Velarian

6 hours ago, rodney72a said:

 

Now at Andy Baxter's for £21,500.

 

https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/bass-guitars/products/1957-fender-precision-bass-2-tone-sunburst-4

Interesting. So, double the money then. 
 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Scarborough bass turns up there as well in a few weeks.

I did toy with the idea of going along to take a look at it. It would still have been a two hour drive though. I was thinking that in a worse-case scenario, if the neck was goosed and it needed a truss rod replacement, if it could be brought for well under £10k it would still be worth it.

In the end, I decided GAS was getting the better of me and avoided the temptation. Just as well really as I’d also spotted this almost new Trace Elliot Elf and 110 cab which went for just £220 + fees, around half the price of new. 😅

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/david-duggleby-scarborough/catalogue-id-srda10703/lot-ab75f8e3-2251-4e01-8997-b08b00f7bba7

58 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Looks like this sold for approximately £10.5k including fees. Let's see if it turns up at a dealer after a deep clean.

The fees in the sale room are lower at 26.4% so anyone bidding at the venue would have paid around £9,860. A bit of an advantage against online bidders. 

8 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

Candy Apple Sunshine...

 

 

I’m not usually a fan of red but that colour really pops. Looks great. 😎

9 hours ago, Simon C said:

@Velarian I see you are located in West Yorkshire.  I grew up there.  Do you think our lack of purchases may have more to with our fabled deep pockets and short arms rather than will power?

 

(Short arms aren’t great on a bass player).

You could be right which is why I’m dithering on the edge of succumbing to GAS. I absolutely don’t need any more gear but when faced with a bargain it’s hard to resist. I’m hoping that dithering a little longer solves the problem. 

I’m still in. It’s 15 months since I last bought anything but I’ve seen something I would like so there is a small possibility that I might not make it to the end of the year 😳

Another gem from the BBC archive. 
 

32 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

I've had two of those cases, they were often sold from new with the guitar, so it could be that it is in fact the "original case" that came with the bass, in fact I'd put money on it. Many Fenders in the early 60's were shipped over to the UK without Fender cases and then sold with Selmer cases. As for it's value, do a comparison with similar items, there are a few around at the moment. If it can be had for significantly less than those currently advertised, then it might be worth a gamble. There are a number of concerns for me, the neck (what's it actually like now?), the truss rod and the pickup, do they work? 

 

Tony, is there any opportunity to go and have a look?

I also wondered about the truss rod/neck. The truss rod adjustment nut looks a bit worn, particularly given that it’s supposed to have been stored for 54 years, so all the action was in the first 7 years of its life. Was the reason it was put away all those years ago because there was a problem with the neck? Also, I see the strings are not tensioned so does that suggest a neck issue or is that just because it’s been in storage? It would be a punt without seeing it in the flesh. 

9 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Hi guys, what are you thinking on this , in need of cleaning and maybe some restoration as it’s been in storage for apparently 54 years 😧, what’s it worth and what would be the value once restored 

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/david-duggleby-scarborough/catalogue-id-srda10703/lot-0e92cae3-582c-4775-9521-b06600ee80cd

That’s a nice original bass with some mojo. It needs a good clean but what restoration would be appropriate for an instrument like that? Should things like the rusty chrome covers be touched or just left alone?

36 minutes ago, choob.squeemer said:

Im using safari - on the vendors list all the boxes were unticked 

Just checked the site on my iPad (Safari/iOS) and all of the consents were un-ticked (apart from the greyed out ones). I wonder if some tweaking of the defaults has been carried out during the course of the day?

All of this speculation is all well and good but how do we know that our explicit settings are actually being honoured? It could all be a placebo to make us think we’re in control. Call me cynical but any trust I might have had has completely evaporated. ☹️

15 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I tried changing it and it did sweet FA, no extra info or anything. 
 

This is the 2nd outing for Ezoic and they’ve dropped the ball again, whether this is incompetence or obfuscation is unclear, although I suspect the latter. Do get me started on the side tab, ‘one time’? Not so much 😤.

Interesting. The fact that they can’t manage to present a consistent experience across different browsers/platforms suggests a degree of incompetence but I think obfuscation is still a likely aim. 

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

I found the pop up massively unclear and misleading. The + or - sign and then a box for a consent tick. What happens if you leave the box unticked, but the plus sign remains? Conversely, what if the box is ticked, but you leave a minus sign? It should not be this opaque and smacks of prevarication.

I believe that the +/- is to simply reveal or hide the description of purpose for processing and it doesn’t affect the consent status of the tick box.

I wonder if the initial state of the tick boxes is different depending on what device/browser is being used. I’m using Safari on iOS and all the tick boxes were pre-selected. It was a right royal pain to manually deselect them all. 

52 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

I laboriously went through all of it and 'un-ticked' it all. I am not willing to do this again.

I did this and noticed that some of the “consent” boxes were pre-selected and greyed out so it’s impossible to withdraw your consent.

Irrespective of the unfortunate UK position regarding GDPR, there are many users still within the jurisdiction of that regulation. The last time I had anything to do with that in my work, I’m pretty sure that consent has to be explicitly given and it’s not appropriate to pre-select the option, let alone deprive the user from deselecting it.

As a supporting member it’s not entirely clear if I’m immune to any of this nonsense but regardless, the crass and apparently unlawful way this business partner operates gives me great concern. 

Just visited the site this morning and was presented with a new cookie consent box. I selected “manage settings” with the intention of not consenting to any advertising data sharing and instead of a simple “Do not consent” option, there is a huge list of third parties where you have to manually deselect the option. It’s practically impossible to go through all of this and I noticed that some of the “consent” boxes were pres-selected but greyed out so you can’t opt out. 
 

This is not good and I’ll have to review my participation with the site in light of this. 

44 minutes ago, GuyR said:

I can see for some a lovely old bass could be a store of wealth, or hedge against financial difficulties.
Once you have bought one (a good one, not a lemon), you may well find yourself looking for alternative sources to fill the pecuniary hole, should hard times arise.

This is a good argument for buying one as there are two possibilities: -

1. You love it and it’s everything you’d hoped for and are happy to keep it for the rest of your days.

2. It’s not the dream instrument you thought it might be but it’s an investment that you can hang on to and won’t be sentimental about when it comes to selling. At least you will have scratched the itch. 😉

50 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

What’s the neck profile like on your ‘77? I have a ‘79/79 that whilst it’s a B width neck, is really big and quite a handful, much bigger than my ‘73. 
I had thought I’d like an earlier P bass, but having owned an AVRI I just couldn’t get on with the wider nut. The 70’s B width are just perfect, mine are both 41mm. The result is that I don’t desire a 60’s P Bass, which is quite good really, but a 60’s Jazz…..hmm.

Rob

It’s 42mm at the nut and 57mm at the 12th fret, which is the same as my 2008 P bass. However, it’s a couple of mil deeper than the newer one.
 

I’ve no idea whether it’s a B neck or something else. However, It doesn’t feel particularly chunky and not hugely different compared to the newer one in practice. 

48 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Doesn’t seem a bad price really ,if like has been said it’s all good, I’ve never played a 57, don’t they have quite a chunky neck 

Likewise, I’ve no idea how these feel. I’ve never played anything older than my ‘77 P Bass but I’m intrigued by older vintage models, especially pre-CBS. The idea of owning one is appealing. It may be just a vanity thing and knowing my luck I’d end up not liking it. Having said that, getting a good deal on something like this would mean moving it on again wouldn’t be too difficult. 

I’d looked at this auction beforehand and whilst I didn’t see anything I would bid on, this 57 P Bass caught my eye. I went back just now to check what happened and the hammer price was £8.5k. With buyers premium and VAT that’s just shy of £10,750. Not too bad on face of it and part of me now regret not having a pop at it. 
 

https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/sale/198/21/1957-Fender-Precision-Bass-guitar-made-in-USA

4 hours ago, Old Man Riva said:

… which is why they were never allowed to go anywhere near a car radio/cassette player!

 

Cleaning tape heads was a near-religious experience for me. Cotton buds (not too fluffy, so reducing the minute chance of bits of fibre actually finding their way into the inner workings) and isopropyl alcohol. Press play, and then carefully clean each head with one end of the cotton bud, and then lightly clean/finish off with the other. Once done, onto the roller and tiny steel part that came into contact with the actual tape. Use the tape counter to ensure each part of the process was afforded equal time to get the job done properly.

The satisfaction when viewing the dirty cotton bud and seeing all the residue made the whole thing worth it!

 

My dad walked in on me once, and when I excitedly told him what I was doing and showed him the cotton bud evidence I genuinely think he would have preferred that I was out on the town taking drugs… 

Ah yes, a process I was also very familiar with. I remember going into a pharmacy and asking for a litre of isopropyl alcohol. I was questioned about what I was going to use it for. I explained is was for a 8-track, 1/4” Revox and a few cassette decks and they must have believed me because they let me have it in the end. 

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Ah the Matsui . I remember getting one for my 14th birthday and having to lug around a shedload of cassettes in my backpack.

That reminds me that I used to keep my Aiwa Walkman in an empty ice cream tub. It had enough space for around half a dozen tapes as well.

It would have been a couple of years or so earlier, probably 1982, that I took this on holiday to the south of France and it was quite handy on the beach. The main tape on the go at that time was Men at Work - Business As Usual, which had a bouncy holiday vibe. Great music to run along the beach to early in the morning. Happy Days 😎

16 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

The 120s were handy for the Radio 1 concerts that were occasionally aired.

 

And, yes, they were a pain for getting snagged up in the machine…

If I’m not mistaken, I think the C120s were made from thinner tape so they could fit more on the spool, which is why they frequently got chewed up. 

1985 was very much a transition period for me. Having spent the late 70s listening to the Clash, The Stranglers, Stiff little fingers and the like, by 85 I was listening to stuff like:-

Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen

Pat Metheny Group - Travels, First Circle

Andreas Vollenweider - Caverna Magica, White Winds

I remember having a couple of cool cassettes (Teac I think) which had faux aluminium spools, that looked like a reel to reel set up. 

18 minutes ago, andy67 said:

Think Suzi might be playing a BB here:

 

 

BB2000 ?

Two live albums I come back to time after time are by my favourite band, The Pat Metheny Group: 

Travels (1983)

The Road to You (1993)

It’s hard to say they trounce their studio albums as all of their output is superb. However the live versions of some of the tracks are what I regard as being the definitive versions. ‘Are you Going With Me” on Travels being an obvious one. I’ve heard several recordings of this and seen them play it live a good few times and none beat this particular live version. A few other tracks are the same, although the studio version of San Lorenzo has the edge on the Travels version I think. 

It’s amazing how they were able to articulate their complex studio sound in a live environment, with the performance on the day adding the icing on the cake. 

I’ve been watching this topic with interest and, as a supporting member, the only annoyance for me was the pointless “Got it” pop up with its lacking functionality. 

However, before the trial was suspended, I logged out to see what the fuss was all about and was shocked to see the plethora of poorly placed adverts. Logging back in again restored the calm, clear look and feel that I appreciate about the site.

What it confirmed for me was just one benefit of being a supporting member which, at a cost of around 5p per day, to me is a small price to pay for such a fantastic resource.

Surely the answer to keep the site running as painlessly as possible is for more users to become supporting members?