Steve Browning

35 minutes ago, Rayman said:

I guess, like the ‘redistribution’ of anyones life long collection, I find it quite sad. There are people in the world with obscene amounts of disposable income who can afford to massively over pay for someones cherished possessions. Meanwhile children drown on sinking inflatable dinghies while desperately trying to negotiate a freezing expanse of brown sea, to a land where nobody wants them.

 

Cliche, yes, it has always been thus, and will always be. What a world we live (and die) in.

In fairness, I wouldn't say "nobody wants them". Spot on for the rest though. 😞

I do find it mildly amusing the Sir Brian says it's all too painful and that Freddie's possessions are being sold to the highest bidder. Since Freddie's death, he has sanctioned the use of Queens music for such things as detergent adverts.

Very fortunate to be a Rotosound endorsee, which is enormously helpful and for which I am very grateful.

Really interesting. Thank you. 

2 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

How long have you got..? 

 

Late '60s, we ( a younger brother and I...) were looking for guitars and/or amps, but with a budget of... Well even less than that. We had heard of a second-hand shop in Hampton Wick; it turned out be be rather the front parlour of a terraced house, stuff full of all sorts of 'tat', and hosted by one Mrs Nichols (spelling..?). Despite the ... er... 'low quality' of the offerings piled around, the asking prices were rather more than we had in mind. I did manage to unearth a slightly-less-battered guitar case, in which resided a Hofner E2 Florentine President, which, after much haggling and starting to leave, became mine. I can't remember the price now, but it was expensive to me at the time.

It has its own story for another time; back to the bass. On a wall hung a Hofner Verithin bass, which intrigued me until, upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the belly of the bass was not convex, but concave..! Probably due to water damage at some point, and a very difficult thing to repair; the poor thing's fate was sealed by a price akin to a new bass..! We left, with me clutching my new find, but the vision of that bass has stayed with me ever since.
Fast forward a few decades; I was now in France, and had acquired a Hofner Verithin 6-string (another boyhood dream guitar, and very excellent too...). I came across an ad for a Verithin bass (they are quite rare, especially in good condition...) in Nottingham. I contacted the Seller (this is pre-interwebs daze; postal correspondance was the thing...). I reserved it, and came to the UK as a foot passenger on the ferry. Another younger brother picked me up from the coast, and drove me up country to see this bass. The Seller wanted only cash, so we went to a local bank for me to draw out £500, and the bass was mine. Back to the coast the next day, with the bass in a very lightweight gig bag. I couldn't resist playing it on the deck of the ferry as we crossed the Channel, to the amusement of other passengers. After a few months I renewed the black nylon 'Trubass' strings, which are still on it now. The bass is currently hanging on the wall just behind my head as I type this; I only have to reach up to get it down and play. It has done its fair share of gigs in past years, but I only use it now for playing at home and recording (I'm  a drummer...). I have other basses (and guitars...), but this bass, for me, is 'the One'.

Douglas

I honestly thought you were going to say you were amazed to find the back of the bass was concave.

My number 1 bass (the '66). I bought it at a time when headless basses were the thing and it had languished in the shop for ages. As soon as I picked it up it was like pulling on a sock, it just felt right. It always has.

It doesn't go to gigs much these days (too valuable) but it's the one material possession I won't ever part with, in life.

Just to add, I bought it around 1983.

Will they find Jamerson's in the same hands?

I bought a loom only recently. 

That is everything I should dislike in a bass, but somehow it's a gorgeous looking thing. GLWTS.

10 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I don't know how deep the financial need is, it would help if this were shared with us. My greatest hope is that it is accepted that this is not the way to go, that Ezoic is not a suitable partner and that it's practices have no place in this sort of forum. I hope that the community spirit of BassChat will be able to continue. That this partnership with Ezoic will be ended and other solutions to a problem that has not fully been explained can be found.

It would be interesting to know what any shortfall is. Maybe the model can be tweaked, such that supporting members can place adverts but there is a more modest charge for general membership, with maybe a little more restriction on what lurkers can view?

Stolen? Might that be more likely for any current owner to keep quiet?8

12 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Mmm.. smoked sausage, I'm going to have go out in search of some now you know.... 

I understand that if you stand on Portsmouth Guildhall steps and rattle some keys, it will find you.

Am I being incredibly dense here? What is the difference between using a power amp and an external pre-amp and using an amp with one built in?

Nine Below Zero - Live at the Marquee

Rory Gallagher - Live in Europe (especially, although Irish Tour '74 ain't half bad).

SAHB

a whole host of others.

I was involved in a studio in Wardour Street in the early 90's. We often hosted TV companies as a location. One marvellous day we hosted David, Derek and Nigel. They were with us for 3 hours straight and didn't stray out of character for a second. 

It was hilarious from when they arrived to when they left.

The tuners are the key. Large plate = US parts. Small plate = Japanese. I believe the US pickup is made in Japan but to the US spec.

Get a PB70US and you'll have everything you want, from what you've said. 

Get a picture of the back of the headstock. 

Beautiful. GLWTS.

1 minute ago, soulstar89 said:

Great physical example 

I thought you were going to suggest the lower picture was taken from far away!! 🙂

Large (I think a PBUS)

Small (non-US)

Different model but you see the difference in size, of the backplate.

32 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Might be worth a look at fender fever, they get a lot of MIJ basses in, it seems they deal in those mostly , they have a Fender PB-70 US Precision Bass Reissue MIJ

 

They have a good stock but they do seem be quite pricey.

I believe (and I said it elsewhere and can't remember if I was corrected), but the US ones have large back plate tuners, whereas the non-US ones have the smaller back plate version. The one shown here has the large plate tuners. They're what I use as a gauge.

A Google search of Fender Japan catalogues reveals that there is a PB70 in the 1992 catalogue. They may be earlier but I don't know.

Honestly, ignore the age thing, it's irrelevant for Fender Japan. There's no pre-CBS/late 70's early 80's quality issues that beset Fender US.

Similarly, if you want to go down the route of changing the logo, there are the lawsuit basses from Greco, Fernandes and Tokai (and others) that are of similar quality (many came out of the same factory before it went over to Squier production - this is the Squier that became Fender Japan, not the later models from other countries).

Can't recall the exact years but my two sunburst ones were 2006 and 2010. They were awesome and I'd have both back in a heartbeat.

Not sure, but there will be no difference in age. The CIJ/MIJ thing is meaningless in terms of any perceived difference in quality.

The only difference of which I'm aware is that they did two versions. The PB70 is basswood (body) and Japanese spec parts, while the PBUS is alder (and some were ash - I had a gorgeous 3TS ash one) and had US spec parts. I would be very surprised if the last one made was any different to the first.

You can't go wrong with a Fender Japan bass. 

A 57 will be a maple board while the 62 or 70 will be rosewood. The 57 is wider at the nut with the 62 slightly less and the 70 a little less again. 

I much prefer the PB70 as the neck fits my hands so much better. It also has the TV logo you want (as it's called).

Check out Bass Bros who regularly have these.

We tend to think of about another 25% here. Germany has VAT at 19% so pretty much the same calculation I would say.