Clarky

Rob Halford. Power and incredible range

100% definitely not Sunbeams. As said above, brass ends and no silks. Might have been a returned set whereby the original buyer wilfully or accidentally put the wrong strings back in DR box? Either way, I would return them

The bass used to be mine in the heavily mojo'd condition. When Vin sent me a couple of updates on the refinish I had absolutely no idea just how painstaking and exhaustive (and exhausting!) this process actually was. Looks incredible now. Tremendous skills Vin, hat well and truly tipped!

To quote the glorious Spinal Tap, Sh*t Sandwich

Mrs C confirms our matching was indeed from Habitat!

TBH cannot remember. We have had it for 15-20 years at least. The sausages approve 20221120_114918.mp4

Sneezing is the worst. Don't bring me flowers

The bath is in our bedroom @Happy Jack. Besides I am not moving very far - I have a broken left index finger (which doesn't make for easy bass playing) and 17 cracks to my ribcage (yes you read correctly, 17). Courtesy of a bucking bronco horse in icy Lapland

Here's a pic from a BC 'for sale' ad of the 5 string Dunlop set

£95 at StringsDirect although I see on Amazon they are a relatively cheap (lol!) £74. For some reason the 45-105 set is significantly cheaper than 40-100 in most places (but still in La Bella territory)

I vote Dunlop too. I have a set on my Serek. Very thumpy and old school, not 'modern' in my view. Very soft to the touch. I am a fan but not of the prices! The 40-100 flats set runs close to £90 😳

Both were on the Serek website store page. The MW was a collaborative demo with Aguilar to show their newest P style pickup, so it wasn't brand new (although it was in mint condition). They don't have any official dealers in the UK, as far as I am aware, although BassDirect has a Serek section (I've only ever seen them have s/h instruments in stock). The Lincoln has two single coil pickups and a four position selector switch (each pickup solo, parallel or series). Hondo Felder has a good demo video

Recently acquired a long scale Lincoln in 'hot rod red' with J width neck and ebony board to go with my capri orange short scale Midwestern. Pics so you can see it did happen 😀

Cripes. All original '61 Precision in Fiesta red. A cool £20k but nevertheless ... wow! https://www.andybaxterbass.com/products/1961-fender-precision-bass-fiesta-red

Could be a modded original Ampeg, like this one at Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience? New ill-fitting scratchplate to allow two J pickups. The control placements certainly look similar. Eastwood make a copy but it isn't one of those

I have a silver fronted BB2 and WB-100 but the caveat is that my band has been inactive since late 2022 so I haven't had the chance to try them in anger. So the fact they sound great together at house volume levels is unfortunately not relevant!

Update: a former band mate sent me the following "I’ve not spoken to Rob but have talked to his brother. He’s OK but completely off social media etc. I’ll pass on your concern again and hopefully he’ll get back to you." So its good news and - given he clearly wants to be incommunicado - my view is we let it rest there.

Sadly, nothing. One of the bands I know he played in - Piccadilly Swing - still has his biog on their website but when I checked their most recent (2023) video it was a different bass player 😞 Edit: I have just emailed two of his former bands to see if they have any info - will post here if I get any useful reply

I don't see a serious problem here and I certainly wouldn't take a drill to your bass. The lack of metal to metal contact - especially with flats - is unlikely to have any discernible impact on your tone (has happened to me with other basses). Furthermore, if it really narks you, you can shave the silks back with a razor blade to uncover the metal for full contact with bridge saddles. The silks are largely there for cosmetic purposes, as I understand it, hence some manufacturers don't bother with them