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If I was interested in playing music I'd likely easily define a good all rounder and stick to it. As my primary hobby is sending and receiving carboard boxes, clearly the unitary approach won't suffice.

Okay, so I didn't expect to find one of these so soon but thanks to @gareth it's New Vintage Squier Bullet Bass Day! I used to have a USA Fender Bullet Bass Deluxe which, although a bit niche, was a great bass to play and was on some great records. When I had to sell it I was gutted, but on this forum I managed to score a MIJ Squier Bullet Bass. Which is even more niche, but I'm into the niche gear. So this little oddball beauty arrived this afternoon. I tore into the package and unwrapped it, and... it's blowing me away! I'm fully aware that most folks wouldn't have these on their radar because why would they? Who's gonna get excited by the combination of a cut-down Precision body with Mustang pickups and a fat AF Tele bass neck? Well, me. Yeah, I'm that weirdo First impressions: much lighter than my old USA Bullet bass but still feels super solid. The neck is a dead ringer for the USA Bullet neck and feels the same as my old one. Win! 👍 The tug bar is on the wrong side of the strings for me 'cause I pluck with the side of my thumb, but that's an easy move. Overall, I'm getting a great vibe off this already. Straight away I had to take off the roundwound strings and get some flats on there. Thought I'd experiment with a set of Fender 45-100 flats, they only cost me £14 so why not? Seemingly within a few minutes the stiffer string tension and higher action that I'm used to was there. Plugged it into the only amp I have (1970s Fender Vibro Champ) and started playing some Afrobeat and dub basslines. Lost a couple of hours, easy. Bonded with it instantly. Properly enjoyed meself. I'm looking forward to recording with it and eventually gigging it. Absolutely chuffed with it. So, big thanks to Gareth for hooking me up with this one, I flipping love it. Great bass + nice price + pro packaging + hassle free delivery = happy Meterman. Cheers Gareth 🙏

I'd been umming and ahhing about @willgatesbass' California VM5 on the for sale boards and this thread tipped me over the edge! So, NBD. First impressions are very, very good indeed.

Just uploaded my performance of Bach's first Cello Suite In G major. Link is for the prelude but the 6 movement playlist should open via the link

My experience of people with "just one bass" tends to be either younger players starting out or guitarists who use it to record at home. I went down to just two Squiers for about 3 years around 2013 but I quite like having a collection so went back up to about 8 (I think!) and don't sweat about it. If you can manage on one, good for you and if you own dozens, it's your life! Who are any of us to judge others?

Wayne Shorter, you have the floor...

I was happy with 4 basses, then I joined BC and read the Sandberg thread, and bought one, read the Yamaha thread, and bought one, read the 5 string thread, and bought one, etc, I’ve now got 12 basses, 5 amps, 4 cabs and 3 pedals 😁

I had one bass for 35 years until I discovered BC. I have since gone through over 50 since 2011 and currently have 15! 😉

I suppose it is possible but also very selfish. Imagine all those guitar manufacturers and shops that will go to the wall. Imagine the cash flow implications to the economy from a limited secondhand market. No, in these hardened times we must all buy as many basses as we can just to keep the economy flowing. I only bought my recent fretless for that one reason! 😉 😀

I often find myself with these thoughts Crawford, you’re not alone in this. I just rationalise it as playing bass is my hobby, and given that I neither drink nor smoke, well I may as well spend my spare cash on my hobby. When I drank I’d spend more in a year than what my whole instrument collection has cost me, so I don’t look at it as wasted money.

Shamelessly stolen from a post on Thomann's farcebook page... Your favourite non-guitar, non-bass solos. Sax, piano, drums, whatever. Just not guitar or bass. One of mine for starters... the late Kenny Kirkland’s brilliant piano solo on Sting’s live version of ‘When The World Is Running Down’, from the Bring On The Night album. Three minutes of ivory-tinkling fabulousness.

Just found this by accident, and of course it's Tears For Fears Curt Smith and daughter Diva doing a lockdown rendition of Mad World. She's very competent , and a very appropriate track right now

I thought this thread was about me until I clicked the link 😁

I really like my GK MB800 Fusion with its valve pre. Interestingly, my other amp is a Subway D800+ and I really can't decide which I prefer. In practice, I tend to choose according to the nature of the venue. That would make the TT800 a pretty obvious choice for me if money were no object - but unfortunately it is.

Thanks Cuzzie. More detail for anyone interested: California II VM5 in satin virgin white with a matched headstock. Sandberg electronics and pickups. Paulownia fingerboard. First impressions compared to my Stingray are: A lot lighter. 3.95kg compared to 4.65kg. 700g doesn't seem like a lot, but boy is it noticable. Much more compact body. Shallower neck profile. Much more like my old Maruszczyk. Immediately easy to play. Fantastic low action, lower than I can get on the Ray, not by much though. Plugging in I was a bit confused, it sounded muffled, however I swapped the strings (tuning pegs felt perfect, just the right weight/resistance) to my preferred brand and that sorted it out. I can't get tones immediately articulate or usable as I can with the ray, but I think I need a bit of time with the 2 band to find my sweet spot. It's fantastically well built and I can see what the fuss is about. Here it is with the Stingray, just because I can. I've come over all monochrome, must be time for a gold sparkle thunderbird next!

Ha ha, yes, I stayed with a friend in the Alps last year, his house number was in the high 600s, so having just turned onto their road and passing number 40 we assumed that we would need to drive a long way up into the hills. Passed another house, which we reasonably assumed was number 41 and carried on. Long story short, we got stuck on a rock trying to reverse back down the mountain having driven right up the the end of the track, and our friends, and most of the local community it seems, had to come and lift the car off the offending boulder. 'Number 41' was of course our friends' house (although actually number 600 and something), because - amazingly - in that street the house numbers are determined by how many metres they are from the start of the street. God bless France

So I guess this answers it . .

Realistically I could never, ever choose between my Shuker and my Wal. It'd almost be like asking me to choose between my children.

Sure, but where's the fun in that? Si

Yes. But I have two.

No bass acrobatics, just a little riff repeated over the different settings. IMG_2173.MOV

Loving this latest one. Always been a fave bassline of mine and thrilled that people are discovering the Toy Matinee album which has been in my Top 3 albums ever since I first discovered it some 15 years ago....!

I'm possibly at the point where I'd happily play nothing but Valerie for an hour straight. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, as they say.

@Merton tagged me in something on Instagram. Not quite the crowning glory I’d anticipated, in fact it’s a bit of a mess. But...done within the hour. Remember this track being a real ear opener when I’d been used to the Later pop ballad Level 42 my dad listened to. Might have another crack at this with the Sadowsky and actually set up the sound (and re-learn the song 😉)

Ahem.

I've spent a couple of hours with it now and discovered just this. The controls are pretty sensitive and a little bit goes a long way. I'm very much enjoying having a p pickup back in the mix.

I have a recently acquired a Sandberg Electra VM4. Astounding value and build quality... hard to know how they make a profit on it!

Personally I would go for the Sandberg, you're getting a hand built bass for the same price as a factory built fender. I've been using Sandberg for about the last 10 years, and prior to that my mainstay was a fender US jazz for about 14 years (many other basses came and went!). I've had various different model Sandbergs, and what made me really fall in love with them was the neck feel, overall build quality and playability, just incredible. Clearly I'm a huge fan BUT I completely get what you're saying about the tone! They have a great tonal range, but can sound a bit HiFi/Sterile. It's only in the past 6 months or so I've realised that I've been craving that warm, organic tone like you get from a more traditional bass. So, I have a new Sandberg incoming VERY soon.... This time a TT5 passive - the main difference for me is that they have traditional style alnico V pickups, like a fender. I've come to realise that their usual pickups with the large (Delano style) pole pieces are what really create that HiFi tone. The bass is a bass; alder body, maple neck, couldn't be much more standard. But it's the pickups that make that difference. I'm hoping I will get that traditional sound, with the sandberg playability I love. 😊 This video was the final deciding factor for me, sounds great!

+1 My first solder iron was a 15W one, and it worked... but not well. You need something a bit hotter to make your life easier. I have a little soldering station now after seeing it recommended in this very forum years ago, and I'd recommend you get one too. Having a nice setup so that you can hold the iron, adjust temperatures etc is very useful and makes soldering so much easier.

Bob Reynolds sax solo in this song is one of my personal favourites, the drums are going crazy at the same time, which just makes it extra tasty.

I got my Hohner B2A V new in around 2000. It plays so well, has an enormous voice and I used it as my main bass for a good while. I dug it out recently and gave it its first string change in 20 years. But disappointingly I find it hard work now - I'm getting on a bit and the low frets are a long stretch away. It makes my arm and neck ache. I put a capo on at the second fret which helps, though it's not ideal. But I love the sound it makes and it's still the easiest playing bass I've ever had.

The Covid pandemic has really made me wonder about having so many instruments generally, as well as how many basses. There's no doubt I could manage with one for everything - it has to be light as possible, well made / reliable and plays and sounds to my liking. Hence I could flog everything but my favourite Precision Lyte. However, I can never sell my 63 P-bass, so that makes it two without even considering the heartbreak of losing my Dano, Washburn acoustic/electric and a few more. That, combined with the market causing prices to be low, means they're all staying where they are. 😊

Yes it's possible! I have bought and sold more than I care to think about since starting BC. However when it comes down to it I really like the idea of having a bass that's 'me' - my sound, and what I use for everything. Kind of like some of may favourite players have had a bass which they are known for playing. It's a nice place to be, because otherwise I was always second guessing which bass I should be using for what and it became a distraction. So after years of this cycle (which, although I wouldn't want to go back to that now, was a great way to try out lots of instruments and learn about what I liked) I realised that one bass always ended up back at the top of the pile and the others got sold or swapped. To this day I still have that 'one' bass that I know is just perfect for me, but it doesn't 100% stop me wanting to buy and experiment with others too, so that way I look at it is that I have MY bass, and sometimes one or two others that I play with for fun, but I never buy them for keeps, and can easily slim right back to that one bass at any point.

Don't sell it. Keep your Aeron.

My kinda bass player...thanks dude

With a little bit of time on my hands at the weekend, I decided to install John's tone switch in my custom P bass. I put this bass together a couple of years back and had been regularly gigging with it, prior to the lock down. This bass has the Fender 62 original pick ups installed and a standard P bass wiring loom that I put together, with CTS pots, switchcraft socket and vintage style, cloth covered cable. The installation was straight forward, I was able to leave the strings on, so it was just a case of removing the pick guard screws and maneuvering the guard out. I chose to unsolder the existing wires to make the necessary connections but they could have just been snipped. Then the original tone pot along with its capacitor was lifted out and the new tone pot switch put in place. The wires were inserted in to the relevant connectors and the screws tightened. Once the guard was back in place, all that remained was to put my original flat top knob on and the job was complete. I've had a couple of days to experiment and play about with the settings, and must say that I'm pleased with this little device. The eye opener for me is the second/B setting, which is the bypass, straight through option. I just loved the aggressive, clanky tone and I know it will work well for me in the band. Moving on to the .047uf (C) gives a much warmer, mellow and very useable, P bass tone. The difference between the .047uf cap and the .1uf (D) is more subtle than when moving from B to C, very useable though and lovely for deep dubby sounding bass. All in all a great little device and a worthwhile upgrade. It'll be staying in my P bass, just hope I get to try it out at a gig at some point. I'm never sure about the value of sound clips but I will post a video clip in a while. If you're listening on decent speakers or through head phones you should get to hear what it does.

If my bass doesn’t do that, I know it’s set up wrong.😉

This Custom Shop Jazz - even though I do miss having a Jazz, it’s because my wife was genuinely gutted when I sold it - she loved it hanging in our hallway. If I’d have known she’d be that upset, I’d have kept it. She still talks about it. Sold it to a top BC’er who lives in Iceland, I’d like to buy it back for her, and begrudgingly play it, just to do the right thing you know...

Really glad your pleased with it 😊😊 Have fun Lee

Bit more progress today. - Cavity routed - Cavity cover - Arm contour (just needs final sanding) - Belly contour (just needs final sanding)

What I’ve found an acoustic useful for is just having around the house. Propped up in the corner of the living room I’ll pick it up and play a few minutes surprisingly often.

Let's try this again.....😂

OK, you've already seen the basics online and that's where I would direct you. I must have been soldering stuff for 45 odd years. I started with a 15 w iron, pretty much back in the day that's all you got other than an industrial piece of kit ... I probably got away with that for 30 odd years, it's fine for small stuff, nonsence on soldering to pots, but somehow I managed ... A few years ago, I bought A Hakko solder station clone on Ebay, wow I wish I those were available back in the day. So what should you buy? Hmmm, If you're working on PCB's a 12-15w iron is all you need, but if you're working on bigger stuff like pots, you'll need a lot more power. It's a balancing act, to many watts and you risk damaging stuff, to little watts and you won't achieve a good bond. That's why I opted for a solder station, it covers all my needs and should last a lifetime. If you can budget for a solder station go for it, you won't regret it. Temperature, well that's down to the type of solder used. I use the old fashioned 60/40 cored lead solder. Works at a lower temp and flows nicely. That solder is banned in a lot of commercial manufacturing on H&S grounds. The modern replacement is silver solder I've not tried it, but it needs a higher temp and apparently doesn't flow as well with an iron. There's another advantage to a solder station, you just dial in the correct temp for the nedium you are using. Working with pots, cleanliness and a good key goes a long way to make a successful joint. I use a glass fibre pen to lightly key the pot surface and wipe over with a drop of naptha to clean and degrease. Maybe overkill, but it makes me happy. Rewired a Tele last week and tried a new toy. Came across something called liquid flux, just put a little drop on the cleaned pot and then did the soldering. Seemed to help the flow. My 10ml bottle will probably last a lifetime. A third hand tool is really useful for holding stuff in place and heat shrink tubing has a multitude of uses. The real key is practice, get some wire and a few old pots and go for it. You can clean the pots and reuse them. Once you're happy with the results, go for the real thing and good luck.