Telebass

Nice! Welcome!

About the manufacturing differences. They are not really that great. Each body and neck is still hand finished to some degree. It's not an operation that CAN be entirely automated, or not easily enough to make it worthwhile.

Good post. Also has to be remembered that some of the oldies in good nick are in that condition because the original owners and beyond found that weren't actually that good...the best ones got gigged into the ground! I had a '68 Jazz that looked fabulous, but was an utter dog. And a '69 Telecaster Bass that looked an utter dog, but was fabulous! Every bit as much a lottery as buying a new bass. Certainly not remotely worth it JUST because of what they are. If they are good, fine. If not, then they are very collectable firewood, or good only for vintage spares.

I'm with Westarx here. The vintage thing is ridiculous, and I'm ancient enough to have owned new what are now vintage pieces.

They weren't ALL heavy back then. Mine was entirely ok weight wise, about 9lb. But why oh why does anyone put the strings on the tuners like that? Makes me wince just looking at the pictures!

Oh indeed. I personally think the obsession with all things vintage is a bit of a joke, not unlike when Eric Johnson used to obsess about the right carbon - zinc batteries in his pedals! Even he wised up eventually. Find instrument that suits you. Play it.

Precisely. Even the nagnets aging takes decades. You'd need a time machine to chevk on the sound difference, and then it wouldn't be great.

Or 20mm, whatever it is...

RIP, Mr Bruce.

A Fender 5, which has standard 19mm spacing, is quite wide enough...

Indeed, magnets age. They get weaker over time, abd this must affect the output. For a start, it must decrease a bit. If you then adjust the pickup closer to get more output, it will likely change the tone. Or if you were able to compare the sound, unadjusted and years apart, the magnets would account for most if not all of the change. Movement and drying of wood, particularly if the finish is largely gone a la Rory Gallagher, might also change things a little. But I can't imagine it having a great effect.

[quote name='five-string.co.uk' timestamp='1413484641' post='2578818'] Join the Musicians Union = FREE PLI + FREE Instrument Insurance + FREE Legal advice (Free = inclusive ) Very worthwhile joining [/quote] Agreed. Well worth it.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1414132904' post='2586139'] I have absolutely no interest in making friends with anyone and have a general dislike of most people I meet... Unfortunately Mrs C disagrees and keeps trying to organise BBQs with the neighbours... great fun... sitting there all evening pretending to be interested in football... [/quote] I empathise completely. Even though you don't want me to and I don't want to!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1414128542' post='2586125'] My best advice I have for anybody is this - Most musicians are self serving ass hats. Beware who you befriend. [/quote] This is certainly my recent experience. Was pretty reasonable up to then. But see CamdenRob ^^^

Yup. Regrets...where's that theory book?

Deficiency is the [i]name[/i] of my technique...

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1413975583' post='2584209'] Another one for the tried and tested "lower it till it buzzes then raise it till it doesn't" method of setting the action here... [/quote] Yup, me too! Pretty low, with flats, TIs on the 4s, Chromes on the 5er. Kingman acoustic a bit higher with 50-105 Fenders.

I've not yet got or can play my DB, yet I've had two tentative enquiries already! I really must do something about reading if there's this much work about! As well as learning to play the thing, natch...

That looks interesting!

I've used a Samson system for years with no issues, but that Sony rig looks sweet for the money. IIRC, there was a lot of love for those?

Sunk down to 4 while I await my first upright!

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1413804652' post='2582032'] The only mods I have done to my 2 Squiers (bar strings) are purely cosmetic because they are actually just really nice basses as they are. [/quote] Agreed. Although I did fit an SPB-2 to the 4-string.

As someone still struggling a bit with 5ers, I can see all the plus points. I've got one that I like now, which always helps, but I still find myself making too many silly mistakes of the 'whoops, what's that big wire doing there' type. No doubt I'll acclimatise. ..

Nice!