Maude

And good old microfibre cloths are as good as anything for polishing.

Any strap will be fine to start with. As you progress you will find what suits you with all sorts of gear. Too much info to deal with at the start could be off putting as it'll distract from actually playing the bass. It's only us old farts with heavy basses that need all the help we can get over a two hour gig. 😁 If you get this Sire and the Orange amp you mention at the beginning you will have a great start to bass playing, regardless of what strap, lead, etc.

As said straps are down to a personal preference. I used to always just use the old skool 2" wide nylon type. But now with the availability on the Internet I've settled on the Mono Betty's as my favourite, lots don't like them though. Personally I don't like anything grippy as it pulls my top to bunch on my shoulder, others love a grippy strap. Some like padded, some don't. All I would say is that the wider (up to about 4") the more comfortable it will be in the long run as it spreads the load over a larger area of shoulder.

@Ricky 4000 Does a standard Ricky not have five knobs and a switch, two switches if you include the push/pull knob? But that said a 4000 only has two knobs. I don't know why started this post. 😆

The worst scratches look to be just above the string ferrules on the back but will more than likely polish out, the rest looks like it just needs a good wipe over. Get the best deal you can and go for it. 👍

Sooo, a package including bass, amp, lead, bag, strap, tuner and ten lessons with a famous player of your choosing, all for £299. Bargain!! 😁

Ah OK 🙂

Isn't it £369 on there, or am I looking at the wrong one?

It depends what the small marks are. Just small swirls or very light scratches would polish out anyway, any dents is obviously a different matter. Strings are largely irrelevant as they'll be used after a couple of weeks of you playing it anyway and they are a consumable item. I'd be tempted to buy it and then if it has more than the type of marks that can be polished, contact them about returning it has it has what you consider more than light marks, they probably won't want it back and may offer a further discount, or a free instrument lead as that will cost them less. Even ask them to throw in a lead to sweeten the deal at the beginning.

Nor does one need that sort of money. Sure it's nice to have nice basses but the standard of the lower priced basses these days is phenomenal. I've been eyeing up an Ibanez Talman short scale to use as a piccolo bass, the reviews look/sound amazing and it's only £150. I gigged for a year with a bass that only cost me £40 when I had other much more expensive basses. That Sire could be the only bass you'll ever need, but you'll end up buying more 😉

Funny you should say that, I painted three basses a couple of days ago and felt the same with the compressor running making a right racket. I've been doing some work in the garden using a rotovator, chainsaw, petrol hedgecutter and mower and felt the same guilt. It's definitely a strange time. Hopefully we'll see some progress soon. 👍

Yes, sorry I didn't mean to suggest that you'd accused anyone of theft, just that it's a difficult situation to resolve if the bass doesn't turn up being that nobody (apart from parcelforce) has really done anything wrong. It really annoys me that couriers can just lose parcels and not be liable. In most people's jobs, if they mess up it has to be put right at their expense. Having said that I would say that the liability still lies with the sender as until it arrives it's still their responsibility.

Unfortunately, I can see this being put down as a civil dispute, if it came to legal action, as he hasn't stolen your bass, just not paid you for it. EBay or PayPal won't care as he hasn't sold stolen goods. You just have to hope it turns up but I know that helpless feeling when a courier losses something. Fingers crossed for you. 🙂

I might try and put together a custom set as the d'addario one have a plain G (20) string and I'd rather have a wound one really, just for consistency in feel if it's possible, I'm assuming it is as a D in a Ernie Ball set of extra slinkie guitar strings is a wound 22.

Thanks for that, without being able to see it without zooming in massively, I couldn't work out what I was looking for. As you say, barely any difference, no more so than changing to flats or between light or heavy gauge strings really. I'll buy a set and try them on an existing bass and maybe if I like them I'll treat myself to a shortscale Talman, I've been watching some reviews and it sounds great as a shortie P, but then that's not what I want it for.