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Enviable gig, definitely, but that’s exactly what a lot of players don’t factor in - being away from home for a good part of the year really can ruin things between you and your other half, unless you’re super tight as a couple. Mind you, I used to come home after being away for a month and it’d be, “Can you unblock the toilet?” or “The washing machine’s packed in, can you fix it?” or “I bought a load of stuff at IKEA, can you put it all together by tomorrow, I’ve invited family to stay” - aaaarrrgh! I swear my wife just used to store things up for when I got home. 😂

It's not just sound engineers, it's band leaders as well. You can sense the palpable relief when you pull a Fender out of the gigbag when you first play with someone new, not to mention everyone seems fascinated with any 70s Fender that you take out on a gig! Let's face it, it is an industry reference sound that most people are comfortable with (be they sound engineers or BLs) and image wise, a 70s Fender is cool on the vast majority of gigs!

Debatable. Strads are pretty well all accounted for and range in value from £4m for a regular one to "name your price" for one of the more highly-regarded examples. Even a very prominent player would have difficulty in parking those sums at the kerb of a fiddle and insuring it would be a nightmare.

I think a lot of the time, sound engineers are not interested in making the bass sound interesting and different or stand out in the mix. Obviously there are obvious exceptions. But it's easier for them to set the desk how they usually do and concentrate on vocals etc. Hence 'Just use the P bass mate.'

Just found this vid I took of the night in question

Much obliged, Pete. Spot on. I do concede that there are a few Nigel Tuffnells among the absurdly rich and famous.

You can do it with the Boss GT 1000 and GT 1000 Core:

Crazy pedal day today! I've been putting wanted ads out for a T-70 for over two years (sorry for all those who've had to wade through them every month). I'm still looking for the version with the later finish and would be willing to swap pedal(s) and cash for one (including this T-70 if you're worried about not having one). The pedal on the right is a Beetronics Royal Jelly from the Revenge of the 5th release.

I've been guilty of that. Despite being someone who prefers P basses, I have two Fender jazzes and a further two 'super jazz' basses, which are basically an active version of what you would like a Fender to be (one a four string, one a five string). Essentially, I reckon that people (including me) are looking for something with a slightly refined version of a Fender in terms of build, sound and aesthetics when they go down the 'super jazz' route. For some strange reason, I prefer the real thing when it comes to Precisions as opposed to Jazz basses!

Sorry...does nothing for me...and I like headless basses

I hope to come through too. I will bring my Darkglass Exponent 500 and Vox Starstream Artist short-scale if any is interested. Vince

What about the phenomena of the boutique P Bass? There was a time when you bought a boutique bass specifically because it wasn't a P Bass, i.e it gave you a sound that you couldn't get existing mass-produced instruments. Now that exotic hifi-sounding basses are out of fashion ( have been for a long time now) the high-end bass market is flooded with new versions of the Fender Precision Bass, in one guise or another. Bass makers are lying awake at night trying to think up new ways to sell bass players costly new versions of that venerable design. Lots of the folks buying boutique P Basses already have a P Bass, but they want a better rendition, presumably. I find this interesting because I love a good P Bass myself. I have played and owned some very good boutique P Basses. But no matter how good they were/are in certain respects like overall construction and playability, I just can't get away from the fact that they all sounded like a Precision Bass. In sonic terms none of them offered any advantage over a good mass-produced version. Don't get my wrong, some of them were great basses but if they were/are qualatively better than a good Fender in terms of sound then it's lost on me.

Going to bring the Bravewood rather than the 55-94 because, well the 55-94 sadly is the least loved bass I have!

As ever, you are taking an argument to an absurd extreme to make some dubious point. I assume that @Dan Dare was talking about everyday working musicians rather than millionaire superstars like Slash, Steve Howe, Joe Bonamassa, etc.

Was it less than £1500?

Really?

Dumb - Nirvana