Paul S

Wow. be interested to know the weight.

I am selling off all my basses except for three, two of which are 32" scale - I just find them so comfy. But it has to be said that I dwell down in the depths of the budget end of the market. That said my budget basses have kept me gigging for the past couple of decades. Aria Pro II CSB range are medium scale with models at different price points. They are all good. I have the top end of the range model CSB 450 Black n Gold for sale in the classifieds for a giveaway £300 but, perhaps, not after tomorrow as someone is coming to look at it. Hondo II H1015 are medium scale. Necks on these are utterly superb lumps of maple. Heavy basses, mind. Known for the 3-point bridges to lift but that is an easy fix, often fitted with DiMarzio pickups as stock. Some Westone Concords are medium scale, some long scale. They are excellent and go for very little money, pickups in these are tremendous, very powerful. I believe there are one or two medium scale Westone Thunder basses, too. Fender do medium scale Precisions and Jazzes, usually MIJ for the domestic market, but they pop up fairly regularly. MIJ Squiers, also. I've had several over the years, notably an A series Squier Precision that was one of the best basses I've owned. Should never have sold it. The best of all the 32" scale basses I have tried/owned is the Yamaha SB-15. Superb. Rare, though, but you never know. Any of the above are pretty straight forward things and not scary to take a punt at second hand. There isn't much to go wrong and, if it does, it is usually easily and inexpensively corrected. I've not tried one but Ibanez Mezzo also gets a lot of love on here.

Actually there is still quite a bit left beyond Newbury. Typical northerner 😄

The classic, I think it is called. P1.

I see Nik Kershaw whenever he is nearby, not too often these days, sadly. He is an immense talent. Saw him do a solo acoustic gig at Union Chapel which was a huge amount of fun. He started to introduce 'The One and Only' and thanked Chesney for earning him so much money, adding 'Mind you, Chesney is a bit of a w@nker' only to be joined on stage by him a second later. Very funny. Then they played it, fantastic. As an aside, Nik Kershaw did a tour with Go West a few years ago. Go West would play some tunes, then Nik, then both together - all with the Go West band (who are fab). They all seemed to be having an absolute blast of a time. There was a bit where they played one of the others' songs but in their own style. Nik played 'Missing Persons' and his arrangement was just stunning. It remains one of the best gigs I have ever seen.

I have an HB Shorty with a Tonerider pickup and find it absolutely delightful. You know the score with these so I say copy and paste!

Marcus King, not heard him before. That is today gone...

Voices like his don't come along too often. Aural velvet. I never knew he played bass, off to investgate!

Freddie King also. I wonder of the acoustic 'lace through the head' might be enough of if it would just fall off.

I joined a start-up band which went through a couple of personnel changes but the singer - new to bands but actually a good front man - was becoming increasingly difficult. LVS struck deep - he'd had a few promotions at work and started to believe his own PR, treating the rest of the band as lackies. It came to a head at a birthday gig we did. It is well known amongst my friends that I get grumpy if I don't eat regularly. This gig he said we were to help ourselves to the buffet before we started. Kick off time was raidly approaching, no sign of buffet. He lied, said no mention of buffet had ever been made, I got cross and we ended up having a nose to nose just before going on. I may have said a few things about his attitude and, as I recall, finished up threatening to throw him off the fire escape. Never a realistic prospect, what with my bad back and his obesity but there you go. Immediately afterwards he said I had to go, the band fell in with that so I got sacked. They didn't find another bassist. Shortly afterwards the singer left as his wife had a baby, they asked me back, we got another singer. But it was never the same, really.

Exactly what Mrs S said to me a couple of nights ago...

I just happen to have one of these in the classified at the moment for the knock down price of £100 posted.

Retrovibe do a corker. I coul;dn't get on with the slab body but everything else was perfect. Their version of the '51 pickup is wonderful, dark abd bitey. https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-p30-slab-precision-bass-30-6-short-scale-black-limited-edition-of-8/

I had a couple of JVs. One was a really early big Fendo logo one, the other a bit later. The second one was everything I wanted from a Precision and lightweight, too - the best I have ever owned. Sold when I found long scales too much of a stretch.

Now gone to a new home 😊

Mrs S and I had eaten dodgy onion pakoras the night before and were taking it in turns to go to the toilet. I remember most of it - recorded most of it on my betamax video machine and still got the tape somewhere. At the time I thought it was utterly brilliant. Still do tbh. For all sorts of reasons 1985 was a magical year for me and I will always have the fondest memories.

Harley Benton Shorty does. I bought one when they came out and it blew me away - I don't know how it is possible to make a bass that is so good for the price of a night out. The tone, through my set-up, was very similar to the gorgeous woody tone of P bass in Santana's Europa. Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider and it is now awesome. I have sold off most of my basses, including an MIJ Mustang, but keeping the HB Shorty for my Precision flavoured moments.

Sold a Trace Elliot eq thingy in the easiest of transactions. Marvellous

Easy deal with Jimmy who bought my Mustang bass. And clearly a man of taste as he kept the white pick guard 😁

Super easy deal with Joel bought some IEMs. Royal mail let the side down, of course, but alls well that ends well 😁

Thank you Sergio!