Mattmit

Thats a decent idea, I didn't look into hb hollow bodies.. My chowny is perfectly playable it's just there's no room to go any further with the neck should I ever need to. Also it's like a reminder of a bad customer experience every time I play it. I might just chuck it in basses for sale for stupid crazy cheap.

I didn't enjoy my retrovibe, it was functional but no personality at all and in band rehearsals it didn't cut through anything. It has all the parts of a bass but there doesn't seem to be any science in the sound. I wouldn't have complained about it in public if it wasn't that the manufacturer said he wanted first refusal if I decided to sell, but when I let him know I wasn't getting along with it he didn't want to know. I had a similar experience with chowny, got the hollow body and the neck was bowed to hell and could only be made playable by filing the frets down to almost fretless level. So now its playable with good action but nowhere to go from here. I left it way too long to be able to return it. Absolutely my own fault, but I approached them to see if they were interested in a PX for a good one, because I liked the bass in many ways. At first they were open to talk about it, then they asked for my name, address, and the model of my bass, they stopped replying exactly after I sent an email with those details. I prodded them with a couple more follow up emails but no replys. This made me feel like they knew the bass they sent me was not up to standard. That's conjecture on my part but certainly a thought that stuck with me. I still want a good chowny HB but if I'm going to pay twice I may go for the jack cassidey instead. Sorry if you enjoy your chownys and retrovibes. This was just my experience.

For all the thrashing they gave it, it Looks like boutique coffe table wood from not that far away.

That's great! Cheers bud

I was thinking, some of you here seem to know a lot about everything and I was wondering why there is such little information on USA fender basses from the mid to late 80s. I just picked up an 87 USA P bass and I love it its very good and has some beautiful natural ageing, but when I try to find any similar there's nothing. Plenty on MIJ reissues but nothing from the USA. If anyone has a passion for this kind of topic please fill your boots and my brain. cheers, Matt

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1495175401' post='3301787'] A guitarist asked me last Sunday what I thought of rickenbackers (I think he was thinking about buying one). I told him a wee story & he then said "I've seen this really nice Gretsch White Falcon". [/quote] Love the white falcon

Those are nice! I've got a black 'custom' brand one. Really hard to google anything about them but it's Japanese from the 70s I believe. It's got just about everything spot on for a ric except a double truss. I never wanted a rick or a faker until I saw how hard that guy tries to shut down any fakers or mods to genuine rics, and how angry it all makes him. Then I knew I had to have one.

Slightly unrelated but still related. My friend found a white USA strat in our local pawn shop for £250. It was beautiful, she called me up to go with her to check if it was genuine, I wish I was a sociopath so I could have gone down ahead of her and grabbed it.

[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480716483' post='3186762'] See I think that may well be the thing here. In general I don't think trying an instrument in a shop for 15 minutes is that effective for finding out how good it'll be in the long term. I wasn't just playing it naturally and the gloss was an obstacle, I was purposely trying to inspect various elements of it and glossy necks being possibly problematic is one of the things that I was considering. It was when I realised my favourite guitar had a glossy neck all along and I never even thought about it I realised I might be fine with it. Plus, I really really want this specific bass lol [/quote] Yea I think there's an amount of overthinking when it comes to basses, or like, some kind of procrastination in the form of looking for the 'perfect' bass when we just should be playing. I only mention it because I recognise these things in myself, I don't want to take away from people who really do get cramp and rsi from the wrong size neck or they stick to glossy necks like a gecko..

[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480716483' post='3186762'] See I think that may well be the thing here. In general I don't think trying an instrument in a shop for 15 minutes is that effective for finding out how good it'll be in the long term. I wasn't just playing it naturally and the gloss was an obstacle, I was purposely trying to inspect various elements of it and glossy necks being possibly problematic is one of the things that I was considering. It was when I realised my favourite guitar had a glossy neck all along and I never even thought about it I realised I might be fine with it. Plus, I really really want this specific bass lol [/quote] Yea I think there's an amount of overthinking when it comes to basses, or like, some kind of procrastination in the form of looking for the 'perfect' bass when we just should be playing. I only mention it because I recognise these things in myself, I don't want to take away from people who really do get cramp and rsi from the wrong size neck or they stick to glossy necks like a gecko..

. I expect people all experience glossy finishes differently. They don't feel bad to me, I had a glossy bass before I knew it was considered an issue. satin does feel smoother though, no denying it.

I think just find any p bass that really feels and sounds great to you then find someone who does a relic job that looks great to you. I think joe whites looks authentic www.jwhite-guitarworkshops.co.uk/images/GuitarAgeingPics/20130721_152913.jpg I remember seeing some others around just as impressive.

I got a limelight jazz. Stock pickups sound ace. Comfortable to play, I like it a lot.

Not me, and it always comes back to bite me in the arse but I'm never going to change cos I can't.