skej21

Stores generally are a weird place. We used to have a regular and he’d come in and purposefully try an instrument 3/4 times a week for about 8-10 weeks before buying. He’d always manage to let it pick up little knocks and scratches during his time trying it and then at the time of purchase, would say “this is shop soiled, what discount will you do?”… we soon caught on and would order a second of whatever it was he was damaging at the time so that when the time came we could deflect the pricing issue. It’s amazing the lengths and tricks people come up with to try and get themselves the best deal. The same bloke once spent an hour lecturing another customer in our shop (who was trying a quite expensive Gibson guitar that was sold out everywhere online) about how it’s a huge shame guitar stores are struggling and going online 🤣

I’d agree mostly. Only issue you have (and this is the case for almost any product, ever), is that the selection in-store, especially for basses, is pretty poor. Add to that a good in-store tech who understands how to make a bass play nicely, and all of a sudden your options become extremely narrow.

My CIJ Geddy has a neck like a pencil! 🤣

Just goes to show the importance of starting on a decent bass, you’d never need another! Me on the other hand, started out on the secondary school’s Marlin and I’d never go back 🤣

Oh thanks mate, that’s very kind. I doubt I’ll ever get that many view/likes/subs with a “no talk, just tone” approach but frankly, that’s not why I do it. All I’m trying to do is create a reference library that’s truthful and informative so I can help people who are thinking about parting with their cash!

Yeah I agree. The only dilemma is the DB 924 being 2 x 9v batteries only so hard to use it and be consistent. Thanks for the feedback on the demo too 🙂

So after picking up a classic Aguilar DB 924 from Basschat (thanks again @Chimike!) a little over a year ago and then the subsequent release of the DB 925, claiming to offer a similar 2-band external preamp with broadband boosts (bass at around 40hz and treble at 4kHz), I decided to pit them against each other and see how they compare. Might be of interest to some of you if you’re wondering what the DB 925 might have to offer!

100% agree. QC issues are just that and should be non existent on a bass at all price points. My point was more that a lot of these discussions fall down on how an instrument isn’t what the person wants or expects for their money, and that’s somehow the manufacturer’s fault.

Hmmmm I think that just shows the difference in expectations! For me, it’s not about money. What I expect from a Fender CS comes from a knowledge of what it is they’re trying to sell. In your analogy, it’s like someone buying a 1978 BMW expecting power steering “for that kind of money”, or more accurately, if BMW manufactured a 2021 historic recreation of a model from 1978 which they charged a premium for (because they had to use old/rare expertise and manufacturing techniques/materials to be as close to the original as possible), and then someone buying it and saying “well for that kind of money, it should at least have power steering and electric windows, because I’d get that on a 2021 Dacia. I can’t believe I’m going to have to fork out extra money on top to install electric windows and power steering” The answer really is pretty simple. If you know what you want, find an instrument that does that thing and THEN look at the name/price 🙂

Depends what you want as “authentic” or “great sounding”… the amount of people who buy vintage ‘authentic’ spec basses it’s traditional wiring looms etc and then complain about 60 cycle hum shows exactly why Fender can never ‘get it right’ for all people. Same with people who buy ‘authentic’ spec basses with nitrocellulose finishes and then complain that the ‘neck is sticky’! If you based your views on someone that tells you Fender CS basses aren’t great because of those kind of reasons above, it’s not an accurate/objective assessment of Fender’s quality or technical ability to replicate what is essentially a 70 year old bit of technology (with all the downsides that brings), it’s a reflection of how a person’s expectations are often misaligned with reality from the start. Its like paying £1000 for someone to build a period-specific Super Mario Arcade machine and then being disgruntled that “for that kind of money” it’s not available in 4k resolution, doesn’t have a controller with full triggers and dual analog sticks to control it and so on.

I think the big thing that people miss with these kind of topics (and you can substitute Fender Custom Shop for any other high-value instrument) is that sometimes, some processes and finishing points are just more expensive or require expensive expertise. For example, having a person making the parts instead of a machine. Simple econimics, it costs more. Choosing quartersawn wood for the neck means you have to pick a cut of wood that is statistically more difficult to get from a batch, and it costs more. Does it deliver that same % increase in the quality of what you hear? Definitely not. A nitrocellulose finish is much more difficult to get right and requires expertise, more costs etc etc So without going too much in to every part, skill and process that makes the CS basses far more expensive (and different in terms of specification) than say, a MIM Fender, Sire etc, it’s just an economic thing and I think that’s why a lot of people wonder what THEY get out of spending the extra cash. I suppose it’s a bit like fine dining. If you don’t really buy in to the subtleties of what the CS offers (more expensive period-specific clay dot inlays would be a great example!) then you’re right, it probably doesn’t seem worth the extra spend

Less than £5100! An absolute steal…🤣 https://reverb.com/item/41085131-fender-jazz-bass-1966-turquoise-modified-one-of-a-kind?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=41085131

No worries!

Thanks! Sure it’s this: https://www.jp-guitars.co.uk/sales/tools/electric_guitar_tools/tele_truss_rod_crank.htm I know it says “tele” but it’s all the same 👍 £14 might seem a bit steep if you only do a small number of instruments/adjustments but I do setups on a few of my basses and those of friends and it’s probably saved me £15 minutes of time (and also saves you taking the neck off, which can causes chips etc quite easily on nitro instruments!), so was worth it IMO!

I recently bought a Fender Original 60s Precision in Surf Green from PMT (Initially ordered a LPB but Fender were pushing the delivery out until 2022 and almost beyond within the 2 months of placing the order!) It arrived, I have the Stew Mac heel access truss adjustment tool so didn’t need to remove the neck to adjust, slapped some new flats on and switched the scratchplate over and in about 20 minutes had it playing beautifully. There are so many factors between it leaving the hands of the person setting up (factory temperature, shipping conditions, shop conditions, how the setup applied differs from the buyer’s preferences etc etc). One HUGE issue that people don’t even consider is that managers in these shops are often non-musician managers. Where I used to work, we often hired young, cheap part-timers who were flexible and in the days when senior staff were off during the week they would receive new instruments and either put them from box to shop floor, or attempt “setups” before putting instruments on the shop floor which (inevitably) played terribly (particularly because having a bass player who knows what a nice bass plays like AND can set one up well is rare!). It’s easy to see how poor setups can creep on to the shop floor if the retailer has a lack of experience or a decent technician. I think it’s always difficult to point the finger at the manufacturer and claim it’s an “issue” because ultimately the buck stops with the store. They should be giving all instruments a once over and making sure they apply some expertise to counteract the changes the instrument is forced to go through during shipping etc.

More lockdown boredom has driven me to try and take stock of my bass gear, and I thought why not try and do some decent quality/accurate “YouTube banter/SMASH A LIKE”-free videos that might actually help out my fellow low-Enders! This one is for the classic Avalon U5 preamp/DI. Hope you enjoy/find it useful! https://avalondesign.com/instrudi.html

Yeah the sub-dark low end response is really nice. I was really surprised by how nicely the light variant adds grit and when used with already low end heavy pedals (like a classic OC-2 sound), it plays really nicely. Glad I picked up all three now to be honest!

Having been in a similar situation, I would echo most of the advice so far but also say that sometimes, the huge drop in value from new of a custom instrument has its own special kind of buyer’s remorse that I certainly didn’t feel ready for. Tastes change very quickly and if that coincides with you wanting (or more likely, needing) to sell it, it’s tough to take the fact that you’re likely to only recoup half of what you put in to it. It is an incredible experience though, especially (if like me, who was lucky enough to go to a few big brand factories with work and pick up multiple kinds of instruments every day) you’ve had plenty experience of tone wood choices and scale lengths, neck radius etc and can feel confident that what you pick will suit you. If not, I’d imagine it’s quite a nervy experience! Good luck and don’t forgot to enjoy the ride!

Recently bought these three fuzz variants (light, dark and the bass-voiced sub-dark) from Gojira FX and as fuzz seems to quite popular but Gojira are quite small, thought it might be nice to share my findings with you all in case you are looking for a new fuzz but want something a little different! First up, nice and simple control (one knob!), the fuzz tone is awesome and also Gojira are more than happy to collaborate on the design and do something custom for you. At £75-85, they were a steal. First part of the video is some incremental settings of each pedal from low to max, and the latter half is each variant on the same setting side-by-side. Must admit, I was really shocked at the grit of the ‘light’ variant (as I was expecting it to be the one I liked least!). Hope you enjoy and/or find this useful!

Only problem there is that you’d just push your problem to a nice guy. Headstock distribution who supply Ibanez in the UK are about as efficient as a chocolate fireguard, so you’re not going to get any better results going through a retailer (having worked for one of the UK’s largest music retailers, I know that first hand!). Absolute waste of time dealing with them at all IME and is genuinely the only negative thing about Ibanez in the UK. The products themselves are actually quite good value but no support security if anything goes wrong. We had a customer who bought an SR1605 and it had a defect and they couldn’t even replace it like for like (he ended up with an SR1805 instead!)

No idea how much the other ‘one that cannot be named’ is worth, but comparatively it makes the Casady look 100 times nicer IMO. Stunning!

Good that he’s out working again and has a legitimate way of repaying everyone what they’re owed! 🙂

Totally agree. In a similar way to the OP, I attempted to add an additional revenue stream to make up for the absence of gigs. I posted a few videos (demos of effects pedals only, no talking or standard “hey guys” YouTube wittering) and it hardly got any interest or views. However, this gets loads of attention and clicks (also, YouTube views dislikes and likes as similar levels of engagement, so they aren’t even a negative!). It’s the self-perpetuating YouTube culture unfortunately!

“How I turned my £30 P Bass Copy into a Pro Instrument”... 30,000 hours of practice? 🤣