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Andertons have the Dave Murray Custom Shop 50th anniversary sig for around £10k, makes the MiM look like a snip.. I did wonder if there might be an eqivalent Steve Harris model, but no sign of it yet.

I know Steve's had a few resprays over the years, maybe his No 1 will be black by the time the next leg of the Maiden tour kicks off? Personally I always think of him with the blue/gold version but I guess that reflects the era I got into Maiden, for older fans it will be the checkerboard finish and for the newer ones the West Ham edition.

I can't recall any bass gear purchases in 2025. The sad truth is I've barely touched my basses all year, I've decided to leave my doom band and I've had a renewed interest in guitar. Because boy did I make some guitar purchases! I have long been interested in Fender's offset offerings, and have had lurking GAS for a lefty Jazzmaster for years now, and a short stint with an Ibanez ORM-1 left me madly in love with te 24" scale but hankering for something that also had a neck pickup. So lo and behold when in February both a Jazzmaster and a Jaguar popped up used for fair prices! Of course I did the sensible thing and bought both of them, and I've been playing both a lot but especially the Jaguar. The Jazzmaster is an American Professional II from 2023, and the Jaguar is a Mod Shop instrument from 2020 that had its electronics slightly (and badly) modded. I had the electronics tidied up and added the classic "strangle switch". And then a few weeks ago the same seller I got the Jaguar from offered a MIC Danelectro DC for sale, that I also really wanted to try. At just €150 I couldn't resist. And I've been having a ridiculous load of fun with it so far! It looks like a toy, it feels like a toy, it's built like a toy, but it's REALLY fun to play (even unplugged, as the hollow construction makes it surprisingly loud) and the amplified tone is fantastic. The lipstick pickups by themselves are nothing impressive, but they have great clarity. The real surprise was the middle position of the switch, because as it turns out both pickups are then wired in series and sound surprisingly powerful and wonderfully chimey.

😁

I’ve seen many of those basses , and had a hohner cricket bat . It’s just that it’s hard to find a fretless version these days .

I bought Gavin's Kaamos Octave pedal. Great communication and super fast shipping! Just in time for the Christmas' gig. Great guy, highly recommend!!

HOW MUCH?! What on earth is going on.....?! A basic MIM P Bass?

I have a question for all the beard twitchers out there regarding this subject .. I have one of my basses setup b-e-a d . Would that work with all the other tunings mentioned above ?? with all the variations it can get a bit Lionel messy , so for me ( who is not bothered about bands anymore) it’s either standard tuning or BEAD .

Fantastic transformation, looks fab - and that old bridge is yours 😜

@jimbobothy I've been thinking of a modular setup a bit like yours, but I've not yet figured out what to do in terms of power. Or where/how to insert each board in the signal chain. Interested to hear how you get on.

Very sad news. I was fortunate enough to meet him, and spend a memorable few days on the road with him, sharing dressing rooms. The first gig was in Paris, and from the outset he was the most friendly and generous guy you could meet, always chatting and telling us tales of his life and the music industry. We did drink quite a bit of wine together over the course of the next week and a half, and I got in trouble with the promoter once for going out wine shopping for him the night we played Islington Assembly Hall. I fixed his amp in Milton Keynes before the gig, it was just a bad valve, but he said "Rob, you're the man!", and my heart swelled with pride. RIP Cropp.

I don't think that basses suffer from the same collector/invester interest as guitars. That insane multi-million pound tier of golen-era Les Pauls or Strats, or guitars with rock credentials, I don't feel that basses get it in quite the same way and as you can see above - if a player is after a vintage bass for a very specific kind of work then they can find one at a reasonable price if they can make some compromises, say, refinished and some parts not original. There are enough "players" instruments out there that I think we're pretty well served and the prices tend to be relatively consistent...ish. Sure, some things come into fashion, but it's not like per Ernie Ball Stingrays have gone from being £1000 ten years ago to £10,000 today. They're worth more, but they were always high-quality desirable instruments, they're just a bit more valuable now. Anyone speculating on collectible basses as investments is gambling, but at least if you buy a '66 Precision and it loses 20% of its value... you'll still own an incredible instrument!

It's a weasel word. There are no standardised guidelines as to what "vintage" means when it comes to instruments, unlike in cars.

How old is a vintage bass? 20? 30? 40+ years?