mowf

And yet, here we all are on a vintage Fender thread.

I initially misread this as “unfortunately music is full of DRUMMERS, weirdos etc…”

I've done the same thing. My first attempt at a mute was using a Draper kneeler mat I found in Halfords; there's a hole cutout for a handle but they leave the bit of foam in so it was like I bought a bass mute and got the mat for free. After a bit of trial and error (and some pretty rough work with a hacksaw) I ended up with a sort of long wedge so there's less material damping the lighter strings.

I've done a similar thing to Reggaebass (not as neat though!). I bought a length of neoprene off eBay, it's self adhesive on one side which is handy so I cut it to size and stuck it to a bit of wood. Does the job. I like the Bassmute that Sean Hurley uses, but it's megabucks and I wouldn't be comfortable sticking it on a vintage bass as it could damage the finish if you tried to remove it. However it did occur to me that you could modify the base plate on it to attach to the bass using the screw holes for the bridge ashtray. And then I spent a fiver on a bit of neoprene instead.

I admit I really enjoy Eurovision, in past years we’ve had the scoresheets and everything. This year I was working away in Germany so had to watch it on my own, although the people next door to my Airbnb were obviously enjoying it too. Managed to get the YouTube live stream synchronised with the Radio 2 Ken Bruce feed so it wasn’t too bad. I’d heard the UK song a few times and thought it was a bit “meh”, not to mention the fact he says “if I was” when it should be “If I were”. ( I mean come on, we’re one of the few countries singing in our first language, we should at least get it right)… anyhoo, I had low expectations on the night but Sam’s performance blew me away. I genuinely felt he stole the show and deserved the win, regardless of geopolitics and all the rest, so I was delighted when he won the jury vote. And he seems like a genuinely lovely bloke to boot. Bastard.

Could be 01 - precision 01 - rosewood 49 - week 49 4 - 1974 and then I'm out of ideas.

Not me either. Although… I had a crap day on Monday, and made the classic mistake of drinking wine then going on eBay. I was the winning bidder on this for about 3 days… talk about cold sweat.

I'd highly recommend Melv Coote at Tube UK. They really know their stuff and are Manchester based. https://tubeuk.com/

Also, I'm reasonably sure Guy Pratt's been in Pink Floyd for longer than Roger Waters so that must count for something... (runs for cover)

Barry White gargling nails.

Same experience as the OP. I used a 1994 SR5 as my main bass, then on a trip to the US in about 2006 I picked up an L2500 Tribute for less than £300. To my ears at least it blew the SR5 out of the water. Fantastic bass, especially for the price.

Tickets sent!

PM me with your email and I'll send them over. Cheers,

Hello, I have one and a half tickets (one adult, one child) for the UK bass guitar show in Liverpool this weekend (April 2nd/ 3rd), free to anyone who wants them. I bought them two years ago when the show was going to be in Manchester; a combination of the show's move to Liverpool with my having (apparently) too many basses to put myself at risk of buying any more, and frankly other things I could be doing this weekend, mean they're up for grabs for anyone who wants them.

I’m worried that buying a ‘64 P bass has cured my GAS.

Wow. That’s disgusting. And wildly overpriced.

Put me down for one too, looks great!

My first bass was a Hohner Jack headless. It was bought as a Christmas present and hidden away, but in the weeks prior to the 25th, unbeknownst to my parents I used to sneak it out of its box and have a go every day after I got home from school. One afternoon, I broke a string and because they were headless they cost a fortune. I ended up selling half my railway set to the next door neighbour to pay for a new set of strings and my parents were none the wiser. I'm only admitting this now as they are no longer with us.

Don't know about you but on our 3 days of summer sunshine the conservatory's too hot to sit in...

That's impressive. I've got a Sunbeam Alpine and have on occasion taken it to rehearsals with a 2 x 10 cab, 2U amp rack and bass (albeit with the roof down). I'm in awe of anyone who could fit a drum kit into it, even though the boot is bigger than you'd expect. My first thought when seeing the title of this thread was that the best car for carrying "gear" would be something fast with plenty of cubby holes that could be easily overlooked in the event of being searched by the police, but having read some of the replies I think it's possible I got the wrong end of the stick.

Here you go. Bought from Bass Direct in 2020, all original (as far as I know). I put a tort scratch plate on as I prefer the look, I've got the ashtrays too which I love but it's just easier to play without them!

I've fallen down the rabbit hole now. Curse you @Reggaebass! Started looking at VintageBassWorld.com which tells me that my #410xxx serial number makes it likely my '74 is actually a '73... Checked the pot codes and yes, they're all from 1973... Checked the neck date stamp and it's too faded to be sure. The last 2 discernible digits are "53", which suggests a 1975 neck (!) (unless there's a digit missing from the end)... Checked the pups. No stamp on one, on the other the last 2 digits are blurred but I think it's "73". So, none the wiser then. And of course it makes no difference to how the bass sounds or plays.

From what I can tell this is 510xxx. I've got a '74 Jazz #410xx and an early '75 Precision #590xx so I'd have thought this was more likely to be a late '74 / early '75 bass. Intrigued by the "tortious guard"... Although having said that, I don't know if you could still get black block inlays after they started doing mother of pearl on maple boards in '73 - '74.

Yep. They realised they'd make more money fixing a broken truss rod than just doing a normal service.