Twanger

Nah, you can throw a P bass out of a moving car. All you'll get is holes in the road.

The point is that in a thousand bars across the world there are a thousand bass players churning out Mustang Sally on a Fender Bass - or a Fender copy. You go to Andican in the Fergana Valley, in the foothills of the Tien Shan mounains, the mountains of Heaven, or Kinshasa, or Brasilia, and you will find someone playing Mustang Sally on a Fender Bass. OK, I'm exaggerating for effect, but that is basically what Fender is all about, and where its market is. That's what sells, and what it will come back to.

But Fender have made 24 fretters in the past. They are nowhere now. I made the mistake of buying a Stu Hamm Urge bass years ago. 24 frets. It didn't have the Fender "vibe" (sorry for using the term!). There are certain sets of characteristics that work with each bass concept, and 24 frets is not one for Fenders.

If it has 24 frets it's not a Fender, even if it says "Fender" on the headstock. Fender shaped his bass, and the Fender bass then shaped Fender right back. People don't buy Jazz basses and Precisions for 24 frets. They go elsewhere for that.

Damn good basses, though. I like Fender. Always have. Man and boy.

This'll turn into a "What have the Romans ever done for us?" session. But you are right.

Absolutely. Fender is for bass players who know what they like and like what they know. When was the last time Fender introduced a new design that actually stuck? What happened to the Urge? The Roscoe Beck model? Come to that, which artist sig has stuck other than the Jaco bass, which seems to have been around for ever?

My homemade jazz(ish) bass. The design criteria were that it had to fit TI jazz flats (standard scale) and a Fender hard case. Turned out looking like a cross between a Yamaha TRB and a Jazz Bass. Sounds wonderful, plays like a pig. And a fairly disgruntled, mulish pig, to boot.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm not so much looking for a "vintage correct" pickup as trying to identify one that I really liked. Lozz, "woody" is a great way of describing the sound that I liked in that RI bass, so I guess it's the Original '62 that I'd be after, then. Good. They're cheaper.

I keep forgetting about checking out Youtube. Thanks.

This is so true!

Hi Marc, I'm pretty sure it was a US model, but it was a long time ago...

What's the difference? From what I can see, they do an Original '62, a Custom '62 and a '63. The best P bass sound I ever encountered was in a '62 RI at the end of the '90s. I think those used the original '62. But are the others anything other than just more expensive versions for the same thing?

Food for thought. I, too, would pay a bit more for a fairer deal, but I'd need to know that the bit more ended up in the employees' pockets. The VM P is a nice fretless. I will tweak it, as I'm an inveterate tweaker. It would be fun to bung a piezo bridge on it. Now, that's an idea. Any one know of a piezo bridge from a sustainable/ fairtrade source?

I like the beer scale. When I started playing a pint was around three bob. So my lousy first bass cost me - yes, 100 pints (£15 - it was from Woolworths). MY new Squier would have cost me 70-100 pints new, depending on the pub. So in beer terms it's much better value! Or is beer now overpriced?

The wood is light. I don't know how tough and hard wearing it will turn out to be. Obviously locally sourced. But it sounds good. Really, I can't see how it's possible to make a playable £100 bass. I really can't.

I remember SX coming out in the late '90s. This Squier outclasses any SX I played then by miles. So they've got better too? And, Chris_b, I was worried that this was the case. CNC is just fine. I'll get googling on the labour.

I just bought a Squier VM fretless Precision off Grangur on this forum, and it's quite extraordinary. It has a very acceptable sound, is very playable, has an astonishingly straight neck, for a cheapo, which is fast and responsive to adjustment. It's well finished, the tuners are efficient at keeping the strings in tune (which is, after all, what you expect from tuners) and the bent metal bridge is easily adjustable and stable. The downsides are an overly light body, which means there's a bit of neck dive, and a slightly bland pickup. This is not just an adequate starter instrument, which is why I bought it. It's a good, giggable bass. And these things only cost just over £300 new. £300 is not a lot of money, really, for a musical instrument. £300 is what you can end up paying an emergency plumber (more in London). It's two months commuting, if you live in the city. It's three or four nights out. Six theatre tickets. Two tickets for the Rolling Stones. A third of an iphone. Now, cheap end stuff in the past has been utter crap. Anyone who started playing in the 60s and 70s will recall the unplayable garbage we were expected to start on. So, here's the question: is this purely a result of improved design, tech and production methods, or is someone somewhere not getting paid properly for their work?

Yes, I know. But one of the problems with this country is that we all live in our hermetically sealed boxes and don’t get to know each other. “Wouldn’t it be nice to get on with the neighbours. “ but relationships need maintenance. They need work. So get out the wine.

Anything made by Gibson.

Invite her in. Show her your bass. Open a bottle of wine.

I have just bought a Squier VM fretless Precision off Richard at a very reasonable price. Richard was cool about holding the bass for me while I hummed and hahed about buying it after it turned out we wouldn't be able to meet up for a couple of weeks (work, and distance!). Anyway, I thought "what the hell," and transferred the money and got the bass by return. It was exactly as described, in great nick and had been very carefully and thoughtfully packed. Thanks, Richard.

What? Oh, you mean the garnish.

Oh, I've made many sacrifices on the altars of the gods before - Rob Allen MB2 , Stu Hamm sig, '64 Jazz (yes, a real one), cusp Fender Showman head.....and haven't lost too much on the resale, so I think I have done enough to be let off this time.

OK, I've decided to go all sensible for the time being. The point is that I don't actually NEED an amp just right now. I can go on playing through the headphones. The sound's good, and I don't annoy Mrs Twanger and the neighbours. I'll only actually need an amp when I start playing with others. And the time to buy, perhaps, is when that happens. Then I'll have a real playing context in mind and would be able to make a more considered decision, based on, you know, real needs. Then I won't have to worry about a hypothetical playoff between tone and flexibility, or between sound and portability. I'll need a real tool to do a real job. I know I am violating all the laws and precepts of the gods of GAS in doing this, but they'll have to forgive me! Thank you for all your contributions to keeping me sane.