LeftyJ

Are they though? When the first generation came out, they were priced around €800-900. It's only now that Thomann are dumping them that other retailers follow suit and the prices have come down so much.

Compared to a Fender P's pickup positioning, are the coils just reversed but in the same general position or is the treble coil in the Fender position and did they move the bass coil closer to the bridge? I do like a reverse P + J, combined they give such a classic rock and metal tone! Back in the 80s and early 90s when many rock bassists were playing Spector, Kramer, Charvel and other PJ's (or a Fender Jazz Special for that matter, like Duff) the bass tones were so fat! I love that Spector tone on Operation:Mindcrime by Queensryche for example, if only the mix wasn't so bright and thin.

"What's up" by the 4 Non-Blondes I was in a covers band for 2 years and we rehearsed weekly. Every rehearsal would start with that song, and every week the guitarist would mess up the intro lead. Now every time I hear that song I hear him playing along in my head.

I had a 2000 US Tele with a full maple neck that had this too. The neck finish had cracks and in places the finish had delaminated from the skunk stripe and the fingerboard dots, which are lacquered over on the maple necks. It would gradually spread from there. Luckily I bought it used at a VERY good price (€500) so I couldn't really complain. Played it a LOT for about a year, then sold it on because it made me hanker back to my old G&L ASAT Special.

Funny, I was just looking at that the other day because I wondered if they made lefty versions of their new Julietta guitar model. Odd why they would call it medium scale at 30.5"!

Far from complete, lacks a G&L! Lovely set though!

Some interesting stuff there! Like this Manson Matt Bellamy-inspired guitar, including a built-in MIDI pad! https://mdcustomshop.com/kr/product/view.php?id=405&cate=4

I googled the brand name and came across this thread: Music Drive Guitars | Axe Central It has some interesting info and even a catalog shot (from the guitars section, unfortunately not the basses).

I don't think this is true. Lots of people have taken up new hobbies during the various lockdowns we've had during the COVID pandemic. Picking up a musical instrument surely was one of them

Might as well post this here too Got this lovely Sandberg Lionel shorty used two weeks ago and I love it! It's surprisingly heavy, but still comfortable and it plays and sounds great! It was built in 2023, so it's still practically new. The previous owner thought it sounded a bit too modern to their taste, even with a Fender custom shop reissue pickup in it. It now has its stock pickup again. It's just a ton of fun to play, and sounds really ballsy! Excellent pics courtesy of the previous owner, who did a great job capturing it!

I kinda wish I still had one of my Yamaha TRB5II's. I don't know for sure if it would get much use, but I think the 35" scale would lend itself well for tuning down to A, as required for my doom band. My first TRB5II was also the first "proper" bass that I ever bought, and one of the few I've ever bought new.

On my Atelier Z Baby Z-4J I used DR Sunbeams 045-105 and like them a lot. They're not overly bright, but still have a nice ring to them. I replaced them with GHS Boomers last week because I couldn't find a new set, but can't really comment in those yet as I've mostly been playing my recently acquired Sandberg Lionel and the GHS strings still very much have their new string brightness and clang.

I wonder if Clover is still around? Their website is still up, but I never see any new ones pop up. Their Apeiron series appeared at about the same time as the first Sandberg California series. I was always intrigued by the first version of their Avenger series, with 3 single coils (2 at the bridge) and a very versatile switching system. I'm not a huge fan of their 20" fingerboard radius on everything, I like a bit of a curve. But otherwise they always looked good to me, and were at a similar price point as Sandberg.

I'm 6.43 feet long (according to Google - I typed in 1,96 m) and "hefty" sums me up pretty accurately. My main bass is a longscale headless, which is actually shorter than my shorties (with 4-in-line headstocks). I have no pics of me wielding either of those, but I don't think it's too bad. I know guitarists my size that get away with 25.5" scale instruments just fine too, and those are tiny by comparison!

My two cents, based on the 4 shortscales I've owned and 1 that I've borrowed for a few weeks recently. Mind you, I don't play shortscales exclusively. I use a longscale in my band and only play my shorties at home for fun. 1: My muscle memory took some time time to adjust. The distance between the frets is not that much shorter, but big jumps still require looking at my fingers to make sure I land at the right one. I'm totally fine with that. There was one exception: I had a shortscale semi-hollowbody for a while that had a separate bridge and tailpiece that were very far apart (so much so that it took regular longscale strings), and the nut was pretty far away due to the large body. That one required my full attention to play! 2: Depends on the bass. The semi-hollowbody had a large maple center block and was very heavy, so it balanced well. My Sandberg Lionel balances very well too, due to the heavy ash body and the upper horn that reaches to the 11th fret. The Lionels with solid and aged finishes have much lighter alder bodies, but still balance well because of the strap button positions (but those are a few hundred pounds more expensive than the sandblasted ash finishes). My Harley Benton PB Shorty had a 3/4 sized body and did not balance well, and my Atelier Z Baby Z-4J is Mustang-shaped and has a slight neckdive but not too bad. The body is of very light ash and the neck is narrow but chunky so has some weight to it.

I'm inclined to agree with this Order a new control plate from Sandberg with just 2 holes, a good 250k volume and treble pot and a .047uF capacitor and a more vintage sounding pickup (the Sandberg pickups with the large pole pieces are inherently bright) and you might be set

I tried to convince my girlfriend of that motto because I have more straps than basses, but she's not buying into it

That looks beautiful! Is that an ash top on an alder back? When I wanted an original Atelier Z strap for my Baby Z-4J I ordered it through Ikebe as they appeared to be the only one that had them in stock. They may have replacement parts too! For overseas orders, they have a contact form on their site to inquire if the item you want is eligible for international sales (some items can be domestic market only). I got a very quick and polite reply from Noriaki Sato, who was great! Great strap by the way, very reminiscent of a Mono "the Betty", but made by Music Area (who also produce gigbags for Dingwall, for example).

I'm afraid not! I'm a lefty, so I've used reverse logarithmic pots in my passive bass because I like to have my pots turning the "proper" lefty way.

There are high quality pots with metric shaft diameters too, like MEC. They could be a great option too, and don't require enlarging any holes. I have them in my Jazz, my custom Ellio Martina and (obviously!) in my Warwicks and like them. The taper is nice, they feel solid. My only gripe is with the ones with center detent: over time, it becomes less noticable. On my 2002 and 2003 Warwicks the detent in the EQ pots has become more vague over time. Then again, that's 20+ years of use!

Nice! Did your SSS have regular Strat switching? The switching on the HSS is quite different, and offers some cool in-between sounds I can't get from my regular Strat: 1: bridge, series 2: bridge (bridge coil) + middle pickup, parallel; 3: bridge (neck coil) + neck pickup, paralel; 4: middle + neck pickup, parallel; 5: neck pickup + Silent Circuit noise canceller The middle position is very nice, it's not quite Telecaster-like but the wider distance between the pickups does make for a nice twang that's both bright and has ample low end. I really love these guitars

Sonic diabeetus.

I can't help you, but that's an awesome idea! I have a wallet made from old firehose made by Feuerwear and it's the toughest wallet I've ever owned (I've had it for almost 10 years now). I can imagine a strap made out of the same material would be very robust too! Any fire equipment has to pass very high certification standards and real fire hose (the type fire brigades use) has a limited service life. I would imagine certification companies or manufacturers like these guys will also take back old, discarded or rejected firehose. Maybe give them a call?

That's not reasonable. The batteries on both my Status S2 Classic preamps (one Board 300 and one Board 303) have lasted a long time. I don't recall replacing them since I bought them both (in 2017 I believe - but maybe I have once). I don't play my 4-string much, but the 5-string has seen regular rehearsals and a few gigs and gets used at home occasionally (a few hours per month - I play my shortscales the most at home) and so far they're still good. Were they batteries that you've had for a longer period of time, or did you buy them brand new? They should have a best before-date stamped on them somewhere. If that's not the problem, then maybe your bass has developed a short circuit somewhere (in the jack, or the battery box itself)? I would suggest having it looked at by a tech.