uk_lefty

When my brand new Stingray fell off a shoddy stand and got the smallest nick in the headstock I was the only person in my band not sh!tting my pants. Its not a Star Wars action figure to spend its life vacuum sealed and never experiencing joy. If there's no dings in a bass has it ever been played properly? Dings are an occupational hazard, cramped stages, rushed set ups, finding a punter pawing your gear during the pee break, it's all part of what happens.

Same reason my Mrs wants to see dresses worn by Princess Di etc. I personally don't care about a dress "worth" however many tens of thousands but given to an actress or whatever for free then held in a museum forever. My Mrs won't quite understand the broken bass but I'd like to go and see it as I imagine there is other stuff around it that tells a story of the times. I'd pay to go in fact.

Thank goodness for idiots! Beautiful bass and great story

If I was buying a vintage Fender two screws being replaced wouldn't bother me really. Better than having old screws so worn you can't get them out.

Have you tried a second 1x15 cab?

Lefty Rickenfooker copy on ebay at the moment.

Surely the frets should be seen as "consumables" just like the strings, otherwise if you play it to death you're then going to knacker the fingerboard and sound like crap with unevenly worn frets everywhere?!

I'm having the same quandary... I've got a lovely MIJ Precision. It's worth a good amount of money. However, I am a jazz bass guy at heart. I sold my two jazz basses when I bought a Stingray which was so expensive I can and will never sell it because it would fetch less than half what I paid, plus for covers bands it's the ideal gigging bass. However, I've been toying with selling the precision to fund a new jazz thinking the Ray does everything the P does and more. Then I listened to a load of Black Sabbath a few days back and thought "how can I live without a P bass??!" The struggle is real.

I don't think one pink highlighter is enough.

Spot on for me. Though I'd add a "I thought I was nailing it week in week out for three years but now I've listened to the original for the first time in forever I realise I'm completely off the reservation!" Case in point, I listed to Hungry Like the Wolf yesterday and thought "oh bugger!" I've got a bit lazy with my version! I do have to remember over 60 songs though so just knowing roughly what order verses and choruses come in is challenging enough without having to be accurate on the playing side of things too!

I've seen a Limelight P with an MM pup it's probably still on the gallery page of their website. Looked good.

I had one in the early 2000s, I couldn't get on with it personally, it just didn't feel up to much. Bought it for around 100 quid with a hard case, sold the case for 50ish and the bass for 70 or 80 after not having it very long. Glad you've found one you like, if the neck feels good then a decent amp etc should get something worthwhile out of it.

One of our favourite places to play has some characters who you think could go too far sometimes. Then once our singer lost track of his lyrics as he watched a fight in the smoking area. I think we need to learn the Benny Hill theme tune or something equally daft for such an occasion if it would ever happen again! I have the "Sid Vicious" white precision and am confident my Yorkshire genes mean I can deliver a swift cricket shot to the balls of anyone who might try to skirmish with my band... Fortunately, never have had to, and hope never to!

A Boss Bass Limiter/ Enhancer on the recommended "enhance" setting from the manual. Or the Behringer clone. Really helped get some character out of my Fretless (then I got a multi fx with loads of Fretless presets... And as its a Boss multi I can throw in an LMB-2 emulator too on any effects I want)

I feel guilty knowing that what I like best about my Stingray is the neck finish... Which can be achieved on most other basses with sandpaper and the right oil. I feel guilty that I could have bought a second hand Stingray for 850 but decided on getting a brand new one. I feel guilty that I Lust after other basses even though in practical terms I don't need more than a Stingray. I feel guilty that I own an MIJ Precision that has no purpose now I own a Stingray, I just can't bring myself to sell it.

I feel guilty about buying a brand new Stingray at the end of 2018. I had a completely unexpected tax rebate that covered the cost but even so I traded in my MIM Jazz to get 250 off. That jazz sounded amazing but had the added bonus of being really beaten up so if it got dropped or dinged I didn't care. I felt more guilty still and sold my Sire 5 string jazz, this one stings as I'm now after a jazz style bass and guess what the best option is!! I like having nice gear and I like the process of finding nice gear and discovering what it can do, but the Stingray was a practical decision: I love the complexity of a jazz bass tone but for my gigging needs the punch of the Ray won out. I could do with rationalising my gear down again, ideally I would have my Stingray, my Fretless and a mid priced jazz, but better still would be the time to fully appreciate all of my instruments and do all the projects I want to do, and that's where the guilt comes in, having things I probably won't get the full use out of. Full time job, commuting, and two small children means I don't have as much musical time as I'd like. My daughter is left handed and is showing a love of anything musical at the moment. So even though she's only 3 I'm hoping that my basses and guitars become hers, by which time they should be vintage collectibles I hope!

People who can't focus. So if you've got a good thing going on a particular style of music they gave a billion suggestions "this Django Rheinhardt track will be amazing, then what about this by Slipknot? And playing Disco inferno straight after will bring the house down!!" for a blues band... People who are over enthusiastic, just in the process of dodging this particular bullet... The guy who has every bit of kit, owns 12 guitars, keyboards, has the recording software, can trigger samples if we all chip in hundreds to buy the kit and he takes a week off work to program it, but can't keep time or play basic parts on chosen instrument, thinks their vocals are "OK" but mails round a sample of an entire song that would make a cat jump out a window and not land on its feet

Ah! I never looked at the location, but it's always the way to get the real bargains if you can travel for them. It sucks living in between the A1 and M1, commutable to the entire South East and the Midlands quite easily l, from that perspective anyway

While my motivation priorities may be different I kind of agree. When you walk in with a bad attitude you play badly, if you go in with a professional attitude even though the venue may look empty or to have the wrong clientele etc then you can still have a great gig. Case in point, we did a wedding in summer and were a bit surprised to see a very small gathering of people mostly a few decades older than our usual audience. We had prepped well because we would be paid well and didn't want to ruin someone's biggest day of their life, agreed to play the notes, no pissing about at the end of songs etc. And played our best gig ever. The crowd was amazing, father of the bride knew the words to every song and led the singing and dancing, after the first tune loads more guests turned up and we got the place going. I learned loads from it, how to really separate the approach from pub gigs to functions for a start. And we had walked on to stage completely deflated tbh.

Sold for 120??!! Insane.

This is an Aria SB. A bass I've listed after for ages. It's just been a bit unloved for a good while. It could be knackered, it could just be in need of a clean and a bit of a tweak, but for what I paid to get a 1984 matsumoko through neck bass it's worth it. If I get it going watch out for me John Tayloring it up in a band with a name like Duran Duraren't in a town near you soon!

True. My garage is full of stuff that wasn't quite right for the job! Am looking to bring this bass back to life and in doing so learn to look after my other basses better, so set ups and things I should just do myself instead of paying for.

I forgot I had one of those little rulers! Handy to have a photo of how to use it. Thanks for this

Oh, when testing I got about 50ft up my garden... With the amp and receiver up against the window. It kept signal as I left the room, went down the stairs which lead to the front of the house then down the hall through the kitchen and out the back door. My house has incredibly thick and solid walls so was quite impressed it held.