anzoid

Under consumer protection law and the like I think you actually have quite a lot of room to manoeuver in negotiating for what you want. Looking back through my e-mails from that time, Thomann took the bass back under the 30-day guarantee based on when I reported the problem. They said initially they were going to look at it in house but ended up sending it to Warwick. When I enquired further they said that Warwick would take the decision on whether I would get the refund or not. I replied pointing out that my contract was with them - they'd already failed once to fix it, they had my bass and my money, I had nothing and I wasnt going to accept that I told them that the guitar was not fit for purpose and that I was getting rather fed up - I did this very politely and their responses were always very polite - but I got what I wanted. And ended up spending more money with them anyway - maybe saying you'd like to put the refund towards other stuff they have for sale (if they have stuff you want) may help. Customer service reps have a lot of leeway in what they can do but will try to fob you off anyway. If the battery is draining at the rate you have put then this indicates a fault with the guitar. Thomann's 30-day guarantee is a courtesy but actually, under European law they do have a responsibility to make sure you get what you paid for. The place you might get stuck is covering the cost of shipping because you're outside of the 30-day "window" but it would be worth asking for a good faith gesture from Thomann. A random Google search turned up: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1677034/Two-year-warranty-EU-law.html There it's stated that you should report the fault within two months, contacting Praxis may or may not count... but the fact you wouldn't even have been able to identify the problen until March - when the battery went flat means that you might have some slack. The fact that Praxis have identified a faulty pre-amp should (hopefully) carry some weight even if they've not inspected the guitar. This link: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/apr/17/consumer-rights-refunds might be useful too. Key terms in the whole discussion appear to be "fit for purpose", "as described" (i.e. working ) and "of satisfactory quality". I think in part it also comes down to how long you should expect an item to last - for a cheap toaster you might be out of luck, but a guitar should have a long life so three months is nothing much. If you want a refund I guess I'd just say - go for it. Be really really unfailingly polite and state exactly what you want them to do, how they can put things right and I think you may well get your refund. Just to note: not a lawyer, not legal advice etc. but stick up for your rights! And hope you get a good result on this one!

I have to admit it was a while ago... I had kept all of the packaging that the bass came in so just boxed it back up in that and printed out the PDF returns label that they sent by e-mail (just found the label in the archives... dates from March 2011). Once it was all boxed up I think I just had to drop it at the post office (I was living in Belgium at the time but I would imagine that it would be similar in the UK) which was a bit of a pain but still less hassle than waiting in for a courier. Thomann customer services were really good but, in my case, were also having to deal with an external service centre that wasn't being quite so helpful. In the end I requested the refund because Warwick were being hopeless, not because Thomann weren't willing to sort it out - but they would have kept going longer with the return/repair cycle than I was prepared to put up with so I did have to point out firmly that I was well within my rights to request the refund for non-functioning goods and didn't have to put up with a series of botched repairs - out of the three months I owned the guitar it was in my possession for about two weeks... I did end up spending the refund money with them anyway and have used them ever since.

Had more or less the exact same thing a few years back with an active Rockbass Corvette - battery drained in a matter of days. Bought it from Thomann and they were very helpful with the warranty repair. It went back once for repair at their cost. Came back not fixed, sent it back at their cost and got a complete refund - Thomann were great, Warwick's repair centre... less so.

Additional: clicking through to [url="http://www.westone.info/spectrum2bass.html"]http://www.westone.i...ctrum2bass.html[/url] shows the Series II with the logo as found on your bass - so the logo appears to be the UK only version. Yours looks to be the SPB102BK. The only thing missing is the model name on the front of the headstock - which is slightly odd I suppose. Mine was the SPB221... anyone got one for sale?

Looks exacty like the Spectrum Series II that I had back in 1990 - apart from the colour and the fact mine had two pickups. Everything else - including the logo and the large screws at the neck joint looks the same. I think mine may have had one extra tone knob and a 3-position switch to choose between the pickups. The bridge may have been slightly different but I can't really remember - haven't seen that bass in over 20 years It was a passive bass that looked, in fact, like this one: http://www.westone.info/spectrumIIbass.html but had open pole pieces and the logo like yours. To get that all black look on the pickups I coloured in the pole pieces with black fibre-tipped pen What I do remember was that it was heavy and sounded pretty rubbish through the Laney 65W Linebacker combo I had at the time - but I think that might have been the combo. Have often looked out for a Series II but this is the first I've seen in a long long time. Have fun with it.

[quote name='7tenths' timestamp='1428829120' post='2744831'] I'm gad you found a 'fiver' to bid on 'anzoid', I did use an auction-sniper with a £100 limit, as I thought it was at least worth a 'ton', ended up getting it for the £75 opening-bid, so very happy [/quote] Hmmm, not sure if I would have bid that high. I think I probably had £80 to £90 in mind but then the fiver came along and I just watched the GB44 auction finish. Had a twinge of regret I didn't bid and I may have been tempted to keep going if I had... so probaby just as well my attention got diverted elsewhere. If another one comes up though... might be tempted if it goes for a good price. Picked up a Vintage branded stingray copy last April and chucked an EMG MMCS in it and it is an absolute killer now. Might have done the same if I'd gone for the GB44. There was a black GB54 that went a couple of days after that I had my eye on too, but again, the fretless fiver caught my attention Would like to know how much one of those weighs in comparison to the GB44 - favourably or not...

Saw that and nearly put a bid in - was watching for a week Passed it up for a fretless 5-string that appeared a few days ago that should be here Friday. Enjoy the Cort - looked like a lovely bass.

KevB - trying out different scratchplates is certainly tempting... might have to see what I can find/dig up. Matt black perhaps.

Just picked up a checkerboard strap as suggested [attachment=183099:the-yellow-bass-6.jpg]

Ghost Bass - love the strap... then checked the prices $450 upto over $2000 - bit out of my league waynepunkdude - very nice! I did think about getting the headstock done like yours at the same time but in the end figured I'd leave it plain maple.

Hmmm, maybe a clear scratchplate that I can put stuff underneath...

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1423085720' post='2680650'] Like where's the checkerboard ? [/quote] It did cross my mind to put a checkerboard on there somewhere... just couldn't work out where or how... plus thought I might regret it

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1423077272' post='2680458'] If you're into yellow basses, then you'll love these Dingwall basses! [/quote] Tasty... going to have to start saving... might take a while.

Very nice sound - probably helped by the fact that the playing is excellent

Beautiful - love the contrast between the maple fretboard and the ebony. How does it sound?

Just under a year in the making... purchased cheap from eBay early last year with broken electronics but a killer neck. Put in an EMG MMCS plus BTS control system. Stripped the body to re-finish it and made a hash of the re-finish so sent the body to [url="http://www.jacksinstrumentservices.com/"]Jack's Instrument Services[/url] in Manchester last September to be done in NYC Taxi Cab Yellow to go with the black hardware and custom scratchplate - scratchplate also by Jack. Cannot recommend Jack and Kieran's work highly enough. Excellent customer service and exceptional work for very good prices. [attachment=182898:the-yellow-bass-4.jpg][attachment=182896:the-yellow-bass-2.jpg][attachment=182897:the-yellow-bass-3.jpg][attachment=182895:the-yellow-bass-1.jpg] I'm not counting how much I spent on this but putting it back together today, tuning up and playing it for the first time in a while... oh yes, I'm very very happy.

Played it out for the first time Sunday and was really impressed. Good punchy sound and easy to get more or less the tone I was after - probably still need to do a bit of fiddling about, playing at home and playing at gig levels is not quite the same (even if our neighbour is partially deaf ). Only change I'm going to make is to put some straplocks on it. Anyway... lovin' it and really enjoying playing it - balances so nicely without an extra chunk of wood and metal on the end of the neck to weigh it down.

Squier VM Jazz - Olympic white. Steinberger Spirit XZ-2 (thank you alcytes!). Hohner B2ADB - heavily modified. Vintage Stingray copy that's in pieces awaiting the return of its body from a respray - NYC Taxi Cab Yellow - pics to follow.

Took possession last night of a beautiful Steinberger Spirit XZ-2. Purchased via the sales forum from alyctes who delivered it by hand and stayed around to chat for a while (top bloke!) Plays really nicely with a good range of tones - it's passive V/V/T with plenty of punch. Neck is slim with a satin finish and so easy to play - I think this bass has the lowest action of any bass I've owned, with no buzzing. Weighs more than I was expecting - about the same as my Squier VM Jazz but it balances nicely and you don't so much feel the weight. Overall - one very happy basschatter [attachment=181242:steinberger-1.jpg] [attachment=181243:steinberger-2.jpg]

Just two - a Westone Spectrum Series II which was my first bass in 1990 (or there abouts...) and a Yamaha RBX800AF in pearl white that I bought in '92 whilst at Uni. I sold both to buy a five string Westfield which was OK but never really fit. Now, after 25 years of playing I have moved from a series of small amps to a GK MB500 + 2x10 cab and I wonder what those two basses would sound like. They both played well, as far as I can remember, but never sounded great through the amps I had. I started out with a Laney 65W with a 15" cone which generally just sounded like mud and after I got rid of that I've only ever had small 35 to 50W amps - until the GK. Would love to get my hands on the (or a) Yamaha RBX800AF fretless in particular but very very rarely see them come up - anyone got one?

Bought a set of the licensed copies (3 + 1 in black) after reading this thread. Shipped very quickly from the US but got somewhat stung on the import duty though still cheaper than buying in the UK. The bass they're for is still in pieces but just fixing them up on the headstock could tell they're better than I've got on any other bass that has passed through my hands recently (apart from the headlesses )

Just bought a Steinberger Spirit XZ-2 from Mike. He delivered it on his way to somewhere else in the area and we had a good chat - learnt a bunch of stuff too! Bass is in superb condition and plays like a dream. Mike is a great guy to deal with. No hesitation in recommending him.

I picked up a secondhand Vintage Icon fretless yesterday and gigged it today. Overall: nice bass, well made and very good for what I paid (only £100 ) The good stuff: the neck is really nice - slim and fast, not shiny but not quite satin either. Variety of sounds available - roll off the tone and turn down the bridge pickup and there is tons of thud though maybe a bit hollow sounding. The bridge pickup is quite bright and complements the neck pickup nicely. Both on together with tone up has some nice bite. Bridge on its own is OK, bit lacking a little... something. Hardware is all Wilkinson and seems up to the job. Bridge has brass saddles. The OK stuff: the finish - it's"roadworn" and it's not the best job - looks like someone wiped it over with some sandpaper and a blunt knife. It's pretty much love it or loathe it but you're not kidding anyone that this bass has any real miles on it. The one I've got came with flatwounds and the seller said that's how he bought it. They're pretty dead and I'm going to get some roundwounds tomorrow which should liven things up. The fretboard is rosewood and there doesn't appear to be much of any kind of finish on it, so it's going to get a bit chewed up. It's a lined board and the fretlines stand just slightly proud of the board - you can feel very slight bumps all the way down but it's not off-putting. The bad: only got two complaints. This thing neck dives if you're strap isn't a bit grippy. The body is light weight and the head ain't with the chunky open back tuners. Sticking a leather strap on it helps some but there is still a tendancy to droop. The pickups, for all they sound great are microphonic like nothing I've ever had before. Tap 'em and the sound rings, if the strings hit them when you dig in you'll know all about it. Conclusion: it's a keeper though a string change is in order. Feels good and plays nicely with a good range of tones. It's passive too so no battery to worry about. Might be worth dropping in some other pickups at some point and I think would be worth the money in what is a well put together bass.