molan

Certainly quite a while ago. Trace Elliott was always called ‘Try Selling It’ in our store - believe me, it wasn’t easy either. Only thing harder to sell was a Hartke 8x10😂

I spoke to Trickfish a lot in their early days and was really impressed by their professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication to bringing new products to market that ‘worked’! I found Richard Ruse to be a great guy and genuinely inspirational to work with. It was such a shame that he left us early and didn’t see all of his vision come to fruition. I’m afraid I’ve only heard their cabs at demo volume and, of course, we all know that’s nothing like a gigging environment. However, I certainly know who I’d spend my money with as the rest of the team there seem to share Richard’s genuine dedication to delivering a class product for the gigging bassist 😉

That definitely looks like he same one I had. At the same time I had a black Flea that I really should have kept. It had a pair of Lane Poor pickups, a boost switch and a funky inlay of Randy Hope-Taylor at the 12th fret!

I certainly used to own a Modulus VJ but I can’t remember much about it now. Cost me just £650 back when I bought it 🤦‍♂️

I think the bass I’ve owned longest is, technically, one of the ones that cost e least but only because of the state I bought it in. It’s a ‘64 P that had been stripped and refinished in a horrendous natural lacquer that looked & felt like Ronseal. The neck was particularly hideous and sticky (although the fingerboard is lovely). I bought it in pieces from the USA where someone had started a restoration but ran out of money. It turned up, in the original ‘64 case that’s obviously been gigged within an inch of its life, with all the bits in little ziplock bags, right down to original screws and wiring loom etc. It sat in pieces whilst I tried to think of what colour to have it finished in. One day I was randomly chatting to a luthier friend and asked who he’d recommend for the refin and what he thought of possible colours. He asked to take a look and found traces of the original Olympic White in the neck pocket and cavity routing. He had officially stopped doing refins but, by complete chance, had one last quantity of nitro left and it was Oly White! He volunteered to finish it off and put it all back together at a ‘mate’s rate’ price. Took about 2 years before he was entirely happy with the finish but he did an amazing job. The nitro has aged quickly and is already fading and checking beautifully. On a personal note it has an attachment as it’s the bass my gorgeous grandson chose (out of a rack of about 12) when he told me he wanted to learn to play when he ‘grew up’. Unfortunately we lost him later that year but I’ll always remember that day and have a pic of him trying to play it somewhere. Can’t imagine I’ll ever sell it.

Still looking lovely too. The first bass I put together as a stock order when we were awarded a Fender CS dealership. If you ever decide to be ‘disloyal’ you know where I am 🤣

Taking on the classic 'patina' of a BF cab that's been on a gig 🤣

Don’t worry I took it the same way too I just think there’s a basic ‘duty of care’ in packaging any product. I volunteer for a charity that helps to provide musical participation to disabled children and adults. Some of them are able to play instruments and purchase things from new so I’m particularly attuned to personal safety for everyone. In this case the manufacturer knows there’s a chance of harming someone but decided to use it anyway. I can’t imagine it would take much time to be sure it’s completely safe for everyone. I think it’s a statutory regulation to do this. If I remember rightly, ‘safety’ is the very first thing that’s stipulated in government guidelines.

I don’t understand why people are defending the box - it’s poor quality manufacturing that could potentially hurt someone. Doesn’t matter that no one has been hurt so far. It’s just about taking the, incredibly simple, steps to ensure there aren’t any risks in opening something. That’s it, nothing complicated about it. Very simple to take some basic standards of care when dealing with your customers I remember buying stuff from China years ago that arrived like this but it was a) years ago before a lot of safety measures were standardised and b) they were dirt cheap products made down to a low standard so you had to be prepared to accept poor quality packaging. I saw someone said that people would find something to complain about if BF sent them a cheque. It seems the exact reverse is true, and to an even great extent. Some people will defend poor quality, potentially dangerous, manufacture even it’s proven to genuinely injure customers and the manufacturer continues to sell products that wouldn’t pass basic health and safety standards. . .

Is the box nailed shut?

Now that's customer service for you - bet no-one ever shredded their fingers on a knife in that restaurant 🤣

I can’t believe anyone is defending such shoddy workmanship. It’s the kind of thing I’d expect from a home-made cab. Were it any other responsible manufacturer, the immediate response from the would have been to withdraw items for sale, make absolutely sure all new products do not have the same issue and, very importantly, to contact all previous customers to let them know there was potential risk of personal injury. In most fields, where a product is valued around the £1,000 mark, the manufacturer would follow up and offer to make good on any products by offering repairs or to supply replacement parts. Let’s face it, these brackets are mass-produced and not exactly high cost items. In this case they were produced to a low standard and caused genuine injury to a customer. As an ex-retailer, and current supplier of professional services, I would expect the seller to be all over the customer offering profound apologies and remedies to make good. I’m all for small volume British manufacturing but when it genuinely injures customers and, potentially, could have ruined their careers as a musician then I’d expect a far greater duty of care than has been displayed here. . .