neepheid

They misspelled "Shoppe"

Aye, probably. If it had been a bass recorder you might have been in more bother

Nah, I took it out of the bag for the first time in about six months and ol' Slack Casady is still in tune. That depressed me even more that it's laid up. Now I'm too sad to do anything about it

The Sire Z7 (and presumably Z3) has a battery box with integrated contacts also.

I'm not in a super hurry to do anything about it but my Epiphone Jack Casady has been benched for over a year now - either the pickup or the coil has gone stupidly microphonic and feeds back at the slightest provocation. It got worse over time - first of all it was using the highest amounts of overdrive, then any amount of overdrive and now it's at the point where if the amp is turned up anything beyond practice levels, the feedback will commence. It used to be able to handle any amount of overdrive and I would have to deliberately approach the amp (and like be six inches from the speaker) to coax feedback out of it. I tried going to Epiphone/Gibson and they basically told me to bog off and take it to a tech. I enquired at Gibson's nearest officially endorsed tech (in Dundee) but I was not satisfied with their answer - they spoke about potting the pickup - both the pickup and the coil are already entombed in epoxy so not sure where this wax is supposed to flow... So looks like I need to replace the gubbins. Now, the chances of landing a Jack Casady pickup/coil/loom are very low (last one sold on here was 4-5 years ago, for instance). Now say I got fed up of waiting for a lightning bolt to strike at the exact time and place I need, in how much hot water with regard to gear abstinence would I be if I was to procure an alternative? The only one I know of which is a direct physical replacement is the MAMA pickups Special J.Casady pickup. I don't know if this would be considered an "upgrade" or simply "different". It's only like-for-like in terms of physical dimensions - it would be a total move away from low impedance stuff to traditional high impedance, using good old series/single/parallel to provide the tonal differences instead of impedance levels. I will stick a wanted post up on here for an OG Jack Casady loom, and if that bears fruit then I guess I'd be fine, but if you think that the MAMA replacement would have me exit the proceedings then I'll just wait until next year - it's already been out of commission for a year and it's not like I haven't got other basses I can play. But it is starting to bug me a bit, having a gorgeous but unusable bass sitting in the corner gathering dust on its gig bag. Over to you...

2025 Gear Abstinence Squid Games innit?

Depends which ones you're talking about. The GB350 (GB707 sized) Res-o-Lite have plastic buttons and I ain't touching that with a barge pole - I don't care how smooth they turn and how light they are. That's Lotus levels of "add lightness" for me.

Sell you my EHX Battalion...

Sorry, I'd love to be in a position to help you out, but I do not possess such a device. If they're difficult to source then you could argue for buying something that's as similar as possible (same power rating, similar dimensions, similar way of working (solid state/valve etc)) and see what we think? I mean we're obviously going to call shenanigans if you replace your broken MB500 with some 2000W behemoth. But we're fair - try us!

You're a bass player, of course it is

Indeed, the way some people bang on, you'd think I have the only good example of bass X in my hands right now. So effing what? I've got it, so sucks to be you

100% agree, and have thought this way for a long time - but it has never been truer these days. It's getting really difficult to eff up making solid body instruments.

Welcome to February, those who remain chaste. If you score another GK MB500 then you'd be fine? Like for like replacement of a faulty thing?

Last year - 3rd Jan This year - 31st Jan I'd call that progress

Hee hee, that's my T-bird!

Yes, changing them from left handed to right handed and vice versa.

Is that real?

Ahem, yes, I'm the OG SB14 thankyouverymuch!

The licenced ones are slightly heavier than the USA ones. The main difference is that the licenced ones are not reversible, unlike the USA ones. So if you're confident you won't ever need this feature, then crack on and save some money (and still lots of grams off your headstock) and go for the licenced tuners, they're still top notch.

Eh, bunch of YouTube edgelords and blowhards just saying "controversial" things for clicks and views. I wouldn't pay it much mind. In your little bass microcosm, you're always right and the subject matter expert when it comes to how basses feel and stuff like preferences. I could play all three you mention above and come to a completely different conclusion, and that would also be fine.

P bass == promised land. Again. Welcome to the retirement home - aren't you a little young?

I'll get the kettle on. Oh, wait, double fail...

I have owned several Squiers - early on I found out that I don't like Jazz basses by owning a Squier J. I had a Squier bitsa P to which I added a humorous decal, an SD Quarter Pound and a Badass II bridge. I wonder where it is now? I also had a Squier Bronco which I modded quite extensively - full size tuners, BWB pickguard, thumbrest, lipstick pickup, Squier Vista Series Musicmaster bridge (4 saddle) and modded the bridge to accept top loading the string, then modded the bass to be strung through the body. I wonder where it is too! And here is my current Squier squeeze - a modded Squier Jaguar H with an Ibanez CAP double humbucker from an ATK810, a parallel/single/series switch, a BWB pickguard, a Guyker high mass bridge with brass, part threaded saddles, and block "inlay" stickers which I'm still in two minds about - they look OK from a distance but up close it's pretty obvious that they're stickers and I'm the one who's always seeing it up close... So it seems that any Squier which comes in the door here is unlikely to remain in stock configuration...