bassninja

Bought a Fender gig bag from David. Excellent deal, couldn't have been more helpful with great communications. Swift delivery and excellent packaging. Easy to deal with and totally reliable.

+1 to insurance providing peace of mind. Also, has your worry actually turned out as badly as you thought before? I'm not saying it won't, but actively considering the 'worry about damage' thought relative to likelihood (from your previous experience) might minimse your concern. 9/10 worry vs never happened before = probably a safer risk to take, which would be further mitigated by the reassurance of your kit being insured. 9/10 worry vs happens regularly = a reasonable degree of concern, should you look for more demure gigs or a more genteel band? Also, how much is 'meta-worry' (worrying about worrying).

Thanks chaps, more interested from an historical p.o.v. than financial, of course. I'm already loving it!

Thanks for your interest, fellas. Another pic of the reverse of the headstock added in the original post.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1352596248' post='1865107'] Replacement tuners there. Would be interested in seeing more photos. [/quote] Interesting... what makes you say that?

A good mate of mine, knowing I was fond Fenders, secured an early r/n s/b Squier Jazz bass in a house clearance, and has given it to me on permanent loan. He's kindly allowed me to keep it and gig it for as long as I want, but if I ever sell it, I have to sell it back to him for the £50 I paid him to de-clag it and get it playable (yes, he [i]is[/i] a good mate). I know this sounds a bit 'Antiques Roadshow', but I've no idea how much its worth for (you guessed it!) insurance purposes. It has the large Fender decal with the small 'Squier series' logo. I understand this dates it to within the first couple of weeks of production in Japan, and makes it a bit of a rarity. I haven't had the neck off yet, but [url="http://www.21frets.com/squier_jv/index.htm"]http://www.21frets.c...er_jv/index.htm[/url] seems to indicate that it was made between May and July 1982. The serial no. is JV 052xx [center][attachment=123449:IMAG0279.jpg][/center] [center][attachment=123450:IMAG0281.jpg][/center] [center](with apologies for the phone quality pics)[/center] [center][attachment=123529:SDC10213.JPG][/center] It needed re-wiring, a good general clean up, and the bridge needed soaking in WD40 for a couple of days to get the moving parts working. Looking at the knackered strings that were on it, I reckon he must have needed an angle grinder to get them off. It had been stored for the last 17 years in a 'period' hardcase against the wall of an unheated garage, vertically with the headstock downwards (!). Sadly, it seems to have sat in some liquid at some point, and the lacquer has blown on the headstock a bit. This has been remedied by the judicious application of some technical sticky luthier type substance, but its remains stained as you can see. However, the neck is straight as a die, with an almost ebony-dark rosewood board, and it plays like a dream. Its the most comfortable and best sounding Jazz I've ever owned, including my lovely Marcus (no offense, Shonks). I don't want to sell it (I can't anyway), but any advice or guidance is gratefully received.

Top geezer, great player and my first and most enduring bass-piration. If only Fender would do a signature Peggy Jazz/Precision... Chug-a-lug, Peggy!

This feels like a bit of a rant, for which apols in advance... We had played a lovely country boozer near Chichester regularly for about 13 years and had some amazing gigs there, got to know the regulars and all that, bailed them out when flaky bands had cancelled at short notice and so on. Over time, three bands that most of us were associated with gigged there on average once a month each. People would travel to see us and it was smiles all round. On August Bank Holiday 2011 we organized five quality acts at no cost and provided the PA and everything to do with the music for free, partly as a thanks to the pub for all the above but mainly as a fundraiser for the very worthy MacMillan Cancer Relief charity. Then one night about a year ago we were approached by an embarrassed bar manager and asked not to play the second set, even though there were half a dozen people there; not many but they'd all come to see us. It seems the owner had weighed up the likely income from a few pints and a couple of packets of crisps against the cost of keeping the pub open, and had decided to shut early. 'No prob' we said, of course you'll still pay us our fee though? Errr....no. Half gig half fee. We took exception to this, and asked to speak to the manager during the break. She wouldn't come downstairs, so we discussed it on the phone and were informed that future gigs couldn't be guaranteed if we insisted on full fee. We understood her position vis-a-vis running a business, but tried to explain that mid-gig is not a reasonable time to renegotiate a long-standing agreement. We tried to explain, by way of a parallel, that it would not be reasonable for us to order a sumptuous roast from her lovely kitchen and refuse to pay full price if we decided not to eat the beef because we were full up on Yorkshire pudding. On the basis that kneeling down is better than bending over we insisted on finishing the gig and taking the full fee. We were also pretty angry. The MU were not interested, of course. Result: she cancelled all the gigs for all three bands for the entire year without informing anyone until a colleague turned up to find another band already loaded in. We've never been back. Moral: consider offers of gigs from The Fox Goes Free, Charlton, near Chichester, West Sussex very carefully. Phew. That's better...

Been a big fan for ages. I always think part of his genius was in being a catalyst for superb, hungry musicians by pushing them beyond what they thought they would be able to do. I still find some of the solos hard to listen to, some of his humo(u)r a bit puerile and some of his shtick annoying. That said, some of his solos are beautiful 'air sculptures', some of the humo(u)r is rapier-like and some of his shtick is inspiring. It's a bit like an intellectual wrestling match. With bald dwarves. In glittery pig sh!t.

Great value bass case delivered, following excellent comms. Get in!

I was given a nameless 70s solid body from a Jap Jazz copy in a nice, naturally relic'd sunburst finish and had it hanging about for a couple of years, before finally getting round to putting a MIM rosewood neck on it (£100). The electrics were shot, so I bought some p/ups from a MIJ bass on here (£25), and some new pots (£10). I put it together more in hope than expectation and it feels, sounds and plays better than my Marcus. All with change from £150. Feels weird to have an Oxfam bass as my main squeeze with a bass costing about 8 times more as a spare, mind...

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1321704386' post='1442156'] I remember watching you! Your band was really good. I've always been into folk & folk rock stuff - some of the first stuff I ever learned were Steeleye Span, Fairport & Albion Country Band bass lines Just found you in the programme - you were on at 3.45pm, though if I remember rightly the running times listed were approximate at best. [/quote] Well, stone me...

Not me unfortunately, Rhys. I was probably in a folk rock band called 1066 at the time. Young & impressionable...

Tip o' the hat to the Guv'nor

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1319925545' post='1420282'] First gig I ever played was an all dayer in West Sussex. We were on immediately before China Crisis who were headlining so we had a pretty decent sized crowd. All day there had been this crazy drunk woman wandering round the site making a pain in the arse of herself - at one point she walked over to me & kicked me in the back for no reason whatsoever while I was sat on the floor. She quickly became known as "Cider Woman". We were a couple of numbers into our set when I noticed she was standing right in front of my monitor, so when it came to an instrumental bit I went to the front of the stage & struck my best Phil Lynott pose with my bass neck pointing out over her head. Quick as a flash her hands shot upwards & grabbed the neck of my bass & tried to pull me off the stage. I tried to pull the bass away from her but she had a grip like a f***ing tyre fitter! The only thing I could think to do, and I'm very ashamed to admit this, was kick her in the face. Luckily she must have read my mind & relaxed her grip leaving me to go stumbling back across the stage just in time to start singing the next verse of the song. [/quote] Bat & Ball, Loxwood? I...ahem...think I may have been on the bill too