kerley

Just got my first jazz bass (used). Came with flats on it so I got some bright round wounds to put on. Within a day the flats were back on it as they sounded better (and I always prefer the feel of them). For me the bridge pickup sound was better with flats.

[quote]There are still plenty of bargains on eBay provided that your tastes are not too mainstream.[/quote] I got a mint (new model) Warwick Streamer STD last week for £230 (over £500 new) which I consider a bargain. Presumably due to anything Warwick being out of fashion so no longer mainstream. On the opposite end I just sold a made in Japan Fender for £25 less than I paid for it brand new 2 months ago!

There were a few around just before end of year but seem to be disappearing now. PMT had at least 3 (and is where I bought mine for just over £500) but now have none. Did seem a good price for a made in Japan Fender and is very nicely made and finished. The loss of the proper mustang bridge on the PJ ruins the new model for me (although the light blue is nice)

As with all these things, a few vocal upset people on the internet is not a good representation of any damage or good that has been achieved by this. If anything it has proved that people looks for others to blame before themselves. And even worse, I doubt the people using words such as hacking and breaching will read any future terms and conditions any more closely that they did the iTunes ones. Evil Apple indeed....

Everyone is different and needs to handle it in different ways. I am a very determined person so when I chose to give up I knew I would succeed, I simply saw myself as no longer being a smoker from that day. That clearly doesn't mean that I should just say it is easy and you just need to give up. It is finding what works for you and maybe one of the substitutes would help while you remove the habit of actually smoking and then address the removal of nicotine which the substitute products can help with although they could also just delay the hardest part. I do think that people who give up for two weeks then succumb haven't really convinced themselves that they really want to give up.

I think the problem here is where it could lead. One album from a group that no one here likes is one thing but what if it got to 1,000s of albums a week? That would be a different level of annoyance and drive people away. Guess Apple would be aware of this though...

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1410354280' post='2548455'] Thanks, Kerley - and to clarify once again, I am not calling you naive!! I'm just expressing doubts about the idea that kids will be better off if we only teach them practical 'real life' skills, and deny them access to stuff like music education. [/quote] Not saying they should be limited to only practical topics but it is a finite pool of money and to me music for all is not good use of that finite pool as only a minority of people will benefit from it. If someone is really interested in playing an instrument then buy one with paper round money, christmas present, junk shop etc, Instruments have never been cheaper. I was interested in all sorts of things that were good for me when young but that doesn't mean I expected everyone else to be interested to the level that it should be available at school.

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1410351675' post='2548405'] If Kerley was offended by #3 then I am genuinely sorry about that [/quote] Don't worry, no offense taken by me. Never been called naive before - was going to look it up in the dictionary but apparently it is not in there?

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1410342654' post='2548264'] Most kids don't give a toss about mathematics either, and many will never use most of their school maths ever again in adult life, [size=3]but who here would argue that schools shouldn't expose kids to mathematical concepts and thinking?[/size] [/quote] I would. Once you are past the basics of a subject the goal is solely to be tested on the subject to then get a method of scoring children against each other. While that approach probably isn't going to change why not learn and get tested on subjects that you will actually use in your adult life (mortgages/finance, politics/councils etc,.) If you wish to go further into maths, physics etc,. because it will lead to a chosen career then do that at A level and Degree levely. I spent a good amount of my time learning matrices, differentiation, integration and so on and have never come close to using it or even needing to know it exists.

Don't agree. I like music/playing music but it is not essential. More essential to education is focusing on life skills and topics such as finance, realistic career based topics etc,. that everyone needs to know and be better armed for in life after school. Music is very much extra curricular to me.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1409696591' post='2542467'] The sad truth is from 11000+ members we must have all sorts here ([b]I am not talking about gays here[/b]!) [/quote] Yep. A quick google for data (based on assumption that 10,000 members are male) would suggest 100 members would have paedophile tendencies. Key question here is would they gravitate towards a P or J or are they only interested in their Stingrays?

I had one for a day a few weeks back (from Thomann and around £250 for the brown open pore version) Was a very nicely finished bass all round that sounded. Great build quality, lovely hardware, zero fret etc,. but unfortunately the volume pot was dodgy so had to send back. Did get another as I am so fickle I had already been looking at other basses!

That would only be a problem if the guitar was rattling around and not packed properly. Any instrument I send is bubble wrapped to death and inside two boxes!

I would still use Thomann too. I did have to return a bass a few weeks back that had an intermittently dodgy volume pot/connection (not sure how many shops would check an instrument to that level? and it could have happened in transit) Easiest return I have done, with no payment required on my side, easy to arrange collection and return of funds within a day of them receiving the bass back. Buying online is always a risk around wasted time if product doesn't quite match expectations so it is the returns process I am most interested in...

w*nkers drive Audi's does not mean all Audi drivers are w*ankers of course. There did seem to be a shift where a lot of the w*nkers moved from BMW to Audi once they heard that BMW's were driven by w*nkers. They didn't realise they in fact were the w*nkers due to their massive lack of self awareness - w*nkers

They are definitely misleading the buyers Delivery: Estimated between [b]Fri. 8 Aug. and Mon. 11 Aug. [/b]Seller ships within 1 day after [url="http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time.html"]receiving cleared [/url] This is very much suggesting that they would have it in stock or get it within a day to dispatch. That would therefore lead me to buy from them where if I knew the reality I wouldn't buy from them and I would buy elsewhere. False claims are not good....

Although it shouldn't, it may actually cost more than £500 as each guitar would have to be specifically put together rather than just coming off the production line in a run of 1,000 also may take longer than woudl be expected. Still a great idea though as whenever I buy a Fender style bass I am immediately thinking of which bits I want to change. Being able to pick bridge type, neck type, any colour combination of existing offerings etc,. is sure to bring sales

Agree that if you don't need the money then keep it for a while. I am aware that I have a problem where I only want one of something (bass, bike, camera, car) and it feels wasteful to have two but this usually sees me buying something I have already had before as I change my mind so I just go round in buying/selling circles. I do get some enjoyment from buying and selling I suppose but it is not really a good use of time or money and I would others don't have the same problem!

I would question the QC checks as the bass I purchased a week ago had a faulty volume/active on-off pot or the writing going to it. (volume cut out when turning knob, pushing in/out or even slightly shaking the bass) I suppose it could have happened in transit but unlikely for a pot to go wrong in transit but maybe the QC checks don't actually involve playing the instrument, checking the electric all work etc,.? I just went for a straight refund as already bored of waiting for arrival, having to send back, still waiting for refund etc,. so don't want another wasted two weeks. Different if you had your heart sent on a specific bass and can't get it anywhere locally though.

I also have a Squier Bronco and the standard pickup in that was very weak and low volume. I replaced it with a hot rails but found that was too much and settled on a Texas noiseless single coil strat pickup from Axesrus which is around 8K and sounds great. More clarity than the humbucker but stronger than the original pickup.

The problem is that without being able to try any you will never know if 1 out of 10 sounded better or worse than the other 9. I have always felt that a lot of people are exaggerating the problems on the internet for effect (yes, hard to believe I know) as i don't see all these dreadful basses. The bass I mentioned above is the first instrument I have had a problem with and I have bought a good number of basses, guitars, ukuleles and even a mandolin online over the last 8 years. I accept that I may be too easily pleased though...

All depends what you are playing and whether the loss of an open E would make it more difficult to play I suppose. More my lack of prowess than anything...

If you are fussy then buying online may not be for you. How do you know that the Schecter or Ibanez you receive will be perfect? How many times would you send it back before getting tired of doing it? If you are the sort of person who sees QC issues that would not bother someone else then you really need to go to a shop. If you are not then fine. I am not fussy at all but I had to send back a new bass last week that was finished to a very high level all around but the volume/active pot was dodgy and the bass cut out if shaken about or sometimes when the knob was turned/pulled out. I didn't bother getting a replacement as already bored with that and just got another used bass that I will just fix myself.

As a receiving customer I have found all of the companies bad at some point apart from Parcelforce and DPD. UPS are the most shocking (lying about it being left with someone, not leaving cards, not even attempting to open gate (as I watched out of window)) DPD are the only company that actually use the technology available. Message send before parcel dispatched so you can arrange a different day before the first attempt. Message received on day of delivery in the morning stating what time parcel will arrive (within an hour) and it has always met that time. Missed deliveries and having to attempt to deliver the same parcel more than once and then store it, handle it etc,. must be the biggest monetary waste the companies have but only DPD seem to be doing anything to help it. I always use Parcelforce as it is the easiest as there are literally hundreds of POs I can use so suits me best. The prices are high but the buyer is paying the postage not me....

Wonder what places like Thomann do for insurance. Had a bass arrive this week using ParcelForce (via DHL) so it was presumably not covered if I reported it back broken? As it happens it was faulty so is going back but that was not transit related....