Ajoten

That's kinda my point. Manifestly there's a HUGE market for fewer options. Millions of people go for (Fender and Squier) Precisions, possibly above all other options. Perhaps it's just too strong a brand to compete with.

Starfires are NICE. And I hold my hands up, didn't know those Sandbergs came with just the volume/tone controls. I like the look of them a lot. (Coil split means too many options for me 🙂) But I'd still argue that (long scale!) mass market brands don't embrace the concept, and that that's strange. For example I don't understand why there's not a 1 pickup Ibz Talman or Yam BB competing with Fender Players etc.

Sandberg is active I believe. No single pickup BB that I can see, PJ only. SUBs are active. OLP no longer available.

I can't find any, apart from the Les Paul JR DC. Add the J at the bridge and options open up... although in my case I want as few knobs as possible coz ain't got bwain for EQ and tweaking. I'm not opposed to P-basses in the slightest, am just sure I'm missing something. Especially given the not-broken-don't-fix-it ubiquity of Precisions. It's almost like noone dare compete.

Fender I think was 19mm vs my v comfy Ibanez 16.5 at the bridge

Would prefer a P bass myself but don't get on with string spacing on a 5er, and therefore have to take unfathomable active eq on the chin :-)

Well... for me, I don't think I've EVER heard a recording where bass was too much, by anyone. Please recommend examples! You are right though re learning from it. And I think working 100% with the kit, and not try "melodic flourishes" (wtvr) will be better. Also I've just bought a beautiful fretless, and the lower that is in the mix the better 🙃 (Thing is of course, it all worked together nicely till guitar and vox went into the studio and recorded dozens of unexpected overdubs, thus diluting a lot of what I'd done and rendering it a bit daft tbh.)

Thanks everyone, I very much appreciate your thoughts. Much better to get bass players' opinions on this matter, I don't trust guitarists...

I have this crisis every year or so re wondering what the point is, playing bass, when always overlooked and undermixed etc. Or whether my expectations are a bit unreal. So tell me this: the band finished this album, but I almost threw in the towel when thought my er carefully crafted bassin' treated as - dunno - extension of drum kit? Few extra strings of a guitar? Instead of having equal billing with other instruments. https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fGTX1 Do YOU think the bass is loud/clear enough? And do YOU think it sounds similar volume/clarity vs other people's output these days*? (It is mastered btw). Coz rest of band thought on the verge of being too prominent tbh. So I on the verge of giving up. *My take? Everyone's bass unfairly nudged down in mixes. Always. With the exception of Esperanza Spalding, whose producers nail it.

Oh, imagine being able to hear oneself clearly enough in a live situation to know that one's intonation is out! What joy!

This is what I thought/expected, however my finger is thicker than the dot. The harmonics, for example, are directly above the dot, but this means that the "leading edge" of my finger has to be where the dot is. Not the middle of the finger. If that makes sense.