TheLowDown

At first I found them very esoteric to begin with, perhaps because of the way they're often explained. I can't recall my eureka moment though, but I think it was when someone suggested thinking more in terms of the scale degrees than notes that it started to come together. So many times I heard many many people saying something like "Dorian is just the major scale but starting on D", but that's not the way to think about it, and this confused me no end because there were other explanations. When I began to think of Dorian as the major scale with flat 3rd and flat 7th is when it clicked because it doesn't have to start on D(when using the C major scale to explain it). I think they're very important to be aware of because their theory relates to lots of other things too(such as the notes of each scale, more soloing possibilities, the family of chords in a chord progression. It enables you to understand why things work the way they do), but not particularly important for most regular bassists when playing day to day. I think they're important to be aware of too when wanting to improve because it shows you different options.

Way too heavy for me, unfortunately. Also, from the basses that I have it doesn't give me anything that that I need that isn't already covered. I know what you mean by really light basses feeling toy-like, but I think 8-8-5lbs is almost like a sweet spot. I have an Ibanez 6 string that's about 9.9lbs, and that's at the maximum for a 6 string, if it had fewer strings it would be a candidate for being shown the door.

Sire's are great basses with flexible preamps and good value for money judging from mine, but from what I've read the Z3 may be a little on the heavier side for some people. Personally, though, no neck pickup no interest.

If I didn't have a 6 string I would be very tempted at that price! The headstock is what puts me off though as it's likely to weigh a ton.

This may well be true. Pints, miles etc. Feet and inches for height, arguably used by the majority of the UK population. I don't see things changing anytime soon tbh.

It's in the UK too. I still think in feet and inches (and stones and lbs for weight), and I don't know anyone else that doesn't.

I didn't gel with mine and because of the scale length I didn't find it at all ergonomic, plus I don't fancy paying extra for strings. On balance, the cons outweigh the pros.

Caution is best applied to 'deals' as many retailers bump the price up in the weeks or months beforehand and then lower them for black friday.

A bass mug https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335021825055

Some cracking bands listed so far which happen to be amongst my current faves for the last several years, such as Haggis Horns, the New Mastersounds. More good stuff includes The Underbelly featuring Roxie Ray, Dojo Cuts, Lack of Afro,...

Pretty much anything from Incognito and Brand New heavies, such as edit: oops, just noticed that it's about the Acid Jazz label rather than genre. Should have gone to Specsavers.

I stopped selling after the forced move to 'managed payments' away from using Paypal.

Absolutely! I'm a hardcore list guy, I keep lists of pretty much everything. Possibly as a means of security.

Currently the only chocolate I eat is 100% cocoa dark chocolate, nothing added. The nutritional info shows only 2.7g of sugar per 100g.

Not surgery as such.

Absolutely not. If I was ever hung up enough on my appearance to want to use surgery to change it, I would think that the problem lies elsewhere with me. You often see people who have had surgery where further down the line, they look far worse than if they'd not had it at all when they were younger.

Each to their own, and many people have their own personal choices which work for them. But as it's a recommendation to the OP who wants tips for transitioning from the 4 to the 5 string, I'm recommending floating thumb as it's a good and effective technique that's versatile for almost any situation and for any number of strings. I would consider techniques which are effective and versatile over those which are just easier or quick to get to grips with

What do you consider to be equally as good or better then?

Treat the 5 string as a whole rather than as a 4 string with an added B string. What I mean is, it's useful to understand how each of the 5 strings relate to each other in terms of intervals. This allows you to get a more flexible mind map of the fretboard. Floating thumb is a must, and I think it's the best way however many strings are used. And to keep your thumb approximately on the centre of the back of the neck

I don't see any issue with the headstock in the OP.

The shape of the headstock is pretty low down in my priorities. Unless it's impractical in any way then it shouldn't matter IMO, and I don't really see anything impractical about it.

Actually, it's a significant cost to create content. For example

The former. Spending more doesn't necessarily give you more, and the law of diminishing returns of price against quality is pretty low IMO - around £300-500 being the sweet spot - because of cheap labour and CNCs. Basses are simple modular things. The only practical advantage of buying one pricier bass rather than several lower priced basses is that of choice for if you have absolute specific requirements for a particular model, for whatever reason. Ideally I would prefer a more middle ground of 3 or 4 basses because it's highly unlikely that I would ever want to have only 1 expensive bass. Tastes change, situations change, requirements change.

Good job! Seems like a pretty decent bass 👍. I noticed them at Thomann recently, they seem quite new.

Hate is much too strong a word, but I'm unlikely to buy a BC Rich-style(don't find the designs practical), greatly overpriced brands(eg Rics, Fenders, etc), boutique basses, thunderbirds(terrible ergonomics), lined fretlesses(the side dots in the 'wrong' place really throws me), or a jazz(tend to be on the heavier side and doesn't offer anything that I need).