Cato

It's about £300 more than a pro ii. The Strat and Tele options are a fair bit more interesting than the bass ones, which are rather limited in terms of pick up choice. If this had been an option when I was buying a pro ii Strat last year I'd probably have done it because the options allow me to put together pretty much my dream guitar. Not sure I'd want to pay the extra for a pretty standard passive Jazz bass, albeit one in a very pretty colour scheme. I'm sure others will be up for it though.

So what's the story behind it? I can't imagaime Sire do one off custom jobs in house, so I'm thinking maybe a trade show or exhibition model?

It'll be interesting to see the price point. I think the current M7 sixer is around the £1k mark new, so not exactly a budget option. Although as a V7 fretless owner I have no doubts of the quality.

Loved Jamiroqai back in the day, caught them live 2 or three times in the 90s. Zender's basslines were absolutely key to their sound. A lot of the time the bass was the main hook of their songs.

Which works out at £514.93 in 2022. Scary, isn't it?

I'm not sure how much the first Squires cost, but according to the B of E inflation calculator £200 in 1980 is the equivalent of £765 today. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator So shocking as it initially sounds £500 for a new Squier today may actually be a real terms price decrease.

The Fender guitar brand will always be focused on the 'classics'. Fender own other guitar companies which they use to target other parts of the market. They have Charvel in direct competion with Ibanez more 'modern' guitars and basses, Jackson for unashamedly metal guitars and Gretsch covering the semi acoustic and retro solid bodies.

Someone's already probably said it, but Basschat probably isn't a particular representative cross section of the bass playing community. Most of us on here are men on the wrong side of 45, The lack of women players who use the site is possibly down to the blokey atmosphere as much as anything else.

I've never seen a bass so ugly that I didn't eventually end up gassing for one. Even those Foderas that look like a whale swallowing a ladder, I want to play one just to see why they built them like that, I'm imagining some sort of supreme ergonomic experience that makes perfect sense of the questionable aethetic.

Wild Thing, although describing my fellow 14 year old band members as 'musicians' is pushing it.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/55271649-epiphone-explorer-bass-2002 I presume there's some sort of typing error or maybe a rogue pricing algorithm at work here, unless I'm missing something?

Market forces I guess. Maybe they see the fact that people still buy tickets as a validation that they're still good enough to perform.

I'm not too worried. There's always been a few bands with no bass player. Carter USM back in the 90s, White Stripes in the noughties and more recently Slaves. More concerning is that it seems to be increasingly normal for big pop acts to record bass guitar sounding lines that are either played on keys using a realistic patch or just programmed in on a laptop. Bruno Mars and Dua Lipa spring to mind. Although reassuringly Mars still takes a flesh and blood bass player out as part of his live band.

It looks like it belongs in one of Prince's bands. I mean that as a compliment, very pretty in a quirky sort of way.

Sounds like I'm a bit late but has anyone suggested the Schecter Dug Pinnick There's one at peach guitars. https://www.peachguitars.com/schecter-doug-pinnick-dp-12-black.htm?opt=34390&gclid=CjwKCAjwsfuYBhAZEiwA5a6CDGZ8WpIzxDEYluO5Wulqw74Y5cbmjV80o5egRM4pbouTVaSH7HgRYhoC-vMQAvD_BwE

I don't know if anyone ever said it was their worst album but I was a huge fan of AC/DCs 'Blow Up Your Video' during my metal years, which coincided with it's release. You never hear people mention it now but 'Heatseeker' and 'Thzt's the Way I Like My Rock'n'Roll' are definitely up there with my all tme favourite tracks from the band.

I've got nothing useful to contribute, just very happy to see you doing another build.

I'm sure the custom shop stuff is great but there's a certain irony that a lot of it seems to be supposedly reproducing instruments that Leo Fender originally designed to be mass produced in factories. Vintage Fenders weren't lovingly handcrafted by a single luthier. They were bolted together by about 15 different guys on a production line.

The Pretenders are a bit of a revelation for me. I'd only ever heard their Christmas single and Brass in Pocket and assumed they were a sort of middle of the road AOR band, but this is awesome.

Counting Crows: August and Everything After Maximo Park: A Certain Trogger Not a weak song on either album and, in my opinion, whilst both bands released some strong material over the years that followed neither of them ever got close to that level of excellence again.

Funnily enough he's never had a reputation (that I've heard) for being a sleaze. I say 'funnily' because there were all sorts of stories about him being every shade of @rsehole especially in the early days of Metallica and Megadeth, from generally treating people like dirt up to full on violence. I say this as someone who was an avid fan from Peace Sells to Countdown. The man is an indisputable musical genius and one of the best guitarists of any generation, but no one ever accused him of being a nice guy.

I don't own any albums but from what I've heard of 'Bring Me the Horizon' on the radio over the years they're basically a pop metal band who have they're roots in the Emo thing that manifested in the 2000s. I don't mind them, they seem to be one of the very few heavy guitar bands put together after the turn of the millenium that has the kind of fanbase that can sell out arenas.

I live just down the road from them, although I've never been to either. I'd feel a bit out of order these days turning up to try out high end gear that I've got no intention of buying, although I did just that at Musical Exchanges in Brum pretty much every weekend as a teenager. Strange that Leamington Spa has become become one of the best towns for high end bass gear in the country!

As I understand it Bassbros and BD are only a few miles from each other, so it would be convenient for anyone visiting one to drop by the other. (Although I think Bass Bros is 'by appointment only).

Cheap bin liners are a false economy because you end up having to double or triple bag everything.