Jean-Luc Pickguard

Last week I saw a castle cases mustang bass flight case on ebay for BiN for about £20 less than the cheapest price I'd seen for the fender tolex mustang case, and ebay were also running a promotion where they'd pay 10% of anything over £100 ordered via the ebay iPad app. I wasn't sure what the case would be like as the pics didn't show the interior of the case, but I took a leap of faith & ordered it. It turned up today and I'm impressed witht he sheer size and weight of it. I'm not sure I'll be able to hide it from the missus, but the firm foam inside is cut to fit a mustang bass perfectly and it looks like it would survive a nuclear blast. Very impressed with the standard of hardware & construction for the cost. I'm keeping the CIJ in the case for now as one thing I'm not sure of is whether the dense foam used in flightcases is safe for the laquer finish of the JMJ. Is it likely to react with the finish if I kept the JMJ in the case instead of the CIJ?

At the moment my favourite is the epiphone thunderbird vintage pro with ernie ball cobalt flats -> Roland microcube rx amp using the concert 810 model, compressor on, efx off & gain set to 2 o'clock.

I had one of these in shell pink. It was a nice little bass to play - nowhere near as good as my CIJ mustang though, and the body seemed to be on the heavy side.

I don't normally bother with a backup bass but if something's going to fail it is more likely to be the output socket than anything else. Most bent 1/4" sockets are too flimsy for repeated pluging & unplugging and will eventually not spring back and so lose contact, but I've never had an issue with a switchcraft socket. On any bass that can take one but does not already have one fitted (eg MIJ/CIJ Fenders, Squiers) putting in a swtichcraft is the very first upgrade I usually carry out.

there's a fine line between being an exhibitionist and a flasher 🤔

I've not used anything yet, but think teak oil would be an appropriate choice compared to other options. Tung oil would be too much of a faff.

I'm almost tempted. I had one of the original full sized ones back in the 80s but I have no idea what happened to it. David J used his to great effect on St vitus dance

Nice! I have the five string version of this in the same natural oiled finish.

plays like BUTT-ah

its a bit naughty using the word 'fender' in the listing title

I don't think he did that - my understanding was that Peter Cook (not Dud's mate) made the bodies.

Roxanne?

Aged white pearl or Black on a bright red such as candy apple red or darker transparent red. For a slightly lighter or more muted red like fiesta red, aged white pearl or solid off-white.

“we don’t play that song, but the next one has some of the same notes”

This is the bass which inspired the musicman bongo