Dr H

Will do - pitch black here now (following sleet ) so photos will follow. I bought it from the USA through an ad on Talk Bass after a quick bit of chasing in the threads (it was very reasonably priced too). It's the version that Sting used in the 90s: the Roadster version in the sparkly black with the bolt on neck rather than the through-neck Musician that I would have preferred. The Musician is a bit more curved at the edges and I've always liked the laminated neck strip. Still, beggars can't be choosers - as you said, they're rare enough as it is. My go-to bass at the moment.

I've just come back to Ibanez after using other basses. My first 'real' bass was a polar white Musician MC924 (1982), which was superb in all tonal respects, but was really heavy and had 24 fret neck which was comparatively wide. Build quality was great and unusually it held its value well on re-sale. I wanted another (in dark stain), but was simply put off by the weight. I've recently picked up a RB-888 (Bean Bass) and this has won me over - so lightweight, medium scale, thin, fast neck and a great range of tones from a single humbucker.

Hmmm...sounds a little like OCD to me. What does the bass actually sound like when you've lined up these knobs...?

I use an Epiphone EB-0, a Hofner 500/1 V63 (both short scale), and an Ibanez RB-888 (medium scale) which are all very different but extremely comfortable in use.

[quote name='basskit_case' timestamp='1252063156' post='589573'] I had one of these basses for a while and got a EB0 gig bag from eBay, hard wearing and pretty cheap as well. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EPIPHONE-EB-O-EBO-SHORT-SCALE-BASS-GUITAR-GIG-BAG_W0QQitemZ370212446314QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item563261a06a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]EB0 Gig Bag[/url] [/quote] I have one of these too (great beater bass for practice and one that I intend to keep) - I ordered a hard case from Epiphone through my local music shop, Andertons. Good quality, shaped case for the EB-0. Oh and no noticeable neck dive problems for me.

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1420131461' post='2645937'] Cream and torty looks delicious. [/quote] +1

Absolutely love mine - extremely practical, good range of tones available and surprisingly powerful for the size.

I have a Polytone Minibrute (similar vintage to yours) and I'm not too far away (Fleet, Hants), if you want to borrow mine to try the stereo effect.

He is an absolute gent. I once received a 45 minute telephone call from Danny on a Sunday evening out of the blue. As a PhD student, I has bought 'Whatever' on the strength of the album cover and raved about it. I wrote a complimentary letter to him via the address of his management and promptly forgot about it. How surprised was I? Enough to accuse him of pulling my leg (it wasn't put quite like that ;-) )... We then met up in the West End Centre several weeks later at one of his gigs and he took time to talk with me and introduce me to the band, sign an album, show me Victoria... What a legend...

What do you think a Z Bass is worth currently?

Check out the Hofner Hounds website for an informed opinion