Deets

Got a thunderbird for £799. Plays great out of the box and has amazing sustain. I know 2015s have had their critics: uber hot black pick ups with exposed poles but this bass compares favourably with the Ric 4004 Cii I bought a year or so ago for more than double the price. A genuine steal.

Jo's my third teacher and its definitely third time lucky. Great player, great teacher and top bloke. Great blend of (applied) music theory, technique and all round bass laying knowledge. Highly recommended.

Mixed bag from Mark but overall positive: 1. Excellent range of products 2. Really helpful when I asked to try the Overwater I had my eye on let me noodle away for plenty of time and then recommended a few others which again he let me p,ay for as long as I wanted. When I was waiting for him to finish with other customers I noticed how he was with them and he was very good. I ended up reasonably set on a roscoe said to him I was keen and would probably go custom build route but wanted to do some more research as I didn't know the brand that well. I was genuine but he had no way of knowing but he showed zero disappointment in me walking out the shop with no commitment. 3. Within a couple of days I was working on the specs, I did this via email with Mark and he wasn't the best. I'd ask 4 or 5 questions and he's answer 1 or 2. My read is that he's much more comfortable and engaged in face to face stuff. He gave me decent steers on the electronics but Gard of Roscoe via Talk bass was the main man on the woods. 4. Placed the order c3k.. And he progressed this quickly and accurately. 5. In terms of communicating build progress, delivery dates etc Mark was pretty passive I ended up waiting1 to 2 months longer than expected and felt I was chasing for updates too much. And I'm by no means high maintenance. The wait was Roscoe trying to save on shipping costs as far as I could gather by bundling up an order. 6. Once in UK bass was shipped by Mark speedily and well packaged. 7. I had a few issues with bridge height and fret buzz which I was a bit disappointed about as I would have thought they would have been apparent before it was shipped from Warwick but we resolved these via email and Mark was responsive even though it was late in the evening. Overall I've got a great bass with the tone and looks I was after and if it wasn't for 1 and 2 above I wouldn't have it. That has to be the key part of the retailers job so plaudits to Mark. I would recommend fine tuning spec choices at the shop if your near enough otherwise on the phone. I think a little more attention should be given to updating customers on order progress especially on custom builds and/or long lead times. I also think that when you get a 3k bass out of the bag it should be perfect and a proper PDI at the dealer is essential, that clearly hadnt happened in my case. I wish mark and his business continued success and I will definitely be supporting them in the future. Finally a personal observation, but for a guy who says he doesn't want to hijack a thread there's a hell of a lot of angst and key board characters over an ill advised laugh. Move on mate!

Chris thanks olive is actual wood from olive tree. Will just form the top of the bass. The braz rosewood would be CITES certified.

Mulling over ordering a custom with mahogany body, maple 3 piece neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard and either olive or Bubinga top. Olive in particular is very dense so that will be a brightening influence to the mahogany and rosewood. I was wondering if anyone has heard a bass with this or a close variant combination of tone woods and/ or what choosing such ' opposite' tone woods will lead to tonally.