Trueno

I think you've saved yourself a lot of pain. I first picked up a guitar nearly half a century ago and I'm still no better at it. I discovered I was much better playing one note at a time and picked up bass after a decades-long sojourn on sax. Some things just suit you more than others. In my last band I used to catch the rhythm guitarist squinting at the notes I was playing... he squinted a lot as I usually played fretless.

Excellent... never even knew about the hairdryer... thanks.

A farting spree is not going anywhere good... usually ends in a Code Brown.

My new bass (NBD post post forthcoming) has a rather cheap and nasty scratchplate. Worst case scenario is that I'll get a new one made up. In the meantime, for much less than a fiver, I've bought some Humbrol clear enamel varnish from the local model shop. The first coat has gone on ok with some tiny bubbles embedded in it. The varnish plus tiny bubbles is still way better than the original, but in the interest of achieving perfection... is there a clever way to smooth it down? Brisk rub with a dry cloth? T-cut? And is there an optimal number of coats... or do I just carry on until the scratchplate is 3" thick? Cheers, guys!

... the same keyboard player... referring to the stage lighting... "that light is shining right in my eyes... it's giving me a headache" It's supposed to be rock'n'roll ffs. By way of balance, worked with another keyboard player who was also a church organist... he was a rock monster and up for anything.

All of the above. I've left loads of bands due to one or the other and I'm now very relaxed about never gigging again. My particular hates though... Band members who don't rehearse the song and actually try to learn it at a rehearsal. Once had a keyboard player who turned up to a rehearsal with a brand new keyboard. He took it out of the box and started reading the manual and just made bleepy noises for the next two hours. Also had a drummer once who insisted on banging and crashing his drums every moment we weren't actually rehearsing a song. He didn't last long. Drunks. "I can drink xxxx and it doesn't affect my performance". Oh yes it does. Singers who say "if you buy us all a pint we'll play another one". I'm already tearing down my gear by the time he says that. Singers who say "I think we should play some swing." Really? You can't even sing the rock songs properly, what makes you'll sound like Frank? Oops... beginning to rant...

I'd go with the Misdee answer... but I'm not an expert repairer. A dented car can be restored, so I assume a bass can be.

I had a similar chip on my first fretless, but it was a very cheap Warwick Rockbass (a few years ago now). It was in a far more prominent position and I touched it up with some black nail varnish. I think I 'd be happy to buy a high end bass like that at a reasonable price, touch it up and then stick a strap over it.

There's a sweet spot? Bugger!

Clearly no-one has any cons for the PJ... they just want the other bits according to personal taste. For myself I'd prefer a J body and neck and a VVT passive set up... and a short scale if yer asking. Interesting about the difference between pickup switch and VVT, but I still prefer the blendability.

Electronic drums and IEMs... the stage will be the quietest part of the room... heh! heh!

Regarding the OP, I think it's a great opportunity to give it a try. The only potential problem would be decent monitoring, but as the guitarist is already down the backline-less road, I imagine you'll have that covered. Also seems a good opportunity to go for IEMs.

I'm really into short scales at the mo... but that might be a step too far, heh! heh! Seen Stonefield advertising a mini bass. Are they the future?

I now look upon Squiers with the zeal of the converted. Lovely looking bass!

^^^ Bigredx... thanks, you've helped to resolve an issue for me, whether to sell my Fender jazz or not. Now I'm a bedroom noodler (but gigging still an admitted possibility) I'm into comfort and short scale. After extended noodling on my Squier SS Jaguar, I gave my US Jazz a try yesterday, and found it very much along the lines you have described. For the record, I've gigged with all kinds of non-Fenders, but mostly Warwick basses. In answer to the OP, I would absolutely gig with my Squier, if the opportunity ever came up. Very playable and comfortable. I am beginning to notice some compromises on the pickups, notably string to string tone balance. I've set it up myself... not too badly, got new fave strings and a Gotoh bridge. I've given it a try via my EBS Microbass pre-amp and decided that the "drunk at the bar" (my imaginary arbiter of good tone) would never notice the difference between this and an expensive bass. Attentive bass players probaly would...

That'll be why I'm Billy No-mates then. I'm not on facebook, never have been, never will be. There's a whole world going on out there that I don't know about. In any case, some good advice overall and you've been ok about it... leave it to them to be the a-holes.

I'm 6'2" and I'm now strictly short scale... so to speak. I have gigged with a cij Mustang in the past. I've recently bought a Squier Jaguar SS recently and think it's great. Now I'm considering other SS basses and am likely to be selling my remaining long scale. I'm motivated by a mixture of age and arthiticky hands, but I also think SS basses are amazingly cool.

Already doing my sums. It will be cost neutral if I sell my Jazz and one of my electric guitars (neither of which I play)... or maybe I'll add a few more bells and whistles and pay a bit extra. The configurator is the no-brainer for me... hours of endless fun.

I'm doing the mental gymnastics. Selling my J bass would cover most of the cost... once I decide I'm a committed short-scaler. Another thought... I could buy a cheaper bass and pimp it to death. How much would that cost? The custom option would have everything from day one. Anyway, going on holidays soon... let's see how the GAS accumulates (could be nasty).

Just been on the bass configurator and put together the perfect 30" scale PJ Jake. I was quite modest with the options (my needs are simple)... but it has absolutely everything I want. Just over €1200. GAS is nibbling away at me now...

I stored my markbass amp in the garage for a few years. It was wrapped in plastic and inside a box. The garage gets very cold in the winter but is dry. Just took it out a couple of weeks ago and fired it up. It works fine. Getting a amp into the loft? Depends upon access to the loft, I suppose.

Sunburst and tort is always a winner for me, but I'm surprised how good the off-white plus white looks. Didn't think it would work but it looks great.

I have both. If you are just using bass I would say that the Microcube is much better. The Yamaha is excellent for guitar, but is also just ok for bass. Just my opinion though.

My bass life wound down ten tears ago... now it seems to be winding itself up again. I had a load of bass books I sold... why did I do that? I also sold a Tascam bass trainer... now I'm thinking of buying another one, but at least I think the latest version will be better than the CD based version I had. I saw a short scale Squier Jaguar bass in a local shop a few weeks ago and couldn't resist for the price. I was going to sell my US Jazz, but the jag has revitalised my interest so I've decided It would be mad to sell. The question is... would I gig again. Don't like occasional gigs as I think you never get good enough... but too many gigs and it could get tedious again. But I've had a long break and could quite fancy an old farts band. Anyway, back to bedroom noodling for now... never say never.

Some nice pics of basses on this theead, both lined and unlined. I played most of my gigs fretless. Even though I was unlined I could still get visual clues from the side dots. Then once I got on stage, with the vageries of the stage lighting, I couldn't see the damn dots most of the time. So, I started practising in the dark. If your intonation is slightly out, you will notice. If it's slightly more out, the band will notice. If it's really out, the audience will notice... that's really bad news... just keep practising.