Aidan63

I think you will find that Evri are already way ahead of you on manipulating the algorithms, all those positive feedbacks they do legitimately receive pretty much obscure the terrible ones All the courier companies now have terrible customer service, some terrible staff and some people working hard to do the job right, and paying more doesn't seem to make a difference because they just change their practices to maintain profits; the government (all of them not just this one, they are all the same because they reflect our complete lack of interest in doing different/better and using actual common sense or a decent moral foundation as a basis for society) has absolutely no interest in managing the sector; we've sold Royal Mail to a Czech billionaire, we/they have washed their hands, got more important things to worry about like building shit we don't need and making sure the haves continue to become better off and prevent the rest from actually revolting and hoping the others don't find out about their mistakes/wrong doings, while working to/hoping the dangerous idiots don't blew us all to oblivion

Description says fan fret - err no, where are they made ?

Mk IV was a great amp in my experience mid eighties, pared with either the Peavy 2 x15 BW or a Turbosound or Martin Audio compact PA cabinet, made for a really good reggae bass rig - but you needed a transit van, though in those days parking was easy and fuel wasn't too bad and used transits were cheap to buy and run

I'm guessing you don't mean one of these

I had written (and rewritten/edited several times) my post and was about to hit submit reply just as Ped posted up 'play nice', so just in case anyone got upset I thought it might be politic to post as a separate thread rather than further muddy the waters on this one, I did consider not posting it but having spent a good deal of time on writing it I wanted to validify the time spent writing it to myself at least - perhaps I shouldn't have posted it, my bad☹️

just a FYI, in the VW car world, model year production generally starts on 1st August, when their summer shutdown finishes (they do the bigger mods and upgrades to the production line during shutdown, and obviously plan and agree changes with suppliers a long time before that) so a 2000 model year (i.e. built to 2000 specification) could be built and sold and on the road long before the beginning of the model year, depending on the sales and stock of the different countries' importer/dealer network. You'd have to talk (or have talked to a long time ago when they were alive and had reliable memory) to people who worked at Fender on the sales and production (production scheduling particularly) side to understand what their lead times and schedules and 'year' break points were back then, chances are they weren't as cast in stone as VWs, as it would depend on the tax and sales cycles, when are the brochures released, when are stock sales agreed etc....these days we partly have the 2 NAMM cycle which will influence that quite a lot, I don't know how that was done 60 plus years ago, but I bet it wasn't quite as regimented as now when the accountants pretty much run the businesses, and everyone else is secondary. Ref the Jazz bass, I always thought swap to VVT was mid (whatever that means) 61 from several (fairly common and cheap) books and many articles I have read but I haven't been down the whole vintage rabbit hole, but likely the articles were written from research based often on the same books and oft told and repeated 'facts'. Does anyone know how many Jazz basses were built between the 1st one and the end of 1961 ? How many were stack, how many VVT, how many changed by factory at the time or subsequently (Fender was tight with musicians/dealers who were effectively development testers), how many changed by dealers ? Is that openly available information, did Fender (and especially the dealers) even record that accurately, was there a serial number register back then, did they actually build c.17000 instruments of all models in 1961 or was that figure just the max possible (planned i.e. 70/day based on 5 day week and 10 days annual holiday) production and serial number allocation, is the data set still intact or has it been lost to fire or thrown away or stolen at some point ? Without definitive primary source information like that we'll never really know, it is just by observation that we can make 'informed' conclusions and build a narrative around that - as Hellzero, AndyB, Norms, ATB many other etc.. have all done, but no one will ever know for sure, so assertions can only be made qualified by 'as far as we can estimate based on the available information both past and current'. Even now Fender's online digital database isn't exhaustive, and doesn't go that far back, has lots of gaps especially for short run instruments and overseas production, and I bet even any Fender in house published history account isn't absolutely accurate, as there will be stuff they didn't want to reveal/admit to, and a little obfuscation is good for the myth and increases the mystery, the potential that one day you could possibly find under your great grandparents' bed a unique instrument that is worth even more that the rest of the extremely expensive instruments already in circulation, a lottery win 😃

easiest to just ring GigGear and ask them surely ?

is it a muting tuner, and its muted ?

Best : Xotic Effects Bass RC Booster pedal, off Ebay, set to 'B15' voice it just works, is simple and small, runs on battery, and very cost effective Worst : Squier, Samick made, CV Racing Stripe Mustang, off here, I have cleaned the neck and strings multiple times with isopropyl and I can still smell previous owners aftershave on my hand after playing it and its made the case smell too - its lighter than my seafoam green Cort made one, but doesn't sound as good - still pondering doing a pickup change a la PawnShop to it

not just colour fade, but the lacquer yellowing over time changes the colour seen with blues they tend to move toward greens

@ash is selling one, doesn't look as extreme as that blue one

I wrote to Yamaha over a year ago to suggest they capitalize on the Revstar and make a short scale bass version, pointed out the success of the JMJ and Joe Dart ss etc.. got a polite reply from the European distributor, I doubt the suggestion made it to Japan though

Jon at Rexter guitars would probably be £500-600ish in nitro based on what I paid 3 years ago

Dave Smart [email protected] He's Patrice's/HTD's recommended partner in the UK, should be able to help

possibly taps for different impedance speaker connections, not required in this specific application, so not connected - the transformers maybe used in different applications not all of which need all the wires to be connected I watch a lot of Psionic Audio (US amp tech) on YT and he'd definitely be able to answer the Q; I don't know if any of the knowledgeable old school valve amp technicians in the UK are on this forum and would interact, check the recommendations in repairs and maybe contact someone who works on these

So it's dull sounding in the area the truss rod does most work, and dead sounding generally - it's much more likely to just be a poor neck made from a piece of wood that just doesn't vibrate, or there's something slightly out in the truss rod pocket/skunk stripe if fitted), or maybe the glue up of the fingerboard to the neck, rather than anything to do with the pickups - wood varies and that's why some are good, some are great, and most are functional, but a few are dogs My CV Mustang is slightly less resonant on the A string frets 5, 6 and 7 and that corresponds with an obvious knot that is visible in the grain on the back of the neck, but overall the instrument vibrates okay - it's a heavy one though only just under 9lb, Nato (sort of mahogany) body. I don't think Fender check the vibration of the completed instrument and reject dead sounding ones, I don't know if even PRS do that with their US made premium instruments despite Paul maintaining that a non vibrant instrument will never sound good - he wants a string to ring out acoustically for 17 seconds plus

My Squier ClassicVibe Mustang is ~18mm, I think the original Fender Mustang type bridge is 18mm, the PJ variants with hi mass or bbot bridges are probably 19mm string spacing seems to be left off the technical details on so many instruments these days, I wonder if it is because they buy in components from so many sources in batches and can't guarantee if they are all the same - they really should detail string spacing at the bridge and at the nut, not just the nut width

This is what Fender says in the 2011 version of the bass guitar manual - good starting point, then adjust to suit your playing style and to achieve the balance you like and the overall sound most pleasing to your ear

As Hellzero says looks like a Chinese copy in the style of Ken Smith BSR ?

I'd advise seeing how the battery works before modifying the instrument - I bought a couple of these PUJIMAX branded batteries earlier this year and I have found they aren't really anywhere like 1200mAh they state on the label (which in itself is a 'fake' of the old FujiMax one) and don't last very long, because they have the charging circuit board inside so they have less actual cells than the old 600mAh batteries I have and don't last as long as the old ones do even after a few years use. I also found that like many simple lithium cell devices you can't use them whilst being charged, so you might not be able to charge the battery in the device whilst the battery is plugged in

Paddy hit me up for a J retro 01, I had previously offered him; nice easy sale, much appreciated 🙂

what he says /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ not always light but good tone and decent f and f, typical Squier made in Indonesia quality and value for money - the classic vibe one in white or green are made by Cort, the racing stripe ones by Samick; a used blue racing stripe sold on the bay of fleas for £250 this week and there was a couple of CVs listed on here for similar money if Thomann have their Harley Benton 'Mustang' back in stock they seem to be well liked on here

buys here, on reverb, on Ebay, marketplace wherever he can find instruments that will sell and can be had cheap enough they make a little mark up; quite a few instruments I was saving for or waiting to get paid in order to afford have sold whilst I was watching them and then reappear on their website for a couple of hundred more, its about having the capital to invest, the same as the flippers do, which helps inflate used prices and create its own demand, and in turn allows the manufacturers to inflate their prices against the relative perceived 'value', then buyers looking for value for money are competing in the used market, which....circular price inflation model. Used guitar prices have dropped a bit because so much for sale, and manufacturers now making fewer instruments to minimise 'value' drop, concentrating on special, limited edition etc. but basses seem to be somewhat resistant because there are less of them, even with 1500+ used basses on the market in the UK on most platforms, which is a 40-50% increase in availability compared to a few years ago, sellers are still in many cases asking top dollar because they are pricing against the inflated new prices

Be aware the Kala has a very chunky neck, I much prefer the Tanglewood which is based on their short scale 3/4 acoustic guitar, also the 14th fret neck join is better for access than the Kala's 12th fret neck joint in my experience, though it could be argued about tone from different bridge placement - neck join less of an issue on a solid body which is different (around 16thfret), but the neck is chunky