BigRedX

The fuse in a detachable mains lead is there to protect the lead, not the equipment it is attached to which will have its own appropriately rated fuse. The difference between a lead for a kettle and a "kettle lead" has already been adequately explained in previous posts. Surge protectors/power conditioners and similar are only really required in places like the USA who have a considerably less than robust electricity supply compared with the UK. IME when there have been mains problems in this country nothing less than a properly spec'd UPS would have been suitable.

I have no problem buying and selling musical gear on eBay. In fact for a selling PoV it has been a lot less painless than selling on here (or anywhere else). Also I think that eBay's fees are very reasonable considering the size of the audience you are going to reach compared with all the alternatives. Remember in the "good old days" before eBay your local musical instrument shop would sell stuff for you, but they would take at least 15%, it was likely to take to months to actually sell, and maybe even longer before you actually got any money, and during that time it was subject to abuse from anyone who wanted to to "try it out" in the shop. And if you just wanted to PX against something else in the shop, then good luck getting more than 50% of what you were selling was actually worth.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1487238255' post='3238217'] This bridge was enough to put me off them. It may be pretty and retro looking but who wants to play with a guitar where you can't get your intonation straight? [/quote] You will be able to get the intonation right, but only with standard string sets. If you favour something a bit more esoteric like light top/heavy bottom, you are going to be struggling and if you want to use it permanently in a non-standard tuning with the appropriate string gauges for that tuning then you are going to be sh*t out of luck.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1487237381' post='3238206'] Traditional Fender nitro doesn't wear like that...at all. In fact, the new Johnny Marr Jaguar has the thinnest layer of nitro and it will wear quicker than you'd expect. It was spec'd like that by the artist. [/quote] Why on earth do they do that? It's not like an acoustic instrument where the finish has a major impact on the sound. If I buy an instrument with a finish on it, I'd like that finish to be robust enough to cope with normal playing wear.

Also if you've got no tone control at all in the circuit at present, then it will sound different as soon as you wire one in, no matter what value or type of capacitor you use, as some top end is always filtered off even with the tone control set to 10.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1487154146' post='3237500'] BRX - this might be your telecaster [media]http://youtu.be/f3FUuLkU-mI[/media] [/quote] Haha! Unfortunately IMO there's nothing you can do to a Telecaster to stop it from being the world's most boring guitar.

[url=http://www.gizmotron.com/buy/bass-wheel-kit-standard]Replacement wheels are here[/url]. It might be worth sending them an email.

Only insomuch as the tolerances of the sorts of capacitors used in guitars (and basses) are not very tight, ±15% IIRC. Therefore two different capacitors of the same supposed value might have quite different actual effects.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1487174114' post='3237764'] I've got an original Bass Gizmotron, unfortunately the wheels are all snapped off. The rubbery plastic they used to make them out of went really brittle as it aged. [/quote] You can buy replacement wheels for the Gizmotron V2. I wonder if they would fit?

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1487176908' post='3237796'] I wonder if basses are on the agenda? [/quote] From the FAQ: Q. Will you make Shergold basses? A. Give us time! We’ll get there. I'll reserve judgement until I've had a chance to actually play one, but based on the photographs and descriptions on the web site I can't help but agree with the comments above. Design-wise they appear to have little of the quirkiness that made the originals so interesting and appealing. I wonder if they are going to make any modular double-necks?

And the only photo of a Kiss member wearing a watch ON STAGE, it appears to be hidden under a wrist band. And it's the drummer, who IME always seem to be uncooperative and unconcerned when it comes to getting the band image right.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1487113564' post='3237306'] This is why I can't take anything BRX says seriously... [/quote] You don't need to take anything I say seriously. But if I have made you think, then my work here is done.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1487120852' post='3237338'] No. Wasn't sure if this was the one you meant. I can't believe it was still playable in that condition. [/quote] Apart from the missing 13th fret and the rather bent 14th, I don't think that there is anything that would actually get in the way of being able to play it. It did come up for sale a few years ago, but the price was too high for me to buy essentially as a joke.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487152536' post='3237474'] Thousands stay away as Kiss member wears the wrong watch shocker! [/quote] I'd find it hard to believe that a band so involved in their image as Kiss, would even consider wearing a watch on stage. I challenge you to find me a photo of one of them wearing one.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487151265' post='3237460'] Surely it depends if you wear it on your right or left wrist? [/quote] If you must wear one, it goes on the wrist of your fretting hand. On the other wrist it just gets in the way of your playing.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1487150167' post='3237448'] I get it. It's just that for [i]most[/i] bands a wrist watch wouldn't impact the style in any significant way [/quote] For me, getting the details right is just as important. In fact if your band does have an "image" the wrong details will be much more noticeable and detract from the overall picture. There's nothing wrong with wearing the right watch as part of your "look", but IME most mens watches are ugly over-sized random lumps of plastic and metal.

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1487147018' post='3237409'] Didn't Mick Karn play one for years (pre-Wal)? [/quote] He didn't get his Wal until just before recording "Tin Drum" so the majority of his bass lines in Japan were recorded with the TB2000, and IMO sounded better for it.

Relicing aside, how do these basses get in such a state anyway? Up until I sold it last year, one of my main basses was an Overwater Original made in the mid 80s. From when I bought it in the early 90s until I bought my first Gus some 15 years ago it was getting played at least a hour every day, taken to rehearsals twice a week and gigged every other week. I was careful with it, but never precious. I'm also a pretty "physical" player and energetic performer on stage. It might have picked up a ding or two on the way, but nothing noticeable without a close inspection. In fact the most significant wear was that the chrome plating had started to come off a couple of the machine heads. That's for a bass that was over 30 years old and had been well used for the majority of those years.

[quote name='Sparky Mark' timestamp='1487117061' post='3237324'] I'm sure you wouldn't kick a Fender Custom Shop Pino Palladino out of bed. [/quote] I would. To me it's dull, boring and ugly in every way.

OTOH if you want to hear what the original Gizmotron was capable of in the hands of its inventors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTzAfEow2c

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487101990' post='3237171'] Hey, who said you could walk all over other peoples fantasies. Get your own. [/quote] I wasn't aware that I had. And if I did I'm sorry.

[quote name='GreeneKing' timestamp='1487099488' post='3237127'] I just wondered, with you being a Nottingham musician. Not everyone's cuppa for sure. Sunhouse 'Crazy on the Weekend' is one of my favourite albums but my taste in music is pretty wide:) [/quote] TBH I've been so busy just playing in my own bands that I don't get a lot of time to listen to other local musicians unless they happen to be on the same bill as us. Unfortunately when I was growing up I was forbidden to have an electric guitar by my parents, so I've got an aversion to most acoustic music.

The closest you are going to get to a TB2000 without actually buying one is something from the [url="http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com"]Electrical Guitar Company[/url]. Have a look at their EGC2000 Bass.

I don't get this tuning problems myth that seems to follow these instruments around. I've not owned a Travis Bean, but I have had (and used live) examples of pretty much all the other metal necked and bodied instruments that have come and gone over the years, and so long as you don't expect them to remain in tune after taking directly from a cold van or dressing room onto a hot and sweaty stage (and I wouldn't expect a wooden instrument to fare any better in those circumstances) then they hold their tuning perfectly well.

[quote name='GreeneKing' timestamp='1487094682' post='3237027'] Some good suggestions. A little fantasy does no harm BigRed, I'm a Gavin Clark fan, do you know the fella? Peter [/quote] Sorry, no. I'd never heard of him, and now having had a listen to a couple of his songs I know why. Not my kind of thing in the slightest.