White Cloud

That is James Finnegan. I bought his Vigier Arpege from him back in the day: oddly enough, he bought a nice vintage Fender Jazz from me!

I own a featherweight ACG & a lightweight Fender Jazz: I usually avoid any bass over 8.5lbs however, the Overwater just sounds and plays so wonderfully that I've decided that it is worth the weight... strengthening my shoulders could be a left-field (as in unexpected) but very useful idea!

Some really good suggestions; thank you all!

Fellow Baschatters I've recently been lucky enough to acquire an Overwater Progress 3 deluxe - absolutely gorgeous looks, playability and tone: the only downside is that it is a bit of a heavyweight (and my shoulder is feeling it after an hour or two). Can any of you recommend a wide and well padded strap that would assist ease the weight? Thanks in advance!

I think this describes my own sentiments on bass playing perfectly.

Superb! Well written and personally evocative for me because it echoed much of my own experiences regarding my own musical influences (Genesis, Yes, Brand X) - and subsequent 'sell everything to buy a Wal' purchase - around the same era. My Wal was fretted - and long gone - but not disimilar from yours. Thanks for sharing this.

There is something very special about early Smith's.. this one is an absolute corker!

Maximise your options by going used; this opens up instruments like G&L Tributes, Ibanez's and Sires etc.

That is nice!

Can you share a pic with us? Sounds great, would love a gander!

I read an interview with Norman many years ago where he revealed that he bought his two Alembic seires 1 basses from a Brazilian musician (for a snip).

Brilliant P basses at a bargain price point.

I can relate to this for sure!

John Entwistle ... legend.

I've owned an Alembic... it was a bit of a disspointment. They are marmite however, to be fair, they are great basses in as much as the woodworking is faultless and the preamp is breathtaking That said, I think that they are overpriced and that the British built Wal - and in particular - the fantastic Scottish built ACG - do the whole filter based preamp just as well in a far more user friendly package/price point. Just my thoughts.

Stunning, congratulations. ACG basses are amongst the very best at any price.

I'm of the opinion that the body wood is almost irrelevant... it's all in the neck: and mostly the fingerboard. It's very subjective though.

I owned an Alder body/Rosewood fingerboard V7. It was heavy, but was very resonant with great sustain. This was especially evident unplugged. Overall, a good bass for the price however, on reflection I'd say they were over-hyped at the time. I had a few niggles with mine: one of the fingerboard inlays sat 1mm proud of the surface (at an uneven angle) and the preamp quickly developed a nasty - and noisy -fault. I wasnt overly keen on the hardware either tbh. I have mixed feelings on them for this reason. My honest tuppenceworth.

Since 1997 controversy has surrounded Korean factories of Cort and Cor-Tek due to its alleged mistreatment of factory workers. Grievances include the closing of its Daejon factory with no advance warning on April 9, 2007, mass redundancies of all staff from its Incheon plant on April 12, 2007, and the firing and mistreatment of union officials and members.On July 12, 2007 a Cort worker set himself on fire in protest, and on October 15, 2008 workers conducted a 30-day hunger strike and sit-in occupation on a 40-meter electricity tower. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian - both partners in the Axis Of Justice - joined representatives of the Cort workers in a protest concert against Cort and Cor-tek on January 13, 2010 at the Nanum Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Morello said "I fully support the Korean workers' demands for justice in the workplace. All American guitar manufacturers and the people that play them should hold Cort accountable for the awful way they have treated their workers."This controversy went through various legal stages in Korea from 2007 through 2012. Ultimately, Cort received favorable decisions from the Supreme Court in Korea that ended any further liability on Cort's part to the terminated employees. The court recognized that the closure of the plant in 2008 and subsequent layoff were justified.

Very good mass produced instruments at a fantastic price point ... but I personally still find it hard to get over Corts highly questionable treatment of their employees a few years ago.

Great basses indeed ...the necks are super skinny and do require regular truss adjustments.