lemmywinks

I have a Crimson Guitars notched bass version, not cheap but will do pretty much every bass scale length and is all you'll ever need. Annoyingly I had to round off one of the top corners (near the hanging loop) as it was fouled by the wood behind the nut on my 35" bass: https://www.crimsonguitars.com/products/notched-straight-edge-for-bass You can also make your own notched straight edge out of a regular one or a steel ruler

Think they're referring to the poster still waiting for some sort of vaguely bass-shaped object from Jon Letts. Hopefully he's written this off as a learning experience and moved on. Letts appears to be skint, wholly untrustworthy and generally a bit useless based on what we've heard here, I'd have bought myself a different bass and tried to forget about it.

Got 4 sets on the way, thanks! Been using these exact strings on my backup bass for a while now so should keep me going for a while.

The Joyo BA-30 might be a better bet for desk use?

I have the BG-75 (the older one with DC input), they're for home practice and playing along with acoustic guitars really so may be perfect for your acoustic circle, especially given the BG-80 can be powered by a decent power bank. They sound great in this application and although I own some very nice small rigs the PJB is my favourite, they get a full sound due to the passive radiator design (that's the "something clever" bit you wondered about!) so need to be placed in front of a solid object, they don't sound half as good in the middle of a room and the low end drops out. You're going to be disappointed if you expect anything more from them tbh, very useful little things and they do sound brilliant if your requirements match their capability. They can also be a gateway drug into further PJB purchases so you have been warned.

No I had a pie barm.

I took mine to Wigan once.

Right you all need to stop now as I'm getting GAS for one of these, especially you with that bubinga one @AndyTravis

Also the Hudson Project bass

Mine was a Cort but also had the Mighty Mite pickup, as did my Cort C5P. They were probably all just Cort built basses tbh.

Had the 5 string version in the gold leaf finish, always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Really nice design, mine looked like this:

Is it used? If so then it may have cheap AliExpress strings on it which can sound a bit too tinny/metallic. Not sure what echoey means, is it buzzing the neck ie has backbow? Does the truss rod turn ok?

Licensed (read Cort built) Bartolinis like the old Mk series, tbh they might work for fretless more than on fretted. They don't sound like real Barts though, a shame as the Cort/Ibanez CND pickups sound like proper Nordstrands. Other possible outlays on the EHB series are replacing the stock knobs (horrid plastic things) and the need for a better gigbag than the one it comes with.

Is he buying this himself or are you purchasing it for him? If it's the former just get him to buy a Fishman of his own, problem sorted. Seeing as you already have PA and monitoring an amp is a bit pointless IMO. If funds won't stretch to a Fishman then this might work, still has a notch filter for mid set feedback busting and is only £36 with the BLACKFRI20 code. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315171151745 Does have a 10 megaohm impedance but no mid freq and a single treble control, you can dial out piezo quack and harsh high end at the desk though.

Fishman Platinum Stage or Pro, probably more economical to grab a used Pro given the current prices and you can nick it for bass if he loses interest due to the switchable eq. They're basically Swiss army knives for guitars (both 6 string and proper ones) and have an especially useful feature set for acoustics. Can DI to the PA and/or go straight into a powered cab.

I'm getting a TS101 soldering iron of Mrs lemmywinks, about £42 off AliExpress. Might be a good present for tinkerers, can be powered by a laptop charger or USB Type C.

It's as true now as it was last year. Truerer in fact.

That Carvin B4 at £450 is a steal, shame about the thumb rest mods though and the bridge is also a cheap replacement. It will probably have originally had a nice Hipshot B style which looks much better: https://fenderfever.com/products/1?_pos=63&_fid=cdb17b57b&_ss=c

I'd be waiting for the next set of Ultralites to appear in the Marketplace. Guyker do some alternatives at various price points and hole diameters. A couple here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010061436369.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008360034080.html

Sire V7 is a great first (and second, third, fourth...) 5 string and that one is especially pretty, they do tend to be on the heavier side although obviously this varies. I sold mine after fracturing my left clavicle but was otherwise perfectly happy with it and it was a fantastic live bass. It was a whopping 11.6lb which was heavy even for a Gen 1 Alder V7, usually they're in the 9-10lb region. A used Sadowsky Metro Express (the Chinese ones) might be a good alternative if weight is an issue, possibly one of the higher end Cort GB series as well if you can find a used one.

One of the GB Modern's I briefly owned had a similar issue with Cort's (I think they make these in house) Markbass preamp - intermittent sound with a constantly draining battery leading to low volume and distortion. No visible shorts anywhere so assumed it was the preamp at fault. It's a very good pre when you get a working one with a sensible freq point for the bass control, I was originally intending to swap it out but kept it in there.

I always thought the US CS was more seldom used and just for one time artist orders whereas the Japanese CS did the small high end product runs as well as artist stuff. Odd that it doesn't say where these are made.

Assume these are Japan Custom Shop builds? If so the price is nothing out of the ordinary, that's where their top artists' instruments are built.

There's currently a bass I sold on FB Marketplace (that old charity shop Hondo, think you had one) being flipped for double what I listed it for, not only has he used my pictures but also copy/pasted the description, right down to the bits where I detailed the work I'd done on it and the new parts I'd fitted, all recounted in first person. Wouldn't even mind but the pictures I took were awful as my phone at the time had a rubbish camera! It's been on there for ages probably because my original price was the market value and the flipped price is about £100 too much.