neepheid

What a bloody saga! I can only speak for myself but at this point I think I'd be giving up on it. Even if I got the wonky nut replaced, the change in dot markers would annoy me, and I'd be reminded of the whole sorry experience every time I clapped eyes on the bass. What a shame. I really do fear for G&L at this point - not only do they appear to have Lancia'd/Mitsubishi'd us and disappeared from the UK market entirely, stuff like this is very worrying indeed. You'd think that if you were replacing a faulty neck then you'd make damn sure that the replacement was tip top. Worrying times.

Not tension but compliance, feel. That's why I didn't use the word "tension". I appreciate that fluffy prose like "feel a smidge tauter" is not very scientific, but neither is much of the stuff argued recursively around here.

Unsolicited gifts are fine. Borrowing stuff is probably fine - if you're borrowing it, it's not really yours, no money changed hands, you'll give it back at some point. I don't think there's anything to see here (except for you being too lazy to palm mute )

I think leads could be considered consumables/sundries. I think I'd have to be in a real bad mood to get ar$ey about a cable. I reckon you're OK.

If we're allowed to stray off the Fender path, the Sire V7 can be had in Burgundy (Mist)... https://www.andertons.co.uk/sire-v2-updated-marcus-miller-v7-alder-4-string-burgundy/ https://www.thomann.co.uk/marcus_miller_v7_alder_4_bur_2nd_gen.htm Andertons won't have it for at least the next three months, but Thomann are suggesting they'll have some in the next week or so...

Well, I'm still hanging on in there. ETA projected to be week 7 now, slipped a further week recently. I really hope they don't pull the rug out from underneath me after all this time - it would be pretty mean to have had it advertised and still up on the website all this time. Plus I'm set on this bass now and have bought parts with this exact bass in mind. Please don't welch on me, Bax-music.

Shouldn't you reprobates be playing bass or something?

Is this one of those "long term road test" type things? I was bored the other day, so I decided to change my Z7 to through body stringing. Because I'm a tightwad, I first tried this with the stock strings it came with. The tightwad in me is delighted - the recesses that the strings sit in are so deep in the body that choosing through body stringing only costs you about 1cm of string length versus top loading. Such that the regular D'addario XLs that the Sire appears to ship with don't care which way you use them - there's more than enough string before the tapering kicks in to make it over the nut full size. Did it change anything? I wouldn't like to say, as I am a 100% biased witness. Maybe? Maybe the strings feel a smidge tauter? Maybe that's my brain saying "you went to the trouble, there had better be a payoff of some kind". Eh, TL:DR - stringing a Z7 (and presumably a Z3 also) through the body only requires about 1cm of extra string length versus top loading. So you might not need to get super long strings, depending on the brand you use. Measure it first.

Hmm, these look a little too fancy/monitor-y to be considered simply consumer electronics. It's not as if they're a set of passive hi-fi bookshelf speakers (which is what I envisaged when this was first discussed). Tier 2 fail for me.

I was about to chastise you for pulling the equivalent move of cracking open a beer at an AA meeting, then I saw the price

Yes

A wee headphone amp wouldn't break the bank...

This is an awesome idea. Reminds me of my 40th birthday - I put on a gig, we played first (obvs, I'd be ratarsed later!), then one of my former bands played (and got me up for the obligatory number). Finally, one of my favourite local bands at the time took to the stage and unbenownst to me had decided to learn the entirety of Weezer's debut album (the "Blue" album - one of my favourites) and play it start to finish! And they got me up to play along for Buddy Holly, awesome! Also saw a Pink Floyd tribute band play the entirety of Dark Side from start to finish. That was epic.

A fair few people hate the licenced Bartolinis. I've heard people refer to them as "Fartolinis", lol. FWIW I don't have a horse in this race. I don't think pre-judging the Nordstrands is worth your time. I don't even think it's worth watching demos of them on YouTube - get one in your hands and its output in your ears. If you like it, you're not wrong. If you don't like it, you're also not wrong

This one. Went on a bit of a black and gold trip after Squier released those anniversary black and gold Precisions...

As I said, consumer electronics fall outwith the scope as far as I'm concerned. Even though I made sure I got the purchases in before the end of last year (because I was in that mindset), I don't think my purchasing of a set of headphones, or a bluetooth transmitter/receiver would constitute an infraction. I probably wouldn't even have brought it up, and I would have slept soundly going forward.

And you get to eat the cakes that issue forth from that oven, I fail to see the problem here...

Well that was silly, because I'm pretty sure consumer electronics is outwith the scope of this challenge...

I hate it, fug it, I'm selling up.

Geezo - 10 days in and already I'm playing chicken with Facebook Marketplace - what's wrong with me? I've been trying to channel it though - I've started a 2026 want list instead. Because if you think I'm doing back to back years of abstinence, you're sorely mistaken!

I'd say that depends upon your usage. I only change my rounds when I realise that they sound like flats. They're usually utterly shagged when I change them, because I'm a skinflint. Old ones go straight in the bin.

And the moral of this story is... you need more medium scale basses, duh!

Heh, just snuck in before you

The tuners' tensions can be adjusted - see those little holes just below the buttons? I'd be amazed if you got the proper tool lumped in with the bass because they always seem to get lost. I'm sure it's been discussed here, but I can't find it so here's a TB thread all about it (as well as ideas for what to do if you don't have the official tool) - https://www.talkbass.com/threads/yamaha-bb-tuner-wrench-anyone-know-where-to-buy.718816/ EDIT - had another search and found it - https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/470267-old-adjustable-machine-heads-tuners/