Leaderboard

Ok. It's time to talk about what things cost. We've put our prices up to reflect the new UK manufacturing and have already had several angry emails from potential customers. So I want to address a few things. The cost of manufacturing in the East Even if we'd kept our manufacturing in India, our prices would probably have gone up 30%. This is due to the cost of wood going up. Shipping prices skyrocketing. Import Duties (we used to get our instruments tariff free on an EU trade deal. That's now gone). And just simply the factory in India raising their price. So although our new 60% price increase seems a massive jump. It's two jumps in one. One of which we were already absorbing. The sustainability of manufacturing in the East First - it's a bit wanky - but it's not too environmentally friendly shipping guitars all over the world by ship. Ships are massive polluters. It's not a great idea. But even that aside - all the manufacturing capacity at the Indian / Indonesian / Korean manufacturers is being bought up by the big boys. Smaller manufacturers like us were being pushed to the back of the queue ALL the time. They're just not interested in manufacturing for us. A move to the UK We know that if the ONLY thing we're offering for the increased price is that it's made here - then people are going to see that for what it is. So we are taking advantage of the fact that we can now work more closely and flexibly with a UK factory to squeeze in some improvements. Chambering / Weight Relief, Boutique Woods, Better Finish, Carbon reinforcement in all necks, Blind Fretting, Rolled Edges on Fretboards, Better parts. ALL of these are included in our price increases. So you're getting a lot for our money. Come along on the journey with us. We KNOW we are going to lose sales. Spending £850 on a bass is a lot more than £530 on a bass. We are not worried however about where we sit in the market. It's a totally fair price for what you're getting. Our confidence in the market on the whole is a bigger concern. Higher bills, national insurance and inflation makes us worry that people might not have the money to buy a bass. But it is what it is. Come on a journey with us while we build a proper UK build bass brand. It's going to be fun! Thanks for letting me ramble.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/07/pink-floyd-reform-to-support-ukraine

Yeah, it's common, people.

Just found my 1983 Westone catalogue which includes the 80s pointy Raider as well as the better known Concord and Thunder basses.

STP are a band I've always kind of liked but never really taken much time to really listen to them. Yesterday I put on Core, I'd never realised before just how interesting their bass lines are. I spent most of yesterday evening working out Plush. It's always great to suddenly discover something I already knew was so much more interesting than I ever realised.

It's been a long time since I've owned a Status (the last was sold in 2006 to buy a motorbike) and is one of a couple of regrets about basses I've sold over the last 25 years. This one cropped up in the local shop and I simply had to have it - I never thought I'd get the opportunity to get my hands on another as they don't seem to come up all that often let alone at an affordable price. Whilst this one is different than my previous example (the last one was a six-string for starters), it exhibits that exact same 'instant playability' and feel - something I've found unique to Status basses and even my beloved Warwick needed tweaks and a setup to get it exactly where I wanted it. It sounds absolutely killer through the Trace Elliot 'mini mighty' rig! Super tight, punchy with that 'immediacy' that's quite tricky to put into words. Suffice to say, I'm very pleased with it and it's great to have a Status back in the collection - I feel it fits in great with the Warwick, Jazzes and Yamaha. ❤️

Came across this kind of accidently after being in the market for a 70s style Jazz with blocks, matching headstock, etc. Played one of these many years ago and remembered really liking it so I pulled the trigger and it arrived yesterday, it's in pretty awesome knick for a 2006 and these seem to be hard to come by now so im very pleased! Not had a chance to plug in yet but first impression are very nice, update to follow...

Scaled down from the Schmidt Array, so here is the new setup on a Rockboard Tres 3.0 with a Mod 1 Signal chain is: Bass>Mod 1 Input A>Cali 76>Morningstar ML5>Origin '64 BassRig>XLR and 1/4" outs both go to the Mod 1 for feed to the desk with Cab Sim, and straight to an amp if used. ML5 Loops: A>Octamizer B>TRS splitter cable to B on Mod 1 C>HX Stomp with Bright Onion Momentary switch. FX Loop of Stomp to C on Mod 1 D>Prometheus E>TRS splitter to D on Mod 1 Using the TRS jacks on the Mod 1 with ML5/Stomp FX Loops means I can insert any pedal(s) either in front of, after, or into the Stomp's chain itself (and move it about as needed). I haven't got the required TRS splitters yet (apart from the one within the Stomp's loop) so one of the Mod 1 outputs is connected to the Headphone out of the Stomp for now, but that's how it will be used in future. Here's the underside: There's a Temple USB adpator so I can charge my iPad, and a GigRig Doubler to power the Cali76 at 18V. Everything powered by the Generator.

Last weekend was the Bass & Guitar show in Liverpool. I had the opportunity to be on the Bass Direct stand for the weekend helping with product demos and made a couple of bass sales (Cort A5 Plus SC & Kala U-Bass). It is well documented in other threads that the weekend was fairly quiet, which gave me the opportunity to try out most of the instruments I liked the look of with no limitations. The most popular basses were without a doubt the Dingwalls, a good mixture of those who had never played a fanned fret before - and some who are diehard Dingwall fans. Lots of people went for the D-Roc 5 to try out - it was moderately priced (for a Dingwall !), and had a stunning aquamarine flake finish. It was definitely the most popular instrument I saw being demo'd and was with me too. As a passive instrument, I expected it to sound a bit dull compared to the NG/Combustions, but it did not. It was mostly plugged into a GR Bass head and 2x12 carbon fibre cab. It was without a doubt the most thunderous yet clear bass sound i've heard to date. The pickup switching was very good and there isn't a bad sound available from it. Every time someone tried it out I was hoping they'd put it back, because otherwise I couldn't have it. We got to the end of Sunday and it had survived, so I agreed a sale whilst we were packing up and took it home that day. The only downside, is that I will have to lose 1-2 basses to fund it, but i'll get over that quite quickly. And here it is just before the show opened - I hadn't played it yet nor considered buying it.. should have got Sheldon to sign it but in the fluster of packing up I didn't think of it (i'm 2nd from left).

During the first lockdown I ended up having a listen to a few bands I’d heard the name of (and people I knew rated/recommended) but had never gotten around to hearing anything by them. STP was one of those bands. Not all to my taste, but ended up liking a few bits and bobs, but I ended up really liking the bass parts. Even more so after I watched this. To me, he comes across as a really nice and humble guy, who is hugely talented. Well worth a watch…

I did this course during the first lockdown. I was a stubbornly pick-only player beforehand; after finishing the course, fingerstyle plucking felt completely natural and it's now my preferred technique. Of course the Technique Accelerator covers a lot of other stuff, but this particular area of improvement gave rise to a sea change for me.

So, it's actually officially happening! We've broken ground today on building a studio rehearsal room. It's going to be a big old beast... circa 40sqm. Time frame to completion is around 8 weeks. I shall update in due course, but suffice to say I am quite excited about having a proper studio rehearsal room! 😁 The band will be moving in as soon as its ready and will save use between £200 and £250 a month in practice room fees.

This is a very good point. Shipping anything halfway across the world by sea is bad news. Container ships are the biggest transport polluter in the world. They run largely unregulated enormous, archaic engines on cheaper bunker fuel (basically the crap left over when producing oil and it’s derivatives) and a single large container ship going back and forth between the Far East and UK for a year generates the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars! Anything we can do to reduce goods being shipped long distance will really help.

The Precision sounded better on all examples to me. I like Stingrays but only when they're sitting in the mix a bit more - solo they sound a bit like a duck.

Distortion and square waves don’t obliterate speakers any more than an undistorted signal of equivalent RMS power, and in fact is easier on a speaker mechanically. A square wave of the same peak voltage as a sine wave has twice the thermal power but the same mechanical power. This is probably the root of most misunderstanding about the topic. Now peak power is something entirely different, a sine wave always has a peak power that’s double the RMS value, it’s purely two ways of using math to describe the same thing.

Handsworth revolution - steel pulse

Found some stuff I picked up in my youth!

Catherine Howard Rick Wakeman

May mute the sustain a smidge though.

OK, here goes: i) I'm really not a fan of the Jazz/Precision shape. Or Fenders generally. ii) Sunburst finishes generally (especially sunbursts where the colour goes from black to yellow). iii) Maple fingerboards. iv) Hi-gloss finishes that look like furniture. v) Terrible headstock design (ie Cort, Sandberg, Chowny, G&L). vi) Anything with a single pickup (I'm just of the opinion that a twin pickup set up is way more versatile tonally). vii) 'Does it come with a hardshell case?' If the answer is 'no', then well, no. There's probably more.

i've been quietly reading this thread as it has unfolded and my main reattion at the new prices was that they are a Bargain! for a uk made instrument (made by a very well respected workshop) i think they're actually pretty cheap, the quality will be top notch and the lead times won't be affected by the long waits for containers to be shipped half way round the world. all i need to do know is start saving my pennies and decide which one i want! Matt

Just found my G&L catalogue picked up 40 years ago when I was gassing for an L2000E. (I ended up buying a Stingray from Peter Cooke's instead which I still have).

Congrats on the new bass! A logical step on from your old Redsub Coliseum I guess? How does the Ding compare in terms of balance & weight etc? All I can say is, thank god for the copyright issues. The new shape is far better to my eyes. I love that little kick at the back, by the controls. It looks sleeker, a proper 21st century Bird (there's a song in there somewhere).

Sandal in the Wind ～ Elton John

I normally do the ebay thing and seem to do best on there Another good place is axesrus and also northwest guitars

Some amplifiers with a single knob for compression tend to change the ratio and threshold as you turn, so it's worth looking at the details if you can find them. For example my Blackstar U500 says: (compressor knob) Controls the overall amount of compression by adjusting the threshold, attack, release and make-up gain simultaneously. Lower settings of the control result inslower attack and release times and a higher threshold. Increasing the control will lower the compression threshold and increase the make-up gain, and make the attack and release times quicker accordingly.

Vintage thread resurrection to share my early 80s Status brochure that I picked up from Wapping.

Just to say, you absolutely do NOT need to defend selling a UK built bass for £850, at all. And I would market the hell out of the fact that its built here and supporting our economy. You're levelling up, no not everyone can level up with you, but if you can't afford over £500 for a bass, you can't really afford a UK built bass. Simple as that really.

There is only one 'power section' on the ABM600 (I think the misprint / confusion here is that the 1200 has 2 x 600) , the sockets are both parallel. If you plug a 4 ohm cab into one, you have a 4 ohm load. If you plug 2 8 ohm cabs into the sockets, you have a 4 ohm load (which is what I do). if 2 x 4 ohm is used, you will be running at 2 ohm, which it is not rated for

Way back when I first started playing bass, I was in a band with some friends. We only ever played a couple of local gigs, but one of them was a memorial concert for a young guy who had been killed in a car crash. He had been the singer with another band that we were friendly with and I always remember that Plush was one of the songs that they covered.

Working For The Yankee Dollar - Skids

A few more gadgets added to the board. I use the Bass Box for SVT sounds and the Rheingold for clean.

I’ve bought a G&L Tribute Kiloton, a Guild Starfire I and some Thomastik flats over the past 5 years, all with no issues (shipped from Germany to my address in England).

Must be the Fender sticker and Squier neck plate adding £160 over the value of a new one then. GLWTS etc. 🤠

Personally, I've not has an issue with them, although as you say, I'm sure there will be someone along soon enough to state the opposite. The biggest purchase I've made from them was a £2-2.5k bass which although advertised on their site, was not in the UK. I discovered this through a phone call with one of their online agents. They offered to get it shipped over from Germany so that I could look it over at a local store, which I did. It was a great bass which I paid for there and then and took home with me. Obviously you're not going to be able to that, but I can only speak from my experience which was positive. I've bought a lot of other stuff from them, but no where near as expensive, all without issue. Hope it works out for you.

And this... a cracker

Proudly UK made basses at the show in Liverpool this weekend. Also pleased to say that our new production partner is Crimson Guitars, who will be making our basses to our specification and price point. SWB-1 / Pro / Deluxe pricing will be out soon too.

U.K made Chowny CHB-2 bass ready for the show this weekend! Proudly made in the West Country. Hand tinted 3-tone burst in Amber/Cherry/Black. Come and play it! We WANT you to!