uk_lefty

There's an Aria Pro II SB Facebook group. If you put the picture and questions up in there you'll get a very quick answer.

MM bongo on ebay based in Barry. Looks awesome, seems like a great price.

Yay! A chart where I have heard of 4 out of 5 of the songs. Oh, I don't like any of them and am very unlikely to like the other. Oh well.

That one was up about a year or so ago, can't remember what it went for, maybe a bit less than what it's on gumtree for now. Would like to try a GB, but expect they're so difficult to sell because you've just got to find a lefty who both wants it and has the cash and inclination all at the same time. Quite tricky to get those stars aligned! Lots of Japanese Fenders coming up recently. Prices are crazy though, seems to be over a grand for an instrument you could have brand new for £450 ten years back, or £450 second hand 5 years ago!

At the Andertons masterclass he said that he records using his original Fender jazz, the one he's had for donkeys years, but live he plays the Sires. For someone who was there to plug Sires it was interesting, paraphrasing, he said fancy wood tops, etc (E.g the V9 and V10 range that had just come out) don't affect the sound and they're there "for you, to inspire you to pick up the instrument and play" but he is happy with the V7s. Interesting when you think the V10s are double the price! The V3s weren't out then. I've seen plenty of recent footage of him playing the Sires. If you follow him on social media you'll see he's nearly always playing a Sire V7.

Received the new hardware ordered and couldn't resist fitting the neck and trying to get an idea of what this is going to look like...

This morning I applied a 4th coat of stain all over and there were some inconsistencies in the top so I did a quick once over on the top again, so it's 4.5 coats on top. The control cover only has two coats and I think there's a noticeable difference. I'm really, really pleased with the colour. It's like posh raspberry ice cream! I've got some drilling to do for a switch and the strap buttons so will do the finish after I've had chance to do that. Will probably be after Easter now. The finish looks like an easy enough job from the videos I've seen, thanks Andy for reminding me they're out there! Overall, I'll be having a week off, then I'll have the bass up and running within a week after that! Really looking forward to getting the pickups in and fired up.

Those would be my 3

Ah. Crimson Guitars penetrating finishing oil. Aiming to get it matt.

Please keep in mind I am the rankest of amateurs... I'd love something like a Sandblasted finish. But I'm quite happy as is, maybe one more coat and some finish... This is after 3 coats. Reminds me of posh ice cream

Crimson Guitars cherry red. I've done a third quote and it does look good. I think a fourth coat will get me to Gibson SG classic type look then a quick buff with some sandpaper and apply the finish. I want a matt finish really which I'm told can be done

I was quite nervous about the wood staining bit. I watched the videos and it looked too easy, people said it was easy... But people say fitting a bathroom is just grown ups lego, and my bathroom took a highly skilled bathroom fitter a whole week and he still managed to get water p!ssing through my kitchen ceiling. I digress. Wood staining, so far, two coats in, seems alright. It's a bit pink, not cherry red, but I've only done two coats. I haven't got all the woodgrain stained but I quite like it so far. I'm thinking it may be four coats then a few coats of the finish...

So for the second time in what could be a week, could be a year, who knows at the moment... I've sold a bass. Wahey! I've used an intermediary to book a courier service. Then it's all gone wrong... Before Christmas. I used Eurosender to get my bass and send it from St Albans to Bristol, they chose DPD for the job. A month, a lot of frustrated phone calls later, many changed arrangements, the bass arrived with the end customer looking like a cattle drive had ran over it. The receiver already had his refund and I had to pay to get it posted back to me. This week I've used Interparcel to collect a bass and get it to Glasgow. They use Tuffnells. Well, I sorted it before 9am Monday with collection booked for Tuesday. I'm still looking at the box now. Here's the rub. The intermediaries do nothing. Nothing except take your money. They don't inform you of an issue, such as "cannot collect today, sorry" unless you contract them after 6pm which is the latest a collection will be. They don't escalate issues. They can't or won't upgrade the service because I've lost 2 days already from waiting because the collection company "ran out of time" (2 days running, are you f'ing serious?!), and they never refund. They won't refund because "there is no money back guarantee". I've been told this even when I've not asked for a refund, I've asked for them to hurry the fudge up! "It's not guaranteed for the date" well, thus is where it all falls apart for me I'm afraid. I pay for a collection to be made on Tuesday almost 24hrs in advance. If it can't be done, fine, don't take my money and give me the option to do something else. But you can't take my money, refer to terms and conditions that are basically "best endeavours", and refuse to refund if the service entirely fails (Eurosender and DPD) or cannot be performed within 48hrs of when it was expected. Working in supply chain and with business to business contracts I find it amazing that they take this stance. The service is not guaranteed for any particular time, nor guaranteed to actually work. Yet my payment is guaranteed in advance with absolutely no recourse whatsoever, and no obligation on the intermediary or their sub contracted service provider to actually do anything?! I'm setting up a new business. Lefty's guitar couriers. You need to send a guitar? Fifty quid paid in advance, please. I'll collect it tomorrow and deliver next day. Only, there's no guarantee. I might not collect tomorrow, or this week, or this month, we will see. I might collect it and not deliver it. Anyhow its the third party courier I'm arranging, don't get angry with me. If you ask for a service update I might tell you "sorry, couldn't do it today. Maybe tomorrow?" but I'll make no promises, no guarantees and you'll be f'ing well grateful OK?! There's no guarantees, no upgrades, no refunds, no advanced notice of any change to my side of the bargain. If you have a problem speak to the courier I've arranged. They won't speak to you because you didn't make the booking. I might speak to them on your behalf, I might not, you don't know, you're excluded from that part of things. You read the terms and conditions, you know the deal. Pretty easy this lark. And somehow legal. Should I write to my local MP? (Actually he'd probably invest for a 50% stake)

If you prefer passive then the V5 is the way to go. Cheaper, no batteries required, less stuff can go wrong! I used to loathe active EQ until I had my V7 and then I used to bypass my amp EQ and purely use the V7. Each to his or her own!

I am tempted by the V5s roasted neck and price point, but to me the pre is the big selling point of the Sire.

Awesome colour! I adore my Stingray, it's like a bass embodiment of a big slobbery playful dog.

Oasis need to do a Christmas single, then they will all listen.

Most of us do on medium gigs, all if sound man can be bothered/ drummer arrives in good time.

So, here's the idea. Having a little wedge shaped bass combo to use for monitoring on medium sized gigs. Why? For large gigs it's not an issue, we are fully PA'd up and equipped with individual monitors. However, for medium sized gigs I think it could be helpful to have some monitoring. I am usually crammed in close to the singer who has his monitor which is mostly vocal. The drummer has a monitor speaker giving him a bit of everything, I quite like that idea. I have recently bought a Helix Stomp so I think I could run two outputs, one to my amp and another to my monitor amp... Maybe? Why a bass combo? So I can use it at home for practice and also on gigs. No other reason. I recognise that if this even will work it won't give me the lead guitarist, stood far away and slightly in front and I can't see or hear him properly. Alternately, if I got one of the monitor speakers like my drummer has (his looks like a Behringer combo amp) would I just use that as a bass combo for home practice? Is this a rubbish idea?

If he was right handed I think he would be far more appreciated as a bassist.

This all went quiet again because my 18 month old is rebelling against the concept of sleep and real work has ramped up. Also, I've been agonising over the neck. I kept an eye out for any Fender spec necks since the telebass misadventure and ended up buying a used 2018exican P bass neck. It's not quite the visual excitement I wanted, dots, plain maple headstock, and I can't have the logo made that I wanted but I guess that's saved me a tenner. Tried to screw it in and... The screws are too big! They're making the neck creak a bit. Otherwise the fit seems good. I might need new neck screws or to persevere when I can be bothered to fetch the better screw driver. At least this way I have a good quality neck, with a nut the correct way up, and I can just screw it in... Oh but wait... Those lovely folks at Fender decided to put weird tuners on the Mexican necks that rake ever so slightly different screw holes. Need to get the drill out to fit my Wilkinson tuners. The drill needs to be out anyways to get the pickup screws in and to make a hole for my series/ parallel switch. Fair do's, maybe a Thursday or Friday job. Also, still need to stain and/ or finish the body. But then we are good to go. Once all fitted and up and running I'd be tempted to have it defretted.....

Need to keep an eye out for that!

The "courier" either isn't a real courier or there's some jiggery pokery at that end and then the "buyer" claims item not received to PayPal who immediately claw back the money. Leaving the seller without their property or the proceeds of the sale. I'll never accept someone sending their own courier unless its someone I know. By someone I know I include people I've never met but they're on BC a lot and have a good feedback thread. I bought a bass on here by trust, bank transfer to the sellers account and I arranged the courier, but he is on BC a lot and had good feedback here so I knew I could trust that the address was his and there would be a well packed bass waiting for my courier.