clauster

Tony bought a Fender bridge from me. Prompt payment. Couldn't have been an easier transaction.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1375972568' post='2168118'] I don't want a bright sparkly active sound if I'm honest. [/quote] Although the Pro is active, it's not the modern ultra-brite sound.

Thunderbird Pro has the shape and the through neck, but with a more traditional bridge than the Gibson 3 point design and a lot of tonal options thanks to the 2 band eq. The amount of mahogany in them means they are a bit on the weighty side. Mine's about the same as my RB950.

It's horses for courses innit? My brother plays a 24fret, soapbars, 3 band eq bass which he's had for about 10 years. That's "his" bass. I played mostly P basses for the first 10 years of my playing life. If it doesn't sound like a P bass it isn't "my" bass. We've played each other's basses and can appreciate them, but we wouldn't swap. Passives sound wrong to him, anything that isn't a Precision (or doesn't have a split coil pickup) sounds wrong to me. I've got smallish hands and wrist problems and I don't get on with Fender's Precision neck. At the other end of the scale, I also struggle with Ibanez SRs because they're too much the other way. My favourite neck was a Warwick from about 2005 - jazz nut width, but some meat to the "flattened D" profile and a pretty flat radius. If I had the funds, I'd be straight on the phone to Jon Shuker to order my perfect P bass. If you can get your ideal bass(es) from off the shelf - great and go for it. If not then I'm really happy bespoke luthiers provide an alternative for those who know what they want.

Thread resurrection. Just been looking and the necks and bodies at that price are MIM. The MIA ones are dearer than Warmoth. Plus, as mentioned already, there doesn't seem to be a way to get them shipped outside US.

The 12-180s crop up in the For Sale section for £100 - £150 from time to time.

That is awesome

There's an odd one out there - MIA - Made in America MIM - Made in Mexico MIJ - Made in Japan CIJ - Crafted in Japan VM - Vintage Modified CV - Classic Vibe and IME - in my experience

[quote name='Rikki1984' timestamp='1374941017' post='2155049'] The 'ca' stands for 'classic active', so it's the 2 band ones rather than 3 band. :-) [/quote] And much skinnier neck too. The standard Ray 34 did nothing for me that Precisions didn't do.

There don't seem to be too many around anymore, but you might grab a used German Warwick Corvette on here for that money. Awesome basses for slap and a lot else besides.

[quote name='donkelley' timestamp='1374867118' post='2154343'] good basses considering the price of those sbmm rays. if you want/need stingray tone it's a good way to get very close. as for active, there is zero reason to avoid active. I tend to avoid passive because I hate the lack of control of passives. this is from a guy who played passive for the first 7 years exclusively (precision). I LOVE actives. I miss the tone and control with passives. I change all of my batteries about every 6 months just in case. I've never had one die in a gig either live or recording for pay. No worries at all with active basses. They're much easier to record too due to having an output impedance and buffer that lets you plug directly into the board and it sounds awesome without needing a DI. [/quote] All good points. I personally still (generally) prefer passive basses though. Have started looking for secondhand USA Sterlings too.