guido21

Thanks again to all - I'll be taking a punt at that auction for sure

Righto....I've been around my local music shops (and cash converters etc) putting my greasy paws on a few instruments but I haven't managed to get my hands on a BBN4III yet (as recommended by geoffbyrne). There were a few Squier P bass Affinity's and I noticed the neck is quite slim (to me anyway...). The fender website specs for the Affinity and Vintage modified P basses listed the neck measurements as identical for these two basses, can anyone confirm if they are exactly the same? I noticed the Affinity seemed to have a questionable build quality, I could see that some of the screws weren't seated properly etc. I read a forum post where someone described the Affinity as a 'squier within a squier' and I could kind of see it. Unless of course this was just a poor example. Next to the affinity was an Encore P bass (the headstock read 'Encore a john hornby sk ewes product). Now i know these are cheapos but to me it looked and felt solid, it had a much thicker neck and felt like a very sturdy piece of kit. The neck looked dead straight (to the naked eye) and it kind of just felt right. Of course you can see that the hardware/electronics aren't the best but I've seen some other threads of people using these as the start for a project bass, any views on that? The ticket price was £50, they go for less that on ebay but are these like other brands where the manufacturing gets moved around over the years and the quality varies? I wanted to start off again with something half decent but I really liked the feel of this thing....does anyone have the nut width and neck thickness for a BBN4III? I've spotted one of them also and am trying to decide whether to take a punt on the BBN4III and buy it sight unseen or go for the cheapie encore?

After all the helpful comments I'm afraid I need to throw a spanner in the works.... I've stumbled upon a Squier vintage modified P bass, any thoughts compared to the Yammys?

Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful input. It looks like Yamaha receives the unanimous vote. I had read other comments about the Epi neck dive but didn't pay much attention to it. [i]I have a Yamaha BB415 with a John East Pre-amp and a Jazz-type neck, a Yamaha BBN5 with a P-type neck and a Yamaha TRB1005 Fretless. Guess which I'd recommend? The BBN4, actually!! Also, the Peavey Millenium BXP, Cirrus BXP & Grind are also good value-for-money starter basses.[/i] geoffbyrne is there a particular reason you recommend the BBN4? Does that have a P neck? I was watching 2 of them on fleabay and both went for peanuts...

thanks for the quick replies...I was leaning toward the yamaha so that helps me quite a bit There seems to be more BB614s for sale compared to BB414s, probably for the reasons stated by such...

I could do with some advice from all the seasoned pros :-). I'm looking for a decent(ish) quality bass to learn on, I started playing years ago but it's been a long time and will basically be starting from scratch. After hours of searching I've narrowed it down to a Yamaha BB614 or and Epiphone EB-3 (both seem to get good reviews and go used for between £100-£150..my budget). Can anyone recommend one over the other? I've also noticed that both of these have slim necks, I have largish hands (wrist to tip of middle finger about 8 3/4 inches). Would the slim necks be OK or should I be going for something more beefy? Any advice would be appreciated...thanks