LeftyJ

Too bad they don't include the Bullet. I've always liked those, they look great and are very comfortable. I've had a Bullet 5 fretless for some years. [IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/my_custom_sandberg1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f74/de_slager/my_custom_sandberg2.jpg[/IMG]

Yes, I know Trujillo didn't comission the refin and modifications. I'm not a fan of either Pastorius or Metallica, and while I do applaud the fact the bass is still being played rather than locked away in a museum, I too think its current use is somewhat inglorious. Was the bass returned to the Pastorius family yet?

It gets a lot worse. You know what this is? It once looked like this:

[quote name='HADGE' timestamp='1349783753' post='1830394'] [b]Forgot to say a special thank you to lefty for telling me about a ricky on gumtree ,i bought it and the guy gave me the bill of sale for over £1400 and told me he only played it 3 times and i believe him because its that good so thanks lefty i owe you one mate.[/b] [/quote] Cheers man, you're welcome! Glad you like it. That price was an absolute steal compared to what these usually fetch! 799 for a lefty is really really cheap, considering their rarity and having been out of production since 2010.

I agree the build quality is top notch and so is their customer support. But still, at 3000 euros, you can get a lot more than a basic bolt-on Streamer from many other companies. I'm aware Warwick can build you anything you ask for, but the pricing level is mindboggling. If I were to buy a brand new bass, as much as I like Warwick, they would not be on my list of options because what I would look for in a bass would simply get too expensive there whereas many amazing luthiers could build me the same at a price I can afford. I paid 500 for my Streamer, which I think is an absolute steal. But anything over say 1750 for a fairly basic instrument like this would seem overly expensive to me.

Nice score! Can't go wrong with Ibanez. Is it one of the more recent ones with 4 knobs and active bass boost? They're great value, the electronics are simple but effective. The older passive ones are good too. And either way, at 40 Pounds you got one heck of a deal.

Wow, tough one! It looks like an Aria SB, but I wouldn't know which one and there's not much info on these on the WWW. It looks a bit like an old SB-025, but the body wood and the fingerboard inlays don't match. Also, yours looks younger because of the type of bridge used and the black hardware.

I had been looking for a modern and agressive sounding 5-string for some time and I've always had a thing for that Spector / Warwick Streamer look and for Warwick in general. I had been watching this Streamer LX5 on a Dutch escrow site already over a year ago but the asking price was about 800-900 euros back then and I couldn't really afford it, and didn't want it badly enough. One month ago, that same seller relisted the bass at a mere 500 euros! I immediately gave him a call and I happened to be the first! I asked him to ship it to me because I was unable to go pick it up myself, and it arrived about three weeks ago. It was unplayable, the action at the 12th fret was almost half an inch! Overall it was in good condition though, and after a quick setup (a few twists of the truss rod and lowering the bridge a little) it was perfect. It's a 2003 ovangkol baseball bat era model, but being 6' 6" tall and having pretty big hands I'm having no trouble wielding it and getting my hands around the neck. I love it, and have already gigged with it. It suits me and the style of music my band plays perfectly. It's supertight, has really agressive high mids and treble, and the B string is the tightest (and loudest!) of all 4 fivestrings I own. It even surpasses my Stingray 5 with ease! Because of the tightness and the high mid emphasis, it takes a bit of overdrive really well without getting muddy. I play it through an Ampeg SVP PRO with some added dirt and the Warwick almost appears like it was made for that tone! My Ellio Martina Forza has too much subharmonics and notes on the B-string come out muddy and almost undefinable when you don't play absolutely clean. I love the looks of the Streamer too, and I even don't mind the gold hardware (which I generally don't like). Somehow it's fitting, it looks really good with the transparent Nirvana Black lacquer finish. The only thing I don't understand is why these basses have to be so expensive new. A new German made Streamer LX5 will cost you 3000 euros here! Don't get me wrong, this is a terrific bass, but for 3000 euros you can get a whole lot more from many great luthiers. Exotic wood tops, neck through body, you name it. But at the price I paid, this is an amazing instrument and I couldn't be happier!

[quote name='muttley' timestamp='1348568133' post='1815206'] Fender MiM basses seem to have a good rep here so it just shows that it doesn't really matter that much... [size=2]<ducks and runs>[/size] [/quote] Very true. It's just not very pretty to look at, and could be a very unpleasant surprise if part of the OP's project involves sanding down the body to apply a transparent finish of some sort. So always be careful with what looks to be a 1-piece body on a sunburst instrument

I don't think any major manufacturer uses plywood these days. However, with cheaper guitars, it's common practice to build bodies from more narrow pieces of wood rather than just 2 or 3 like most guitars. Especially when they have an opaque finish you need to be weary of this. And if you decide to go with a sunburst instrument as your starting point, don't get one that looks like it's a 1-piece body because it will just be a veneer over (often poorly matching) multiple pieces of wood. And the bass doesn't even need to be that cheap for these practices. Even Fender Mexico does this, using up to 7 pieces! That's why the tummycut and the forearm carve are often black on sunburst bodies: to conceal they're veneered. For example, here's a Fender Mexico stock of raw blanks of alder with the veneer already in place:

The 4001 is the old version, the 4003 is a slightly more modern version of the same bass with a dual trussrod to accommodate the higher string tension of roundwound strings. It completely replaced the 4001, except for some vintage reissues. There's also a 4000, which is basically a plainer version of the 4001 but with just a bridge pickup. It's not in production anymore. The simpler version you're referring to, without bindings and with dots, is the 4003s or 4001s. Some 4001s' will also have a set neck instead of a through-body neck

I agree! Just got a 2002 Streamer LX5 and it's one of them baseball bat affairs, but very manageable indeed. Funny you should mention the TRB, I have owned two TRB5II's and the profile of the rear is indeed somewhat similar. The Warwick is thicker though, somewhat more 'square' if you know what I mean. The TRB has more radiused sides of the neck.

Same here. Just got a used lefty Streamer LX5 in a beautiful transparent black lacquer finish instead of the regular oil/wax finish and with gold hardware. Brilliant bass, absolutely incredible. The build quality, the hardware, the electronics, the woods, everything is top notch. A brand new righthanded Streamer LX5 will cost you a whopping [url="http://www.thomann.de/nl/warwick_streamer_lx5na.htm"]2600[/url] to [url="http://www.thomann.de/nl/warwick_streamer_lx5br.htm"]2900[/url] euros depending on the finish (and that's just the difference between natural oil or coloured oil!). And that's just a pretty basic model with a bolt-on neck! I got mine for a mere 500 euros which I think is tremendous value. I would certainly not pay any more than say 1000 euros for what this is.