Roger2611

Great avatar Frank! I think a lot of the vintage thing is snake oil nowadays, sure some of the early instruments were great instruments but as any dealer worth his salt will tell you whilst some are fantastic others can be total rubbish, take the fabled 59 Les Paul as an example, most are apparently fantastic examples and are rightly hugely desireable and sadly spend their lives locked in bank vaults, others were bland ordinary instruments that players owned, realised they didn't like them and sold them on, my bet would be that any 59 /60 Les Paul you see come up for sale on the open market will be one of the latter unspecial instruments! We all acknowledge that both Gibson and Fender went through some serious build quality instruments back in the late 70's, I guess at that time it was easier for a buyer to guarentee a better instrument if they brought an older 60's instrument, not that all 70's Fenders were bad, that no doubt drove a lot of the move towards the vintage market. I have a cracking 79 Precision that is a rarity because it weighs in at just under 9lbs and plays and sounds great, I had an exactly the same bass a couple of years ago that weighed in at 10.5 lbs and that sounded ok and played ok, two very different basses from the same year. Now that Fender and Gibson have far better quality control (and they have to to compete with all the other manufacturers out there) the vintage desireabillity, at least on playing grounds, is somewhat diminished, I have a custom shop 62 Precision that is perfect for me, it is beautifully built, with nice light woods, it has a nitro finish (which on Fender's I prefer) but is built with over 50 years of experience behind it and to me offers the best of both worlds, the next argument comes because it is a "heavy relic" which sparks the whole "why make a relic" debate but for me it is the best that Fender are currently offering so I brought it!

I had a Jedson Telecaster many years ago (the actual guitar from the opening scenes of The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, but that's another story) the action was so high it was unplayable, the trouble was that the pickup was mounted on top of the body which meant you couldn't drop it down at all without some serious carpentry work, I sold it to a mate for £10.00 and I never saw it again. I still have my first Kay Strat hanging on the wall upstairs, at some point in time that gained a Jedson badge on the headstock, probably when it got repainted in Silver

I have decided I want to go back to a Mesa Boogie amp set up, given the prices it will be a year long plan which unfortunately has not started well, I brought a Subway D800 just before Christmas which the postal services have now lost, I am struggling to decide whether to go 2x10 and 1x15 or 2 1x15 subway cabs

I loved some of the early singles, 10.15 Saturday Night, Jumping Someone Elses Train, Forest, Boys Don't Cry etc but much as others have said on here, for me they were a great singles band, on the whole their albums don't excite me, I have seen a couple of live shows on TV over the years and they have convinced me that I wouldn't enjoy seeing them live....much as with the Damned I find them very self indulgent live which just doesn't do it for me

Wow, that's one beautiful Fender Jazz

Still confused, my Strat was built by me from parts, a genuine Fender 1962 reissue Jap neck, a Fender Japan body, a set of Fender custom shop 69 pickups, Fender bridge, Fender tuners, Fat Boy plastics, Callum block, is it a Fender, well all the parts suggest it is, would I sell it as a Fender, no I wouldn't, I would describe it as a collection of parts, would I be deceiving anyone with it....hopefully not, should it be banned from sale because all the parts (even though most are genuine Fender) never met one and other until they came together on this guitar.....I struggle to accept that a Callum block or Fat Boy plastics should tip any balance as Fender have on many occasions fitted none Fender parts to their guitars (The Khaller? Trems of the 80's guitars, Kluson tuners etc)

I am sorry to say I have recently fallen for such shinannigans, I brought a Fender Custom shop 1963 Precision bass secondhand, with all the certificates and case goodies, it now turns out the bass was actually built in 2016 and contains no genuine 1963 parts at all, I can't believe I fell for such a con, should I burn the darned thing now so no future potential owner can be deceived in the same way I clearly have been? I seem to have made this mistake before, I brought a Fender 50's classic Precision bass that also turned out not to be made in the 50's I didn't like the bridge, the pick up or the sticky reverse wind tuners, I replaced them all with better quality parts (Gotoh and Lindy Fralin) do I still own a Fender Precision or is that also an unsaleable copy, please help, confused of Northampton?

Looking at the headstock I would say it isn't a Squier infinity bass, there is an inlay to the truss rod access similar to the classic Fender basses of old which suggests truss rod adjustment at the heel rather than at the neck end, I think it is an aftermarket neck bolted to an unknown body but either way not a Fender and someone if going to get scammed for xmas!

Andy McCluskey

A first year Strat in museum condition is a rare beast these days, I think the price is strong for it but I have seen them sell for that kind of money in the past, the fact that it is out for sale on the open market would suggest it is not a great example of a 54 Strat as the really great playing guitars will be snapped up by wealthy collectors long before they get offered on the likes of Ebay!

Gary Numan's "I Assassin" is a great starting place to look for Pino Paladino's work, not my favourite Numan album, not even my favourite Pino work but a key starting point for, in my opinion, one of the great bassists of our time

Hi Charic, not wanting to appear daft here but how do you whitelist an email, do I have to wait for an email from Basschat in order to be able to whitelist it?

It looks a lovely bass, I guess it's difficult to price these things, it probably won't sell for £7500 the seller may end up dropping the price or may just hold on to it

Only seventeen as well, pehaps they couldn't think of twenty bass players! Too many big names missing to be taken seriously!

Agree with the above as well, be wary of the Status, the series 3000 I had weighed in at over 10lbs, it came with a proper Status hard case which with the two together weighed in at nearly 20lbs My Precision Lyte weighs in at just over 7lbs and sounds immense I would not swap it for any Status, I think it's that good! My Bass Collection fretless weighs in at a similar 7lbs mark, it sounds great but is no match for the Precision Lyte, if you are local to Northamptonshire you are welcome to come around and have a play with both basses

The bridge is also wrong, Fender don't use screws at the front of the bridge, it's local to me maybe I could snap up a right bargain, maybe not though!

I am not sure about the finish on the bass, I either love it or I hate it, I am not sure yet! It certainly looks beautifully built so congratulations to the builder

Probably an early Clash gig or maybe the Chameleons in their original line up

The only thing I can add in regard of a Rick is make sure you play it both standing and sitting before you buy one, when I brought the one I have recently sold I didn't heed that advice, I sat on the sellers sofa and really enjoyed playing it, when I can to gigging it I thought it was going to chop my arm off, at the end of the day I just found it too uncomfortable for the way I play, sure you can change the way you play to make it comfortable but I am happy with how I play and don't need to make adjustments for any other basses

I thought I had got just about the right balance finally, yet in retrospect I have sold 4 basses, 2 guitars and a bass cab but brough a further 3 basses and a synth in so I guess net, I am 2 instruments down on the start of the year.....I am now absolutely certain I have the right balance now anyway I can't hang around here all day, what's new in the sales section

I play in an originals band, trust me I make a total loss! To be honest I think this is a fair point, we make absolutely nothing out of 99% of the gigs we play and the 1% where we actually get paid it is usually a tenner for petrol, the money is put into a kitty and used for band incidentals so I can honestly state I don't get paid for any gigs I do! I am sure declaring myself as even a part time musician would guarentee a price increase? Fortunately I have a company car and my employer knows I use the car for gigs, I wonder if they have disclosed to their insurer the hobbies of it's staff with company vehicles?

Good article, I do think the late 70's basses are wrongly critisised, my 79 is a great bass, Olly white with a black scratchplate, the article is true though you do need to hunt for a decent one. Above is the latest edition to the family, a Custom Shop 63 which is bloody lovely and has to be about the perfect Precision bass

I am told I bring exciting counter melodies to the band......... oh yeah and the PA speakers and the guitar amp we use for smaller gigs....and the keyboard we use for recording!

Rio by Duran Duran was a challenge to learn, disappointingly it hasn't spurred me on to bigger and better things though, much the same with What A Waste (Ian Dury) worked that out and was really pleased to be able to play it but again it didn't drive me forward