FDC484950

Are these Gotoh GB7? I had these on my Zon, which was a bit neck heavy, and replaced with Resolite (GB350) tuners. Quite a lot lighter (I think the lightest in production, mine weighed about 37g each) and very nice thy were too (if a touch hard to find). Even though they’re resin they felt much higher quality than the GB7s.

Gotta love metallic orange but please god don’t ruin it with an ugly pickguard. So much cleaner without!

It does seem that the satin finish on some recent models (like the newest Laklands with the roasted maple neck) are a little more prone to bumps and dings. That might account for it being in the shop but in less than mint condition. Still, considering the the new selling price £730 seems pretty good. As someone who plays seated I really must try one of these - the balance must be fantastic. All’s well that end well

Perhaps the commission sales, because they’re basically decided by the seller, but most don’t seem to hang around that long and not the new bass stock. I follow quite a few items that have been on the site for over a year and the prices are exactly the same, Dingwall, MM Spector, Sadowsky etc. so that’s not my experience at all.

I do wonder what goes on with music instrument retailers flogging non-clearance items at heavy discounts. The Kingpin Stingray listed on another recent thread is a perfect example - PMT must have made a massive loss, which I guess is fine for one item but why seem to have done this quite a bit (I just missed both a USA Sterling 5 and a Classic Stingray 5 last year, both of which they dropped to a frankly astonishing £1199). Setting side any nefarious behaviour or mis-description of items for sale, it doesn’t seem to bode well for any shop’s long term future. By contrast, Bass Direct basically never discount anything (by which I mean the prices are generally set - not necessarily more expensive than other shops, but once set don’t usually drop) and their used basses are rather pricey - but then they are one shop with a much smaller cost base, specialise in bass and tend to have a lot more high end gear. However, it strikes me that their business model might actually turn a profit that can be sustainable. We don’t have that many shops that sell a reasonable range of bass gear in the UK, so if one of the bigger chains were to fold (like Sound Control for example) it would probably harm any price competition - particularly when much of what I am interested in is actually available at, can be bought from Thomann in Germany, in GBP, and shipped to my door for less

I’d advise against it. I tried it when I was already an experienced bass player and quickly realised it has the major disadvantage of requiring a lot of shifting up and down individual strings. No problem on a violin and doable on a cello but a nightmare on something with a bass scale length or longer. It also requires building a set from individual strings - something like .130, .085, 0.60, 0.35 for a reasonable balance across the strings. Curiously I also found that the wider intervals between each string were tricky to intonate. It’s a bit of fun to get you out of a rut but given how much scalar stuff basslines usually involve it would quickly become a pain in the backside. Maybe on a short scale 30” bass but even then tuning in 4ths is so much easier. As other have said it’s also what just about every other bass player in the planet knows and is comfortable with.

Don’t take this the wrong way, and it is of course ridiculous if you bought it as a new bass, but would it not be better to sort it out with PMT first rather than posting about it here? All shops mess up, but it’s not the mess up that’s the real issue - it’s how they deal with it that matters. From the photos it looks like the EHB1505MS, which in their site is listed new at £1,349, so £767 in a sale doesn’t add up. It’s nearly 50% off the retail price. Although totally wrong to list it as new, and even worse to send it out in that state, maybe update this thread for balance once/if you get it sorted?

That’s a new one on me. Maybe some of the Chinese Rock Bass models aren’t quite up to scratch (I’ve not played one), but having owned more than 35 German Warwicks, not one of them had any fit or finish issues at all - in fact the only problems I had was a very old used SS1 6 with too much relief in the first 3 frets and an occasional cut out with the dodgy barrel jacks they used to use (and may well still use). I have two German Metrolines (2020 HPJ5 and 2022 vintage JJ5) and the for and finish on both is amongst the best I’ve ever seen from any manufacturer. Fretwork, finishing, construction and balance are outstanding. I’ve played a few more, including a 2021 limited edition modern 5, and it was fabulous. So yes, my M very much V

The only one I’ve noticed recently is the Spector Euro Bantam 5 - not cheap at £1650 but looks a good spec if you like dual EMG humbuckers. Bass Direct has one and there’s a YT vid or two.

Lordy - if that had an extra string it would be gone…

There’s only one way to solve this. FIGHT!

Fans of Peter Gabriel or any of the artists Tony Levin has played with, who are bass players - but have never heard of Tony Levin? You’ve lost me there Truth be told, not many under 45 bass players are likely to to have the disposable income to fritter away 3 grand for a well put together but nevertheless factory bass with just volume controls and no options, are they?

…except the Joe Dart that was the point of the demo - very little fret buzz throughout. I’d disagree that it’s simply a case of turning up the gain. I’ve often come across very low output basses and they just lack something - turning up the gain and/or master volume doesn’t always fix it. He’s a thorough reviewer, if rather a sloppy player (not that it really matters on a product demo). The neck pickup sounded OK, the bridge pickup was anonymous and overall it sounded very little like a jazz bass to my ears. The knobs are laughable - must be intentional and tongue in cheek, but it’s a pretty expensive joke. I’m sure people will buy the non limited edition model (if you can stand not to have the neck plate, a bit of paper with Joe Dart’s scrawl on it and a marginally different case), but I won’t be one of them. A big swing and a miss from ErnieBall on this one.

Setting aside the nonsense of how many hours it takes to “master” an instrument (which is impossible anyway - no-one has ever “mastered” any instrument), there is some evidence to suggest that different instruments have different learning profiles. The piano is rather hard at the beginning because you have all 10 fingers in both hands, chords and counterpoint etc., but over time progression is relatively linear - so in general the more positive effort you put in, the better you will get. The guitar and similar stringed instruments are rather different. Although more generally accessible to beginners (basic chords in the main are simpler to execute and you suffer less with different keys and fingerings, plus you fret with one hand and pluck with the other), learning beyond a certain level plateaus significantly - so lots more effort and practice doesn’t result in the same level of improvement, just because of the physicalities of the instrument. It’s one of the facts that spurred Emmett Chapman on to create the Stick - to combine elements of a fretted and pianistic instrument. However, as has been mentioned many times in this thread already, it depends very much on the individual. A family like the Porcaros for example had the genes, natural ability and the perfect environment (plus tons of connections through their dad Joe). Players will more often than not advance faster with ability and/or with lots of hard work doing the right things to get better - which largely boils down to proven teaching materials and constantly challenging yourself to a) not develop bad habits (or correct them) and b) keep learning and growing with music and techniques you cannot play, instead of rehashing what you can play or are comfortable with. The other point of view (which is just as valid) is that you only need as much ability to be happy playing the music you love

Many, many years ago I has an S2 5?string fretless (number 5) in blue. The only time I tuned that bass was when changing strings and the sustain went on forever. I think I sold it for a Jaydee Calibas 6! Terrible replacement, I grew to hate that bass because of its pointy bottom horn, crap low B and near 6Kg weight. I’d love one of the last few stock models but the S2 Classic 5s look close to £4K. Very reasonable but not in the current financial climate unfortunately. I wish them all well and especially Rob in his semi-retirement.

Dunc bought my iPad - smooth transaction and good comms 👍

You can’t really tell what the B string is like from the sound samples as you’re just down at the very bottom. Try recording right up to the 9th-12th frets. Any 5 can sound reasonable in the first 3-5 frets. That said, the Xotic B (and the rest) sounded much better than the other two to my ears.

Ah, that's the rub, I'd love a CLF 750 5 in tangerine metallic. I did enquire about a custom order but the dealer asked and a week later no response... I asked G&L directly last year and they said about 6 months but also said they had never been so busy and were struggling to meet demand. If they could rustle up one weighing 9lbs I'd go for it - they are a fair bit more expensive than the Fullerton Deluxe but come with a hard case instead of a (rather flimsy) gig bag and I prefer the CLF headstock and wider spacing.

GuitarGuitar have a Fullerton Deluxe L2500 in jet black frost (basically a lightly textured matt black) is apparently just on 4Kgs (9lbs) so it’s possible to get lighter models, but many currently available seem to be north of 10lbs, which is disappointing given how many manufacturers now make genuinely lightweight basses.

That TB thread is useful but as a guide, my BSR6EG had a satin finish, definitely not glossy. Just goes to show the specs do vary from the advertised model. Why they’d use MW as a designation for the woods but also to apparently indicate a bolt-on is anyone’s guess

Interesting. I’ve had two of them and they were all right but I never got anything remotely like a StingRay sound out of them because the bridge pickup is a twin jazz and too close to the bridge (and they weren’t much cop at a P bass sound, either).

No The Dimension has many good sounds but not a StingRay. A Warwick $$ has a humbucker in the right place but doesn’t sound much like one to me. A G&L L2000 does have a similar tone. I’ve not played any basses that sound just like a StingRay TBH - except a StingRay.