LeftyJ

I use a .125 too. I have tried .130 and .135 but never had anything over .135 on my basses. I like having enough tension in the low B string, but I feel like fatter strings sacrifice clarity, definition and intonation because the extra gauge makes them more rigid. On my Status basses I use their own Hotwire strings which are all taperwound except for the G and I love their quick response and great definition. That said, I'm not someone who experiments with strings a lot. I have used Elixir nickels for many years now, and only started using the Status strings because Elixir doesn't do double ball end sets - and stuck with them because I like them a lot. And now my venture into shortscales also forces me to start experimenting again, which is fun so far.

Same. My girlfriend can be hilariously cynical, so that should be entertaining

The first instrument I ever bought was a recorder (the flute, not the device). I believe my sister may still own it - and she can keep it, I enjoyed it when I was a kid but can't stand them now! I had lessons for a while when I was about 7-8 years old, but quit at the end of primary school and never laid hands on it since. The earliest instrument I bought that I still own is my Squier Affinity Strat that I bought new in 1999. It's a very basic beginner guitar, finished in 3-colour sunburst with a white single-ply pickguard which is now very yellow from age (I don't smoke, nor have I ever). I've modded it with 3 Gary Levinson pickups from a Blade R2 Strat with 3-way switching between the bridge and neck pickups, and a second 3-way switch that adds the middle pickup in either series or parallel for a total of 9 different sounds. I also added Gotoh tuners, a Graphtech nut and Graphtech stringtrees. It's a fun little guitar, but it hasn't left its case in years, The earliest bass that I still own was the 3rd I ever bought (out of around 30-40), a beautiful handmade 5-string by Dutch luthier Ellio Martina that I got used in 2006 (it was built in 2002). It was my main bass for several years, and it's the one that will outlast them all if I ever were required to downsize. It's incredibly comfortable and has a vast range of sounds, from somewhere between modern Jazz Bass to more hi-fi active sounds. It's not my main bass anymore (my Status S2 Classic headless 5-string is) but I'm unlikely to ever sell it.

FTFY. Otherwise I fully agree. I did like that 4005XC they did a few years ago, which was a 24 fret shortscale with the much more elegant body shape of the 330 guitar. That one was conceived as a 90th anniversary model and was a limited edition.

https://g-gotoh.com/product/gb10/?lang=en

Rics have a very weird two-component finish which is somewhat soft and doesn't expand and shrink fast enough to keep up with the wood - so it will crack very easily. I bought a brand new 4003 in 2009 from Guitarguitar and had it shipped to me in the Netherlands, and despite waiting for HOURS before unpacking it, it had lots of hairline cracks in the cutaways which were very noticeable in the Mapleglo finish.

No, John Petrucci is. Music Man have introduced the first JP6 and JP7 guitar models in 2001 and all the prog metal fanboys have been buying them like hot cakes - and many of them didn't stop at one, but bought a whole host of different limited edition finishes. Since 2001 there have been many changes to the model (great marketing trick) so that all the fanboys had to get those as well. And then the John Petrucci Majesty came along, in 2018. The success has completely overwhelmed Music Man, it has quickly become one of their best-selling models to date! It's a neck-through build, prohibitively expensive, with rather dividing looks, but despite all that they sell them faster than they can make them. Music Man have a very clever marketing strategy with their "The Vault" online store, selling many limited editions or special finishes that are only available through the Vault. It gives them full control over those sales, they get the full profit, and because many are Artist models or similar to the one the artist is playing (for example the Mystic Dream flipflop finish associated with John Petrucci: on the old JP6 and JP7 this was a standard option but on the Majesty it's only available through The Vault) the fanboys have to come to Music Man directly if they want one.

Any idea about the origins of that neck? The glue joint down the length makes me think of a pre-2007 G&L neck, when American models had the "Bi-cut neck" that featured a compression-style truss rod that was put in from the side. I would expect the two pieces to match more closely in colour and grain though, as those started off as one-piece necks that were cut down the middle and then rejoined after installing the truss rod.

Good call!

May be worth checking out a Squier Rascal. It's a solidbody shortscale, but the bridge sits relatively far forward so it's equal in length to a longscale P-bass. I don't know about weight, but being a fairly large offset body I imagine it could be somewhat heavy.

Nope. Status Graphite started out with headless basses and guitars with graphite necks from the start. Only later did they start producing basses with wooden necks, until switching back to exclusively graphite in the late 90s or early 00s until Rob Green's semi-retirement in 2023 which saw them abandoning graphite necks and switching back to wood on the Series 23 basses.

You know they shook me baby They shook me all night long

Aye, and The Outlaws' selftitled debut album. Green Grass and High Tides is a true southern rock classic, clocking almost 10 minutes in the album version but live versions would often exceed 20 minutes. They're very much guitar-focused (three lead guitarists, much like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles) and feature a lot of vocal harmonies. Their third album Hurry Sundown is great too.

LOL, quite right!

I beg to differ. Both our guitarists in my metal band used stereo FX and would to straight into the PA from their FX rig, and they incorporated panning in their patches. When they both played rhythm one was panned left and one right. When one played lead, both were panned center. Worked a treat, and sounded great in the venue! We got great feedback from both other bands and sound techs. Except that one time we had a sound guy walk out on us because he thought it was a stupid idea and he had too little to do. I wish I was making that up, but unfortunately it's a true story . We played a club in The Hague run by volunteers, and this guy had been grumpy from the moment we arrived at the venue. He really wasn't having it, and wanted us to all send out a mono signal to work with. When we asked if we could do it our usual way, he just got up and left.

I believe they did that on purpose. Fender had the Modern Player series for a while that was made in China, to fill this gap. But it had a ton of overlap with the more expensive Squiers in the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe line. It was confusing many potential buyers, and in terms of quality the Squier CV and Fender MP were identical. They were quite succesful, but at the same time they made it even more difficult to justify paying that much more for a MIM, let alone an MIA Fender when you could have the Fender name on the headstock of a €400-500 guitar or bass!

I always preferred to stand with my headstock pointing towards center stage, but I had to be careful to avoid any cymbals when I got close to the drummer. In my band we always made it a point to roam the stage a bit, and to keep filling the empty spaces - i.e. when one of the guitarists played a solo he would move to the front of the stage and we made sure to spread somewhat evenly across the stage to avoid any holes where someone stood earlier, to keep every area of the stage visually appealing (if you can call it that when my ugly mug suddenly popped up in a different spot ). We also liked to incorporate little moments where band members made eye contact and faced eachother, and it made far more sense when I was standing toe the right of the drummer (or left when seen from the FOH) because then both the guitarist's headstock and mine would be pointed toward the audience. Felt more comfortable than the other way round, and more visually appealing for the audience. Either way, I always preferred to stay close to the drummer's side.

I don't understand these, to be honest. That's not that far below the recently introduced Sonic series, and close to (I think slightly above) the discontinued Bullet series. Doesn't seem to add a whole lot.

Disagree, I really enjoy it on mine. I noticed slightly tighter (and, in fact, weaker) lows and a minor increase in brightness that I love. It won't be an improvement to everybody, but it was to me

I have a MIJ '75 RI from around 2003. It does have the incorrect pickup spacing (60s style) but as you commented you lean towards a more vintage tone, I would say that it isn't a bad thing necessarily. Still, the woods chosen (heavy ash body) and the somewhat thicker '70s style U-shaped neck (which is in fact very much in keeping with the originals) add to the proper '70s vibe and tone. The weight on the '70s ash models is always a consideration, as the originals can be quite heavy too I would like to add that the Japanese JB75US models don't require a pickup upgrade at all, as they're fitted stock with American-made vintage reissue pickups which sound excellent. The pots can be a different story, and it's often worth upgrading those to something with a smoother curve. I modded mine with a Hipshot Xtender (and changed the other tuners to the same model Hipshot for the hell of it and to match the shine, as the original Gotohs had much more patina), a Badass II and at first I had an Audere JZ3T preamp in it but I didn't like it so switched back to passive but with a 6dB bass boost under a rotary switch to match the appearance of the other knobs. I had the jack moved to the side of the body, and had a battery box routed in the back. I kept the stock pickups, as they're excellent. Here it is before the preamp was added:

I always take pictures of my basses on the wooden floor, but I made an exception for this duo when the light was perfect: Both are early 00's Warwick Streamer LX's. Solid flamed maple body, chunky ovangkol neck with wenge fingerboard, and the stock MEC electronics. The 5-string had its worn gold hardware replaced with black.

If I ever get a boat I'm naming it "Unsinkable II".

LOL, I wonder if you could mean "In the stars" by Benson Boone. That one is actually about the passing of his grandma. It's been played on national radio here in the Netherlands a LOT and I can't stand it.

Sweet! I've never seen that finish on the SSS before, looks splendid! The modern body contouring threw me off and made me think it was a Special.

What sorcery is this? A Stingray Special with ye olde 2-band preamp?