Beedster

Ed is a 100% top guy to deal with. He sold me one of the best basses I've ever played (a Yamaha TRB5iip), then bought it back from me when I upgraded to the six-string version. He then sold me a combo I'd been after for a while and it is perfect. In each case he bent over backwards to make the deals as straightforward as possible, and I can't thank him enough for this (I've two rugrats that render travel on bass related activity pretty much a no-goer!). I hope that next time we trade something we get the chance for a beer Ed! Chris

I see Fender the same way I am starting to see many aspects of life, not perfect but all round the best bet most of the time. Finding a great Fender us a bit like finding a great track on a Tom Waits album, time consuming but worth the wait and hard to beat once found. I wonder if it's that search that keeps us all engaged, after all, we're not a very faithful bynch when it comes to basses? There are better basses than most Fenders, but as is the case with members of the opposite sex, 'better' rarely means anything useful and has zero explanatory power

I have both them and the full score versions somewhere, I'll try to dig them out. IIRC Lemon Song was pretty faithful

If you're tired of Fender but like the type, try Yamaha BBs

Love to catch you guys live Clarky, keep us posted mate C

I ordered some in stock gear on 2nd, they emailed on 7th saying it was despatched that day (pretty long wait for Thomann), but the link they've sent doesn't work and I have no info on whether the stuff is in the UK or not. I ordered some PUPs from the US the same day and they are here already (used the ebay global postage thingy so they didn't need to go through the import duty process here). I'm not overly fussed about it, but I've never had to wait so long for stuff from Thomann and I've never had poor tracking info from them before. Might be the courier has let them down?

PS if you search Fretless Rickenbacker on here you find some nice clips, it really is a stunning and unique tone

I have a factory 4003FL but mine, and all others I have seen, have dots and not sharks teeth. All instruments I have seen also have hi-gloss boards. Mine sounds very Macca with flats and tapes, sounds crap with rounds. The sound with a pick and Ricky tape wounds is to die for.

[quote name='Wonky2' timestamp='1420757437' post='2653232'] Unless your all pi55 and wind that is........ [/quote] I am

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1420743097' post='2652955'] I suggest you donate it to UKIP....! [/quote] Ha ha, they'd only waste it on alcohol, drugs and women of easy virtue. Damn, I really must join UKIP

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1420720161' post='2652477'] So who gets your £50 if the cash is banked successfuly ? [/quote] Ha ha, some you win, some you lose eh

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1420670202' post='2652117'] Why? I really don't see the problem. Someone comes to my workplace to pick up something I'm selling and they pay with cash. How is it relevant whether they're Chinese or Martians, and whether the person collecting is the final user or their cousin? The precautions about cash are exactly the same as any other cash transaction of the kind we regularly do via this forum, gumtree or whatever. Does it sound a little "different"? Yes. But, all those differences are pretty unimportant. Be cautious, of course! But from a safety point of view, it's surely better that they meet the seller at his workplace and not at his home, right? There will presumably be other people around too. So really, the only issue is whether the cash is legit or a forgery And that is a problem that applies every single time you take cash as payment, the actual identity or nationality of the person bringing the cash and collecting the item is entirely irrelevant... unless this is an eBay transaction, in which case it MUST be posted and be traceable, which I understand this is not the case. [/quote] Nothing to do with nationality (did I mention that?). Even in the old days, when we did things differently, I wouldn't have touched a deal with a third party paying cash. Time will tell eh

£50 says scam. Even if not, as someone who's sold a thing or two on here, if in the same situation I'd decline the sale and seek a more straight forward deal. Good luck either way. C

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1420623119' post='2651323'] I can't see why it appears to be fitted with a adjustable nut - when it has a zero fret? Pointless! [/quote] .....and a zero fret on a fretless isn't exactly ideal for setting it up...

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1419116720' post='2636844'] EUB's occupy a nice little niche between an electric bass guitar and a double bass, but don't sound anything like a double bass. An electric fretless with tapewounds will do just as well as an EUB to simulate a DB. However, an EUB looks cool and gets good feedback from an audience. There is no real benefit spending loads of money on one as they all sound pretty similar, and experimenting with strings can produce more effective results to move closer to a proper upright sound. Just go for the one you like the look of most. [/quote] [quote name='Mr Bassman' timestamp='1419289381' post='2638509'] I'm sorry but after owning and experimenting with at least 10 different EUB's and as many fretless basses, I have to disagree with all comments except the one about strings. [/quote] Totally agree with Keith, EUBs vary hugely, even within manufacturers, my Yammie SLB-100 is a very different beast to the 200, neither sound like a Fretless bass, and I've yet to find s Fretless bass that has the tone and voice of either. I've owned several budget models by Aria, Dean and Stagg and there was perhaps more similarity between these and Fretless basses, but those instruments represent a very small part of the EUB spectrum

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1419070099' post='2636156'] OK. We are not supposed to discuss moderating matters publicly, but seeing as this is an issue that can affect us all I think for transparencies sake I'm gong to flesh this out. Firstly the bass had not been advertised for sale elsewhere, it had been pointed out that this bass had just sold at auction and various links to the auction were posted. Members who have posts deleted do get PM's and where there is a large tidy up the thread might just say that. I worked via PM with one member to edit his post so pertinent information was kept in his post (the link to the auction site) but discussion about profit margins were removed. At this point in time there was no inference and accusation that the bass was not in the hands of the seller. At this point we have to take it on trust that the goods exist and the seller is in possesion of them. If not we could not function as a marketplace. This is where areas like feedback come into play and the general network that we have to sniff things out. Quite simply we do not allow an accusatory tone or mob mentality in any of the sales and we have to act on evidence not opinion. After the thread was tidied up it was up to the seller to post new pics of the bass and guess what, none were forthcoming and the sale was ended by the seller, kind of writing itself. I knew that the current owner of this very lovely Wal would turn up and guess what, he has. Now we have evidence we are able to take appropriate action. The mods have to do their best in an imperfect world where much of the sales are conducted on trust. We have to frequently deal with smaller sales where members have sent money as a gift through Paypal and goods are not forthcoming. It is true, we do give members benefit of the doubt. Sometimes things are late to be posted for family reasons or whatever. But you can bet your boots that once a member is found to be fraudulent a ban is usually immediate. Finally I'll says this to you Beed, and this is something that usually would go in a PM, but as we are being open and honest and transparent I'll say it out loud. I think you are bang out of order to accuse the mods of pf protecting a fraudulent sale and by that I mean any fraudulent sale. There is so much more going on under the surface, that if it was to show on sale threads most of them would just be chaos. Sometimes life is about the journey and sometimes it's about the destination. The journey in this instance may have been rocky but the destination is that all's well that ends well and in that respect the forum has worked. [/quote] Fair enough Billy, no big issue. Points taken Chris

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1419031038' post='2636001'] I'll borrow your crystal ball if you don't mind. [/quote] Let me know when you need it, it's pretty reliable OK, point taken Billy, and apologies to the mods for the above, but I do suspect that the very least that should have been done was perhaps a PM to the members whose posts were deleted saying thanks for your diligence, apologies for the deletes and we're looking into it. I don't think any comment I read suggested sour grapes, or at least I didn't read them that way, just a few folks pointing out that a bass with the same serial number was listed for sale elsewhere, and the O/P editing his posts at a pretty high rate in response. C

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1419026917' post='2635940'] It has to be put in to context though Chris. Until someone is proven to be dishonest we have to show the same courtesy as we do with any other sale thread. If posts are made that may affect the sale for the forum member we will delete them. Fear not, the mod team will be discussing this further. [/quote]. No Gary, it was very very poor judgement given the hard evidence presented by several members at the time, evidence that was deleted by mods leaving the impression that the seller was straight up

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1419026346' post='2635930'] The final post on that Wal FS thread said Posted 01 December 2014 - 08:56 .,,sorry but this guy needs to give a better explanation of his actions or be chucked out of BassChat in my view [/quote] As do the mods who kept deleting the posts clearly stating the above at the time Clarky. Someone could have been badly ripped off as the 'seller' maintained he owned the bass way after was obvious to anyone with any sense that he didn't

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1419024690' post='2635901'] What made it even worse was the fact the bass originally sold for something like £1,500 and was advertised on here for £3,500 before they'd even paid for it! [/quote] Yep

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1419006812' post='2635687'] I think those of us who followed that for sale advert (and then posted amusing comments which were subsequently removed LOL) all thought the same... [/quote] Yep, skeptical posts from honest members who smelled a rat were removed, whilst the interests of the dishonest member were apparently protected....

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1418918448' post='2634856'] I find it hard to believe that Fender are still unaware of the Limelight basses. The fact that they seem to have done nothing about it would seem to indicate that they can live with this (very minor) level of threat to their brand. Imitation is, after all, the most sincere form of flattery. [/quote] Fender appear generally happy with these things unless you try to sell the instruments direct to or in the USA, in which case their lawyers will write to you

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1418857505' post='2634252'] But in April of this year I played the ONLY bass that has ever screamed "I'm yours to me" I literally had nightmares about the price though. £6K for a 1966 Fender P!! Is it worth that?! No, not to me however within the month that P had sold, someone thought it was worth the £6K. This particular bass has been owned by some on here and is ABSOLUTELY flawless minus a few insignificant dings. My P has more dings than the 66. The difference is the 66's neck was utter perfection. It was comfortable and just homely to me! So imagine my delight when I'm told I can get the same feeling from a modern day replica for only £750. I don't care if it has the Fender logo or not. I just want a P bass that has my perfect neck without having to not eat for a few years. There's no harm in that surely? [/quote] That's what I hear from a lot of musicians, and not just bass players. Relicing/ageing/distressing is about feel and function as much as about looks. Fender wouldn't do it if there wasn't a massive market for it, and that massive market includes some pretty serious musicians (for example I know a couple of 'pros who play FCS Pino's because it's to all intents a vintage instrument in feel and tone but without the price point and without the risk). Sure, there's an aesthetic/visual thing going on in some cases, but play a light relic and it feels wonderfully old and played in to the musician but looks pretty much new to the casual observer. Fender logos on the headstocks of non-Fender basses? The only people who should be worried about that are Fender.