Dan Dare

Many maple boards are lacquered, so that would need to be stripped if you want to stain it, which wouldn't do a lot for its resistance to wear. Removing every bit of it from around the frets will be time consuming and tricky. Paint will look horrible and will soon wear through in spots where you play most often. If you stain it, you will need to be very careful to prevent the stain from bleeding into the neck itself. All in all, I'd just embrace the maple look.

Is it the deluxe active V version? If so, your battery may need replacement.

I had one made quite a few years back, when Zilla were still in Surrey/SW London. They were very helpful, their workmanship was very good and their prices were fair. I sold it when I went lightweight. Their cabs were more traditional in construction - solid and a bit weighty. I don't know if they offer lightweight options these days. No gripes about the quality, though and they do an enormous range of finishes.

Welcome. Is the new bass to replace or add to your Sire? If it's going to be one bass to rule them all, any of those you mention could be a good choice. I like the Cort Rithimic. They're versatile instruments. A pal has one and I like it a lot. However, you're the person who will be playing it, so head for a few shops and try stuff out. It's best not to choose or buy on the basis of recommendations and reviews. One man's meat is another's poison and all that.

I love a proper traditional pork pie. I'm partial to a spot of Dijon on mine.

This. If it sounds right to you and the other musicians, it's fine, provided you are in sync with the other instruments and drums. Music is an audible, not a visual experience. Are the drums real or from the computer?

I think it depends how good the people you are having "hobby rehearsals" with are. If they aren't just trying to get their own parts right and you can concentrate on the arrangement and push yourself (and them) musically, it can be a rewarding experience in itself. However, if you teach music all day, you may well be more advanced than many who do it for a hobby. My musical life has been a mixture of playing for a living and doing it as a sideline that helped supplement the salary from my "proper" job. Since I retired, I've tried on a few occasions to play with bands that were primarily social ventures with people who play as a hobby. Socially, they were enjoyable, but, no matter how much I told myself I was just doing it for the enjoyment and that I shouldn't expect too much, I would find myself champing at the bit at the lack of progress or improvement. I realised it wouldn't have been fair for me to be too demanding of my band mates, so decided to bow out. At the same time, I want/need to play music (and with others - practicing/playing along with backing tracks, etc in solitary splendour doesn't cut it for me). Not an easy situation to resolve. I'm still answering ad's, etc and hoping to find a bunch of older players or ex pro's in a similar position to me who are looking to play for the satisfaction of it and do a few gigs. Fingers crossed.

Have you checked your strings closely? Could be a loose winding or sharp edge that is causing the problem.

ERS's website has many gems - apparently, they have "the very best recording equipment in the world & the largest guitar collection in the country" (some members on here own more instruments than are shown on ESR's website), "the finest microphone & mic-pre collection in the UK" and "real music industry connections" (I assume that means they know people, rather than just having a few XLRs lying around). Wot a larf, eh.

Might it be worth checking out a double bass player's high stool? They have some back support. They're not cheap, but will probably cost less than changing your instruments.

My AG700 fans only cut in when the amp warms up a bit. It's thermally activated, as Bill points out. I should imagine Aguilar uses the same system on all its amps.

Or pee on them. Saves money. As far as calluses are concerned, you shouldn't be developing thick crusts on the fingers (which will then fall off, leaving a new, soft layer of skin exposed, as you have found. My fingertips - admittedly, I've been playing for 50 plus years - have slightly hardened pads, but they don't show obvious calluses. The skin remains elastic. As Dad observes, it takes time and you should ease off if it hurts. I'd be looking at the way you play, as suggested by others above. If you are aggressive and hook your fingers round the strings, pulling outwards as you pluck, you are more likely to damage the fingertips. Roundwound strings will likely make this worse, especially if they are high tension. You mention you are new to bass. It's a common beginner's error to employ too much force. Try to use more of a classical guitar player's rest stroke, where the finger pushes the string aside and comes to rest on the next string down.

Go outside London and the choice widens considerably. You need to check for ULEZ compliance, obvs. When I lived in the Smoke, I always bought vehicles from out of town and preferably those that had spent their lives in rural locations. Cars that have been predominantly driven in cities have a much harder life. A vehicle showing 50k miles that has spent its life sitting in jams with the engine running will have a lot more engine wear than one showing 50k that has been driven mainly at normal speeds on regular roads. The transmission won't have worked as hard out of town, either. And most people change oil/have servicing done at set mileage intervals - every 10k or whatever - which exacerbates the problem. Wear from highway driving is reckoned to only be about 10% as bad as that from urban driving. You should change the engine oil every 5k miles or less on a vehicle that spends its life in slow moving traffic, but very few people do that.

If you make modifications reversible, you shouldn't affect the resale value of an instrument. You're unlikely to add value to it, either, unless a buyer particularly likes what you've done. But that isn't really the point. I modify something for my benefit - playability, appearance or just because I prefer it. I don't really care what anyone else thinks. Had I kept my childhood toys in their original boxes and never played with or scratched them, they'd probably be worth a lot of money nowadays, but that does rather defeat the object of having them in the first place.

My '72 J bass is on its second set (i.e. the first replacement of the originals), so not very often. I do use flats and am not heavy handed.

I just keep them clean and have them replaced when the wear starts to be a problem. Obviously, you want them level, properly crowned, etc to begin with. It's often worth treating a new instrument to a fret level and polish, so you start out on the right foot. Unless you're spending serious money, the factory fret job will probably be adequate, rather than first class. If you tend to play in first position all the time, you'll find the lower 4 or five will wear faster, so they may need replacing more frequently. I reckon it's best to replace just those, rather than have the lot levelled down to match them (which will mean you need a full re-fret sooner). The only thing you really need to worry about is that when frets get very low, it can accelerate wear of the board itself because you have to press the strings more firmly to get them to note cleanly.

If you can suggest a better way to convey my meaning, I'm all ears.

You could have someone's eye out with that.

Don't listen to us (or anyone else). We, naturally, will tend to point you in the direction of what we like or own. Reviews can be helpful, but remember reviewers tend to like the king's new clothes. Not surprising, given that they spend much of their time reviewing variations on the same theme and are probably a bit bored by it. Some may even be constrained by commercial pressures. Go to a few decent shops and try things. Most important, take your time. It's helpful to go during the daytime in the week when they aren't busy. I ended up buying an amp that I hadn't considered because I tried a lot of things with my speaker cabs and instrument. I'm still happy with it several years later.

It's like much in life. We chase around, looking for "the one". When/if we are fortunate enough to find it (or realise it was under our noses all the time), we no longer feel driven to search. It may only be a temporary respite, of course - our desires and needs change over time - but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

WD40 is silicone based. Not good for electrical contacts.

My most recent bands (haven't been in one since moving out of London last year) were the Soul City Senders and Streamliner.

Only you can decide. If the above is true, however, £187 isn't much to shell out for it. There's a reason something is described as B stock and reduced in price. Perhaps try to get a few quid back from Thomann? Or are you buying it to flip it?

I was fortunate in that I found the bass that suits me ('72 Jazz, found in a hock shop in the early 1980s) quite early on. It was the first quality instrument I bought and the third bass I owned, so I haven't had that many. I try other basses (and have bought the odd one over the years), but I keep coming back to the old favourite. It just works for me. I have a Mex' PJ as a backup instrument, a Bitsa P I assembled and a cheapish 5, but that's about it.