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Hi All, So thought I'd update you on what happened. DHL couldn't find the bass, it was last seen on CCTV in the wearhouse the day before the last scan, then it went missing. It's possibly it was damaged and "disposed of without being properly recorded", or that it went out on with an agency driver who couldn't find our address and then it got lost in the system. They aren't sure and it may resurface in an auction as some of you have suggested. There was 1 new purple burst available in the UK at Anderson's, and my email to the CEO resulted in personal contact from the head of Customer Services, who agreed as a gesture of goodwill to compensate Ollie for the extra so he could get that one. They were very helpful, even reserving the bass for us so it couldn't be sold while they investigated. So I have a very happy 13 year old who has a brand new bass rather than a used one, and I'm actually quite envious - it's a really nice bass!! Do I think this would have happened without directly emailing the CEO? Probably not given that I also emailed Customer Services independently incase the CEO didn't get my email and I eventually got a reply telling me it would be redelivered the following day, a week after I already knew they had lost it 😆 I probably wouldn't have bothered the CEO if it was just for me, I'd have just taken the PayPal refund and been cross, but I'm glad I took a stand for Ollie as he'd worked so hard and waited so long to get one. He's busy slapping some RHCP's as I write this, so was well worth it! Aside from this I also had 2 very kind offers for free basses for him, one on here and one on FB, and that also put my faith back in humanity and the bass community! All in all a very happy end to this tale. Thanks for all your input and suggestions!

Delivered to my door two days behind MatiZ's, but this time not by UPS but by pro bassist Kelpie, whom it was my pleasure to meet today. BB735A - quick second-time-around review Very happy with it and a really nice weight at 4.4kg / 9.7 lbs - the same weight as my 1025 (and by coincidence also the same as my KS). Having seen it in the flesh the PG is staying on! My first time around with a 735A, it arrived pretty new but with a set-up that the previous owner had never quite been happy with or was able to fix, including trying lighter tuners. I'd largely got it set up how I wanted but shortly afterwards bagged a played-in P35 which had the additional benefit of the I.R.A treatment and was a bass that had been set up beautifully by pro-bassist, Mark, whom I bought it off. I was never really tempted to pick the 735A up to play after that, so I moved it on. Interestingly Tyler, whom I sold it to and another of our excellent pro bassists on BC (and the third I've already mentioned in this post - blimey these BB's are clearly popular with proficient bass players!), managed to get the 735A to just how he wanted it and absolutely loved it! The only adjustment I've made today is to lower the pup heights - Kelpie had set them quite close to the strings and then put tape over the bridge J to prevent unwanted clicks / pops when he dug in hard. I'm just going to settle for lower pup heights and turn my amp up instead! Sounds and feels good - lovely balance and no noticeable neck dive from its sturdily constructed 5 piece laminate maple and mahogany neck. I immediately preferred the active circuit to the passive on this, which I found less articulate / crisp - but each to their own: I know others, including EJWW in his comments a few posts above, prefer the passive tone on their 734/5As. The passive setting is still a really "nice to have" for me though: not least for peace of mind if the battery fails mid set. The other reason for a grin on my bass-face today is that, having had GAS for an active PJ with 3 band EQ and active / passive option, that was not too heavy and had more accessible frets than I was getting from my Sire P7, this ticks all the boxes! I've also managed to spend < 20% I was half-thinking of forking out on an equivalently spec'd new bass (albeit with nicer woods), and the tone on this 735A easily goes to toe to toe with that high-end bass. So my wallet is feeling hugely relieved and the ulterior motive of turning this into a poor man's midi bass with an additional GK3 pup and pairing with a Boss SY-1000 can move onto the next step!

Finished! My friend wanted Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwounds and they are right when they say they sound like rounds! Very impressed with those. I need to do some setting up, as I left the nut slots a little high. Overall I couldn’t be happier with the sound and look!

Well, i've just done the same to him. Bought a 150 quid item, and marked it payment made, but didnt pay him. Lets see what the w@anker makes of that

Having suffered with Semi gas for some years now, I've been keeping my eye out for one of these for a while, and when one popped up "in stock" in the UK, I grabbed it before it could get away! And I'm smitten! Lovely thump & surprising range of tones available by twiddling the volumes to blend each pick up. Lovely high quality finish all round - can't fault anything. Only thing to get used to is that it's huge!😊 At least 3" longer from head to toe than my Fender P, and obviously a good deal fatter. It needs a completely different playing position compared to my "normal" basses, but it's something I'm looking forward to working on 🤗.

It still gives me a pang of guilt that I once got a perfectly good Squier MB1 P/J bass in a Crack Converters down from £100 to £50 as I demonstrated to the staff that one of the volume knobs wasn’t working. Turns out (after I got it home) that it was the pan / blend control, I hadn’t had a bass with one before......

Laura Ashley Death Punch. Has a certain ring to it.

I was always a bit hesitant about graphite basses and necks, but the neck on my new Sterling...it's amazing.

I can't believe its not funny

Pickup position in both basses are exactly the same at the split, Hill's reversed pups have a slightly brighter E & A where the D & G loose a bit edge seems more balanced out all in but mind the Hill uses EMG's compared to the 77's Dimarzio's. The 77's neck feels more slicker but could be put down to having a satin like finish compared to a painted neck, all in i couldn't pick a better one out of the two...both hold there own. Just need a Wimbish now or a p/j Hill and i'll be happy. By the way both are good for thrash metal never mind heavy metal

The photos were taken during lockdown.

I'm sure all BC'ers must be feeling really sorry for all the pro musicians out there - they might have just about survived the last lockdown and been limping along since then, but tonight's announcement might be the final straw. And also all the support crews that worked with them..... not so easy to 'retrain' when it's the only life you've known. And even if Covid is beaten or becomes just another virus for us humans to deal with, it'll take many years for the live arts in all their forms to fully recover.

Yeah he’s a very tasty player. I was learning the original Fool For Your Loving a few weeks ago and the bass on it is great. Had the pleasure of making Neil Murray a cup of tea many years ago at the Roland HQ in Swansea where I worked. I said: “You’re Neil Murray aren’t you?” and he said: “Well I’m an older, fatter version of him,” which I thought was quite witty.

The company still feature it on their bass string sets.

Have you tried dieting?

It's been a while since I've had two fretless basses in the house, let alone two basses that might last a while. I've owned that Jazz for almost 20 years now and the Sterling/Status arrived a few weeks back. I've added a Nordstrand pickup to it because the Kent Armstrong that was in it sounded a bit too modern for my taste. And boy. Is it great. I'm not a big Stingray fan but this is quite a bass.

It's great isn't it!? You can't log in as you may be a robot, but the reply to your complaining about it comes from their robot. Unless of course you are a robot, in which case Skynet has gone active and we're all doomed. "I need your boots, your motorcycle and a new bass guitar!"

It’s not called Crack Converters for nothing, around my way it’s the first place people look if anything is stolen

I love this geeky clip

Yes, people must (be) really stupid

A little bit overkill for acoustic gigs , but i like to have thunderous lows even with acoustic bass !

Jaccobs Ladder by Incognito. I saw him play this a few times on an F Bass 5 string live with Incognito at various venues.. When you hear the song it makes more sense. But non the less what a bass player. Met him upstairs at the Jazz Cafe when he was playing with Down to the Bone. What a lovely man he was.

Hey guys! Hope you're all keeping safe with everything that's going on at the moment. Thought I'd put back in what I've gotten from Basschat, and create a thread with some light reading... Background As I'm sure is the same for a lot of us, I've been using my unexpectedly higher proportion of time spent at home working on some of my latent projects...of course, I mean my bass guitar projects rather than something trivial and unneeded such as home improvements. I started out sorting my trusty old Lakland 44-01 modified with Nordstrand Big Singles that I used for years when I played bass professionally, which has gone from being in a sorry state to a new sparkly spray job and a John East Uni Pre that I bought pretty much brand new in box for a good price on eBay (for another thread). After I got my current basses in order, an unexpected side effect was I got a strong sense of what my current basses are really good at - and, more importantly, what the current limitations are, that mainly being a lack of a great 5 string bass. Most of my bass playing life I've played 4 strings, but not because I'm a die-hard 4 stringer...I've just never really found a 5 string I've ever bonded with, which is a pain since I play a lot of music that could do with one (heavy rock/prog, pop, electronic music etc). My usual complaints have been the following: Neck dive (my biggest complaint) Too heavy (a close second) Too cumbersome Sub-par playability Last year, I made my biggest concerted effort to have a proper 5 string counterpart to my main bass (Custom Shop Jazz Bass 4 string) and bought a used USA Standard Jazz Bass 5 from the Bass Gallery. I loved the sound, the weight was great...but after a while, I realised the playability just wasn't there (including after fret levelling), so I made the decision to get my money back and sit on it until I worked things out. I guess all of these thoughts came together at the same time (plus the USD to GBP exchange rate is constantly going up and down), and I realised that now would be a better time than ever to try pulling this Warmoth thing off... The Spec Core requirements: Well balanced Great playability Similar in sound and feel to my 4 string Jazz Bass, e.g could use it on the same gig and not be wildly different in sound/output Consistency, string-to-string and note-to-note Stiff neck (always a good ingredient for a great sounding B string) I've always really liked the look of the Warmoth Deluxe 5 Jazz Bass body shape, so I used this as a basis of the build. From that point, I played around a lot with the Warmoth configurator and tried to strike a balance between not front loading all of the cost stateside (import duties are unpredictable...) and getting the exact spec I wanted, as well as allowing for some creativity and decision making as I go rather than ordering everything pre-made Warmoth's end. This is what I settled with: Body: Model: Deluxe 5 J Bass® Orientation: Right handed F-Holes: None Scale: 34" Wood: Mahogany Rout: Top Rout Pickup Rout: J-Bass (5 String Neck , 4"), , J-Bass (5 string Bridge, 4 1/8") Controls: None Bridge: Bad donkey V - Non Thru Jack Rout: No Side Jack Hole Neck Pocket: Standard Bass Pocket Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt Contours: Contoured Heel / Tummy Cut / Forearm Contour I found the neck on a really great deal via 'Screamin' Deals' - the streaky ebony fingerboard also caught my eye, as I like the look of it and it's reasonably uncommon to see): Neck: Style: Deluxe 5 Inline Construction: Super Bass Construction Orientation: Right Handed Neck Wood: Maple Fingerboard Wood: Ebony Nut Width: 1-3/4" Back Shape: Asymmetric Fret Size: 6105 Tuner Ream: GB7 (14mm) Radius: Straight 10" Scale: 34" Fret #: 22 Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: GraphTech White TUSQ XL - Standard Nut Inlays: White Pearloid Blocks Side Dots: White Side Dots Stiffening Rods: Standard Steel Rods Finish: Clear Satin Nitro All in all, it took around three weeks to arrive from Warmoth to 'sunny' Brighton & Hove, which I thought was very impressive considering current circumstances. It also revealed an interesting possibility...in its raw form, the mahogany seems to show some flaming on the front, and especially on the back. I'd had some thoughts about finishing the body in a solid colour (not an option I could go with in the end anyway - to be revealed!), but now I'm seriously sizing up finishing the body in some kind of clear coat. Truth be told, I've got the project a little more off the ground since the photos were taken, but rather than ruin too much of the surprise now, I thought I'd save some of those juicy bits for part 2 😁. Cheers for reading, and I'll get the second part up shortly!

Really pleased with mine too, it’s superb quality, I do totally get people held back by the cost, I sold two basses to cover it! The feel, the smell and colour did it for me, can’t resist a sparkly finish !!

Back in 1986/87 Kramer had a special batch of 5A solid quilted maple .Apart from this bass the remaining quilt was used to produce NS2s for Doug Wimbish, Mario Cipollina , Adam Clayton and Henry Vaccaro (Kramer company owner).

Welcome to the club - I am six weeks ahead

I quote: 😄

There's something about valve amps............ 😎

.

If you haven't seen it already -- You might enjoy Rick Beato's 'What makes this song great' series, BT. 🙂 Example: https://youtu.be/xKIC9zbSJoE

Is salted or unsalted butter best for a bass? 🤔

At least Dave sounds like he knows his stuff. 👌 DAVE SAYS: "THIS IS A CUSTOM PAINTED BASS GUITAR: THE SOLID WOOD BODY IS IN GOOD CONDITION PAINTWORK AND DECAL ON FRONT ARE NEAT, MINOR NICKS ONLY WORKS FINE! NO ISSUES! WOOD BIT ADDED TO FRONT, DON'T KNOW WHY"

Maybe this pic of my old one might push you to the brink.......Go on....you know you want to! 😁

As @Hellzero said in the beginning of this thread, the answer may be in the setup. I used Rotosound PSD strings years back with no issues. Now my 5-string is strung with GHS tapercore strings. After a meticulous setup, no issues at all. I actually found a problem with the bridge saddles: they were slightly loose in their grooves and caused a little bit of rattling.

The commercial exploitation of anything to do with Lemmy has been utterly shameless since his passing.

Absolutely! Not so much with music but 100% with lyrics: "A predictable rhyme is a waste of my time Can't you write any better, you peasant? You treat us like sheep with your lyrics so cheap. Obnoxious, naff, and repellant" 4/10, Must try harder

Not at all. I've been downloading and learning some of @Bilbo 's transcriptions of songs from my earlier years and that's just for fun. After 44yrs playing i still get excited by some basslines that even after 40 years still give me that buzz to learn them. Altho i learn basslines as near note for note as possible its only for my own benefit. I use it as a starting point and the band use my knowledge of the song as a guide at rehearsals. If i'm playing the bassline perfectly or as near as possible it allows them a bit more freedom to improvise, more so when we are a basically guitar bass and drums trying to cover larger bands or songs that have been double tracked in studios. We as a band try to get as close to the original as we can tho. Dave

Well???........, we prefer the term hard rock rather than metal, but this one seems ok so far? video-1604058486.mp4

Play them a tune on it badly and explain that the notes are all in the wrong places. Should get you a decent discount.