LeftyJ

I do bring my best (a Status Graphite S2 Classic - which is no longer in production and difficult to replace, especially as it is a rare lefty). It is a solid and dependable workhorse and out of all my basses it does best what I need it to do in the band I'm currently with (doom metal in the very low tuning of A). I didn't purchase it new and didn't pay a huge sum for it (traded a Stingray 5 + 100 GBP). I might have been more hesitant if I had paid the 4000GBP+ new price for it. It's still not nearly Fodera or Alembic money, but I couldn't see myself A: spend that much on a bass and B: feel comfortable taking it out of the house.

Just don't let it get wet or it'll rust

OK, I'll be the partypooper then. I liked the red, and it looks like a very high quality refin job! Probably wasn't cheap. That said, it also made it look like one of the earliest Rockbass series Corvettes, which came in several solid colours including bright red. So you did well transforming it back into a real Warwick again

Wow, it wasn't until scrolling halfway through your post until I noticed the finish is transparent! That's a gorgeous colour, looks fantastic. I love the mix of old and modern features and looks. The aged white pickup covers are distinctly 1980s, the stacked knobs are 1960, but the contoured heel and flatter fingerboard radius are very modern. Very cool!

I have a Pau Ferro fingerboard on my Sandberg Lionel and I love it! I've seen examples that look pretty pale and bland, but the one on mine is grainy and colourful and looks fantastic IMO. It's also not nearly as porous as rosewood, but much more dense like ebony.

May have something to do with the Hughes & Kettner brand being acquired by Thomann recently. I wonder if they're going to be a Thomann-exclusive brand from now on.

I'm inclined to agree with this. I bought two Nordymutes last year (because I needed 17mm spacing for one of my shortscales, and 20mm for my other 4-strings) and I feel the string slots are cut too tightly. It would probably benefit from having a slight V-taper to the slots, so the tension can be adjusted more gradually. On one of my basses it's also difficult to put it in the optimal position (as close to the saddles as possible) because the intonation screws are quite long and protrude a good 1-2 cm through the saddles (2 at the E, 1 at the G).

I guess in a way they're a gateway drug to the actual Custom Shop, where the options are less limiting. They're basically selling stock American Professional models (oddly they're still closer in spec to the previous range, they didn't update them to Am Pro II spec yet. For example, most Mod Shop models don't have the contoured heel of the Am Pro II) with a much wider palette of finish options and neck shapes / woods. They used to have some more exotic options in the first year the Mod Shop was offered (like a channelbound fingerboard, which looked really luxurious and beautiful) but they stopped offering those fairly quickly. But yes, some more vintage options would be cool!

Never seen one in a left handed version. Would be genuinely surprised if there are any.

The Mod Shop experience isn't offered here in the Netherlands, and the way Fender designed their site the configurator can't even be accessed from here, as much as I'd love to have some fun with it I do own a Mod Shop Jaguar (g**t*r, sorry) but I bought it used so I can't comment on the experience of ordering one. Mine came with a spec sheet that doesn't fully match the actual build. For one, the sheet mentions a bound fingerboard but it doesn't have one - and it probably never was an actual option for lefties. It should also have V-mod pickups but the ones actually in it appear to be some kind of 1962 reissue pickup with bevelled polepieces and cloth wire. I'm pretty sure the neck is the actual one it came with, because there is no other way of acquiring a 24" scale lefty 60s spec C-shape Fender USA neck with a 9.5" radius outside the actual Custom Shop or the Mod Shop. It's a fantastic guitar by all means, with impeccable build, fit and finish.

I use this one too, and love it. I went with the "GuitarTech Service Station" which also includes a neoprene tabletop mat to place your guitar / bass on (sorry, couldn't be arsed to change Thomann's settings to English / GBP ).

I have no experience playing any Moon basses, but to me you just summed up the neck of my 2003-ish Fender MIJ JB75-US! Narrow nut width, but a fairly deep almost U-shaped neck profile. Mine is heavy too, with a very substantial ash body. I love it, and have owned it since about 2008.

Still confuses the hell out of me that a 5-string version of the L2000 is called the L2500, but the 5-string version of the L1000 is an L1005 and the L1500 is an L1000 with the pickup moved towards the bridge position

That's the one indeed!

Many, maybe, but most? I've never seen one on a real Rick in the wild. There's a guy in the US who has been selling the Treble bezel since 2008-ish, which fits into the original bridge pickup surround. I had an early smooth one in black, but later designs also came in chrome and optionally with an integrated thumbrest (with choice of a scoop to anchor your thumb into, or a ridge on top).

...and he did. Bax is reopening under the old, fired CEO Jochanan Bax and an investor.

Please have that

I have done many gigs with 4 or 5 originals bands playing the same stage on the same evening, where it is often impossible for all the bands to do a full soundcheck because of time limitations. Often the choice is made to only soundcheck the band that uses the most inputs on the mixing desk. The previous band I was in usually played without amps and cabs on stage. We had two guitarists with stereo setups, my bass (single XLR), a backing track with backing vocals and synths and a pretty basic drum kit with kick, snare, 4 toms, hi-hat and just a few cymbals. We brought our own monitoring rack that had everything except the drums plugged into it, and from there to front of house. The only drawback to that was the XLRs for the other bands still had to go to their gear and mics. We were often complimented for being so easy to mix and to balance well. Therefore we weren't afraid to play without a soundcheck, a linecheck would often suffice and well within the first 30 seconds of the first song everything would be fine. We did prefer to do a full soundcheck though - and we always tried to be disciplined, without unnecessary noodling.

They look like modified Hipshot D-style bridges, with different saddles and forfeiting the usual tailpiece: 4 String D Style Bass Bridge Really interesting idea!

The Mamas, Papas and Childfree by choice

Very nice! I had a USA version in 3-tone sunburst with a rosewood fingerboard years ago, and kinda wish I hadn't sold it. It was one of several basses I just wasn't ready to appreciate just yet because at the time it wasn't modern enough, didn't have enough strings, and too few knobs or what have you. But I would play the hell out of it now!

I own basses and guitars with radii varying from 7.25" (my favourite Strat and my '75 Jazz reissue) to 20" (my Warwick Streamers) and I most definitely favour the curvier ones The Warwicks are comfortable too though, but far from fully flat.

I love how understated and elegant that looks! And I'm an absolute sucker for olive wood. I always drool at those cutting boards they sell at Xenos and Dille & Kamille here (Dutch people will understand ). Beautiful bass! I'm a bit put off by the lack of a fingerboard radius and the filter pre - but I guess mostly due to never having tried either of those! I'd love to have a go on one some day.

I had a Warwick Streamer LX shipped to me in just its gigbag, with an old t-shirt wrapped around the headstock. The shipping label was stuck to the gigbag itself, with no extra tape to keep it secure. That was quite the heart attack when it was delivered to my workplace. I didn't have the wits to ask the driver to hang around for a second while I inspected the bass, so he was gone in a heartbeat. Luckily it had survived intact, and it's one solid chunk of bass! Well, except for the neck pickup which turned out to be dead, but that was unrelated to the (lack of a) packaging job.