Sean

I've got a 2010 second hand G&L Tribute L2000 that cost £200. It has a John East SR preamp (£100) and has used US hardware that cost £50. I fitted a Tusk nut and it's had a lot of TLC on the frets and the neck is rolled. It has some custom switching that gives it single coil options. It's effectively a custom bass that is perfect for me. It's been a keeper for the last ten years for me. There are some good instruments out there for peanuts and they can be turned into amazing instruments for very little money without the risk of a custom. You just need to kiss a lot of frogs and have some basic luthier skills. We have choices.

Did Picato make Status strings? Does that explain why the Status range of strings reduced when Picato went out of business?

These have the black silk at both ends. Definitely not Picato.

Hi all I've got some half-wound strings on a 4-string that just sound fantastic but I don't know what they are. They have black silks at both the ball end and the tuning post end and they have brass ball ends. Standard scale. They're definitely not GHS. There can't be that many brands of halfwounds out there with black silk both ends. Are they possibly obsolete Status halfwounds? Any ideas? Many thanks Sean

I wouldn't be without one. There's something magical about them that you just can't get with solid state. I have a Laney Nexus Tube 400 that is an absolute peach, very versatile and was my default gigging amp. It's heavy but it does everything well and has great EQ. You can pick them up for about £500 but they don't come up often. My Mesa 400+ gets to go out occasionally, it's lighter, uses caps to give big transients and is probably the lightest even though it sits in a custom case made by Matamp. It's also the one that does the cleanest sounds although the EQ is not intuitive and the DI out will upset most soundmen... it's a Mesa. I also have a custom MJW 200 which is like a Matamp. It's the bedroom amp of the 3 as it has clever power switching options and can be switched down to about 40w so you can rag it at home without affecting the structural integrity of the neighbourhood. I also have a hybrid Mesa Walkabout Scout, it's good but it's like a toy compared to the valve amps. In Summary, they're all very different and all have their pluses and minuses. If you're serious, try out different ones before you push the button. One thing they have in common, though, especially the big ones like the Laney and say a Marshall 400, is the cost of revalving, servicing. Mesa 400+ servicing needs to be done by someone that knows those amps but most of the others can be done by any good amp tech. Give one a go, you won't regret it.

I sold a pedal to Brian. Totally hassle-free and he let me know as soon as it arrived. Nice touch. Sean