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Without having played the specific models in question and purely going off general experience, Ibanez tend to be slim, both narrow across the board and not shallow from the fretboard to the back of the neck. I had a Spector Euro 5LX and it was quite substantial, wider and deeper than Ibanez but quite rounded and very comfortable in the hand. The Ibanez BTB models are quite wide and flat with a pronounced D profile, a bit different to the other stuff like the Ibanez SR line. In general I try not to get too hung up on neck profile, but width or string spacing. I go for basses based on spec in terms of what kind of sounds it will give me, the size and shape of the neck is a secondary concern.

Unless the Strandberg basses are being made by Ola himself (unlikely) or in one of the custom shops, I wouldn't bother. I had a Strandberg Boden OS7 guitar and it was nice but it was the absolute top end of what I'd pay for an Asian instrument. The stuff coming out of the WMI factory is good but the prices for them now have gone up significantly since then and I just don't think it's worth it. Same with the Dingwalls, the Asian stuff is ok but personally I'd hold out for a real deal Canadian one.

Hey guys, I just want to share a few pics of my latest acquisition and as the reviews forum is very slow I decided to put it here - this isn't going to be a super in-depth review! I picked this up about 6 weeks ago from another member here on Basschat, as I had previously seen it on sale and really liked the concept of the instrument. I have been wanting something with a PJ pickup combo, but I also wanted something with a Musicman pickup. I also wanted a 6 string, having borrowed or played many but never owned one. I also love singlecuts and the general boutique style bass, and then this came along. It was built by Rosario Vasta in Italy, with a birdseye maple top and mahogany back. The fretboard is ebony, the neck is maple, wenge and bubinga. The tuners are Grover, preamp is a John East but I'm not sure what model. It has a push/pull tone pot for passive mode, volume and pickup pan. In active mode it brings in bass, lower mids, upper mids, high frequency presence control and a bright filter that has a tone shaping effect - this is hidden as a push pull on one of the concentric knobs and I'd forgetten it was there until recently. The pickups as custom made by Mama pickups in Italy and they incorporate a whole lot of magnets as you can see. The toggle switches next to the preamp controls active and deactive the various combinations of magnets. In effecti it can do a Fender P style neck, Jazz neck and bridge and a Musicman in the bridge. It can also run the coils to make hybrid humbuckers similar to a soapbar humbucker. I love the design - I think the previous owner must have taken some fairly direct inspiration for the lower horn from another bass but I can't remember where I've seen it before. It's similar to an Elrick but not quite as curved, but a touch more pronounced than a Fodera Emperor. The two slight protrusions on the bottom of the body next to the bridge are handy leg supports for playing in a classical position. The electronics are definitely among the most complex I've seen on a bass and do take some getting used to, it's not hard to get a good sound from the bass but if you really want something specific (say, a P neck and hybrid humbucker bridge with a low mid boost and bias towards the neck pickup) then it does take a little while to learn what you need to press and turn to get there. Because of the preamp and pickup arrangement, the sound is incredibly versatile. It's by no means a perfect replica of a P bass, J bass or a Stingray but I'd say it does a good job of getting you 90% there. Overall, the core tonal quality of the bass is an eveness across all of the strings and notes, it's very loud and clear. You can roll on the vintage warmth if you want it but I like a clean and honest sound and this really delivers it, though I think my Markbass rig helps in this respect. I wish I could record some videos with it but I don't have a setup that could come anywhere close to doing it justice. I wanted to avoid reviewing it when I first got it so I could have a few weeks to understand the foibles of such an instrument and avoid a gushing honeymoon review. The big downside to this thing is the weight. I haven't had it on the scales but at a conservative estimate I think it might weigh close to double what my Warwick Thumb 5 weighs. It's physically a big bass and the woods are very dense, it weighs a hell of a lot. I added Schaller straplocks because if this thing slipped of the strap it would devastating for the bass and whatever it hit. Whenever I play my Thumb after my Adamovic I can't believe how heavy the Thumb is - when I picked up the Thumb today I couldn't believe how light it felt, like I wasn't wearing a bass at all. I feel I could gig it without hurting myself or getting sick of it but I might be tempted to break out the Anthony Jackson bass stool for a few slower numbers! Another downside that turned out ok in the end was the 35" scale. I previously sold my Spector Euro 5LX because I just didn't like the extra string tension, but on the flipside I loved the clarity and the oomph in the bottom end. With this bass, I've strung it with .025-.045-.065-.085-.105-.135" strings and the setup is amazing. I love this string set because it gives the deep, clear B and the lighter top strings make it so easy to play. I honestly think if I were to get a full custom build now I'd probably get a 35" despite feeling so put off it in the past. This is the first bass I've played where I've realised that 35" doesn't have to be feel stiff and a little cumbersome compared to a 34" but it was definitely a gamble on my part. Anyway, enough talk, some pics: TL/DR + Incredibly versatile + Really easy to play despite the size + Incredibly solid bottom end - Heavy as a planet that has been sucked into a black hole

I could sit here all day and talk about how ridiculous it to suggest you can't get a good fingerstyle tone on stage, or name countless fingerstyle bassists who have great live tone and loads of definition, but that is beside the point - we all know it's false and stupid to suggest otherwise. Gene only says this stuff to keep people talking about him, he is all about the self-promotion. Creating anything of musical value has always been a secondary concern for him.

I quite like the EMG MM pickups, you'd need to put the EMG P with it, but it you don't want active, it's probably too modern a sound for what you're after.

I've sent and received lots of guitars and now basses internationally over the years without issues. I've shipped in gig bags that have been stuffed with bubble wrap inside and then really heavily wrapped outside to secure the instrument, we're talking a lot of layers and a lot of tape. I wouldn't send a hollow body in a gig bag though, as the package needs to be able to withstand not only sudden impact but also heavy weight on top of it, which I wouldn't want for a hollow bass. The ideal for me is to ship in a hardcase with bubble wrap on the outside for impact absorption. It goes without saying, ship insured. When I buy a bass I'm happy to pay extra for insured shipping. I can't recall ever sending an instrument internationally where the buyer didn't go for the full insurance option. Remember that if you're worried about the bass getting rough treatment during international shipping it's worth considering that mishandling is just as likely to happen in the UK by the parcel carrier. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the horror stories you do hear about are a biased way of assessing the risk of shipping. For ever horror story someone goes online to post, there will have been hundreds of instruments delivered successfully without issue and in the event it does go badly, if you've paid for the insured shipping then no one is left out of pocket at the end.

Was he not saying that a car place quoted him £200 to spray a bass body?

Don't feel guilty about the cash tied up in the gear - if you bought new the value has already been hammered by depreciation so that money is gone. Unless you need that money to feed your kids and pay your bills then you're better off holding onto the gear. As for feeling guilty about not being in a band, assess what you get out of playing bass. For some people it seems that being in a band is the only reason to play and some even go as far as to say they must be doing gigs, even jamming with friends and writing songs isn't enough. I got into playing instruments as a way to understand how music worked, for me playing with others has never been a big priority. I do enjoy the chance to play with others but I'm happy just to play on my own, working bits of songs out, playing along with songs and improving my own bass-craft and musical knowledge. If you only play bass for the sake of getting on stage then maybe it is time to pack it in if your kids will keep you from gigging in the next few years at the least. However, surely you must get some enjoyment from actually having the instrument in your hand and playing it? For that alone, it has to be worth getting it out of the case every now and then and keeping your hands working?

I get my stuff done at Curvy Sounds in Heaton, he always does a good job for me and his prices are reasonable. He does get a bit of a backlog of work in at times so it's always worth ringing around to see who can get your instrument sorted the quickest. The only one I'd dodge would be the guy at Guitar Guitar, he did a total butcher job on an electric guitar of mine years ago and I've never trusted his work since.

I think it's also worth noting that you don't have to "move" to anything. You can settle on any number if strings you feel comfortable with, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up a bass of any other configuration and playing it. You'll get used to switching between them.

Yes and no. Heavier strings are certainly preferable for lower tunings but I'd take a longer scale for that before going for heavy strings. Steve Harris uses flatwound strings and those signature strings are flats, they give a flat, dull sound. Good for "thud rock" tone but not what I'd want for clarity or note definition on stage with loud drums and guitars.

Sorry I probably conflated the issues there - the tweeter going crackly is not related to the amp head, it's due to the crappy tweeters Markbass are using in the cabs. The tweeters in the Alain Caron signature combo are a different type and considered to have much better reliability and longevity.

It's a Raro Guitars TM Bass, built for a member on the this forum from whom I recently acquired it. The pickups are made by MAMA in Italy and are one-off custom jobs. It is an incredible instrument, the low B is the clearest I've ever heard. It would want to be as the bass weighs a tonne!

I use a Little Mark III through a MB 2x10 and I get some crackle on the knobs when turning them and it's been like that since it was new. It's irritating but doesn't affect the functionality of the amp. Like other users, after powering it up it does take a few seconds to actually produce sound. I'd suggest if your amp is noisy for a few seconds that you don't play it in this time and don't worry about it. What does irritate me is the way the tweeter died after 6 months from the amp being new. Now it just crackles so much I have turned it off completely. I don't miss and I can make back the highs with the active preamp on my basses it but it is an annoyance that it broke so quickly. Internet reading suggests it's a very common issue on these amps.

There are no rules, you don't have to "master" or even play a 4 string. You can have as many or as few strings as you want. That's a bit like a the old-fashioned "My dad says I can have an electric guitar once I've learned to play acoustic" stuff I used to hear when I played electric guitar. There are only 12 semi tones in western music, extended range instruments just give you more options for how and where to play those notes. How you access and utilise those 12 notes is up to you.

From a purely illogical perspective, I love the fact that my Markbass rig looks good, which is an important consideration when it's going to be sitting around my house. Some amps just look ugly, like there was absolutely no consideration given to how it looked when it was designed. From a more logical perspective I love the fact my new bass has a precision pickup, two jazz bars and three Musicman bars and can make just about any combination of the pickups. At the moment I'm particularly liking the precision on the neck of coupled with a Musicman humbucker on the bridge. It also has a John East 5 knob preamp with bass, mid, treble, mid sweep, bright knob and pickup pan so it can do just about anything I ask of of it. Not only is the flexibility great but the quality of the tones is just superb. I believe I have found "the one.

I love that, great pickup arrangement and the top is superb.

Ha, that's a pretty good shop. Whenever I hear people saying things like "Jeff Berlin / Victor Wooten / Jaco only need(ed) 4 strings" it does make me think that myself, the person saying it and an overwhelmingly huge majority of the musical community are not even 1/10th of the ability of those musical giants. And yes, they've all played 5s at one time or another. When I see the deftness and ultimate fluidity of someone like Jeff Berlin, coupled with his incredible musical knowledge, I think I'll take any little extra help I can get

Stick some roundwounds on and listen to that bass come alive. You won't believe what you've been missing. If you want the bass to stay in brand new condition, use flats. Maybe consider not even playing it at all.

Here's a couple more of my Adamovic Jupiter 4

The screenshot of the Status website above showing the T bass page is something I remember from their website going back some 13 years or so and I'm not sure how long it had been up before I first saw it. I'm not sure how long Lodestone have been doing it. I have lusted over that picture of the honey burst T bass with the gold hardware many a time, I'd love one.

I'm not a fan of burst finishes in general, particularly when applied to nice woods where they black the edges of the top right out, waste of a good piece of timber I think.

08:30 - 17:30 5 days a week? How long are the lunch breaks? For those sort of hours, I'd expect a lunch time finish on the Friday. Interesting to note that they don't consider knowledge of musical equipment to be essential, or even desirable.

Because it was 35" and I prefer 34".

Unless you absolutely must have a new one, which have some minor differences (Aguilar pickups as an option, different tuners and black plastic knobs), they go cheap used. This one was bought and sold for £950 and apart from some mild discolouration on the bridge, which is par for the course for gold hardware, it was in fantastic condition. There was not a mark on it, the fretboard was perfectly cleaned and hydrated and the frets were perfect. If only it had been 34", it could have been my #1.