skej21

The heads up on my part was more for the free evening of inspiring live musicians! If anything, by bringing so few basses to showcase, Fender have done us all a favour and saved us the cost of a new bass AND a night out at a quality gig! Bravo Fender, bravo!!

Gary bought a bass from me and he's a top chap! Super fast payment and great to deal with. Buy/sell in confidence :-)

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1435230922' post='2806710'] I can't what's wrong with those finishes unless you have an aversion to green. Personally, I really like that SG. [/quote] I quite like them personally! There are treads all over the Internet discussing how 'bad' etc those two finishes in particular though. I imagine it's yet another double-edged sword situation, like most established instrument manufacturers face. One side says 'you never make anything interesting or new' and the other side have a 'if it ain't broke' viewpoint. The company then tries to accommodate one whilst alienating off the other. They can't really win.

[quote name='Bradwell' timestamp='1435224985' post='2806622'] Gibson was recently (last couple of years) given the dubious title of worst company in the USA to work for, loads of horror stories about the CEO micromanaging everything, unrealistic targets, workers being laid off. Black Richlite and Ebanol are pretty similar materials and to the best of my knowledge just different trade names for a wood fibre & phenolic resin composite. Their fine was for both ebony and rosewood illegally imported from India & Madagascar. Personally I've never been a fan of either their guitars or basses, but some of their models over the last few years have been laughable, anybody see the holy explorer / holy v, dusk tiger or Zakk Wylde Moderne? [/quote] Yup, but I think these two models win the 'worst Gibson models' competition; The 'classy' SG Deluxe in Limeburst and the infamous 'gecko burst' Les Paul... http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SGDXLICB-13 http://prairiesun.com/images/new%20guitar%20pics/Display%20Sized%20GTR%20pics/Gecko%20Front.jpg

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1435159511' post='2806080'] Indeed. And - as someone remarked somewhere else - standard fret markers and a rosewood board when they could have used ebony and some custom inlays. Basically, a bog-standard SG off the line dipped in glue and rolled in diamonds. Plays like buttah. But look closer... Dear God! ... are those [i]heart-shaped pot knobs[/i]? It's like one of those Limited Edition mantelpiece tat offers you see in the back of TV Choice; 'An amazing commemorative model of Hogwarts Academy out of Harry Potter lovingly crafted by Franklin Crystal only £49.99 posted, suckers'. [/quote] Gibson don't use ebony now after 'the incident'... They've replaced it with 'black richlite'

Build guitars based on an established heritage and by listening to what the consumer wants? Ok... http://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/1012/-gibson-unveils-2-million-eden-of-coronet-diamond-guitar/51396

Wait until she shouts and then play the next song at double tempo. If she calls it between every song, your set will be over in 30 minutes, pick up the money and get an early night. You're just giving the punters what they asked for, after all ;-)

I thought this thread would be mentioning this bit of genius! http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/7602368?utm_hp_ref=uk&m=true

It could be worse, you could have this guy playing your solos! http://youtu.be/ezO-qXZ2pYE

Moondance?

I bought an SR605 and restrung it E-C. Didn't need to change the but and it plays really nice. I wouldn't spend the best part of £700 on something like this. They should've done the SR1400 (thru neck model) with a 33" scale and the Nordstrand Big Singles. Would have been KILLER and less than £1000. Missed opportunity with this I think...

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1432713415' post='2784088'] Presumably there are limited tickets for this event and if BCers snap most of them up early Fender are going to wonder why 95% of their audience are bass players... ... maybe they will open a bass emporium to cater for us. [/quote] I'm not even too bothered about the basses (or potential lack of) to be honest. If Fender don't bring enough basses with them, that's out of our hands but it's just a really great chance to see some fantastic musicians! Hopefully there will be plenty of nice basses on show though :-)

I was on Instagram this morning and spotted Fender promoting a Fender UK tour, designed to discuss and demonstrate models from the American Standard range. Whilst this is a great chance to try out some gear and talk to the guys at Fender, they also have the All-Star band with them. Tickets are FREE, which means you get to see Randy Hope-Taylor and Yolanda Charles playing for the cost of a few drinks :-) thought it might be of interest to some of you so here's a link! You can follow a link on this page to book the free tickets at your nearest venue. http://intl.fender.com/en-GB/americanstandardtour/ I'll be going to the one at Fibbers so might be nice to meet up with some basschat folk if anyone else is heading down :-) Enjoy!

Sold an effects pedal to Nick. He paid for it super fast and was a delight to deal with. I wouldn't hesitate to deal with him again :-) Enjoy it dood!

They couldn't even get THIS guy to be seen playing a R**********r! ;-)

Interesting the 'value' that people have of music/gigging/instruments. I gig regularly with a guy who has the opinion that spending more than £500 on an instrument is 'a waste' and 'too stressful because Id be worried that it got damaged.' However, he drives his guitar and amp to every gig in his pride and joy, a reasonably pricey Audi. I think it's ridiculous to pay that much money for something and then leave it unattended outside the local WMCs 3/4 times a week! Id much rather have a Fodera.

Id stand back from the Fodera for a brief moment and wait to watch it fall, pin balling between the music stand and the amp it was left up against before watching it smash into the floor. Id then wait for the assistant to come over and find the unsalvageable Fodera, look at me and Id say; 'things could be worse... I could still be the owner of a R***en****er!'

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1425414222' post='2707139'] Whaaaaaaaaaat?! A few months ago they were still selling new MIJ Fenders abroad, and sure people on this forum have bought from them [/quote] MIJ Fenders are carefully controlled for export (so that they don't flood the market and have Mexican/USA Fender models competing with MIJ models too). This is why 'export' and 'non-export' models are often discussed, because the Far East market keeps the majority of stock and exports a small minority out to other markets. Obviously, this leads to 'non-export' models gaining a higher reputation, as people believe (rightly or wrongly, as this is subjective!) that all the 'good' models are kept for the Far East market and the lesser quality models are exported out. I've always found MIJ/CIJ to be great quality and there are ways of purchasing non-export models that have been brought back into the UK (like John at Far East guitars etc).

[quote name='Tullfan' timestamp='1427144786' post='2726484'] So his tenure was Brie f Frankly, no one will Cheddar tear, as for me - I don't give Edam! ... fetching coat! [/quote] I Camembert any more of these awful cheese puns...

You could always ask him direct and cut out the middle man?

[quote name='Bronner' timestamp='1426938068' post='2723658'] They're not my opinions. They are the opinions of others, and I made that clear with the link and quote: [i][b]"[color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif].. There's no shortage of these types of complaints about the company on the Net; do your [u]own[/u] research, [u]form your own conclusions[/u]." <<<< [/font][/color][color=#ff0000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]You saw where I wrote this? [/font][/color][/b][/i] [/quote] They're still nonsense though. I have never purchased a rickenbacker personally (but have played plenty) but that doesn't stop me from posting this; "I bought a Rickenbacker, sent it back, had a huge barny with company director in a drive-thru Starbucks in Las Vegas and he was super arrogant and rude before telling him Id never buy one of his instruments EVER AGAIN!" You could easily quote this as 'evidence' or 'research' to support your argument but it's total lies and nonsense. You cannot use Internet opinions as 'facts' IMO. They are too unreliable. Sweepin generalisations (like you've made in your OP) are called that for a reason. Until you've played EVERY Ric in the world and can definitely tell me they are all rubbish and EVERY bass player would hate them (which you can't!) you should consider presenting your opinion as an opinion.

[quote name='Bronner' timestamp='1426933669' post='2723558'] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4]To the folks that like these basses at whatever price, fantastic, it's your choice. Enjoy your instrument and make good music. However, in doing a little Google search, the fanaticism of defending this brand with Ad Hominem attacks seems to bring up a lot of similar experiences by others. A few quotes from other sites, and a link. [url="http://www.thezookeepers.com/ricknews.htm"]http://www.thezookee...om/ricknews.htm[/url][/size][/font] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][i][b]"[color=#000000]> After Jeff and I hung up, I called Rickenbacker again and asked the [/color][/b][/i][/size][/font][/indent] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][i][b]> receptionist if she could give me the name of the president of the > company. She said, "No, I cannot,"[/b][/i][/color][/size][/font][/indent] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][color=#000000][i][b]That's comical. His name is John C. Hall; he used to post on this[/b][/i][/color][/color][/size][/font][/indent] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][i][b]newsgroup fairly regularly a few years ago!"[/b][/i][/color][/color][/color][/size][/font][/indent] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][i][b]"I recently called Rickenbacker and told them about this new group and the message I just read. I told Rickenbacker that I will never buy an instrument from them because of their new reputation."[/b][/i][/color][/color][/color][/color][/size][/font][/indent] [indent=1][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][i][b]"I see you know the same lying, scheming, slandering, con- spiring and threatening [company employee] as I do. And I've dealt with him for close to two decades. You're certainly not the only one on these news- groups who shares similar experiences, makes similar observations, and shares the same opinions regarding [the employee] as you have expressed."[/b][/i][/color][/color][/color][/color][/size][/font][/indent] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000][color=#000000]... There's no shortage of these types of complaints about the company on the Net; do your own research, form your own conclusions. No need to rely on what I say. [/color][/color][/color][/color][/size][color=#000000]However, it raises suspicion when a few people defend a shoddy brand with more vigor than they would defend their own mothers, while using improper Ad Hominem attacks just because someone doesn't fancy a product. [/color][/font] [/quote] Quite hypocritical to make sly digs at people with shoddy arguments when you've used a subjective Internet source with no real substance to back up your own opinions. I personally dislike Rickenbacker but I could use the Internet to find narrowminded opinions to back up any half-informed opinion I wanted. It says more about you that you bought a bass that you didn't like... Anyone with sense would have tried it first and realised (that specific bass) wasn't worth the money and walked out/returned it.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1426878712' post='2723119'] Very nice, I had to google that one, but did have a Strat that colour a few years back! Will Mark do pretty much any colour?! [/quote] I can't see why he couldn't do JPM if he can do burgundy mist, shoreline gold, LPB, CAR etc as it's the same process but with a different top colour.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1426877945' post='2723102'] Right,I want in on this. Now, Shoreline Gold as seen and admired above,LPB, Pino clone or other?! With a rosewood board are there any other slightly more unusual colours worth considering? [/quote] Jade Pearl Metallic? It'd look nice alongside your TKS cabs :-)