Bassassin

Fitting a Steiny-type replacement (the cheap Chinese units are clones of Hohner's Steinberger licensed version) would require some modifications. It wouldn't be a straight swap, I think the routing for the existing bridge would need to be filled & then re-routed for the replacement. Probably not a massive job for a decent luthier - maybe give our own Andyjr1515 a shout, I get the impression he's quite handy!

I had a bass with the same tuner unit - it's a fairly flawed design which is hard to get to work well! My bass had a head-end string clamp and I strung it with the ball-ends at the tuner end, removing the need to wrap the string around the cams. This made it a lot easier to tune without the mechanism becoming stiff - but the gearing on the system still made incremental tuning unnecessarily fiddly and inaccurate. If I'd kept the bass, I'd have looked at replacing it with one of the Steinberger-derived designs.

It's an RB760 - and the f-hole's a sticker!

It's a custom build by a guy called Mick Butler. Interestingly, this was his 103rd instrument. Needs a hose down, too.

I have a V7 fretless, the lined maple neck looks and feels gorgeous. The hardware on mine's fine - the bridge is a pretty standard/functional BBOT with vintage style threaded saddles, and is as good as any other of the type. The tuners are nice quality, with cast bodies & torque adjusting screws, similar to some Gotoh & Schaller units. Mine's not an S2 and I don't really understand why the components get the criticism that they do. I only have a couple of niggles - mine (metallic red) has a bit of finish checking under the clear coat, which bugs me a little - and it's heavy. Very heavy! Otherwise it's a lovely bass, and unlike every other fretless I've owned, a keeper.

Oh god, just stop it. Are there really enough hipsters in the world to justify this sort of guff?

Very impressed with your bevels, @Meddle! I've made a few with results I'm happy with, but tend to lose my nerve at the edge-finishing stage for fear of ruining hours of work. I either trace the shape from the original, or make a stiff paper template to trace from if it's an original/modified design. Rough shape's cut out using a scroll saw & then hand-filed to finish. I round the edges to make them look less straight-cut, will have to work on bevelling technique though. Not completely happy with the tasteful Rick copy attempt - don't think the black pearloid works, and the shape ended up being a bit too Mosrite-y, which wasn't my intent. I don't like the standard Rick shape plate, which looks like a lazy afterthought to me, so I wanted something that followed the lines of the body shape a bit more. I actually simplified my original design which would have had the plastic curving behind and through the neck pickup, and extending in a point up to the top horn, mirroring the shape at the lower horn. I intend to re-do this in white pearl, and instead of rounding the corner under the bridge, bringing that up to a point, a bit like the very first Rick 4000 design.

Agreed - that is absolutely stunning. Considering I've seen a few pretty ropey, beat-up exampes listed for £200-odd more than this, the price is not as mad as it could be, either. I'm not tempted GAS-wise by much these days, but I genuinely wish I could justify this. Always loved these.

J&D are in the same ballpark as Harley Benton - a big German online music shop's cheap-as-chips, but ridiculously good value own brand. I bought a sweet little J&D Thinline Tele copy for £113 last year, & literally haven't played any other guitar since. If I was in the market for a 5er, I'd be all over this - GLWTS!

So - you drop your bass (or more realistically, use it to demolish a wall) and as a result knock a f*ck-off big chunk out of the body. Do you a: attempt to glue the piece back in, Or b: lob the bit of wood on the fire & go "sod it. no-one'll notice".

Thoroughly lovely and emotional night in Glasgow last night. I think the nature of the show, featuring a sextet of orchestral musicians, made the set itself and the performance a little more restrained than Marillion usually are. First time I have seen them not perform any songs from the Fish era - and to be honest I don't think there was a single person there who would've felt cheated by the absence of one or two fluke chart hits they had in the mid 80s.

This thread seems to have meandered on, without any of the esteemed contributors having investigated the vendor of this unique artifact's other endeavours. You really should. Warning: Viewer discretion is advised. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dave-gilmour-custom-painted-fully-loaded-guitar-body-no-neck/303312980293 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-made-electric-guitar-Whiskey-lady-with-gun-with-hard-case-/303333056684 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peaky-blinders-electric-guitar-loaded-body-only-Custom-/303310035343 Can anyone think of a ground-breaking luthier/technician, possibly an established Ebay seller well-known on Basschat, with whom Mr Gerry_1969magic might consider collaborating?

I'm old enough to remember reading an early interview with US stadium-rock plodder Billy Squier being upset by people pronouncing his name as "Billy's Queer". Boo, and indeed, hoo.

They weren't. The Squier name comes from the string manufacturer VC Squier, which Fender acquired in 1965. They've always spelled it correctly.

The headstock: And as you like "obscure cheapo basses", the price... https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/rivolta/products/rivolta-combinata-bass-vii