72deluxe

Thanks for the correction! Much appreciated.

FNA as an acronym is a Formally Named Artus, complete with spelling mistake using “formally” instead of “formerly”. They did call it an Artus but had to change the name for some reason. It’s a Stingray in Warwick clothing! I have had a few FNA Jazzman 5 basses which are from the “bad” period but I love them. Really versatile basses. They switched to using ovangkol instead of wenge for the neck due to inability to enough of the wood due to war in Africa, so I believe. The ovankgol neck is thick but I have had no problem with it. The ovangkol needs to be thicker because it can’t be cut as thin as wenge apparently. They are definitely thicker than the early ones but roughly similar to other basses I’ve played, eg stingray, MTD. I had 2 basses made in the early 2000s when the prices were reasonable and those basses are fine. Necks are fine, jacks fine (I’ve always used a right angle jack and put it through the strap so the pressure or strain is on the strap, not the cable). One pickup fell out after years but it was the small brass item that pushes into the wood. I glued it back in. One has gold hardware but the finish is still mostly on it - perhaps other players are really sweaty. But other than that, zero problems. Both are not bashed up - you see a load of basses for sale that are really bashed up but people don’t look after them it seems! These have had JAN2 on them but they’re not bust at all. Have had basses with JAN3 where they changed the material. Have had Korean ones too, all good! I think the price rises recently are pretty insane but then most basses these days of extreme quality are pretty darn expensive. I have tried RockBass and they’re pretty bad in my opinion. I haven’t tried recent German Warwicks because I’m not sure there’s a distributor for them in the UK these days??

Bought an Ampeg BSP from Paul - good player and really friendly guy. Also very informative and knowledgeable on a wide range of bass topics (and more!). All great - thanks!

Sold a MEC preamp to Paul, paid no problem all good. Recommended

Sold a case to Harry, paid no problem good communication. All fine.

Got a cheap bass case I am selling, I can drop it off depending on where you are in Brum if you're interested. Shameless plug I know.