Cato

No idea whether OP is genuine or whether he's just winding people up but just in case he is genuine I'd point out that the BPM of a song and the number of notes you might play in a minute in that song are not the same thing and the relationship between the two is dependent on other factors. I can guarantee that almost no bass player or any other intrumentalist for that matter knows how many notes they can play in a minute, because it's never occured to them count.

Makes sense. Why would whoever owns the rights want to price themselves out of any radio income? I read an article somewhere (can't seem to find it online so it may have been in print) a while back that said that R2 was planning to play less music from the 50s and 60s and more from the 70s and 80s. Something to do with the changing demographics of their listeners.

About 25 years ago I started thinking that maybe I was too grown up for such things, but I never got round to doing anything about them. At this point it sort of feels like they're part of the instrument. And I suspect if I tried to scrape them off I'd find that they actually are.

My Washburn Status that I've had from new. Complete with 30 year old glow in the dark Batman stickers.

I think Washburn just lost their market position, at least in the UK. Back in the 90s they were in direct competition with Ibanez and Jackson in the super strat rock and metal market and their bass product lines reflected that. These days for whatever reason the only Washburn lines that you seem to see on sale in the UK are acoustics and archtop semi acoustic. electrics. Bass wise they seem to be down to 3 models, 2 entry level precisions and a lower mid range Taurus reissue. https://www.washburn.com/instrument-style/electric-bass/

I've still got my Washburn Status. It was my 18th birthday present so it's not going anywhere, even though I only pick it up once in a blue moon.

I found that hard work. As much down to the bizarre camera work as the music.

I think there have only ever been 2 or 3 fairly short runs of production Gibson Flying Vee basses so there's not that many around. I played one identical to the one in the link below in Musical Exchanges around 1990. Looked the absolutely dogs. I remember struggling with it a bit, looking back I think maybe it wasn’t ideally set up for me. I remember it was priced at £350. It's a bit more than that now. https://reverb.com/uk/item/38109418-gibson-flying-v-bass-1981-transparent-blue

There is a part of me that thinks that once you've got the basics - pickup in the right place, playable action, stays in tune - then everything else is just window dressing designed to justify a higher price tag. And I say that as someone who owns some reasonably expensive (to me that is, I'm not talking Foderas) kit.

I think it may be a case of 'if you have to ask'. I seem to remember a youtube clip of Andertons visiting the Fender stand at NAMM last year or the year before and saying that every one of that years collection had been sold before they'd gone on show, which I think would have been before they were officially unveiled.

If the different tonal qualities of wood had an obvious effect there wouldn't be so much argument and debate over them. That fact that people can't agree whether there's any audible effect is evidence in itself that any infuence on the tone of the plugged in instrument is marginal at best.

Fender put out new designs pretty regularly. There was the Dimension bass a few years back. Various versions of the new Meteora guitar have proved quite popular over the last few years and the Parallel Universe series that spawned the Meteora is probably the most interesting line in the current Fender range, although there's not much for bass players. Also worth remembering that that the Fender group owns Charvel and Jackson which cover the rock and metal markets and Gretsch which covers a lot of the same territory as Gibson. Difficult to see what else could be done under the Fender brand without directly competing with it's own subsidiaries.

It is nice. It's the sort of thing Fender have been doing in their 'Parallel Universe' series. So there might be half a chance that if it gets enough attention something like it could get a limited production run.

Every year Fender asks their top luthiers to each make a one off for display at the various shows. This is this years collection, it's primary purpose is marketing, something to grab a bit of attention for the brand. Although I'm sure they also make a healthy profit when they sell.

Looking at the Maruszcyzyk configurator it looks like they could do it. Have a go, see if you can get your exact spec. https://public-peace.de/configurator/jake-c/jake-c-type

It's been posted before but this clip of Bobby Vega is one of my favourite bits of picking. The way he puts in the ghost notes, it almost has a 'slap' feel to it.

There was some discussion on BC and other forums some years ago about the SUB preamp being somewhat on the 'hot' side, so that the only way to get a good clean sound was to turn down the volume on the bass or lower the pickup. I'm not sure if that's something that's been addressed in the meantime.

Warmoth do an unrouted J bass body. It's possible that they do one with an MM route or will make one on order. https://www.warmoth.com/Mobile.aspx Edit: If you click on the 'use full website' option there's a custom shop where you can spec out the various routings you want on the body.

I bought some Dava picks to try with my skinny stringers a few years back, I haven't used anything else since. On the rare occasion I use a pick on bass they've been great for that too.

Sorry, double post.

Happened a while back. The new American Professional ii range started using roasted Pine for its natural finishes last year. It's particularly interesting from a bass point of view because the reviews I've seen suggest that the roasted pine is noticably lighter in weight than the Ash was, so it might be a useful change for those looking for a lightweight instrument.

I think there's a difference between an expensive boutique bass like a Ritter or an Alembic and the Fender Custom Shop stuff. With a Ritter you can look it at and see that it's different from other basses, there's nothing else like it. With the Fender you're always asking the question 'Is this really £7K better than a bog standard Precision?'

I'm singing backing vocals with about 80,000 other people on two live albums recorded at the Monsters of Rock in 1992. Both The Almighty and Iron Maiden released their sets as albums, although I think the Almighty one might have been a bonus disc with something else, rather than a stand alone release. Other than that I'm in the 'Alice Cooper Trashes the World' live video for a fraction of a second during a panning crowd shot.

It is an extreme example. In all honesty if I saw that in a shop I don't think I'd want to touch it. I don't mind a relic, but that actually looks unhygienic to me.

That's what I figured. And you'd be getting something truly unique built from the blocks up.