Misdee

I had a custom Zon bass made for me in the late 1990's and used to speak to Joe Zon and his sales manager Mark regularly at that time. Mark King came up one day in conversation. Joe and Mark were both more than a little miffed that the a bass they made for Mark King had turned up in a pawn shop or some such like, not long after they had given it to him. A lot of work had gone into that bass with MK's specific requirements in mind and they were a bit insulted he had just tossed it at the first opportunity. Joe was a big fan of Mark King's playing and I think he was genuinely upset. What the ins and outs of this tale were, I have no idea. I'm just recounting what Zon told me about it.

Two very handsome basses there. I noticed the other day that EBMM are offering Transparent Red as a new colour option in the Custom Design Experience website.

To me, the Lakland is a bit more polished and refined, the Stingray has a bit more brute force and thump, but both are great in their own way. The Lakland has got so many tones available using the various pickup combinations, the MusicMan has got various flavours of that distinctive Stingray sound using the pickup switch. In terms of how they sound, both are top-draw. I prefer the wider string spacing on the Lakland, but I dislike the 35 inch scale. The neck on the Stingray feels really good, but the spacing is a bit too tight for me and the G string tends to be too close to the edge of the frets. I like both basses but I couldn't live with either because of those things.

Extortionate charges from bass makers for posting out screws is one thing, but if you really want to get charged lots of money for next to nothing in return then employ a solicitor to do something for you. They have taken it to a whole other level.

Hi Chris, I'm not gigging at the moment unfortunately, mainly due to some serious health problems, but I'm still playing the bass everyday. I've got a few nice basses nowadays, but the one I use most of the time is my USA Lakland 44-64 PJ with a Jazz Bass neck profile. It's very well-made, comfortable to play and the classic sounds available with that pickup combination are the perfect choice for most of the music I play.

I was referring more to insurance for the operative putting the pickups in the envelope. There's a lot can happen when you're putting something in a jiffy bag, especially if there hasn't been sufficient staff training.

It's not just the postage you're paying for, though. It's the expertise of the person putting the pickups in the envelope. And then there's insurance, of course.

Hi Chris, I remember you from the original Bass Center in Calabasas back in the late 1980's when I was house-sitting in L.A. You were always so kind and friendly, even though I was only looking or buying some strings ect. You could even understand my accent, probably because I sounded a lot like Barry Moorhouse. Glad to see you're still enjoying some beautiful basses. If someone described that Rickenbacker to me I before I'd seen it I would have said it's not my cup of tea. Seeing those pictures though, it looks stunning. Some basses look good in certain colours when others wouldn't., and that shade of green suits that bass. If it was a Fender, for example, it wouldn't look good at all, not to my taste anyway.

I still prefer my indentured potato farmer Britpop casualty story.

Just like I said, in the real world you can still pick up a decent used Stingray for under a grand if you are patient and keep an eye out. Some poor soul in Lincolnshire who thirty years ago fantasised of breaking free from a life of servitude on the local potato farm and playing bass for Oasis has just sold the last vestiges of his youthful dreams for £850, and is probably glad with that sum.

The opposite of my experience. Very strange. I got a dollar price, contacted EBMM customer service for shipping costs. They then instructed me to go through the process again on the Custom Design Experience Generator and the price would pop up at the end in pounds. It did, but too many pounds for my liking.

I contacted Ernie Ball recently about buying a bass from them. They were very helpful, gave me a door to door price in UK £ including all shipping, taxes and fees, making it all very easy. The only problem was/is that the price they gave was approximately £250 more than if I sent the money via a currency service and paid the duty myself, as I have done many times before over the years.

I'm that shape now. I struggle when I go out on windy days.

Advertising bass gear for sale in that Bassist magazine was the closest I will ever get (or ever want to get) to swinging or being part of some kind of underground fetish scene. You put your home phone number on the advert and then eccentrics from across Britain and the wider world who happened to play bass guitar called at unsociable hours with strange questions and even stranger offers.

Hang on a minute, it's just occured to me I've got a singlecut bass. One of these: