Matt P

for me it comes down to the individual case, if it was from the classifieds here then i'd be fairly happy to buy most things but on ebay or similar i would set myself a sensible limit of maybe 300 quid, any more than that and i'd want to play it before parting with cash and it would have to be either a jap Fender/Squier one of the many copies (ibanez etc) or a sandberg/lakland or similar to make me part with a reasonable amount of money, if it was MIM or USA fender i'd want to play it before buying as the ones i've tried have been a little variable in quality and feel. Have you been up to Newcastle to try P-Basses? there was a lovely black MIJ P-bass in The Guitar Shop when i was in there on Saturday, mid nineties and as light as i've ever held, i had to put it down and hurry from the shop to save my wallet! Matt Edit - just noticed your username, i'm afraid the bass i was playing was a righty, sorry!

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1338571080' post='1676665'] Don't sweat it man. If there's one thing I've learned from doing this it's that out of the 20 enquiries you get a week maybe only 1 of them comes to anything - I think it just goes with the territory. And someone is going to want a Pingray rout done at some point - [url="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d67/ou7shined/Osprey%20Guitars/workshop-wall.jpg"]here's[/url] the proof that you nearly had one. [/quote] ooh if i had some cash i'd commission a pingray right now, in sonic blue, but i'm skint! i'd be tempted to make it a 5-string though, mmm 5 string pingray.

nearest bass Bash from us would be Moffat, i was tempted to go this year but chickened out at the last minute, maybe we should have a Newcastle mini-bash so that Jaydentaku can try out a load of amps, anyone got a big living room or access to a hall in Newcastle? Matt

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1338556966' post='1676320'] I'm not sure why people think it's so expensive. I mean, compared to having a second bass! I[/quote] for me it's more that the bass in question seems to be such a nice example of a fretless P-bass, and CIJ seems to be a byword for quality, seems a shame to take a router to such a nice example of a (relatively) rare bass, have you considered having the j-pup added to the other fretless and not sending it to live with your brother? i don't think anyone will get too upset at you taking a router to a sue ryder. and i'll have to remember to pack the '77 next time i head up, the frets are so worn it's virtually fretless anyway! Matt

i keep thinking about a replacement tube but 99.9% of the time it's being used in a brightly lit room so it would be wasted, i have no idea if the circuit for it works either, it didn't work when i first used it so i removed the tube to get a replacement and never got round to it, the tube got broken in a house move so i don't even know what i need to get! Matt

i'm a fan of P/J basses and my main bass is a '77 p-bass with an added j, (what you're considering building is a fretless clone of my bass!) but i wouldn't have the guts to have the mods done myself, i'd be going for the p-retro as it can be reversed easily. my bass came ready modded and if it hadn't been modified i wouldn't have been able to afford it. maybe next time i'm up at the in-laws i'll bring my bass for you to have a noodle on! Matt

later ones were backlit, the early ones have the tube in front of the panel, anyway the tube's missing on our one so i'm deprived of the uv fun. (Recently i've been using the headlite so have super bright led's instead) i think the smx is backlit so you still get groovy green glow. Matt

i'm afraid i haven't got anywere we could try it out, the church is constantly in use, i can borrow it any time though so if yo want to wait till you hit toon that would be fine, i noticed there was a nice trace ah300smx for sale in teeside in the market place, should be perfect for your needs. Matt

if you fancy a go with a trace head i can lay my hands on an early AH250 gp11, it belongs to my church but i could borrow it and bring it round for you to have a bit of a go, it's a lovely thing. i've also got my swr headlite that you can have a go on too, a totally different animal. if it wasn't for my bad back ant the total lack of room in my house i think i'd be using a trace gp11 as my main amp, they're cheap as chips too. Matt

Thanks for the heads up, i need some more of the newtone acoustic strings and this helps bring the cost down greatly, with the bulk discount for 10 sets i save a pound a set.

hercules on the wooden plate for me, i trust them with both expensive and heavy instruments, they're nice and safe as they 'grab' the neck and there's virtually zero chance of the instrument escaping. might be worth having a word with your local music shop, if you want 12 they might cut you a good deal. Matt

mmm pretty, you can't go wrong with that store either, they're our drummers prefered seller, we're lucky that they're just up the road from us although we haven't been to their new store, we only ever knew the tiny shoebox-sized store they used to operate from (i've never seen so much drum kit in such a small space.) we've got a band outing planned for next month as our guitarist is also a drummer. Matt

Dad3353 speaks the truth, a resistor would have to be [i]very[/i] big to handle even the wimpiest of practice amps let alone a gigging head, we do need to know what 1x12 it is you're trying to modify, i have a feeling that the best course of action would be to sell it and get an 8 ohm cab instead. Matt

how about one of these? has an aux input for your i-device and virtual surround, [url="http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/philips/css2123/phil-css2123"]http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/philips/css2123/phil-css2123[/url] there are more expensive options, i know that the yamaha ones are very well respected for their sound. Matt

duracell procells for me too, i buy them in packs of 10 online, they seem to last the same as the duracells from the supermarkets but are around a pound each against the 3 quid each that they are on the high street. just make sure it's a reliable seller as there are some fakes out there. Matt

i think ishould have read the question a little better, it's semi acoustic that i voted (335 copy) but that was because i thoiught you were asking what i would reccomend (i love mine and with a coil tap and a piezo bridge it would cover most bases) but if it was a house on fire moment or that nightmare (for me) situation of having to sell all but one of my guitars then my McIlroy acoustic would be the one i'd keep, nothing i've ever played comes close to how good it sounds and how well it plays, i still can't quite believe that it's mine and i've had it for just over 4 years. [url="http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.mcilroyguitars.co.uk/[/url] (mines an AS25, walnut and cedar with pearwood bindings)

i once bought a car with fag paper round a fuse (never drove it very far though!) as another Newcastle based Bassist, which shop did you use for the fuse? just for future reference.

TC polytune for me, i've used a tu-2 before and it was ok but it was a loan from a friend, went for the polytune on reccomendations from here (actually just asked for it as a christmas present from my darling wife), it's nice and solid and can be used for powering other pedals the same as the boss ones, i like the poly function where you simply strum all the strings to check them all at once, very handy as a quick check between songs that nothings slippped and it tracks the low B on my yamaha perfectly, it switches automatically between poly and single string as well which make life very easy. Matt

just picked up my bass from the doc, custom scratch plate, wiring and a setup. it's perfect. Thanks Doc Matt

i'd go for a 5 string set of flatwounds and ditch the thinnest string, i've gone for the overwater ones for my 5-er, (apparently made by picato) i think they're jolly nice and they're about as cheap as you'll find for flatwounds, they sound good and are lovely and smooth under the fingers. (thery were delivered pretty quick too as overwater are just along the A69 from you (and me) matt

tortex 1mm or 1.14mm usually the big triangular ones but also the sharps (when i can get them) also a fan of the big triangular fender and gibson ones (heavy or extra heavy) i drill holes in mine for grip, usually a few 2mm ones in the rough area that i hold it, i find it helps my grip when my hands get sweaty (and makes the picks easy to identify, all my mates know that if a pick's got holes in it then it's mine.) i've also got a couple of the wooden ones, ebony i think, feel real nice but wear out a fair bit faster than the plastic and not cheap at 3 quid each, bought them when i made a trip to see a tanglewood/overwater bass, having spent ages playing the bass and not buying it i felt a bit bad so bought some guitar strings and a pick (it was a small community type place that mainly was there to sell guitars to parents and then provide them with lessons, has the bonus of being open till 8 some nights though.) matt

12 pages already! blimey, i might be up for one of the group buy too if the price is right, would make a nice alternative to my Headlite Matt

i've got the version with the wooden back plate, one in the living room with my beloved mcilroy acoustic on it and another in the study with my 77 precision on it, i think they're great, just make sure you fix them securely to the wall, they are only as good as the fixings you use, i ditched the supplied ones and used heavy duty ones. They're great as you always have an instrument to hand, i play far more now as there is always a bass or acoustic to hand. I should also say that my precision weighs 11 pounds and the hanger holds it just fine (unlike my poor back) Matt

i've got an old car amp lying here if you decide to try that route, it says 100w on it, nothing special and i think designed to run 2x 4ohm speakers. It's got a 5A fuse so should be fairly low drain. I guess i'd take a tenner plus postage if you wanted it. Matt

i usually bring my spare head for this kind of thing, plenty of room on the cab for both of them (SWR headlite for me and Ashdown superfly for them) and it takes seconds to swap them over, i don't mind lending cabs either, but they're not fancy or expensive and this will change when i can afford the barefaced cabs to replace them. I have been known to lend my whole rig and bass but that was a church worship event and i knew the guys well, they didn't touch any of the settings and i got a chance to check out roughly how loud i was in the room.