FDC484950

There were loads of shops in 1980 and there are comparatively few now, and even fewer with basses. It’s just moved online - how many basses are for sale on here at the moment? Hundreds or even thousands I would imagine. Far more than there ever were in local shops back in the day.

I did exactly what you’re thinking of doing - just under 25 years ago. It was just when the large London studios were scaling right back and the smaller ones were closing. In the end I got some work. A bit of radio, TV and the odd film (playing at CTS Wembley with a full orchestra was something else!) - but even then the opportunities for instrumentalists was very much on the wane. Without teaching or some other music related service work I’d struggle to see how anyone can make any sort of living playing an instrument - and with the advent of YouTube and online lessons even teaching isn’t what it once was. Don’t lose heart though - if you can really play, read and have sufficient breadth of experience, know when to keep quiet, have or can get the right contacts and look the part (which has never been more important) then there are still chances. Be prepared to play some absolute crap and live on scraps and have reliable and versatile, quiet and well-maintained gear. The very best of luck!

He didn’t play bass. Odd too as Ibanez uses mahogany on the premium sound gears and they’re not very heavy - but then again the body on a Wal is probably substantially larger.

Stop buying Fenders. I’ve found four I just “simply had to have” since late August. To be fair one was a trade-in as Bass Direct, but is simply has to stop...

It may well be fine. At that price you’re not going to get really nice fretwork, finishing or electronics. You’re not going to be able to reach the top 4 frets or so as the cutaway is too shallow and the headstock looks quite big compared to the body so there may be a bit of neck dive, but at least the top horn is at the 12th fret. It’ll probably need a setup, and maybe the nut may not be cut properly, which will massively affect the playability, but who knows? It may be perfectly usable, and I’ve played basses > £1,000 that had a terrible set up (Fender American Deluxe Jazz, £1,500, nut was absolutely awful, for example). With many cheaper instruments the electronics are usually weak, so if the basic instrument is good it could be a platform to upgrade. And better than spending £3,000 on something only to discover 6’s aren’t your thing!

I’ve had plenty of 6-strings over the years. Due to hand issues I stick to 5’s nowadays (less to reach over). My take is that cheaper instruments have improved massively but it’s still a real challenge to find a decent 6 below luthier prices. The bass needs to be designed as a 6 rather than a 4 with two strings added, as so many are. Weight, neck dive and the appropriate construction and electronics to handle what is quite a wide range instrument. Dingwall are a prime example - light, well-balanced, very stiff neck and the scale length to make the B string even. Too many cheaper 6-strings just don’t cut it (honourable mention for the Warwick Corvette6 (ash) and Streamer LX, and the budget/mid range Ibanez SR’s, which have terrible headstock dive). Problem is, trying a poorly designed and executed 6 is likely to put you right off...

I’ve tried a couple and both were great - like a super-jazz with a nice, fat old school tone but capable of more modern sounds too. Very expensive but similar price-wise to other luthier made basses.

What spec is the LX5. Well done on the lottery win, by the way 😁

Given there is so much choice nowadays why put up with a bass that is heavy? There are so many really nice lightweight basses. For me anything under 4Kg is good but the real issue is headstock dive - I took the std Fender tuners off my Japanese P bass and replaced with Hipshot Ultralites. It took about 350g off the headstock and the bass felt about 1-1.5Kgs lighter, and much more comfortable to play. My Dimension V’s are about 4.4Kgs each, wondering whether the Fender deluxe tuners are much heavier than Ultralites as if so, I may swap out with the Y key equivalents (personally I find the elephant ear tuners look far too large on the Dimension anyway). I once had a Wal Mk3 6-string made whilst Pete was still alive (RIP) - beautiful looking bass, but it weighed in at 5.9Kgs! After one 3 hour gig it was up for sale within the week. It was a long time ago but I think it went for £1,350. If only I’d kept it...

I can appreciate that everyone’s different - if you have very large hands then a very tight string spacing at the nut/bridge will be a struggle, and vice versa, but I think some of it is in the mind - if you didn’t know the bridge spacing between two instruments could you really tell a 0.5mm difference?? I’ve played and owned many different basses with a wide range of string spacing and none of them really bothered me - you just adjust. Being pushed to give a preference I would stay away from very tight spacing (<16mm) unless it really suits you, and likewise a 6-string bass with 20mm or above spacing may be a challenge purely in terms of neck width, but I’d be happy with anything in between. To the OP - a five is just a 4 with an extra string - in theory it shouldn’t matter as you can get fives with many different spacing options. Play a few and choose the one that feels best. It’s more important to get a well set-up bass with a decent sounding low B that has the same timbre as the other strings whilst remaining playable.

Oh I agree with you - definitely a bit more for the 80s models as they’re hand-carved, with lovely Wengé necks and don’t have the MEC electronics. Ditto models produced since they went full-bore with the custom shop - but the issue is that you can get really well-made instruments at well below £1K, so you’d have to really want a Warwick to pay custom luthier prices for what is effectively a machine-made instrument - and that’s before any custom options. My fave was the Streamer Stage 1 5 and 6 - however I can’t see myself spending nearly £6,000 on a new one

Warwick invested millions in their six axis machinery to carve custom shop basses to very close to the finished product and also to guarantee consistency with work like fretting and the curves where laminated woods are glued (e.g. the body to the through neck and the curved streamer and thumb bodies). The custom shop now offers almost anything imaginable, included discontinued models, longer scale lengths, different string spacing and models with more strings (6-string Streamer Stage II, for example), and you pay for this customisation, but even the standard models are Fodera pricing new. The used market has never really reflected the retail price, particularly in the U.K. - and many sellers post things up at completely unrealistic prices. I would expect a passive original German corvette to be £400 tops, a Streamer stage 1 to be no more than £800-900 (unless it’s a rarer 6 string or in a high polish finish, or customised) and a thumb NT £900-£1000. The Infinity is a bit less common and was more expensive new, but even then I wouldn’t pay more than £1,200, even for a mint model. Limited edition models or rare models don’t really command much of a price premium - it’s not as if it’s a ‘59 Precision, is it! On the plus side, as they’ve gone firmly out of fashion, bargains are there to be had. I used to own several but I’ve gone right off them over the years - mainly due to the poor ergonomics, baseball bat neck from the mid-90s to mid-00s, headstock-heavy balance in a 5- or 6- and the tone from the MEC electronics is decidedly average. A very old streamer with EMGs (a la Stuart Zender back in the day) is definitely worth checking out as they have a really nice feel and a properly punchy sound. On the plus side almost every Warwick 5/6 I’ve owned has got a fantastic low B - the best and most articulate of any bass I’ve played.

Have you tried a different brand of strings?

What is it about a certain class of musician who is limited in their ability but cannot take any criticism - constructive it otherwise? If they played a pro audition they’d be out the door before the first number hit the chorus. It does seem to highlight that many bands contain at least one dominant overbearing personality who likes to control others. It’s worth remembering that it’s (with the greatest of respect) just an amateur pub gig band - it should be fun, should entertain the punters and if there’s a bit of money in it, great. Life is far too short to get precious about it. As for playing the gig - no way, you were asked to leave, there’s nothing to be gained from it and it sounded like they were taking advantage of you anyway. There is no “CV” to be polished in this situation - if they were top players with connections all over or were involved in lots of potential future bookings elsewhere then maybe... but they’re not!

I don’t own a G&L but had a good long play on one not long ago. The Dimension doesn’t have any true coiltap facilities (the in between settings are one coil from each pickup) whereas the L2500 has series, parallel and single coil per pickup. I remember the L2500 as having a great tone, If rather hot and a little too hard sounding and aggressive for me. The Dimension is still very much a Fender despite the humbuckers. The active one with ash and maple board is noticeably brighter than the passive version with alder and a rosewood board, even with EQ set flat. I love them both!

WD in the UK now have dimension pickguards available to order. I’ve bought a black/white/black. £27 inc postage isn’t bad but it’ll be on back order so may be a while from the US.

The ash/maple looks much better with a black scratch plate. Mine is white - need to change it!

...and by way of my NBD, I just picked up a Dimension Deluxe V for a very good price. Mine’s natural ash and maple, and in pickup position 2 (not the furthest position from the neck, but the next one toward the neck) sounds very similar to a Stingray. I also have a Dimension Standard V without the pickup selector, and at the bridge it sounds nothing like a Stingray. The two in between tones are very interesting and make it more versatile than the Standard. Surprisingly the two basses sound very different - similar enough to appear to have the same basic character, but the different woods, and active vs passive make a big difference. The only challenge I have had is with the spoke wheel adjustment - the small holes are only about 1cm deep and not hollow so you cannot just stick a small screwdriver through one hole and out the opposite one. In the end I had to take the neck off and with both basses the adjuster felt very stiff trying to remove relief. This isn’t helped by the bridge plate being so thick that it restricts how low you can set the bridge saddles. Luckily both are just about perfect in terms of action. It’s odd as the Stingray/Sadowsky spoke wheel is a piece of cake to adjust. For what I paid for each bass they are an absolute bargain. If you see one for sale grab it as they’re rare and IMHO they offer something that neither a Jazz Deluxe nor a Stingray offers.

No, I agree on both that terrible Babylon zoo song and Layla - it gets to the verse and it’s a right old dirge!

Keep the P and save up. Japanese jazz basses aren’t that hard to get hold of (even left-handed, I assume), whereas if your P really is as good as you say you may change your mind in 6 months then waste more money buying another one - probably for more than you paid for the one you have, assuming you got a bargain