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. Put a worn in set of flats on it , slightly tweaked the action , and have used it on gigs. The weight was lighter than expected but it does have some heft. Quite a chunky neck , I’m ok with that , I’m quite accustomed to various neck sizes , and I’ve found a good old school thump with flats and the tone rolled back. I quite enjoy it! 32 inch scale.

They kinda look like they’ve been stored in a damp shed. You’d want to make sure the coils haven perished. Also the cabinets are made from MDF, so that could also be fooked.

Thanks. I've forwarded that to Mrs Norris, who likes both ballet and The Who

Bargain. I've had four of them over the years, one was my main gigging bass for years. I bought one at the end of last year but I've gotten used to lighter basses and rounder radiuses in the intervening years so could really gel with it unfortunately.

The problem is that there are limited transport options through the ‘sunlit uplands’, what with all of the unicorns and such…

S'been a long time since I last saw printed price tags.

Bax seems to be back. For places like GAK and PMT with physical shops mostly making their £ selling mass produced new instruments then they can't compete on price with big online only shops for price, so what's their selling point? Even if people want to test the instruments, they can just do that in the shop then buy online elsewhere. And even that isn't really necessary as all online sales can be returned for refund within a month. I don't think they've adapted with the times with internet, return laws, big automated warehouses, cheap delivery. We've seen it with shops like Our Price and HMV going under while shops like Rough Trade have expanded. They do in shop signings/gigs, have cafes, have fairly obscure vinyl and merchandise that can be tricky to get online. Personally I'd try and do similar with an instrument shop - don't compete directly with online shops for shifting mass produced boxes, put some effort in to offer alternatives: In shop demos, talks from musicians and manufacturers, small gigs, product launches, lessons, good part exchange deals, second hand, servicing, in shop experts happy to help, equipment rental, practice spaces, cafe/bar, boutique brands and custom stuff. Incentives like 'buy here and get a free lesson on how to use your new keyboard/set-up your bass/pair your mixer with your Laptop' etc. really make it a 'go to' hub for musicians. I think places like PMT have dropped the ball on this.

Had a fretless 1990 Stingray 5 with a Pau Ferro 'board. It sounded fine (apart from my intonation!), and was as tough as you want.