GuyR

It won't be the last one you buy, however nice it is.

You'll probably win a preamp and a set of crap 45-105s

If I lived in Bristol, I'd go to every one. From London, it's a bit of a mission. Have you bought anything there?

I bought a lovely 66 Tele for £5500. Not player grade. A 62 slab Jazz bass, modified but very nice £1700. The '60 Esquire custom in the current catalogue was bought in the auction about 5 years ago for about £5800, the same auction where a Rick Turner Renaissance bass sold for £600. All including the commission. It depends on your definition of a bargain, but I invariably wish I'd taken more money with me. The auction where I bought my tele had a 56 esquire, body only refin, for £6k and a lovely body only refin slab 62 Jazz at £3720, which sold in the Gallery for around £7k a couple of weeks later.

I have bought very well there, and seen a lot of excellent value for buyers. I have also seen plenty of buyers get carried away. Agreed, it is an enjoyable way to buy, if you are level headed and set limits.

Sublime

I bought my 79 fretless Stingray on a whim in 2013 and sold it for +40% last year. I guess that's a reflection of the market.

I have the old A5 fretless, not ultra. It is slightly neck heavy, but not to any significant degree. I mainly use mine acoustically, as the fundamental tone is so good. Not sure how the ultra electrics compare, but the A5 is a great bass that does a decent DB tone, played over the fingerboard.

I have always liked surf green. Btw Bubinga5, your old Sei Jazz 5 is sitting on the sofa next to me. In case you wanted to keep track. Very lovely.

I would do the minimum to make it A1 functional again. Refret, no problem whatsoever. New pots, fine if the originals no longer serve their purpose.The fact that the potential may be there for a future owner to expose a rare foam green finish will already make it more commercially attractive without you having to take the chance of doing it yourself. Balance the risks and potential rewards; how pleased would you be if the foam green is able to be made presentable? How disappointed will you be if you take back the refin to find the green is not viable and your history of ownership has been irrevocably erased? No choice if it were mine. I'd leave it. And foam green is my absolute favourite custom colour. one other question; What colour is the guard? If it is white, that would make it more likely the green is original.

Will the Harrisons open a museum of counterfeit and stolen vintage guitars there?

Have just bought Carl's Sei Bass. The bass is exactly as described and Carl was a pleasure to communicate with, meet and do business with. A very satisfactory transaction all round. Thanks Carl.

I think most sell during manufacture, so never appear online. With good reason.

I wonder what proportion of custom builds are with the original owner? I am not generally a seller, but moved my custom build on after 6 years. I simply preferred other similar basses so it wasn't getting any use. I have played other basses by the same maker I much preferred to the one I received. Nothing wrong with the spec, just the natural variation you get between otherwise near identical instruments. I was fortunate enough to get my outlay back, minus shop commission, when I sold. Buying any bass sight unseen is risky. Adding the element of uncertainty in speccing something where you have never tried all the ingredients together previously increases the uncertainty. The element of guesswork combined with the natural variation in the woods/other components means you would be fortunate to get exactly what you hoped for. On the plus side (my preferred outlook) you could get something better you didn't know you wanted, but of course the opposite could as easily be the case. None of this will be sufficient to deter me from trying again.

And Chas & Dave on the small stage. A quality day out indeed.

Saw him at Hyde Park in 2018, on the same bill as Gary Clark, Clapton and Santana. He was sublime. So glad I made it......

Mediocrity?

If I had won the lottery, I wouldn't be buying "off the peg"

The very same. I was initially drawn by the vulgarity of the finish, it is also a great bass. Update on the incoming side. This morning a contractor doing a house clearance for me asked whether I would like a Roland bass cube 30, in the original box, for nothing. Difficult to say no to an offer like that.

Fairly minimal as usual Out. 62 Jazz Bass In. CS stack knob gold sparkle Jazz Bass, 65 Strat.

Thanks. It kind of happened by accident.

Here are a few of mine 62 Casino, 65 Strat, 66 Tele. Quite happy with current setup.

Agree re Clive Brown. I have played a 65 CAR Strat he had completely refinished, neck and body. To me the finish was indistinguishable from my 65 CAR. His work is outstanding. I tried a blonde tele of his also that had a sublime checked body refin? He understands subtlety, has zero online presence, no contact details, but still has an 18 month waiting list.