Jean-Luc Pickguard

Cowpoke was a nickname given to this model of precision bass by members of a US forum - possibly the long-gone dudepit. My understanding is that the nickname was due to the shape of the pickguard resembling the yokes of a western/cowboy shirt. I really liked the look of these back in the day but was underwhelmed when I tried the MIM one they had at Rockbottom in Croydon.

Just under two miles

I got a thunderbird vintage pro a few weeks ago just after they leapt in price everywhere. I was initially after a white one but when I saw this sunbust one in stock & advertised as new/B-stock at a bargain price it would have been rude not to. The reason for the reduction is a tiny area of rub-through of the black finish at the far edge of the headstock which is only noticable when you look for it. It'll probably pick up dents in that area before too long if it collides with cymbals on a cramped stage. I normally use thomastik, La Bella or fender flats on my other basses but I wanted to get a brighter tone from this bass so I kept the stock roundwounds on until today when a couple of sets of La Bella 750T white nylon tapes arrived. I've just fitted a set to the t-bird and I'm knocked out by how well they work for me on this bass. They have a similar tension to Thomastik JF344 jazz flats so I can play with a lighter touch like I can with TIs, but the sound seems to lean more towards rounds more than flats & the ultra smooth surface feels perfect for me. Changing the strings showed the tuners as being less smooth than ones on my other basses, although they work fine for tuning up. If I do replace them I'll probably get a set of Gotoh GB-640 res-o-lites, but they aren't cheap. I can live with the existing ones though. Looking forward to my first rehearsal with the La Bellas next week and my gig with the bass next weekend.

Send an enquiry to Roland at https://www.roland.co.uk/spares/ select microcube bass rx on the drop-down menu

Weird that the dodgy listings remain visible when amazon knows that the account has been hacked.

I'd be tempted by the Gibson Thunderbird for £480 but if something looks too good to be true it usually is. There's no way they can be selling it at that price and have four in stock. The shop's negative feedback has jumped up to 13% in the last 30 days

My epiphone pro-v went totaly dead a couple of weeks ago after I tightened up one of the pots. I initialy wondered whether there was a problem with the active circuit but it turned out that the pot had rotated so one of the terminals was touching the shielding paint. Once it was straightened out it was fine, so check that nothing is shorting out. Also when the socket was replaced was it replaced with a switchcraft one? I've found that the cheapo (eg from maplins) can lose their springiness after a while & often start to crackle & lose contact before too long.

Just seen that these are now up from £499 to £599, and out of stock everywhere I've looked. Anyone know why the unusually huge price increase? I don't think currency exchange rates have shifted that much.

Is there any effect he can get on his laptop that can't be emulated using a multifx pedal? I can understand a keys player using a macbok with mainstage, but a guitarist using a laptop on stage seems like a load of unneccessary hassle & risk to me, unless there was a compelling reason to do so. If my bandmate insisted on this, I'd not get involved in working out what cables etc he'd need & leave him up to it.

I would email the company with photos of the strings & packaging. I had a dead E string in a set of GHS shortscale flats, so contacted GHS & they sent a replacement string to me all the way from battle creek michigan.

It used to annoy me in a previous band when I'd spend time designing & money printing posters for the pub to put up, a band member would take the posters in a week or two before the gig, and we'd see the posters are all still rolled up behiund the bar when we turn up on the night.

I'd never seen the headphones before - I must admit, for a second I did wonder whether it was an April Fools joke that leaked out early. I'd feel a right pillock wearing anything that looks so daft.

I'm trying to work out why it would have been necessary to remove the frets

The description says "was brown & worn" – makes it sound like the seat was secondhand when it was thrown together. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIG-BUTT-004-BASS-made-in-USA/173186521681 – just noticed its that overpriced chancer in Germany who is trying to sell it for £888. Ridiculous.

Thanks for the generous offer, but I think I've managed to find a good solution. I've now swapped out the bridge for my spare badass II. it was already grooved and I haven't needed to deepen the grooves. I managed to lose one of the (imperial size) grub screws so I now have some on order, but I've found that I can get the action slightly lower than I achieved on the original bridge by removing the grub screws from the G & E saddles, so I probably won't need the ones that are on their way. The D & A saddles are raised a smidge and as the badass uses 3/16'' long grub screws they only protrude by about half a mm. As an added bonus, I think the badass looks rather good on this bass.

Also post photos here - there are a lot of BCers who can spot a fake Fender a mile off.

Thanks Yardicus - I found some on ebay that look much like the drawing with the dimensions shown, so I've taken a punt and ordered some. I'll report back when the arrive – which could be some time as they'll be coming on a slow boat from China.

Argghh! I'd lost one of the hex grub screws to adjust the height of a badass II. Anyone know the correct dimensions or where I can get a replacement (& some spares) in the UK?Insert other media

I've not been there for several years & I'm in South London so I can't help with knocking on their door, but I imagine this weeks snowy weather might have something do with there being no one in on a Friday afternoon. If you google 'brandoini guitars' & get their google business profile shown on results page, it appears that someone added a new five star rating within the last week – which suggests that the company is still active. Maybe they'll respond if you send them an email? Can you report back if you do get hold of anyone - I'll be needing some bits & bobs sometime in the near future, so it might be worth a visit in a few weeks.

they both look much better with the pickguards swapped - particularly the burst/tort. if the white one is only a smidge too big, you might be able to get it to fit by loosening the screws holding the control plate, pushing the plate down and tightening the screws back up, this might cause the screws to go in at a slightly jaunty angle, but if the discrepancy is tiny that won’t be noticeable. Or it may be possible to relocate the screw holes for the contro plate slightly south by packing the existing holes with toothpicks & glue & redrilling.

I changed the stock tort pg on my '07 CIJ mustang for a beautiful custom-made chandlers (us) aged pearl one. The pickup is mounted on the pickguard, so the two screws holding it will need to be removed, but no soldering/unsoldering will be necessary.

I've just rediscovered my long-neglected daisy rock daisy rock elite bass, which is basically a schecter in a skirt. I set it up at the weekend and have been playing it a lot over the last few days. The duncan-designed soapbars and active eq can make a lovely clanking rock tone through the micro cube RX even with an old set of thomastic flats. I'd prefer it to have a bolt-on neck so I could shim it, but I've almost got the action as low as I'd like. Its cool to see schecter/daisy rock similarities in that the model T has 'piano-key' block markers shaped like the pearloid ones on my daisy rock and the eight string schecter has a daisy rock headstock shape.

Halfords stock JB Weld - they also sell a metal epoxy putty which looks interesting.

Cheers Ped. I never though of filing the groove deeper in the BBoT-style barrel saddles, but it sounds like a great idea. I'm using a spare set of saddles on the bass at the moment which will be easy enough to replace if I do make a mess of it so I'll try that. I don't have access to a router and sinking the bridge into the body isn't a reversable mod so I'm not keen to try that, but thanks for the suggestion HZ.