LeftyJ

Metric on a US-made bass? I guess pigs can fly!

And what a disappointing gigbag at that! Fender can do better. I generally prefer gigbags over hardcases for portability and because they're easier to store, but having been spoiled by Mono I would be seriously disappointed to receive the one the Am Pro II Classics ship in.

Oh, them. Got it now.

Fender Japan, but made in Indonesia. Saw them, the line includes two signature guitars for the guitarists of Chilli Beans too (a Mustang and a Cyclone).

I dig the offsets (the Am Pro Classic Mustang, and before that the American Performer Mustang, is the only USA-made "standard" Mustang Bass currently available. Same goes for the Jaguar, if you don't count the Johnny Marr signature that's almost twice as expensive) despite them missing some classic features: the Mustang shape differs slightly from the old Mustang basses, and the Jaguar has a 3-way toggle and no rhythm circuit - but I'm pleased it does have a strangle switch instead of the Am Pro I's phase switch.

That reminds me of a keyboardist I once played with who, with a dead serious look on his face, suggested we use the band name "Crusty Seamen"

That Cort hasn't released a lefty version yet Would love one, they look great and if they're anywhere near the quality of the Corts I've owned (older Korean ones, admittedly) I'm pretty sure I'd love it.

To be fair, any store could have ordered those. Just take a look at their Facebook page, all the lovely custom shop instruments pictured there are ordered by (or through) dealers, that are named in the posts. It's true they had a number of "premier dealers" though, of which Sweetwater is one. And I always used to see UpFront Guitars mentioned a lot in posts with tasteful custom orders!

It's interesting this thread was revived just now, because I've been asking myself this question a lot for the last two weeks. My car is dying and needs replacing soon, and financially it comes at a bad time so I figured I'd need to let a few guitars or basses go but I have a hard time deciding which ones: I quite like the range of different tones in my arsenal, but I barely have an active band anymore and little desire to find one. So realistically, I could do with very few instruments. When I ask myself "Which one do I play the most?" the anwer is usually simply "The most recent one I bought". I have a few favourites that are very versatile but don't excel at one type of tone or character, and I have a few with a very defined character that do a certain tone very well that I happen to like, but it's usually the latest acquisition that gets played the most. Currently that's my Fender Mod Shop Jaguar. I know I have too many because a few of my guitars and basses mostly stand in my rack unused. When I do play those they always bring a smile to my face though: because of how they sound or play, or because of memories of former bands and gigs. My left-handedness adds to my hoarding instinct, because I have found that seller's remorse is a right pain in the butt and lefty guitars and basses are extra hard to replace because they can be so rare. It took me 10+ years to find two "identical" guitars to two I foolishly sold once. Would I risk that again?

Latest rumour (as quoted from an unnamed source on The Gear Page and the GLGuitars subreddit) is Fender did indeed buy the company, will keep the Tribute line alive and possibly even amp it up, but is going to shut down regular USA production. There will only be small batches of premium US "Collectors" models from time to time, at premium prices.

One of the first things they did was reinstate the Fender headstock on the Charvel guitars and the Phil Collen signature, which I think was a cool move because they had sent them the dreaded cease and desist letter over that earlier . And the distribution through Fender's network saved a LOAD of costs too. I know because I had just bought a brand new Japanese-made Jackson DK2 guitar for €1039 and had to watch Fender drop the prices down to just €650 while adding genuine Seymour Duncans and black hardware to the model and retaining the factory in Japan when mine had Duncan Designed pickups

Awesome! I love the yellowing on the bindings and fingerboard inlays. The toaster in the neck position is a great addition too (I think the high gain pickups were stock?).

Sire GB5 series, Godin A4/A5? Not UK-made obviously, but rather interesting and I think the Sire offers remarkable value for money.

That would probably be Hohner

Yes, Fender has a long history of acquiring brands and killing them off because they only wanted to gain certain expertise. Not as bad as Gibson, thank heavens, but their track record is not good. I truly hope G&L will live on and will have their legacy (no pun intended) preserved though. I think they're a wonderful brand with their own identity and great instruments.

Famous last words

That's because they're essentially a passive bass in the first place. The EQ is fully passive and cut-only. The only active bit in the L2K electronics is the boost circuit. They're a bit of an oddity in that sense. Other active basses usually have active tone controls that also boost certain frequencies, and which can be bypassed. Some add active pickups to that package which have a preamp built into the pickup itself that needs power at all times to function.

I've been considering selling my Status S2 Classic 4-string because I only ever play my 5-string ever since adding that to the herd, but I'm still undecided. It would not be an easy bass to replace if I ever come to regret it. And with the whole B-word stuff it would end up more expensive too. I need to buy another car and need to free up some funds, but it's hard to decide what I want to let go.

Looks spectacular! Great top, and a wonderful burst. I love the Burstbuckers, I have a Burstbucker #1 and #2 in my Tokai ES-60 and it sounds great. I also love 10's more on a 24.75" scale. My Tokai has 11's on it currently, but I have 10's on my Cort MGM-1. Still in doubt about what suits my Jaguar (24") best. I have 10's on it currently, would like to try 11's but would need to do some work on the nut and I'm really not eager to.

Your pic would do great in this thread. What a lovely pair!

*ahem* It's the one current G&L headstock I don't like the look of though. It's blobby, wonky, and the way the G tuner is positioned just feels like an afterthought. In the past there have been far worse offenses, like the headstocks (and everything else, really) on the Interceptor guitars and basses.

This thread and the posts over on Reddit inspired me to pick up my ASAT Special again last night after neglecting it for some time, and it was fun. It's such a lovely guitar, and the Jumbo MFD pickups are wonderful. Loud, defined, with more low end and brightness than any other single coil guitar I own, but they clean up beautifully when turning down the volume control. And thanks to the treble bleed the character stays intact when turning it down. Their electronics really are their forte. I sold an ASAT Special once and regretted it for years, I won't make that mistake twice!

For the minor sum of only 2500 GBP you can be the owner of that lush Ibanez MC924 in the for sale section

This is painfully accurate :') They like to present themselves as innovative, when all their innovations date back to the 1980s or earlier and they haven't kept on innovating since- unless you count scrapping Leo's fairly unique Bi-cut neck with single-action truss rod in 2006, and replacing it with a more conventional double-action truss rod routed below the fingerboard, as on most modern guitars, and switching to a whopping FOUR neck bolts instead of three, and six on some basses. I love G&L, one of my guitars dearest to me is an American ASAT Special (one of the earliest with 4-bolt neck, but still with the bi-cut neck) and I've owned a few others in the past (another ASAT Special, a Legacy Special and an SB-2, all 3-bolts) and all of them were wonderful. I would hate to see the brand disappear.