Shaggy

Aw, one of my favourite guitarists in my favourite bands, and such a larger than life character. Circa 1976 I was briefly known as “Wliko” at school as I had the same haircut as him......

We had this exact problem when our guitarist moved away and left our funk /soul / disco / ska band, so we had to audition for a new one - I even put In the JMB ad “style-wise; think Nile Rogers rather than Hendrix.....”. Simply couldn’t find one, and the band folded. When you listen to Nile, you realise what a clever and intuitive player he really is. 😎

Yup, good luck with this, and that amp is going to be so much more special to you when done than something you bought ready to plug and play. IMHO those old silverface Bassman amps are the best looking amps ever made. Around 20 years ago I was lucky enough to find a Bassman 135 silverface head in a local junk shop. Got it for £50 as it was dead as a doornail, but - as I’d hoped - a new set of power valves brought it back to life. That amp with an old H/H 2x15 cab was my gigging rig for many years - long gone now, but missed. Update the thread after the restoration! 👍

Great, thanks for that Bassassin - what a great site! 👍 I might still try to make my own just because of the colour, but that’s a very good plan B. They're actually cheaper than the couple of old Thunder TRC’s (Thunder Jet and Thunder 1A unfortunately) from Bristol guitars on uk eBay.

You're a star Rich, thanks so much, and there's absolutely no hurry. Yes, as far as I can see all the Thunder range have the same type TRC. I might get an engraver to get the wording as close to original as poss, as I doubt my skill with a Dremel will cut it...... (boom boom) Mine should look the same as on this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Rare-1981-Westone-Thunder-llA-Fixed-Neck-PJ-Bass-Guitar-MIJ-Japan-Case/394324212665?hash=item5bcf8dfbb9:g:jPsAAOSw3LRi6EHM&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoNI4AK6ewnqUIoVXb1cFy3N+4zWT2c4y9AqhcsjennlX80qWR9KDVdZJvLfzc1MJPrI/TinxyWSoFydsNQO5dJhHlZ/Kx6qAcVtAwV+uoUMOz/uh+nx6MZMiF8hUNggljp0mgd5JBF6BlJjWjwZ/IN5kcUjigDxUTXQWqiwLMxlnwD9MdEacDl/iNFKN5VSIBHcx9fTrO39aeiOR99OR8jc=|tkp:Bk9SR5KLsrKMYQ&pageci=95ec67ea-14d8-4a9f-8331-22e532adb0cc&redirect=mobile

Hope this is in the right section..... Having recently acquired a lovely Westone Thunder 2 bass on this very forum, I’m looking to source a replacement for the missing truss rod cover. Unlikely I’ll find an original, particularly as for this particular model it’s creme rather than black, but it’ll be a straightforward DIY job for me to cut one out of a spare bit of pickguard material. However, what I need is an exact template to copy, so I’m wondering if a very kind Thunder owner could please trace an exact outline of theirs by drawing around their TRC, and send me the outline template? Not sure if it’s feasible to email / PM it as the copy needs to be 1:1, but if posting on a bit of paper I’ll of course cover postage cost. If someone happens to have the guitar rather than the bass, I’m pretty sure the TRC is exactly the same. Thanks guys and gals! 👍

Did a bass swap with Dunc (my favourite kind of deal, that only really works on BC) that took around 2 weeks to complete from my first PM, and like all trades involved a fair bit of trust on both sides. So I’m now the proud owner of a Westone Thunder 2; a bass I first fancied back in the ‘80’s, but never owned until now. Fabulously smooth deal, top guy to chat with, very happy bunny here - just to reinforce previous posts that Dunc is one of BC’s genuine good guys, you can absolutely deal with him with complete confidence 👍

Bought an Aguilar pickup off Mike yesterday, easy deal and a great guy to chat with - pickup delivered less than 24 hours after my first PM. I don’t think you can improve on a deal like that! Many thanks fella 👍

What a great story. I can see this as the launch of a new hit TV series: "BCIS" (Bass Criminal Investigative Service) . Huge kudos to Fluid Druid and his shop - as a fellow Bean owner I really felt for the OP. A particularly nice TB2000 too, some lovely flame in that koa

Not so much "road worn" this one, as "barn worn" - a 1958 Gibson EB-2 I had from the US a good few years back (pre silly import duties....) that had allegedly been hanging up in a barn in one of the Southern States for around the previous 4 decades. No reason to doubt it, as even the strings seemed original. Finish checking /peeling is down to water damage, particularly on the rear, stabilised with a top coat of clear nitrocellulose. The fingerboard had to be reattached too.

An unoriginal choice, but prize for most random lyrics has to go to Procol Harem’s “Whiter shade of pale”. Of course everyone was high on the good stuff back then, so it probably made more sense. Fiction Factory’s “Feels like heaven” comes a close second. Both great songs, mind.

“...... The body cavity still has some of the original Blond paint, which was the only color on Precision basses made during this era” Better tell Sting his sunburst ‘57 must be a refin then.....😉

Really nice strings, I’ve used nothing else on my fretted basses for the last couple of years. Good articulate sound (very growly on my Warwicks), last far longer than uncoated, and they’re tapered so a narrower part of the core runs over the bridge saddle, improving sustain. Only downside they can feel a tad sticky / grabby when doing slides, especially when new and especially if your hands are sweaty.....

Agreed - that Gary Jules one was the start of a truly dreadful trend for doing ‘80’s songs in an incredibly dreary way..... Probably the only song of Dylan’s where the original was definitely best. As much as I like Eric Clapton’s output and respect how it’s evolved over the years, have to say I like his covers least, particularly during his ‘70’s “reggae” phase.

Any cover done by UB40 🤮

Holy moly....😧. I thought it had to be one of those crazy Japanese listings, but no, it’s in Brum. But I guess if Thor himself has fettled the fretboard it has to be a bit special?

Ye layer The am The embers David ssex Jayne County and the Electric hairs The eekers (and of course, the New eekers....)

A few very lovely Mesa Boogie 400 / 400+’s on this thread, but not the rarer beast it evolved from: the D-180. Here’s my mid ‘80’s one. I've owned a few valve amps over the years; 1970’s Orange 100W and Fender Bassman 135, Ampeg SVT 2, and Trace Twin Valve. Settled on this for the last few years (though to be honest with recent bands it hasn’t really had a chance to get out much 🙁) - plenty of power, portable (easy one hand carry), a mere 6 power valves at re-valve time, DI out, and of course fabulous tone. Unlike the 400 it’s 2 channel; a clean one for bass and a second for guitar with the same cascade saturation circuit as the Mesa mark series guitar amps - which of course is pretty filthy on bass too! 😎