prowla

It's difficult to tell if Fred Thomas played thumb/slap back in the day, but he certainly did later on.

Nah - Proggers were post- hippies. Certainly jazz-rock (Bruford, Stanley Clark, Weather Report, Colosseum II, Chic Corea, Alphonso Johnson) was pretty far from being hippy stuff and some of it spanned into funk & disco.

That was pretty cool, wasn't it!

Aye - maybe omitted in the OP, but actually is at least as relevant as the guitar link there; based on that, I'd say that the funkers merely reinterpreted what already existed. Since the guitar angle is allowed, though, it could simply be inferred to be interpretations of Flamenco guitar playing.

Hippies were 60s - long gone by the mid-70s.

However, as far as earliest goes, here's something from 1954.

Hippy? That's a generation out!

This is the first slap bass that got my attention. 4:20

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/custom-hand-carved-electric-guitar-project/265098999574

Why do these copy makers put Fender logos on their wares?

Is the difference between a Fender and a Squier's value known as a Finder's fee?

A sneaky attempt at a get-out: and ...so he's not actually saying it's a Fender. (except the title does say it and the pictures form part of the description.)

Huddersfield - Smashing!

Looks like it comes with a free plectrum.

FYI, you can often flip these to left-hand by undoing the big screw and flipping the tuner key stem across to the other side.

Maybe it was Squire who signed it...

It's a question of how long it takes you to do something and how good the result is, compared to a professional.

The seller has lots more available...

Looks like a Westone.

It is a bit "Dali", isn't it.

It's the bodger of Paignton.

I was thinking it was a clone of a HB Stingray...

At least it hasn't got a counterfeit Fender logo on it.

I had another play with mine yesterday and got a bit more of a feel for the nuances of the distortion channel, also experimented with the series/parallel option. I may try wiring my Rickenbacker stereo to it and see if the distortion channel works for that on its cleanest setting.

Pros: A really good, authoritative sound on the Clean channel, with controls and switches which all do something useful. The fx loop (haven't figured out how to use the stereo option), but I've seen it described as an effects "hub", which pretty much sums it up. Multiple outputs. Tuner & Compressor remove the need for separate pedals. The wall-wart power supply with straight plug which sticks out of the back. Compact - how do they fit all of that in the space (especially considering all of the connection sockets)? Cons: The distortion channel seems a bit weak - level has to be on full or there's a drop in volume when you switch it in. Would've liked the Mute switch to cut Fx out as well.