Wayne Firefly

Over the years I've had 9 MM basses and had 2 'Rays that had this issue. My current USA Sterling had it too....BOOMING E and whispering G. I lowered the pickup until the boom stopped and whaddya know, the G woke up as well !! To my deafened ears, the 3 bands are a softer, polite-er version, the 2 band is a snarling rasping animal. I love my battered old Sterling and have often considered fitting the new 2 band Sterling Classic circuit to it instead of the stock 3 band to make it a little more aggressive.

Fit with around 2 winds around the capstan, quick tug around the 12th fret, drops to slack again, back to pitch, another tug drops it to around a semi tone-ish down, back to pitch, another tug, SHOULD stay reasonably stable. Just something I found that works on tour with no time to waste. They are not on long enough to worry about long term effects anyway !!! I kind of do it to tighten them up on the capstans like tying / tightening a shoelace tight, metaphorically speaking.

Count yourself lucky you didnt order a Zon !!!!!

I dragged a Warwick around the USA in an anvil style case which drove me mental with its size and weight. It still came away with a hole punched straight into it like a bullet hole and a corner almost busted off. Got SKB / Gator / Just In Case, ABS style lightflight things as lighter alternatives. Much easier to deal with, but have been through four of them in the last few years as they get crushed, corners smashed off, dents, deep gashes and allsorts of horror damage BUT the basses so far have always survived intact and undamaged (so far ....ahem). I usually lock and gaffa tape down the latches, even the ATA rated ones. I usually try an get a couple more flights out of them by making merry with a fibreglass car body repair kit. Thats when they go in the hold on BA flights from London airports. Now, we flew to Serbia on Air Serbia last year and my current surviving SKB case was 13 centimeters too long by their ruling, so would have cost £300 to go in the hold.... I took my old '91 Ibanez SR600, neck off, neck in a rugby sock, in a gig bag, folded over and luggage strapped up, took on as hand luggage, went under my seat, no problems whatsoever. Also, Serbia have some kind of ruling about customs and equpiment that they could impound your gear if they have any inkling you may have tried to sell it in their country or may have bought it there and not paid them import / export tax. It made sense to take my oldest workable bass just incase...... It was fine anyway. Another daft thing I do is put large long case-length strips of bright yellow gaffa tape either side of the case so it can bee seen 200 or 300 meters away down Heathrow's cavernous halls if its put out by baggage handlers somewhere odd. I also have 8 long strips of gaffa withoiut having to carry a roll of heavy tape. I guess its easy to say when you have an older, bit battered semi decent bass too. I have a hammered USA Sterling which will end up being my 'flight' bass from here on as I wouldnt want the Zon taking a hit or lost. A decent maple neck with a non angled back headstock also helps with being able to take a good clout when thrown by an unscrupulous baggage handler.

Not my first time in Wunjos but my first time in Wunjos bass cellar bit..... loved it, great little place full of tasty gear and friendly staff too !!! Definitely be somewhere I frequent in future. A nice Spector in the window I was severely tempted by too, tickling my Jason Newsted GAS........

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1478608326' post='3170216'] You're in Vice Squad!? Cool! Always fancied Beki (predictably enough!) [/quote] Yes !! She gets that a lot !!!

[quote name='Jon bass' timestamp='1478621895' post='3170375'] Any joy with shipping? I'm going to get in contact again soon. [/quote] Yes, got an email without having to get in touch on Friday 4th Nov saying that after a few tweaks it would be posting Monday 7th but had nothing yet to say anything has shipped. Wont be holding my breath. Whatever.

Heres me and my old Ray-Tus !!

Broken dozens of strings haha !!! With a pick can get maybe 10 hours from a set before they start to break but with fingers, never broken one !!!

To be fair I never had any intention of coming across as s***** or anything or actually trying to put anyone off Zon basses. I just was interested to know if anyone else had any experiences with waiting times !!!

Well, I got an email without having to chase it up, last Friday (28th Oct) saying its waiting on the Hipshot de-tuner and should ship the following Wednesday, I.E. tomorrow (2nd Nov.) I wont hold my breath. As far as I can work out, they must be taking orders for a few to come in before building them. Instead of building each bass individually as ordered, they must wait until they have enough orders to make 20 / 25 or so, then sort them all out at once. Considering its not got a fancy top / exotic woods etc, pretty standard parts, Barts, Gotohs, Hipshot etc, I cant really get why its taken so long. Good god, if it got that bad supply-wise for a couple of basses, you could get Gotohs off Ebay !!! Ill put money on the Sonus bodies being CNC'ed then hand finished / sanded like all the other Sonus basses, I can only imagine the necks are standard Sonus necks, I can only guess a 'production schedule' only begins when enough orders are taken. They should be honest and say its a year waiting list instead of being told 'As you paid upfront we can bump you up the production schedule' BS. Got a two week tour starting next week, I would have liked to have had if for then. Guess my tired old MM Sterling will take up the slack.....again !!!

Im led to believe Andrew Levy and his old 70's Jazz played on very early Jamiroquai stuff too, according to an old interview with him in Bassist magazine....Zender had a Streamer, didnt he ?

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1477494607' post='3162593'] On the plus side I guess. At least you paid in full up front, thus avoiding a rather nasty shock thanks to the demise of the pound. [/quote] I thought of this !!!

Lets put it this way, if I'd known then what I know now, I probably wouldnt have bothered ordering. I have not emailed lately as Im trying to - A. not worry too much and B. if I do, Im afraid Ill spout a load of negative rubbish so its best I just shut my yap and get used to the idea of waiting. In fact, Im interested to know how long it'll go before Im contacted as I have not had any kind of correspondence voluntarily from them at all. The downside of this is, I'll just end up stewing and worrying if it will end well. Guess that'll teach me for trying to stretch myself !!!

Zon BG4 Billy Gould sig........well, sort of !!!

Bought Bass Player since '91, got pretty much all copies of Bassist when it was out, got BGM from like the 2nd issue but it slowed down to maybe 3 copies per year now as as much as I hate to say it, its slightly 'cheesy' if thats the right word. Its easy to spot who gets a review and how well it will do is what advertising space gets bought. If Mayones and Sandberg get (another) review, mark my words it'll be within 3 pages either side of a corresponding advert. Its just how magazines work. Always has. Same with album reviews, take a half page ad out in a music mag, you'll get a glowing review and maybe a small feature too !! I dont care who's on the cover. Rocco Prestia or Tom Araya !!!!

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1475782792' post='3148786'] I shuddered when a guy walked into a shop I was browsing in, to show off his new guitar he'd bought from Thomann 'quite a bit cheaper than you sell it for'. What was the shop guy expected to say? [/quote] When this happened to me I was just slack jawed to start then actually asked outright 'Have you only come in to show me....what you have bought.....from somewhere else ?' I told him to F O pretty much, I was willing to take the risk he might not come back and buy something.

[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1476132292' post='3151692'] I wonder if Dave Lombardo leaving Slayer in 1986 was a coincidence or if he had been promised another gig. There is a youtube video of James, Kirk and Rob playing Helpless with Charlie Benante which sounds great. Funny as Lars walks in and his face is a picture. [/quote] Wow, Hetfield, Hammett, Burton, Lombardo........That could have been a blast (excuse the pun). But then again, when you look at Metallica with Mustaine, if that had lasted, how good would they have been or how long would it have gone before it imploded ?? Charlie Benante is a superb drummer, accurate, super fast and creative whilst holding down the band faultlessly. Anthrax certain are lucky basts !!!!

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1475790059' post='3148864'] This is spot on. I worked in that other bastion of rudery - a record shop - for 13 years. Another intimidating environment for the casual shopper. I was (with a handful of notable exceptions...) painfully polite and helpful, which resulted in loyal, happy customers...and a few examples of real human flotsam and jetsam, but that's another story... On a good day, it was brilliant - chatting about obscure 80's U.S Alt-Rock bands, playing Nick Drake, Teenage Fanclub, Posies and NY Disco tunes as well as the typical chart fodder. The other side was The Great British Public. Oh, the stories I could tell...from the cute but confused section... a little old lady with her grandsons Christmas list in her hand, asking for a record by the Ram-oneys, a bemused young bloke asking for a CD by Suzi Cointreau, a lovely old geezer asking for a needle for his Fertility record player...and on. People getting irate when we refused to swap CDs which they smeared jam over and tried to play because they'd seen it done on "Tomorrow's World", for example. My favourite moment was when a guy complained that a compilation CD we were selling at £12.99 (in our dinky little Indie shop) was available at Sainsburys for £11.99. I asked him (not unreasonably. I feel) why he didn't just go and buy if from the aforementioned supermarket. "They ain't got it in stock", he replied. My parting comment was "When we haven't got in stock, we sell it here for £10.99". That day, I lost a sale. Satisfying? You betcha. [/quote] Very funny, well done !!!!

Been a fan of Metallica since 1986, Cliff was a great inspiration to me from an attitude and aggression front. What does my head in, in all the bass magazines for years he was pretty much ignored and as metal has always had its share of people knocking it, he was never really mentioned. Now as the years have passed, Aria now decide to release signature SB1000s and all that now he's a 'legend' !! 25 years too late with the basses although you can pick up an original for a lot less than their signature reissues are !! Scott Ian spilled the firing Lars beans quite blatantly, so if history HAD been different, We could have had a James, Kirk and Cliff band with a different drummer and Metallica might have carried on with another line-up as Lars owns the name. The loss of Cliff made James and Kirk decide to stay put. If they had continued as Metallica, who knows how they'd have ended up sounding ?? Might Cliff had left as the years went by... as I cant imagine him getting a haircut and eyeliner later on somehow. We'll never know.

[quote name='stuckinthepod' timestamp='1476105344' post='3151300'] Law of Sod applies. When you are gassing for something new your gear will be stalwart and unbreakable. When you are finally happy with everything... breaksville! [/quote] For touring duties I change them out every two years or so but Sod's Law does apply !! I bought one of those new VT500 heads couple of months back, plugged in and switched on at a gig, squeal and pop. Refund and back to the Gallien Im using and still using. GAS does invite Sod !!!

[quote name='Jon bass' timestamp='1475844124' post='3149165'] Hi, If it's any consolation I'm also waiting on a BG4 from Zon. I ordered mine start of February, was told it would be ready June/ July as they had already started making a batch and there was one spare. I'm guessing yours is in the same batch? I know for a fact that there were delays with Bartollini. I even contacted Bartollini who were very apologetic and helpful. I've had pretty much the same experience as you it sounds although you've been waiting even longer! Like you, I really don't want to be that PITA guy and likewise I don't have so much of a problem with the delay, but the communication has been disappointing. Doing a bit of research I think it's a case of we will get there in the end, but I would rather be given realistic expectations and updates to save the worry! Can't wait to play that beast of a bass! [/quote] Yeah, I was told Bartolini had been a bit crap about winding the pickups they needed so fair enough, I was also told that my bass had been completed and was ready to ship at the end of the week, 4 weeks ago. Heard nothing since. So, again, if I'd known I probably wouldnt have ordered or indeed paid in full up front. I appreciate they are busy etc etc but still feel like my chain is being pulled. I get it, Im not in Metallica !!!! Just frustrated thats all.

Well, Im having twinges of worry, and thats starting to make the whole thing start to taste a bit bitter and all that. I try to not think about it.

Yeah Im aware I may be a PITA every 6 to 8 weeks or so I drop a line to say hows it going, but its a guy called Martin who is the sales / product specialist and he says that Joe has a small team that works with him. (I left it 6 weeks after the due date to ask..May 1st to June 16th or so until 1st email I sent, which I felt was justified) Then I think I sent one early August and the last one was around Sept 20th. I dont think thats harrassing someone, I'd foolishly wanted a progress report. Two or three sentences is all.

I know, Im doing my best to stay cool about it and not be that PITA guy. Just hanging and hanging on.