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Well. Personally, I like em. So I'm trying one. A classic 5. I wanted Neck thru. Arrives tomorrow. Photos from the seller.

Don‘t DO that. These days, any thread titled with someone‘s name, I take to be an obituary 😅

I’m seventy three. When I found the gear was becoming heavy I bought modern lightweight cabs. The lift went from close to hundred to about twenty five pounds. My preamp and amp are not heavy. The big misery is trying to find a parking space in the downtown core but I doubt the venue will provide valet parking for the band. Pity. I have an old friend , influence , and mentor that has several years on me and is still playing. Great player. And whenever I watch him do the gig , with grace and dignity I feel like I’ve still got several years left. We are both still going strong.

But if you want a Tobias…and that’s what a Tobias now costs…are you being fleeced as such? If that’s what @joel406 wants - I for one am happy for him; I’m sure it’s a considered purchase. I also think the Tobias looks a damn sight nicer than any equivalent Cort. And that’s a deciding factor too - albeit a personal one.

TL:DR - I've bought a new bass. It's very nice. I've been hankering after a jazz for a while to fit with the vibe of my new band. Thought I wanted another Sandberg, a Vincent or really push the boat out and get a Lull. However, I fell in lust with the blonde Fender Japan Kazuki Arai signature jazz on the Bassbros website. It was 4.5kg however, so not for me. Then they got one that was listed as 3.8kg on their site. I messaged them to double check. It was actually 3.8kg. I was in trouble. Being away from Thurs to Sunday guaranteed that this would happen on Thursday afternoon (pic whatsapped to my by my delightful and not at all surprised by another big box arriving other half). Had to wait until Sunday to open it, it played nicely straight out of the box, but a swap to my preferred strings and lowering the saddles by a quarter turn really made a difference. The I plugged it in, oh my, these noiseless vintage pickups really are something. It's the sound I've been chasing for ages. The low B is fabulous. It's gorgeous and not at all 'signature-y'. An engraved neck plate is the only giveaway, and it comes with a plain one too, nice touch. I've got my first gig with my new band on Friday. Everything sensible says I should play my Sandberg as it's a known quantity. I won't though, can't wait to hear this thing in the mix. If anyone's bothered enough then I'll try to get some video and update this post at the weekend. Or, if you're near the bright lights of Chorley then pop along and check us out at The Shed and Garden.

Absolutely - have a gig on friday, the first gig or practice in a month. Gonna be great

Its one of the reasons i started going to a gym 4 yrs ago because i found i was struggling to lift things. Out of breath quite easily was a worry. In my head it was either unfit or something seriously wrong. My wife went thru something similar when she was around 40 and it turned out to be a heart condition where one side of the heart hadn't grown at same level as the other. She was given tablets to help and a year later there was a remarkable 50% improvement and she's now fine but it was going thru my head that it could be same thing or worse. I opted for trying the gym and within 3mths i lost 2 stone from 15 to 13st and wasn't out of breath anymore when doing things. That was gym 3 times a week just doing our own thing. Since then my muscle mass has grown and i am feeling exceptionally good. I'm not there to be the next Arnie but its more about body maintenance to help as i get older. I have no real problems lifting gear these days with the exception of the large PA cabs at circa 40Kg each and its more the lift and tilt to get into back of my estate car that's the issue trying to avoid resting them on the rear bumper and scratching my paintwork. I turned 65 last Friday so hopefully i'll keep playing for a few yrs yet but once i know my body is failing i'll walk away. Dave

That's why no item of my gear weighs over 10kg (except the 2x12 cab, a monstrous 11.5kg).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-Backdated-Melody-Maker-Seventies/dp/1915858224 Following a post by Joel McIver I bought this, and I've just finished reading it. It is comfortably the best read I've had in years ... and I read a LOT. Can't remember the last time a book had me laughing out loud (and I don't mean a bloody emoticon) so much or so often and, as a child of the 70s (I'm 68) every single bloody page meant something to me. The book is so well written that I didn't even feel jealous; I just felt like I was there with him. Trust me, you won't regret buying this.

1995-96 tobias Gibson growler Memphis Imo this has lower QC than the Arkansas version but the Bartolini electronics are incredibly versatile

Just been sent this from Saturday night, the guy who sent it said I looked like I really enjoyed playing that bass! 😆

Cheap stair carpet from the inside of car, over the bumper - job done.... 😎

The boards on my Status basses are too - you can clearly see the layers thanks to the fingerboard radius. This is my 2012 S2 Classic 5, after applying a little WD40:

After completing the abstinence challenge last year, I am now a broken man. Other than the stand I bought for my EUB, which was the equivalent of a more comfortable strap, I have no GAS. Let me say that again, NO GAS! Sounds good, yes? Well it isn’t, I hate it! I used to love pointlessly drooling over new gear, looking to see where I could try it, how I could justify buying it. All gone, even guitar GAS, which was always on hand, has dwindled to a mere cursory glance at guitar shop, websites. To summarise, everyone go and buy something now, save yourselves, no one should feel like this. 😩 What do you mean, that’s not the point of this thread and challenge? I’m doing everyone a favour, surely? 😉😁

That’s interesting. When I worked in R&D, I did a lot of work on phenol formaldehyde resin systems (aka Bakerlite - I assume the main component of ritchlite) and the levels of the catalyst, resol and novalak made a big impact on the modulus of the cured resin. I guess Rob did a lot of work getting the mix right to achieve the properties he wanted for the overall sound.

I'm patiently waiting for one of these to turn up in a colour I Iike and at a price I also like. They are simply amazing creations.

I've had a Japanese Sadowsky Metro 5 for over a year now and it basically can do everything. In the past I had the Lakland 5502, and it was ok, but the tone was not nearly as open as the Sadowsky. Plus I learned from that experience that I prefer a 34 inch scale. May be out of your range, but those new Metro Expresses that go for 1150 are a steal, imo. I prefer them to Lakland Skylines. I played one before buying the Japanese Metro and was impressed that it was only that much.

Tobias Classic is one of the ATG bass designs ever for me, it's fantastic that they're back and looking as good as they do regardless of who's building them. Given that they were always an odd acquisition for Gibson who never really knew what to do with the brand it's surprising they're being produced at all tbh.

If your plums are purple, it's probably time to get yourself to A&E...

Speaking of the Classic, I have the 5 string version which became my main gigging bass for much of the '22 and '23 season and partly last year, too. (The pics are for reference, used them in other threads here) I hate neck dive and have a preference of thinner necks. This Classic 5 has some of the beefier neck out of all my Spectors but to my biggest surprise it never became an issue (again, I gig this bass a lot so I would have noticed even after the honeymoon period) The neck heaviness is noticable but I would not call it a neck dive ( the other picture is for how I hold the bass) and it never posed a problem. Also it sounds massive (as all Spectors do 😉 ) A little bit more precise, especially for slapping.

I'm not an MM pickup guy, so I don't know about alternatives for that model, but there's better double soapbars for £1200. That's just a Cort A4/A5/A6 and you're getting rogered for twice the price.

In my humble opinion a Korean Lakland will wipe the floor with a Chinese Sadowsky. I've managed to try both of each on separate occasions. No contest.

Yea.. one of my biggest regret, was to sell my jp me.. It was the only model which share identical neck profile to the NYC line. And they are gold for that money..

IF you're comparing the CHINESE Metro Express to the Lakland then yes I would also personally prefer the Lakland.

Richlite is basically made of paper - it's multiple layers of paper impregnated with phenolic resin and baked under high pressure. It's sturdy stuff that's somewhere in between a wood fingerboard an a pure phenolic one.

That would be be a fantastic pub to visit!

I have done 90 transcriptions in 73 days. Bloody lunatic.

Bollox - there'll be something living rent-free in your head... just buy it, you're gonna die some day. Morbid, perhaps, but that's the exact logic I used when I bought my Greco bass. Carpe diem and all that shizz.

I'm pretty exclusively on short scale now. I find them more intuitive to play than medium and long scale ( and being only 5'5" tall, the short scale basses make me look a bit taller too 😆😆)

Yes but late January, at this rate you’ll be going gear-.purchase-free all year ** ** assuming that you live until 2097 of course

You’ve gotta plant seeds. The power of suggestion. That big tree of yours, that was a seed once 😀

Love mine! 😉😎👍

Isn't that Frets? Or Luminlay, ummm no, Ramps, no wait... String Mutes... oh hang on, Compresssors, Effects, errr... Plectrums, Ahhhh!!! Electric BASS!! It wasn't like it used to be in the olden days when we had to actually work to be heard at the back of the room with a double bass gahhhhh!!!! 😁 I jest of course.

Because they sound worse for being at that longer scale length. It's the same principle as on a piano or a harp, the lower pitched strings are longer than high pitched ones. As a Dingwall owner, I'd say it's like the small amount of difference in an instrument that makes it feel different to others. It's not better or worse, it's just different. And it's a level of difference that only really matters to the player - the average audience member isn't realistically going to notice a sonic difference between a multiscale and standard scale bass. If that difference works for you, great. If not, move on.

Just over two years later the band has changed, the technology has improved, and my playing is unrecognisable ...

29th May 2008 at The Luminaire (Kilburn), my first ever gig with my first ever gigging band singing my first live vocal. My daughter forgot to switch on the recorder until halfway through the song. A bit pitchy but could have been a whole lot worse. The guitarist was going through massive back trouble and was totally zonked out on heavy-duty painkillers, but that's a pretty creditable solo. 02 Looking For My Baby.mp3

Yeah I`ve found that the change that made the most difference was plectrums, if I go to a .63mm plec from a 1.0 the difference in sound is much more noticeable than had I changed a bridge or brand of strings. And the validation point there being that the rest of the band noticed and asked what I`d done - most times bands don`t even know we`re there!

Lost In Music by Giles Smith

thanks again to everyone who's offered help and advice. i am slightly saddened that my thread about grub screws has generated more interest than some threads about my band, but there you go 😆 cheers!

Any star wars fans?

The man wins a cigar...

Can't see it myself.... /I'll get my coat 😀🤣😂 (and glasses!!!)