LeftyJ

Shame it took a bloody righty flipping his bass to finally get a lefty Explorer bass gigbag on the market

Ozzy Osbourne at the Fields of Rock festival in 2007. His band were fine, but Ozzy was already well past his due date and his mind seemed to be gone. He sang poorly, and his interaction with the audience was limited to the same "I can't f***ing hear you" in a drunk old man voice AFTER. EVERY. BLOODY. SONG. He was a total caricature of himself.

Neither of us carry spares to gigs. We play downtuned doom metal (with one 7-string in A, one Jazzmaster in D and my headless 5-string in A). The 7-string has a floating trem so a broken string would be a disaster as it would affect the tuning of the other 6 strings and the guitarist simply wouldn't be able to finish the song - plus a string change takes some time and tools and isn't easy on a darkened stage. But the guitarist only has one 7-string... We used to have a second 7-string guitarist who did bring a spare to gigs that could be used by both of them in case of emergency, but he was sacked last year The Jazzmaster trem is also set up to float so it will also detune in case of a broken string, but it has the trem lock feature (thanks Leo) that enables the user to move it to a fixed position and disable the tremolo altogether. The guitarist has a Jaguar too, but it's too twangy and the 24" scale is not very suitable for our low tuning with standard gauge strings. So no backup there either. My bass is a headless with double ball strings, so string change is a breeze. I always carry spare strings and batteries to gigs and always keep them close at hand, but have never needed them during a gig. That said, I am aware I'm taking a bit of a risk here.

Actually the G&L is an odd one, it's more of a passive bass with an active boost. The pickups and the tone controls (cut only) are fully passive, but there's a little boost circuit with two settings (one with an added treble boost) in there.

I have a whole load of instruments I couldn't part with, even if I sometimes rarely use them. It's definitely a lefty-issue for me, since many lefty guitars and basses are just so rare to come by, let alone to retrace once seller's remorse hits. I've very much regretted selling two guitars over the years, a G&L ASAT Special and an Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Special, both of which aren't exactly common in a lefty version. The G&L is still owned by the buyer I sold it to over 10 years ago and he is very unlikely to let it go. The MM I lost track of, all I know is it went to Finland. It took me over 10 years to replace them both! So my list of guitars and basses I'll never sell is quite substantial - Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Special; - G&L ASAT Special; - Squier MIJ E-series Strat, my main axe for many years, which I even favoured over my previous MM Silhouette Special but in the end it couldn't keep the seller's remorse at bay; - Ibanez MC924 (my year-of-birth bass, 1983); - Warwick Streamer LX5 - because it was my go-to bass in my previous band, and many good memories cling to it; - Ellio Martina Forza 5, the bass I've had the longest and which was my go-to for everything before the Warwick. It's just special. And sadly the luthier who built it passed away last month; - Status Graphite S2 Classic 5-string, my current main axe; - Fender MIJ '75 Jazz Bass reissue. I rarely play it, but when I do it just always puts a smile on my face. It's had a lot of mods since I bought it to make it even more "mine". Strong connection with this one ; - Atelier Z Baby Z-4J, just silly amounts of fun to play! None of my basses are easier to move around on, it's a shortscale but decidedly modern in every way and not your thumpy vintage sounding little bass. The others are interchangeable, but the list above is pretty sacred to me.

If you're as left-handed as your username suggests I bid you luck, as I can't think of any lefty shortscale 5-strings. If you play right-handed however, there are several options out there. As mentioned above, the Ibanez TMB35 is a great and affordable option, as is their even shorter GSRM25 (but maybe not ideal with its 28.6" scale, I would sooner pick that one for using it with a high C rather than a low B). Ibanez also build a nice medium scale (32") 5-string in their Mezzo series SRMD205. Ibanez also did some semi-hollow 5-strings with a 30.3" scale (AGB205 / AGBV205A) but they're rare to come by and if you struggle with a heavy bass they're probably not ideal. More expensive options could include the Atelier Z ZPO-5 (not in production anymore, but pops up used once in a while) or its successor the Baby Z-5J. They're high quality Japanese basses with familiar Fendery looks but with modern build and electronics. And further up still would be something like a Serek

I remember seeing that one a few times before on Marktplaats! Very cool, and looks very versatile. I also remember you being very fond of Andre's work. Great score!

Wow, that looks impressive! The Schecters I've tried (C7 Hellraiser, C7 Blackjack) weren't for me because of their quite hefty neck profile, but they were quality guitars and looked great. I'm a big fan of that carved top Superstrat look, I had an ESP Horizon bolt-on with a very similar shape in solid black with natural ash faux bindings, and I loved how elegant it looked and how sleek it was, with a lovely, fairly Fenderish neck profile but a pretty flat fingerboard radius. Very comfortable shape.

When you speak of a semi-acoustic, do you mean a (semi-)hollow electric bass or an acoustic bass with an undersaddle pickup system?

Best: - Sandberg California VS Lionel (shortscale). - LaBella Deep Talking Flats for said Sandberg. I've always preferred the zing of new roundwounds, but on the Sandberg they just made sense and I enjoy them a lot! Worst: - Sadowsky MetroExpress Hybrid 5 fretless. It's a fun bass, but has some annoying QC issues. I still haven't decided if it's a keeper after two weeks of owning it. I haven't had much time to play it yet as I need to learn some new songs for my band which require the use of a downtuned fretted 5. - Line6 HX Stomp XL. Great piece of kit, but a bit of an impulse buy that I really didn't need. I've probably used it only three times since acquiring it in May. - Nordstrand Nordymute (x2). Another impulse buy, even when I already knew they're wildly overpriced for a piece of scrap wood with some foam glued to the bottom.

I am, but I mainly love their 1980s offerings. I currently only own one, a 1983 MC924. The list above is not recent, the current one is in your new thread.

The Facebook groups (I'm in two, there's a Statii group and a Status Basses & Guitars group) are somewhat helpful, but most threads devolve quickly into "Here's mine!", "Buy mine!" or "Sell it to me!". Status themselves are probably your best bet. Dawn and Rob are usually very helpful, giving them a phonecall will get you Dawn on the line. The company is not as active as it used to be when they still had a full staff, but they're very much still active.

More or less in alphabetical order (I didn't check to verify). Basses in bold are still here. Aria Pro II SB-1000 Atelier Z Baby Z-4J Carvin B4 Carvin LB75 Carvin LB75 Condor Jazz Bass Condor Jazz Bass Cort Artisan B4 Cort NTL-B fretless acoustic Ellio Martina Forza 5 Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray5 Esh Stinger Fender Japan 57 Precision reissue Fender Japan 75 Jazz Bass reissue G&L SB-2 Harley Benton PB Shorty Hohner B2A Ibanez ATK300 Ibanez ATK300 Ibanez ATK305 Ibanez RS924 Ibanez MC924 (1981) Ibanez MC924 (1983) Ibanez SR800LE Italia Torino Jan Bak Precision Bass Kydd Big Kydd EUB Longbow 2-string fretless (shortscale) Longbow 2-string fretless (medium scale) Mr Bassman No Sweat (Human Base) Rickenbacker 4003 Sandberg Bullet 5 fretless Sandberg Lionel Status S2 Classic bolt-on 4-string Status S2 Classic bolt-on 5-string Warwick Streamer LX Warwick Streamer LX5 Yamaha TRB5II Yamaha TRB5II The guitar list is more or less as long, I think I have 11 or 12 of those at the moment.

Crafter has several very nice mini-jumbos with good electronics and a cutaway. They're similar in size to a grand auditorium, with a fairly narrow waist. A used Taylor 114CE may also be within your budget, it's in their Mexican-made line and their value for money is quite excellent. I would also like to recommend the Taylor Mini GS, but since you specifically mentioned you want a cutaway they're probably not for you. I have a GS Mini Mahogany with a solid mahogany top and it's absolutely brilliant. The slightly shorter scale (23.5") and slightly scaled-down body are really comfortable, while still giving a very full and big tone.

Other than the Rotosound 88 black nylon tapewounds, what '88' are you referring to?

If it's a two-way truss rod you can just keep turning beyond the "fully loosened" bit until it starts to work the other way. You can use the truss rod to give it more forward bow too

I've been using my HD350 as my main amp since 2010 and still love it. In more recent years I've often put an Ampeg tube preamp into the FX return to use it as just a power amp, but every time I use it stand-alone it puts a smile on my face. In yesterday's rehearsals I used the Ampeg because I like the grit and the darker tone in my doom band, but I had a little noodle through the EBS stand-alone before the rest of the band were in and the clarity and punch of the EBS are just so nice!

I recently had a guitar valve amp repaired and hit just over €200. It's a cathode-bias amp, so the bias of the power tubes is regulated "automatically" - until the cathodes fail. So the power tubes were running way too hot, and several parts controlling the power regulation towards the power tubes were replaced. Luckily I still had a spare set of EL84 power tubes or it would have been a lot more. Tubes are expensive these days!

Nothing in particular, and everything in general I don't have any specific GAS at the moment, but then again I rarely do: it usually just suddenly overcomes me whenever I come upon a piece of gear that speaks to me. The exception is I'd really like to own a vintage lefty Mustang Bass or Musicmaster Bass some time - but the prices have gone completely mad. That said, I have a few other items on my list that I still really want to try sometime: Spector Euro LX 5; Something (anything) with fanned frets; I'm really impressed with my Sandberg Lionel and wouldn't mind a longscale California VM or VT; Zon Sonus or Legacy 5.

Here in the Netherlands we're on 230V too, since 1989. Prior to that we had 220V. 230V is pretty much universal for all of Europe these days, including the UK, according to Wikipedia (if it says so on the internet it is obviously true! 😞 Mains electricity - Wikipedia

I'm somewhat tall (1.96m) and subsequently my hands are also somewhat large: 21 cm like @Hellzero's. Add to that 15 years of manual labour (working in soil and groundwater surveying, making boreholes of up to 7 metres deep by hand for sampling) so they're not just long but somewhat chunky and callous too (though it's gotten less after spending most of the last 4 years working in an office). I can get around on most types of neck, but I much prefer a solid Jazz Bass-like C-shape with a nicely curved compound radius fingerboard - preferably a radius of no more than 10" at the nut, coming down to a flatter surface towards the bridge for a more even plucking height. In recent years I've come to appreciate shortscale basses a lot, and I'm equally at ease on the shorter fret distances as I am on a 34" bass - they're just so much fun to play!

I've been playing mine some more too, and after some time with it I can honestly say it's not the preamp that's noisy but the singlecoil pickup. On the neck splitcoil I can turn the treble up as far as I want and it remains totally quiet and hum-free, but with the bridge pickup soloed the noise gets annoying with the treble halfway up or more. I really like the EQ center frequencies of both knobs, the range of both is very useful and musical sounding without getting overly harsh or boomy too soon. It really is a nice bass with a great feel to it and a great range of tones. I'm still a bit bummed by the QC issues, but I don't mind them as much as when I had just received it. I've actually gotten quite curious about a fretted one now too...

I mostly use an amp when playing at home. I'm definitely on team "overkill" here, with a 150 watt 1x12 EBS NeoDrome. I also have a simple interface with a Yamaha 8-channel mixer with USB and two KRK V4 series II active monitors, and recently I picked up a small 5 watt tube head (H&K Bass Master) but I have yet to pick up a small cabinet for home use. So far I've only used it with a 1x12 guitar cab, which sounded great.

I have yet to try one, lefty supply is short. But I'm very curious to give one a go!

I believe they were announced in late 2020 and entered the market in early 2021. Not sure what the deal is with the updates and when they were done. I just looked up on YouTube when LowEndLobster's first unboxing video was posted (including his complaints of very noisy electronics), and that was November 22, 2020.