FDC484950

Who’s going to fit it? Haven’t checked so not sure whether they’re plug and play or soldering is required. Presumably even if you’re competent with a soldering iron you’d want some warranty?

A single piece neck, again seasoned properly without knots or deficiencies and tested for the right moisture content should remain stable for a very long time. Many manufacturers use a single piece neck* without any issues. The original purpose of lamination was to reduce or preclude dead spots - because each laminate has a different resonant frequency, summing them would hopefully cancel out any noticeable dead spot (e.g the common 7th fret area on some older Fenders). The only other obvious use case for lamination (other than purely visual appeal) is a very wide neck with thin depth. A single piece of maple might be a bit more prone to movement a the headstock end. * I’m leaving fingerboards out of the equation to make life simpler.

Of which £31 was the VAT that was due anyway (it’s now not being charged by Thomann unless goods are < £135).

Trying to find these limited sale MM basses is like a needle in a haystack. I’ve been looking for a Big Al 5 for ages. Given up and got a new Sterling instead. Still, sound like your plan will result in 2 great basses!

Wow - I’ve never seen that before. Maybe a bad batch of glue. Hope you get it sorted soon. I’ve always done EBMM customer service to be excellent.

I’d concur with that - if you can’t see anything floating around in the control cavity then it can only be something under the pickups. It takes 5 minutes to pop the strings off, unscrew the pickup and find the root cause. Why not find out the issue and then contact Thomann if there is an issue? If it has become detached and given the VAT issues you may be better off waiting for lockdown to end, get a local luthier to fix it and negotiate a discount to cover it from Thomann. You’ve now got me worried because I could no longer resist the temptation of the scarlet red 5 HH, fingers crossed that a) it turns up and b) nothing’s wrong...

Not for much longer. They’ve stopped making strings unfortunately...

So are you saying that apart from wrong body shape, wrong bridge, wrong pickups and 4 in a line instead of 3+1, it’s a dead ringer?

Olympic white with tort guard, as it should be (or black for a more punk look). Why Fender briefly went for white/mint pickguard for the series 1 American Professional is a mystery to me.

Stringray - LOL Likely to be firewood. Or a scam. It’s not near Leicester, is it?

Er... no

It’s definitely true for using any kind of signal that needs sustained bandwidth because WiFi is generally just too flaky to deliver without the occasional glitch. One potential caveat if you have a faster connection is that the wired ports on many home WiFi hubs are shockingly 100Mbit (eg Virgin SuperHub). Fine for day to day work but if you’re paying for a faster connection, with wired you may not be getting it!

Interestingly I saw something in their site (or an interview) that said the John Petrucci guitar was the 2nd best selling guitar on sale. Not sure whether they meant worldwide, or at what price point, but started me thinking just how many basses they manufacture even in a normal year, given the string business was/is EB’s bread and butter. If turnover is only $26M p/a then it’s probably in the very low thousands. It does point to a decrease in bass sales over time.

Exactly! You have to bargain using terms your partner can understand. I tend to look at jewellery, handbags, shoes etc in “bass” units. Of course, no-one needs several basses, but neither do we need more than one change of clothes, but most people have a lot more than that, don’t they? That’s what I keep saying, anyway. And for goodness’ sake don’t recall how much that bass cost

It is only early February, I wonder whether much if any guitars and basses have been imported by shops this year? I’ve been in the market for basses over the last few months, and in that time the stock at pretty much every retailer I can think of in the UK has hardly changed at all. Andertons, GG, GAK, PMT etc all seem to have dwindling stocks and very little new stock. So perhaps @drTStingray is correct in that we haven’t seen any other price rises yet because the goods haven’t been shipped? We shouldn’t underestimate the global shipping crisis at the moment either, it’s likely to significantly affect anything from outside the EU into the UK in both very extended lead times and significant cost. Perhaps EB have put prices up in part based on how much they expect the costs are increasing. I’d expect the Far East has even more problems given the amount of freight coming for other goods and the limited supply (e.g. the chip crisis caused by Coronavirus limiting electronics and even car output). For example I notice Andertons has a ton of Sire basses for sale but virtually none of them are in stock, and several say 3 months or more. And finally, whilst in way justifying the price hike, if you look around, instrument prices are creeping up and are likely to continue rising more steeply at the higher end. Sadowsky’s MetroLine made in Germany are effectively cheaper versions of the NYC model, but are bang on current MM pricing. It’s not that long ago I can remember a nice Metro going for sub-£2K. Fender prices have been static for the last year or two but expect a std US P bass to hit £2K pretty soon - now that would be nuts!

Well, I tried to buy Andy’s Sadowsky. We agreed a price, payment method. I said I was going to sort it in a couple of hours (work meeting). At no point did he indicate it was for sale elsewhere. Lo and behold, literally 5 minutes before pushing the button he tells me it is sold... on eBay.

Favourite quote (I think from the Steely Dan vid on YT): when BErnard set up his drums he put a sign up next to the kit. “Well done. You hired the hit maker”.

Getting the thread back to something more positive, that is indeed very nice. I had a G&L L2500 a while ago and it was quite versatile. It’s funny how companies that produce something akin to a Stingray don’t get it to sound anything like a Stingray, but you end up with a great bass in its own right. The L produced tones you really can’t get from any other bass. I’ve had a few Fender Dimensions - they’re not popular and tend to sell cheaply, but the US model is very nicely put together, easily the equal of a Stingray/G&L, and due to pickups and pickup placement sounds nothing like a Stingray! The great thing about MusicMan is that they produce very distinctive instruments - I’ve played many Fender copies that were in some cases far superior to the original, but nothing really has the same overall feel and sound of a Stingray/Sterling. Kudos is also due for having a stellar B string on the 5 with a 34” scale and great tuning in the low positions with the compensated nut Edit: and I really wish they’d put the Big Al electronics into a bass, or bring the SSS model back.

Oh dear, what a rude person you are. And rather a lot of pot calling the kettle black above to boot. Still, at least you’ve made your true feelings clear. I would continue this most interesting back and forth with you but I fear it might descend into obscen... oh, it already did.

Imitate and assimilate to innovate. The way just about every successful improviser has got there is by learning from whoever/whatever they like the the sound of most, copying it, not getting it 100% right and making it their own. No-one gets fluent at a language by only speaking it. The more sounds you hear, and the patterns therein, the more you recognise that pattern the next time you hear it. Not to get all jazz on you but if you don’t want to go down the route of associating a shape to a sound, learn to sing something basic, then find the notes - if you can croak well enough to make a tune, of course I used to think I was blessed with a good ear, and I probably was, but by doing the above I got much, much better. You can learn the music and write it down but only if you want to know the theory side. It’s not essential so long as you know the sound and how to play it. I would recommend you have a working knowledge of most regular chords because no-one (worth listening to) improvises without reference to a bunch or chord changes. You can start this process and that of improvising by hearing and understanding intervals (so two single notes, one after the other and working out the gap in pitch between them) first. And apologies in advance if any/all of the above is already obvious!

That is a point actually. Even though the quality control and workmanship are excellent it’s easy to forget that they are basic bolt on neck basses with 2 humbuckers and a preamp - it’s not a Ritter, so in theory, aside from wood drying and ageing (and you’d expect/hope that any decent manufacturer has either a good store or access to a store of wood), the actual amount of time labour in order to produce such an instrument isn’t that much. Given the COVID restrictions, problems in international shipping and any changes as a result of Br***t (although in theory there shouldn’t be any as they’re coming from the US, not the EU), this may explain both the reduced output and the additional costs. Still doesn’t mean I’m going to pay £3K for one

Looking at Andertons, £479 for each of the models listed above.

The one that makes me laugh is very expensive (as in £2K up) instruments that come with a gig bag! The US Fender I recently got from GG came in the std Fender hard case with which I am mightily impressed. Properly roadworthy. looking at it another way, if you don’t want the combo it’s worth a punt at offering £100 off the bass, and let them keep the combo?

Yes, regardless of price changes it does seem like used is the way to go OHM’s is looking very cheap now! Sorry to bang on about (US) Sterlings but it does make the 3 5HH model Thomann has a relative bargain (even adding VAT and duty into the UK)...