Dan Dare

You can save mucho moolah by not buying "genuine Fender". A shaped piece of alder/swamp ash, etc is a shaped piece of alder/swamp ash, etc...

It sounds as if you need to raise the whole neck away from the body a little, rather than adding a shim at one end to increase the break angle, so a shim covering the entire neck pocket surface looks the way to go. Fwiw, I don't buy the arguments about decreasing resonance by introducing a tiny gap, etc. However, covering the entire neck pocket surface won't result in any gap if you do it neatly ( a piece of veneer - you can experiment with thickness - should do the trick).

I was told TE used Celestion drivers back in the old days if that's any help.

I use an old Peavey 4x10 at a rehearsal room locally. It weighs a ton, but does "warm vintage" very well. You can pick them up cheaply. However, I wouldn't like to have to schlep one around. If you want light, new and vintage sounding, the Aguilar 4x10 is nice (I tried one when I bought my AG700), but around double your budget. I have one of the older Epifani 3x10s, which can do vintage if you turn off the tweeter. That or one of their 4x10s, if you can find one secondhand, would be a good choice, imho.

"Original" band names are a bit like giving one's child a novelty name. Great fun for 5 minutes followed by a lifetime of embarrassment.

As someone who doesn't like tweeters for bass, I'd say not at all important. But then, that's just my preference. Which brings me to the original question. Our tastes vary widely and what suits us may well not suit you. Good though they are, Barefaced (seemingly a universal recommendation on here - I wonder how many of those who sing their praises actually own/use them) and similar more modern flavoured cabs are relatively unlikely to satisfy your desire for "warm vintage tone". However, something like an old SVT 4x10, which will do that job well, is a pig to move around by comparison. So don't listen to us. Visit a few shops, go to a few shows and try some stuff out.

Clive. Or Tadcaster.

I have a bath quite regularly.

It's always worth asking if there's any movement possible on the price, although generally I agree with Dad and uk lefty. If the shop has had a quiet day, they may be willing to move a little.

Guess I don't know much about bass guitars then...

Agreed, it's not "standard issue". However, it's essentially an EB3, but made of pretty woods and with a massive price tag. That's my point. But it's your money.

Here you go - https://www.primark.com/en/product/inflatable-guitar,r35397119297748

My point exactly. That may be made of exotic woods, with deluxe pickups, etc, but it's a hot rodded EB in essence.

With the quality of off the shelf stuff available from Warmoth et all, I guess having one built isn't really worth doing.

What will it be wetted by? Do tell.

Good to see variety shows making a comeback. Not quite the end of the pier, but close.

So called "signature" instruments are b/s. They're all standard issue models that just happen to be/have been played by notable players - because those players weren't famous when they started out, so had to use whatever was available or that they liked. As for those players "leading development of" or "designing" said instruments, etc, that really is eyewash. Rant over.

Ratings for drivers for hi-fi/audio use seem to be a little, erm, over-stated. They may say it will handle 150-200w, but I'm pretty sure you could fry it with a 100w guitar amp, especially if you start adding some dirt to the sound. So 5-20w should be fine. I'd suggest looking at the efficiency figure, though. Hi-fi/audio drivers are often in the low 90db range, whereas guitar speakers are typically around 100db. 3db less efficiency requires double the input power to generate the same loudness, so it's important as the difference can be large.

Pretty. Let's hope it doesn't peel...

Sound advice and several smaller boxes are more portable. You can also add extra cabs, slave amps, etc if you need more power.

So true. And don't worry what others think of your musical preferences or why. That's their problem, not yours.

The real reason for his annoyance, methinks

As long as they're looked after/not abused, they don't seem to deteriorate - dynamics at any rate. I have a SM58 that must be at least 30 years old it still works fine. Not sure about condensers, although you see some of the old Neumann valve mics going for crazy sums, so I guess they must last too. If they still sound right, they must be OK, I guess.