Jono Bolton

earlpilanz (Brian) on eBay is about £30 for a custom pickguard, but it varies depending on size. Send him your pickguard, he'll trace it and CNC it, and send them both back to you. You'll probably have them both back in a week.

Is that a Coronado headstock?

Here's a Seafoam Green Telecaster Bass to throw in the mix

Replacement from guitarguitar arrived at the weekend. This one is spot on. The neck and pickup on these really are great. I quite fancy getting one in vintage white now!

My first bass purchase was solely what was available at the time. Living on an island in the days before internet shopping and next day delivery (still not an option there) meant that pickings were slim. A boy a few years above me in school had a Peavey Foundation that he wasn't using, and a conversation between our dads in the pub meant I got it for the 14th birthday for the princely sum of £50. I should probably have looked after it better and held onto it longer in hindsight.

I sold a few bits and pieces with a view to getting another bass but after struggling with decision paralysis for a couple of weeks, I eventually went ahead and bought a Vintera Telecaster Bass in Seafoam Green. The weight is good, the fit and finish seems spot on, the neck is a dream - fat front-to-back but not as wide at the nut as my Classic 50s P Bass neck - but the pickup is the real winner. The sound is great. I tried it out through my Ashdown ABM combo (the final boss of woolly bass tone; a mudbucker and an Ashdown) and the clean tone was nice but it really came alive when I engaged the valve drive. I often wondered if that button actually did anything as it didn't make much of a difference with either of my P Basses, but with the Telecaster it sounded very gritty indeed. And if you want a picture of it, @Linus27 has already taken care of that for me: Update: it's going back unfortunately. There's a dent on the top edge of it under the clear coat. I spoke to Andertons about it but I wasn't happy with the partial refund they offered. It's A) the first brand new bass I've bought in years and B) it was a lot of money for me, so I don't want to have live with something that I'm not 100% happy with.

Bodies with transparent finishes and very badly matched pieces. I've been looking at quite a few sunburst basses recently with very obvious joins

I still fancy a Telecaster Bass but I'll wait until either the price comes down or one comes up second hand

This is absolutely accurate

Most headstocks on P or J copies don't look right. The only ones I've seen that I like are the Yamaha Pulser and the later version of the Ibanez Blazer.

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement blanking cap? My combo was missing one when I bought it and Ashdown don't stock replacements for this model (ABM EVO II).

I collected the head last night and it's a big unit, much bigger than I envisioned. It's a wide version of the ABM EVO III 500 head, but the seller told me that the sleeve had been damaged so he contacted Ashdown who said they no longer made replacements for this particular model, so it's housed in an ABM EVO IV 900 sleeve instead, hence the sizeable gap at the bottom. It doesn't bother me, certainly not for £170; it all works fine and sounds good and is in excellent nick. ABM EVO II 300 C110 for scale: