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Hi everyone, this is Mark Morgan-Richards of Classic and Cool Guitars, and Limelight. First of all, thank you to everyone, this is a great community effort. I contacted the auction house first thing this morning and they withdrew the bass from sale. I now have to try to get it back...🤞 I have learnt a few things from this whole episode: 1) I will NEVER use ParcelForce or Interparcel again. 2) I will not be adding any logos to the headstock other than Limelight (or blank) from now on 3) I really appreciate all the help I got from this post (Thanks Paddy)

After all the worry, it was great! Really cool venue, The Acoustic Lounge in Poynton. All the good things you want from a venue - easy to find, car park right next to load in doors, loads of plug sockets, great staff, first drink free and they have bands on every weekend so people know to come for live music. By no means full but with a decent crowd for a Sunday night and even some dancers. A very civilised 7pm start and 9.30pm finish meant I was in bed for just after 11 - bonus on a school night. Easily the best we've played - this was only our 4th full gig as a band and 2nd as a 5 piece with sax. Rig was Fender Jazz 5 Kazuki Arai --> (new) Xvive P58 wireless --> HX Stomp --> PA. Footwear was Vans classics. Lots of positive feedback from punters and venue, including a guy from another band who recorded pretty much the whole gig and sent us the 4k files. Brilliant stuff! Don't know if Jon from Loop & Swing is on here, but thanks a million if you are! Here are some of his clips: And I'm even going to risk submitting a bit of me attempting some slap:

There's not one post here that was against a happy ending of the bass being reunited with the owner. I went back and reread them all. In fact, there's no negativity toward Mark or the buyer. What there was, was some healthy non-conflict comment and information about some of the legal aspects and what could happen in similar circumstances, and a few well-meant warnings about certain couriers and practices. I think it's been a useful learning experience and it reflects well on the community that we can have these discussions.

And here's some pictures. The two cabs stack very nicely on top of each other. However they are only loosely connected through the rubber feet on the bottom and the holes in the corners. You're not going to knock them over without a push, but a drunken punter would easily push them down. The bottom one looks nicer than the top one as it's all black (IMO). I may retrofit the black corners onto the top one. The top one happens to have a Mod Dwarf on it and without that, would be the perfect place to place a pint. Still got to do a grill for the bottom one. Side angle and the rear. The handles are great., Easy to carry the whole cab with just one of them. And from the rear I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out. Even better when I can change the top Speakon panel and remove the gaskets. Work has got in the way all day today. Rob

So this all started in the heat of last Summer when I picked up a prototype Nitro Jazz bass in Daphne Blue by @Silky999 while I was on my way to a gig in Torquay. Quite soon after, I added some Fender Pure Vintage 66 pickups and an uprated tone pot capacitor. This bass, having grown beyond the sum of it's parts, basically showed that Silky999 was definitely onto something... Again, soon afterwards, I signed up for one of @Kiwi's first batch of Jazz bass graphite necks which he was soon to be putting into production in China. The initial intention was to put the graphite neck onto Silky's Nitro Jazz prototype, but it had already become a very good bass as it was. A few weeks later, I noticed that Silky had started work on his own common shape bodies, and he was in the middle of a Walnut Jazz Bass build. Swiftly adding 1 + 1 together, I came up with the concept for this bass - a sort of homage to my no.1 bass, a 2007 Walnut Status S2-Classic that I've owned for 19 years - so we'd build a sort of Vintage-Modern Jazz with Fender Pure Vintage pickups from the American Vintage II series basses, as well as black Gotoh '66 Lollipop Tuners and other nice Gotoh hardware, but with one of the first Kiwi-produced "Aurok" graphite necks for a modern twist to both the look and the sound. The neck arrived on these shores about two weeks ago, delivered directly to Silky and the build has been completed in two weeks. He's definitely put a HUGE amount of work into this bass during that time, overcoming several teething issues, not to mention learning to drill the inserts into graphite for the first time, but we've got there. It's not perfect, but gawd, does it sound fantastic?! I was originally going to get a John East J-Tone preamp plate for it, but it honestly doesn't need it. The 500k pots and more than ample copper shielding have made this a very quiet, yet shouty and clear instrument! Sound-wise, it's actually turned out better than I'd hoped, with a deep, growly tone & a lovely clear top end, with that unmistakable graphite 'shimmer' underpinning the sound. My errors? Well, the first was in the ordering of the lovely Gotoh Lollipop Tuners from Thomann - they're sold as either "4R" or "4L" sets - which I logically deduced would be RH and LH orientation. Er, nope. They're actually labelled for the direction in which they physically turn. Duh. Anyway, I've now accidentally got another bass with "vintage reverse tuners". Yep, we ended up putting them on backwards. I blame the Japanese, personally. Secondly, I ordered a really nice black Gotoh bridge which is seemingly set up for 19mm spacing, as opposed to the usual Fender-style 20mm, so the strings slightly miss the pole pieces, but it still plays and sounds amazing. It can be easily fixed later with a different bridge with adjustable string spacing. I also really liked the wheeled string tree on my GB Spitfire, so added one of those to the tally of parts, as well as a cheeky black "F" logo neck plate - after all, Fender did design the Jazz Bass, so they should deserve a little credit. So it just remains for me to thank both @Silky999 & @Kiwi again for all their hard work. The bass sounds literally amazing - even better than the Status T-Bass I recently played at Andy Baxter's showroom. No, I'm not kidding. Sound Clips to follow...

Now showing as 'withdrawn'. Good work @Chris26 and those who contacted the auctioneers.

Hi everyone, I think I’ve come across your bass in a live auction with Wellers Auctions in Guildford. I check their listings from time to time for instruments, and this one caught my eye due to the very limited information provided. A quick Google reverse image search led me to this forum. The auction ends tomorrow, so it may be worth contacting them ASAP. I really hope you’re able to recover the bass. Chris

@Twigman Currently in the process of proving ownership, so 🤞

I think such discussions are very helpful. I would hope that, in similar circumstances (derails) I have provided some useful information on VAT etc. We come from diverse backgrounds, with expertise beyond bass playing. It's helpful to provide some relevant information (with a suitably qualified background) to other people.

Can I just say.. this thread started with a request from a fellow BC’er to help out a well respected UK luthier and a fellow bass player to find a stolen bass which it now appears ‘we’ have done. That is what a bass player community is all about, and if the bass is recovered successfully we should be proud. A small minority have chosen not to do that and to pile in with other views when they could have spent that time helping a fellow bassist. I think they’ve let themselves down by doing that.

If you're worried about the police getting involved, don't be 🤭

I don't think its about not wanting people to enjoy their basses, and more about insurance issues that may arise, should they go missing and potentially be viewed as counterfeit. A healthy discussion, I think? Literally wasn't something that occurred to me until reading this thread, and I'm wondering this this is why the many and several Ric copies and similar often ship with a blank TRC with a fake TRC in the case, to avoid counterfeit accusations? The risk here is the bass being confiscated if the Police need to get involved, rather than returned to Mark, but given insurance isn't involved here I think its unlikely there would be any opportunity for any complaint to be raised, and hopefully Parcelforce will just sort it out with a dash of compensation for the ridiculousness of it all.

I’m just pleased the bass has been found. I’m sure if Fender take umbrage re: the replica thing, they’ll let Mark know, and he’ll react accordingly: In the meantime… let people enjoy their nice basses, eh?

Ah, thanks, well fingers crossed whichever courier deals doesn`t take it straight to Sotheby`s.

Good gig, weird crowd. First time out for the Godin Dorchester, an absolute beast of a bass, massive pickups, massive output, I really had to turn it down. A fun night and a long two hour set, so we were cooked by the end of it.

I've just taken delivery of this mini 23" scale Harley Benton for my daughter's 4th birthday next month! Hoping to be the proud dad of a bassist! She has wanted a bass of her own for a fair old while now and prefers when I play my basses over my guitars. Just need to tidy the fret ends before we wrap it up as they've sprouted. She's also said that she wants her second bass to be black. I've taught her well already 😂 And it just so happens that I've got a black Squier Jaguar SS stashed away for her too.

I've been following this thread and contributing, I did not pick up on any negativity at all. Lots of healthy discussion around the topic and some connected bits too. If Limelight or the person who commissioned the bass think I have contributed to wishing anything other than the bass not being delivered to its rightful owner then I apologise as this was never my intention. Jonny

I can't say I've picked that vibe up from anyone in particular, but I'm glad and proud it was spotted, our emails appear to have had an impact and it looks to be heading towards a happy ending

small but mighty!

Amazing stuff @Gunsfreddy2003! 👌👏😊 So good to see something like this ; genuine, real and dare I say it - 'old school'. It's exactly what we need to halt the endless flood of intangible, faceless, online 'content we're all drowning in... Will definitely check it out and support. 👍

I've had both the Fishman Platinum EQ and now use EBS. Both are great pieces of kit (especially as a high impedance input for EUB piezo pickups). The EBS won't "sound better" but is a more versatile tool if you need to blend 2 inputs or switch between two inputs with full separate EQ filters etc. If I had EUB with piezo pickup, I'd save the money and get the Fishman. But as soon as I'm looking it microphones, multi-input blending or multi-instrument switching, then I'd pay the extra for the EBS every time.

Watch this space, prices of Pre-ParcelFarce Limelights set to skyrocket...

But he's got to use up 128 rolls of signal red pla!

There's an Elf 110 combo in the classifieds for £340: Bassbros have a 110 extension cab for £199: https://bassbros.co.uk/product/trace-elliot-elf-1x10/ Great little modular, tiny and lightweight rig you can gig with for under your budget.

The Trouser Press - Bonzos

I very much doubt that Fender would be okay with basses they don't build being sold with the Fender logo on. I would imagine that limelight is very much flying below Fender's radar.

Here are a couple of Sound Clips, recorded from TC Electronic RH-750 in 2x10 enclosure with a Sennheiser Podcasting Mic about 8 inches from the amplifier. No effects. Graphite jazz 1.m4a Graphite jazz dean town 2.m4a

It doesn’t really matter that you can’t play much right now, you know what feels comfy and is aesthetically appealing. These 2 things are the most important for your first bass, you’ve got to want to pick it up and if it doesn’t appeal to your eye and feels ‘wrong’, you won’t play it and that defeats the point. Set your budget, go to a retailer, play a bunch of basses in your price range and go home with the one that feels and looks right. Will this be your forever bass? Unlikely, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

The rubber gasket around the actual SpeakOn socket was the issue. It just moved the socket far enough away from the panel that the SpeakOn NL4 plug wouldn't work with the twist. The genuine NL2 Neutrik plug did work. Clearly I do not understand all the nuances around SpeakOn plugs and sockets but at least that problem has gone away. Sorry for the confusion. Rob

Far more likely that Fender just can't be bothered for an outfit as small as Mark's. But this sort of thing might bite him in other ways - if he has business insurance to cover lost instruments and so on, that just won't pay out on counterfeit items. So a customer buys one - knowing it's not a real Fender. It gets lost on the way to the customer. Mark then replaces it and cannot claim from his own insurers because it was illegal to sell in the first place. Or if he refuses to replace it - the customer can't sue him for non-delivery of a purchased counterfeit item because no contract can make an illegal item legal. The silly thing is - his instruments are well loved. He should just put his own logo on them and have done with it.

Hopefully this is case closed and the bass get returned to either Mark or it's rightful owner - but such a massive hassle. Makes you think driving (if you can) to collect things like this might be easier, even if it is a couple of hundred miles all in.

Sorry - but that's not what the law says. Disclaimers are specifically not allowed. The mere use of a Fender logo on a non-Fender item makes it counterfeit. The fact that there is also a Limelight name and number doesn't matter as the illegal act is to sell it with Fender logo on it at all. it is NOT illegal to own, but it is illegal to sell and is subject to confiscation and destruction with no compensation. The rationale is that while the first seller might be entirely honest about the origin, the buyer/next seller may not be. This falls into "Strict liability" - in other words intent is irrelevant. The mere act of selling it is enough to be an offence. There are quite a few offences that are Strict Liability. Speeding is another one. You'll find confirmation of this on all Trading Standards websites and information sheets from around the country. https://services.southwark.gov.uk/assets/attach/10444/Counterfeit-goods-2019.pdf

it does say Limelight on it and a serial number so it's not passing itself off as the real thing IMO It's a replica not a counterfeit. Counterfeit is designed to deceive people. There is no intent to deceive as it says Limelight on it, therefore it's a replica

I understand it was their instrument so can do what they like. But if I was modifying a £3k bass, I'd make sure I didn't lose any bits! 😅

I have to say I've gone digital. But one day I'll get my LP12 out of the loft and set it up again. Meanwhile we have a pic'n'mix the usual arguments: Digital is more accurate than vinyl. Vinyl has more feeling than digital. Digital has more dynamic range than vinyl. Digital sounds like sandpaper. You must be mad if you spend £2k+ on a needle. CDs are limited and you can't spread jam on them and expect them to play. Vinyl LPs warp. Anything above £250 and you can't tell the difference anyway. Some albums sound better on this and some on that. Anything above £251 and it's all a placebo anyway. My vinyl sounds no better than my digital when played over Bluetooth. It's about the music not the system. Go out and listen to some live music.

@Dood I was more being practical rather than trying to be the "fun police". Back in the early days of plug-ins (around 2000) I was gifted the complete set of Waves effects along with their authorisation dongle from a friend who worked in studio equipment sales and had an install that was surplus to their requirements. This was back when none of the main DAWs came without any plug-ins included. I had bought ES2 and ESX24 for Logic and a complete suite of effects plug-ins for free was indeed a bargain. I used a selection of those plug-ins on just about everything I was working on for the next 3 or 4 years and they were great. Then I needed to upgrade my Mac (it's used first and foremost for my day job and the music use is a nice bonus) and unsurprisingly the plug-ins no longer worked. I had a look at the cost of upgrading to the latest versions of the few I thought I absolutely couldn't live without but they were scattered throughout the various bundles and IIRC the cost was more than the full version of Logic and that was just for upgrades. I ended up with a load of projects that I no longer sounded the same as they did on the old Mac. I also encountered a similar problem a few years later when I wanted to do a quick remix of a later band's studio session that had been recorded using Logic. The files used a multitude of 3rd party plug-ins and unfortunately many of them had been discontinued by their developer and those that were still available were prohibitively expensive. All I had wanted to do with open the existing project make a few level and EQ changes and bounce down the new mixes. In the end it was quicker and cheaper to pay someone to remix the tracks from scratch using the original stems and the current mixes as a reference point. Since then I have mostly stuck with the plug-ins that come with Logic. I have a Simmons SDS V emulator that replaces the woefully inadequate set of samples I made when I used to own the real thing, but I'm sure I could recreate all the sounds I wanted using Retro Synth or ES2 if I really had to, and Helix Native which give me a bit more flexibility when recording my Bass VI parts, but again it's not an essential item. Whether the 3rd party plug-ins are actually better is entirely subjective. IME what many people are buying when they purchase 3rd party plus-ins is not a "superior" sound manipulation algorithm but access to a few hundred new presets. Free or cheap 3rd party plug-ins might sound great but, they basically work in the same way as your neighbourhood drug dealer. Give you something for free or cheap and get you hooked so that when you need to upgrade you are hit with the full price. After my Waves experience I'm not so sure I want to go down this route again. If I was making a living from my musical activities it would probably be worth it, but I don't, and can't justify the cost when there are plug-ins that I already have that will never go out of date or be discontinued that will do the same job, and if I take the time, I can learn how to get the best out of them and not need to spend any money chasing something elusive. The free Spitfire Strings might be better than those in Logic, but 15 years ago I was able to orchestrate the backing for a selection of Carols to use on an interactive Christmas website for a very well-known insurance company using just the plug-ins that came with Logic which were more than adequate for the job, and TBH I could have probably done that job in GarageBand. And, because of the sort of music I compose for my band, I'm not interested in realism but textures and atmospheres. This is why I also don't care about how realistic sounding amp models are, because what I'm really interested in is being able to make sounds that will work in the context of the music I am creating. For this I already have everything I need within the Logic install. In the end it's up to each individual user. I'm just offering a potentially more cost effective long-term route.

Agree, I`ve a Sandberg Superlight being made at the moment, which Mark has arranged, when he receives it I`ll drive and collect rather than chance all this malarkey.

Welcome! Buy all 4. You will end up with them all if you stick around here anyway 😂. But more seriously you prolly need to play one of each. Basses of the same brand/model will feel slightly differently so getting the one you ‘want to play cause it feels right’ is the most important thing. You can make it sound pretty much how you want it to with an amp / modelling pedal … Others will have other views of course…

There are hifi buffs who swear by Technics decks, spending thousands on arms, carts, isolation, "clean" power etc, though not many other turntable brands (not even EMT!) use direct drive motors, preferring the extra level of isolation a belt gives (on my TT the motor is in a separate very heavy billet aluminium cylinder, and a new belt is £50! Even Verdier use belts, despite having a magnetic bearing meaning the platter effectively levitates... Still, I've heard Technics decks sounding very good indeed.

I don't know how these things normally work but , if I've understood the timeline correctly, 30 days from initial postage to turning up in an auction for unclaimed goods seems like a ridiculously short period for a fairly valuable item, especially one that is so unique and easy to identify after it went 'missing' in the first place. I agree it's far more likely to be error that criminal intent, but something has clearly gone very wrong here.

Very wide influences for young folk there I was in Lidl and sometimes talk to the young lad on the till. Pleasant young man (for a guitard) so obviously I have to speak more slowly and not use big words. he’s a bright guitard because he can actually use a till. He says he’s joined a band doing 80s funk. Seriously his mum must have been a toddler when that stuff first came out I did resist the urge to ask if his guitar was any good for metal.

Hiding behind the sofa adding secret bass parts on your baritone? 😂

It's hard to tell from the pic but it looks like a modern SB1000 painted black rather than a period-correct reissue. The near-parallel string spacing was one of the features that made the originals so special.