Lfalex v1.1

I bought a ton of gear there, some of which I still have. The place was a revelation when first I visited. Grant, Nick, Alex and Chris were great. They'd set you up with a suitable amp and just let you get on with it. None of this "Please can I try..." "Just help yourself, mate!" Not what I was used to at all! One bass did get away; a Ken Smith 6er. Should've bought it, but took a Steamer LX6 instead. I bought a Stingray 5 fretless (Alnico) there. Superb instrument, but just didn't gel with it. All the others stayed for many, many years.

Maybe one of the UK based string manufacturers could make a set of strings with smaller ball-ends? Newtone, for example.

Last band I was in, the guitarist kind of held sway. He was royally rude to the organiser of a charity event we played at. After we played, I went over to said organiser whilst the guitarist was talking to them, apologized for his behaviour, and quit right there and then. The drummer was there, too, and quit as well, for the same reason. Not exactly professional, but I wasn't discourteous. Nor was the drummer.

Can't recall ever playing a duff one, to be honest, though some variations on the theme by other manufacturers can be quite good fun, too. (G&L ASAT, Warwick $$, Warwick Pro M and Masterman in various body styles)

Does that £298 include cutting the holes for the tuners... Because if it doesn't and you mess it up... That's £298 down the drain..

"Go to Hell" Predictably, by; Motorhead, Megadeth, Alice Cooper and GWAR. Less predictably by; Dolly Parton and Nina Simone.

A replacement neck is probably best, but there is another option; Have the fretboard replaced by your friendly neighborhood luthier. You might get a nice choice of material, too. Without lines, naturally. The only issue is that of resale value as opposed to swapping necks.

Didn't the Kubicki Xfactors (etc.) have a 37-piece Maple laminate neck?

Thanks Clivem, I'd thought of weight, stiffness and resonance/energy transfer, but didn't consider dead spots. Not that I can recall any of my instruments having had any significant dead spots.

Which begs the questions; What difference do they make? And is it really noticable? I know modern Ibanez designs favour slender necks, but I've never had any issues with what I assume to be the steel/alloy items in my SRX 700 or EDB 605. Nor any other bass I've owned, for that matter. *Except the Vigier. It doesn't have a truss rod. Edit.. KTS do Ti bridge saddles, too..

I think there are some more... Though not all from '88. Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Shakespeare's Sister to name but 3.

Playability, ergonomics, design, material choices, tone, electrics, strings, cost, availability and anything else you can think of... > Colour.

No need for extra "compression", then...

Put an onboard pre-amp in the fretless? It needn't even have tone controls, just increase the level and be able to drive longer cables. Failing that, maybe a hotter (passive) pickup ?

The design and weight make some sense.. my experiences with headless basses (Status Streamline and Hohner B2A) suggest that some mass is desirable in terms of tone (they were obviously too light) The original Steinbergers were much heavier and sound better to my ears. None of the ultra minimalist designs are as good when seated as a regular bass.

Could have been worse. Could have had gold taps hardware..

That was meant to be an F-hole, but the CNC router had a bit of a paddy..

I had a Squier 70s VMJ. Had a better neck than my MIA jazz. Again, the pickups & electrics were the weak point. I'd already put a Badass II on it, and the pickups would've been next, but I had to sell it to raise some cash.

They're not that expensive compared to what I generally pay for 4 string electric sets.. P.S. I'd expect tapewounds to outlast phosphor bronze rounds by about 4 times under my sweaty mitts

I'd fit a ramp, but then I think of how many bones Evel Knievel broke playing with them..

Get a Stu Hamm urge? Almost both in one!

Can I have a fretless one for the flats, please?

If I were making a number of bolt-on-neck bass models, I'd make all the necks identical in terms of dimensions, if only to simplify production and to make them readily interchangeable if one were to be damaged. Whilst I've had 3 Warwicks in the house at once, they were a 4,5 and a 6, so I can't compare them! Edit: I really like the balance of the Fortress Masterman 5 I have. Arguably the best I've owned. Shame it's ever-so-slightly "slabby" in terms of the body being so flat. If the forearm chamfer followed the line of the body rather than being diagonal, it'd look better.

That's nice. But not £3.5k nice...

Depends on how you define "baseball bat" in terms of a neck! I had a Yamaha Attitude, and whilst it was chunky, the neck wasn't as deep as, say, my Warwick Infinity. That's narrower, but deeper, and feels more like a baseball bat (nearer to circular)