eude

Hey mate, I have used Newtone strings for many years now, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I always favoured DR Sun Beams as my go to string, although I preferred the bite of the Nickel Lo Riders, sometimes. I moved over to Newtones and I haven't looked back, they feel quite like Sun Beams, perhaps a little higher in tension, but that is something you can discuss this with Neil, all the strings are custom hand wound and can be tweaked to your liking. Sound wise, I would say the Nickels have a little more bite than Sun Beams, but as with all strings, that can die back a little over time. Cheers, Eude

I think it's bloody gorgeous!

Very nice mate, so you're looking at a quilted or flamed body, not just the top!? Awesome! I personally would be tempted with the P/P setup, it would be a more versatile setup, as much as the front pickup on a J/J setup can sound a bit P Bass-like, it's still not quite the same, yet a P/P setup, especially with the bridge P reversed can get you close enough to a J/J sound but with more balls. Eude

I usually always prefer flamed maple, as mentioned above it's a little less flashy looking. Quilt can be incredible too though, especially with a tasty stained finish. As recommended, see what the luthier has and make your decision based on that, hard to do without seeing what your options are. Who's building, and what you getting? Eude

Yup, I don't think I've ever seen anyone else refer to them as a Bitsa Builder. OP's problems aside, Maruszczyk do build proper custom jobs, I don't think for a second they have lots of different standard bodies and neck kicking about, maybe a few, but if you look at the myriad of options that you see on each and every bass, it wouldn't make sense to do that.

That is absolutely stunning @binky_bass, congratulations! I'll bet 12 days in transit was a bit of squeaky bum time, great to see it arrive in one piece. That is one amazing guitar. Eude

I'm hoping to do some recording soon, so you can hear for yourself, I'll share a link on here when I'm done. On a personal experience note, I've not played any basses that have been great on the B string above the 12th fret, it could well be my technique of course 😉 Eude

That is stunning! Congratulations! Eude

I agree the build quality seems crap, but I have found mine to be very useful. Seeing that there are so many copies on the market, surely somebody, somewhere can do a knock off and make it high quality? Metal body, good quality electronics, USB recharge etcs. If I had the time, inclination, and a bit of money I'd do it myself! Be interested to hear what you think of the Donner one. Eude

Absolutely, if they built it to he bomb proof with better sound quality, surely they'd be on to a winner even at a higher price point? Eude

I think these must vary wildly. Quality Control on these cheap plastic things is never particularly consistent. The build quality I would agree with, but mine has held up fine for a good 6 years or so now. The sound on mine is great though, loads of treble on tap too, too much, I tend to run the time at 50%. They must be very changeable... Eude

Another vote for the Vox AmPlug here. I've had one for several years now, and as much as I was worried it wouldn't last given the build quality, it has been amazing! I actually quite like the way it sounds too, I believe it amp sims a classic Vox bass amp, whatever that is. @Dam1903 I've not had any issues with volume, but you can change input pad by pressing the power button for a moment when it's on, too long as you'll turn it off though I use this when I'm going between active and passive basses. Sorry if you've already tried that. Good over the ear headphones make a huge difference too, in ear headphones are pants for this kind of thing. I had some decent Audiotechnica ones that I use for a while but I'm not using my Meters OV-1-Bs and the sound is incredible! I do wish Vox would come out with a higher end version of this, or that someone else would as I would buy one in a heart beat. I know you can get better headphone amps, the Phil Jones thing and Ashdown do a lovely one now too, but the fact you can plug this straight into your instrument without any cables is liberating. Eude

The ACG bodies in general are smaller than your average Fender P anyway, so they work just fine with shorter scales. All my ACGs are 31.5" scale and they work really well. Eude

They're all at it. Skjold charge an extra $500 for an Ash neck, Fodera, an extra $1000! Ash, suitable for necks is usually cheaper to buy trade than even the most agricultural plain maple. At the end of the day, if people are willing to pay for it, these guys will charge for it. It's not right, but it's their business, we just need to decide ourselves if we could live with justifying these extra costs that are clearly a rip off, you don't need to look very hard to figure that out. If you want an Alembic? Good luck, I'd rather have a couple of other custom basses, and amp and a car! Eude

Don't worry, you've just settled into one bass, kinda like driving a bus for living and then driving a car at the weekend, it'll feel weird. As you know, I've got a fair few basses, all ACGs, but that's moot in this, and I found if I play one for a while the others feel odd. Moving from 6 string headed, to 4 string with flats, to 6 string headless fretless to 5 string fretted could be confusing, so I make a point of rotating them often. I don't currently have the luxury of a space to have them all out at the same time, so changing whichever one is in the living room every week seems to work well for me. I think you need to consider them more like different paint brushes. Eude

Update... Looks like it was a bargain!

Wow! There's nothing special or different that they are doing to justify that price. Does that make it's asking price of £3500 in 84 reasonable? Insanity.

I think new, now, something like that would be in the region of £20,000...

Absolutely stunning! Eude

Same here, slides in, covers content, fiddly to close when you have fat fingers or are a little clumsy with a mouse, seriously frustrating. Hopefully an easy fix!

We all know the Peavey will be 10 times more powerful too. Eude

Thanks dude! The strings are custom wound by Newtone. They're currently in the following gauges. 115/95/75/55/40/22 I tend to prefer a lighter string these days, not silly light, but a 100 E usually. These feel a tiny bit heavy but it's a compromise for to get decent tension. I believe the cores are thicker than usual. I am going to try B to C as I mentioned, I think I'll push the B to a 135 then round the rest down by 005. I'd recommend Newtones to anyone, whether you have weird requirements like myself (most of my other basses are all 31.5" scale, 3 of which are 6 strings tunes B to C), you just want nice strings. To me, they're regular nickels are half way between DR Sunbeams and Lo Riders, which is a very good place to be indeed in my opinion. Also, I've been trying to get some decent recording done with this bass, but being locked down with 2 young kids and a full time job that has done nothing but escalate is proving quite a series of obstacles! Cheers, Eude