Owen

I am glad that does not come in 5 string format.

I will be happy to wobble about the inside of some chords. There will be no licking. It is also going to go into my "everyday" tele and then I will flog this one.

I have always fancied a B Bender. They are mind bendingly expensive. Then one came up on Gumtree. Those saved searches are handy. This is a UK made Shelton B Bender installed in a mid 90s Japanese Squier. Lots of fun

Or just turn the tone control down?

Ban this sick filth!!!!!!!!! He is not wrong though.

The long game. I can respect this.

The guitarist in the band I was playing with was John Parricelli. He was not there because I was there. But he is one of the 2 best musicians I have ever been anywhere near. Just astonishingly complete.

I played in a band at Brecon Jazz many years ago. There was an up and coming singer playing support. I could not be bothered to walk out of the green room to watch. It was Amy Winehouse. Duuuuuuur.

When I went bass shopping many decades ago I was astonished at the price differentials. They made absolutely no sense to me. It is such an incredibly niche market. There seemed to be no parameters which could be measured. I eventually had a new 5 string neck put on a bass I owned. I know that given the historical mishmash it is, it would not be considered "the real thing". And yet, I want for no other. I have not had a hint of DB GAS since I took delivery of it (apart from new machine heads!). And in the intervening years my front door has been spinning with the plank purchasing and selling. I am a bass guitar tart and will go with any of them. If you like it, then that is it. If it is cheaper than 80% of the rest of the shop, well happy days. This is before we even reach the value of a decent setup and a set of strings which complement the instrument - which are not necessarily what the bass will be wearing. And let us not even START about the price of bows. This has been a stream of consciousness posting.

Because you are so worth it.

You cannot buy new ears. Get proper ACS one. I would sell all my basses and buy a cheap one if I could buy new ears. I cannot. So now, realistically, I am not a gigging bassist and I get to listen to my tinnitus all day. Don't skimp. Do it right. It will never happen to you. Until it does. And then it is too late.

This is going to be a long thread.

What are the scale lengths?

This builder is going to be paying the OP commission.

The official word for not being able to hold a beat is Discolexic.

Or even not have some individuals in there at all.

This is not directed at anyone in this thread. But we all get excited about putting the killer fill in (I am guilty as anyone) etc. Would I play like Sharay Reed all the time if I could? Obviously, yes. But the reality is that whatever the genre, we need to play for the song and nothing else. Playing in church, often means playing with players who are a mix of inexperienced and very experienced. Some have been gigging for years and some are just beginning. The keys players are generally pianists who bring with them the full skillset of all the notes all the time. In such a situation if we are playing much more than the big letter on 1 and 3 then we are risking confusion and car crashes. Often there is no drummer and it is up to us to put the pulse down. Sometimes there is a drummer and it is still up to us to put a pulse down. H*** R****** I am looking at you. Sometimes everyone will be on it and you can loosen up a bit. But in general, it is the big letter on 1 and 3 or if you are feeling funky then dotted crotchet, quaver and a minim. Anything more than that means people do not have anything to hang on to. Our job is to lay the structure down in a way that is impossible to miss.