Baceface

It was quite nice having him on Twitter. You got a real insight into his quicksilver-fast mind and , appropriately enough, mercurial temperament. Without going into details, I think the incident that caused him to delete his account got very nasty very quickly but he sometimes seems unable to back down or shut up when that might be the best course of action. I suppose I am not really a "proper" XTC fan in that I actually prefer the later albums. My favourites are Skylarking, The Dukes Stuff, Oranges and, probably best of all, Nonsuch. I mentioned this once to AP and he said it was his favourite too so I'm in good company. There's some stunning stuff on the "Fuzzy Warbles" CDs. Obviously variable sound quality and plenty of demos/ideas that later turned up on the albums but a load of killer tunes that never got used. The stuff he discarded was basically an entire brilliant songwriter's career in itself! Obviously you've got to sift through the 9CDs of stuff to find it but it's worth it.

I asked on the Sandberg Facebook page why the Superlight models came in so few finish options. They confirmed that it was due to the cedar body not working well with all finishes. They also said that it takes four times longer to achieve a smooth finish, with obvious cost implications. Apparently they're experimenting with another lightweight wood called paulownia which is smoother grained. Presumably this will increase the finish options they're able to offer without putting prices up.

I might be a bit out of order here but... I was looking at Sandbergs after reading about @fretmeister's Superlight. Being an old trumper with shonky shoulders, the idea of a light bass appeals greatly. While browsing, I came across the Marusczcyk basses (made in Poland, I think, or it might be in Germany by a Polish luthier). Some of them seem to come in at not much heavier than the Sandberg SL range - often around 7.5lbs or so - and they seem priced a bit below Sandberg with a similarly vast level of custom options. They look a wee bit more traditional to my eye and they seem to sound as good as the Sandbergs in as much as you can tell from YouTube audio. On the offchance that you were not aware of them, they might be worth considering. Here's a nice vid-jo of a gentleman from the North East giving an overview of the Maruszczyk he bought to use in place of his valuable vintage Precision. If you were aware of them, I apologise. YouTube - Review: Maruszczyk Jake basses

Almost worth getting 5.1 for!

Best...

I believe there's a new Squier CV block neck Precision out in the splendid "Arthur Scargill's MFI Music Centre Cabinet" brown. They don't seem to have the splendid grain of the example posted above, unfortunately. No matter as nowhere seems to have any in stock. I suspect they're waiting on the case candy which includes a stick-on 'tache and sideburns and a replica of John B. Sparks' polyester suit.

Absolutely splendid, in a 1970s Britain kind of a way. It evokes watching The Sweeney, being savagely duffed-up by the school bullies (and being told "not to be such a bloody jessie" if you were stupid enough to tell teachers/parents), winters of discontent and @Stub Mandrel's teenage diet. Ahh, happy days.

Sounds really nice to me Mr Loops. Pretty technical sounding stuff too. I'm not a great bass player so my opinion might not count for much but I think your playing's really tight and very impressive. I'd have liked to hear a wee bit more low end thump to the mix but that might be my speakers or the streaming format. (Plus there's nothing you can do about the mix anyway!)

Love the orange finish on the 414/415s! Rather annoyingly a 414 came up on the Facebook Marketplace a couple of weeks ago - fairly local, looked in good condition for £200. Needless to say, being the procrastinating type, I snoozed and I ...err... loozed. I should have nabbed it as I'm still thinking of getting my 614 converted to passive but would probably need to pay a tech so a 414 would effectively be the same thing.

I think these came with white pickguards which looked great against the blonde finish. (I do have a thing for tortoiseshell guards against pale finishes but I guess that's not one of the original combinations?) I've never seen one with such a wonderful grain pattern though - that's absolutely splendid!

This one by Mrs 'Ancock's lad, 'Erbert. Serious funk. I think I prefer this to the legendary "Headhunters".

As in a playlist of the (I think) 30 tracks covered in the book - or just some of your own favourites? I hope it contains everyone's favourite "Colin is a genius" bassline that was actually written by Andy™. (Although Colin still is a genius. As is AP.)

For me Moving Pictures just shades it from Permanent Waves. As a callow youth I used to love Farewell & Hemispheres but while I still enjoy some of the shorter tunes, the epics haven't aged as well for me. 2112 still makes me laugh, albeit in a nice way (at least until I see the outfits on the back - not quite sure what's going on with Alex's trousers but it looks neither comfortable nor healthy). Honourable mention to Grace Under Pressure. Despite containing more chorused guitar than a jam session with Mike Stern and Andy Summers held underwater in a giant washing machine it has aged well and contains some great tunes. I could never get on with Power Windows and so voluntarily banished myself from the city of Megadon thereafter. Fortunately I found a strange device in a cave with four thick wires that vibrate and give music and achieved a terrifying musical proficiency on it within 40 seconds.* *Not actually true. Some thirty-odd years later I still can't play the first five notes of YYZ up to tempo.

That Denny Dias solo is probably my favourite of the large number of killer guitar solos in the 'Dan catalogue. I'm was initially drawn to stuff like Pretzel Logic and Royal Scam but over the years I learned to appreciate the ice cool Aja and Gaucho material a lot more than when I were a lad. Also enjoyed Everything Must Go and Two Against Nature much more than I thought I would. Current favourite tune would be this splendid slice of achingly sophisticated pop (Purdie and, I think, Chuck Rainey right in the pocket) with an exquisitely acid lyric:

Cheers Mr T. I'll see if I can find some.

Does anybody have any idea where those volume and tone knobs came from? The stock ones on my BB614 (chrome with 2 rubber strips for grip) look and feel great but there's no indicator dot or line so I can't see where they are set. (I keep meaning to loosen them off and rotate them so that I can use the screw holes as position indicators but I'd prefer a new set.) Looks like there's a Gotoh 201 on there too.

Despite being a shortarse, I'm not usually too keen on the downsized ES models. However, that 235 seems like a nice design. Would echo the sentiments about the colour and figured top but it sounds good to me.

Wonderful article - as others have said, it's very well written. Lovely Wal too. Saw John Giblin a few times with John Martyn's band - a pretty tasty player. In fact the whole JM band had serious chops around that time.

I always wanted a 355 but have settled on one of the 1964 reissue ES345s that were among the last models made at the Memphis factory. I've been through a few ES-type guitars including decent quality Japanese Orville, Tokai and Yamaha SA2100 and 2200 models. I'm happy with the Gibson though. It's not the prettiest guitar and there's loads of dirty grain behind the 60s cherry finish. That said, I don't like flamed ESs and I've seen similar heavily grained tops on authentic 60s guitars.

Thanks @Al Krow. I wasn't ignoring @krispn's suggestion. I suppose I'm just wondering if it's worth my while getting such a switch installed. As a non-electronic type I can't see why the preamp in flat mode would colour the sound that much! I'm wondering what it is that people hear in the 414 that they don't in the 616. More highs? Lows? Clarity? Punch? etc. etc. I do find the 614 quite a "powerful" sound. Not a huge problem but am guessing that there's some kind of subtle gain boost regardless of how the eq is set. Thanks again.

Sorry to hang about here like a bad smell but... To me the BB614 pickups sound good but I'm no expert and this is my only bass. I've played a few, far posher, instruments and not felt they were that much better. Again, I'm no expert. I do, however, keep reading about people preferring the BB414's tone though. I did A/B the models but that was about 10,000 years ago when I bought it. I thought the 614 sounded as good and, as I remember, no different to the 414. I rarely use the eq (other than treble roll-off) but I do love the pickup blend control. I think I just preferred the colour of the 614 (I'm shallow, I know). This leads me to believe that the tonal differences heard by better, and more experienced, bassists must be down to the 614 preamp/eq. If they perceived that difference even when the eq was set flat, then I assume that the preamp must be colouring the sound to it's detriment. So, I'm wondering if trying to get some kind of passive mod would be likely to give me a better sound? I realise this is all very subjective but I've seen the 614 compared unfavourably to the 414 so many times that there is a very high probability there's something in it!

Cheers @AndyTravis. I guess that, having just got back into the bass, I'm just itching to upgrade something. The tuners and bridge work perfectly and I suppose the eq isn't doing any harm if I'm not using it. Am getting seriously tempted by some Sandbergs and the BB would still justify it's place as a "beater". Thanks for the advice.

Loving that horn @AndyTravis! Had to google that as I'd never seen a 614 in that colour. That's a really nice 'burst and the black pickguard looks great. That finish wasn't available when I bought mine. I liked the natural more than the pewter and (I think) red-burst. I do wish it came in the BB414 metallic orange - that was a killer colour but I couldn't find one to try. I think that the BBs have such a big, round body that a pickguard helps break up the vast acreage of timber. I'm still leaning tortwards myself but black would be a second choice and I think I'd be happy with either. I don't want to derail anything here but did you make any other mods to it? I keep reading that the pre-amp is the weak link on these but I lack any in-depth knowledge of such things. I must confess that I never use it but that might be that I don't like active tones (or as a home based player, I have no need for them). A chunky bridge would be sexy although lighter tuners might bring the weight down a bit. Do you have any thoughts on what might (or might not) be a worthwhile upgrade? Cheers.