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[quote name='JayX' post='616052' date='Oct 3 2009, 08:49 PM']Ha, fun colour. I actually ended up buying Paul's Hohner he posted earlier in the thread. Still up for seeing more 80s awesomeness tho![/quote] What, like this??

[quote name='Mokl' post='614221' date='Oct 1 2009, 08:52 PM']I have an awesome Westone Quantum which is about as 80`s as it gets. It has the original rifle case and has been a very convenient back up as it takes no room in the car. I might sell it but would be looking for £200. Here's a pic I found online - mine is identical to this [/quote] +1 to that! That's just the one i was about to recommend. Didn't expect to see a beauty like that. Now all you need is an old Trace combo and an analogue delay (for the chorus) and you're off. And remember to wear the bass under your chin!

[quote name='chris_b' post='613492' date='Oct 1 2009, 01:25 AM']Overpriced![/quote] +1

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='614527' date='Oct 2 2009, 09:21 AM']I've often wondered the same thing myself...[/quote] Yeh, I'm inclined to agree. the Seppos also act like a bunch of magpies when it comes to Rick basses. You should see the state some of them get into on a certain rick forum when something tasty pops up on evilbay. They have a pecking order over who gets 'first dibs' (WTF??) on an instrument before the auction's even over!

The way I see it is that they're not work the £2.5K+ I nearly bought a '64 Dakota Red relic'd Jazz with - supposedly - a Brazilizan rosewood 'board. It didn't look like Brazilian rosewood but I guess it depends from what part of the tree it was taken from. The pots had next to no travel on them in terms of roll-off: you backed the pot off a touch and the whole signal just about disappeared! You'd be better of keeping that £2.5K and surfing ishibashi for a few months and picking up some lovely, unique fender Jap basses.

[quote name='Les' post='607550' date='Sep 24 2009, 11:39 AM']+1.[/quote] Yup, + 1 as well. Nice to see the mutes making a comeback; now, where's the TR bullet??

Here's a link to a pic of the one I had:- [url="http://www.luthiersaccessgroup.com/isodyssey1.html"]Odyssey Bass[/url] It was my first 'name' bass. I'd been heading for a real Rick 4001 when I walked into Jimmy Grant's shop in Edinburgh and he had a raft of them. Odysseys, that is. Mine was one of the top-end ones and there was also a model like the one above that had a built-in 5 (Ithink) band graphic EQ!! The only thing I began to dislike about that bass was the sound from the rear pup. HAve a look at it and see how close it is to the bridge. Very tight sound with a quick decay. I fell out of love with it and it went after about six years but it turned up in my hands as a repair about 12 years later; somebody had ruined the wiring harness and the rear pup tone didn't work. A lovely but heavy bass

Inadequate shielding in you bass? HAs that room got UV/Fluoro lights? If so, try lifting your bass up to them, face up. If that noise gets worse that's what it is. I doubt it's dodgy mains.

Burnel is quoted as saying that he tried loads of Precisions and that none of them came close - through Hiwatts or whatever - to the old dog that he used. Listen to [i]Rattus Norwegicus[/i]: the bass tone is not always the same, although the grunge is still there, so it can't all be blown cabs or the studio board/fx.

[quote name='bassmachine2112' post='602705' date='Sep 19 2009, 08:27 AM']hiho,I,ve noticed that nobody has mentioned pick up height.I found this to be a part of the ricky sound jigsaw.Be prepared to balance the two pups to your taste.They can start to distort if you get them too high,not a problem with the neck pup as you cant get it as high as the bridge and a lot of people set the bridge pup too high in relation to the neck pup.I think balance is the word I,m looking for.Just a thought that might help someone.[/quote] That's an interesting point, esp re basses. Usually, the common complaint is a weak E string on the back pup. An interesting point is that some early 4001s had Philips-head pole pieces (like one of my '73s) which gave you so much more control over the output.

Ok, I'll add my my ladle to the stew! I have a love/hate relationship with these instruments. I had two when I was younger - a dead-dog of a 4001 and a 4001S 8-string that would be in tune down the bottom end and waay out up top and then had a break of about 15 years before I bought a whole bunch of them in a matter on months. The main beef I have with them is that CV finish they use and the marks and blemishes that can appear in them, although I'm sure I've heard they are moving away from that to another finish. Beware of those fat-neck 4003s that are going about, made from the late '90s up until '07, I think; my Blueboy had such a neck and that, combined with a weird reaction in the finish, was enough to make me punt it. The newer models have the slimmer neck and vintage tone modd but, yeh, I agree: they cost far too much. And their QC isn't that great, either. Def a 'try many times before you buy' guitar. If you can find them, that is.

[quote name='99ster' post='578328' date='Aug 23 2009, 05:01 PM']The way that many of these shops do their 'business' in a similar way may well have a lot to do with the fact that many of them are owned by the same two characters - the Harrison brothers - with the 'Music Ground' empire now comprising of the following shops: Music Ground Denmark Street Music Ground Manchester Music Ground Leeds Regent Sound Denmark Street Rockers Denmark Street Rhodes Music Denmark Street The Bass Cellar Denmark Street TPA Denmark Street Hanks Denmark Street ...and good old Andys Denmark Street And they also own both Hiwatt (yes - the Hiwatt) and JMI amps and have their fingers in many other pies as well.[/quote] Wow, interesting. I've been wary of their spam ever since I encountered their sales guys in the Leeds shop back in the early '90s. That aside, I wonder how much they actually pay for the goodies they seem to acquire; they can't all be commissions.

I'd recommend Ishibashi any day. Yes, they make take a day or two to get back to you, but once the ball is rolling on a deal it's done very quick. Here is a a pix of my '65 dot and bound Jazz Bass re-issue, shipped to the UK in three days! Now, you don't see these in the UK, do you?

[quote name='Zach' post='578116' date='Aug 23 2009, 11:28 AM']Unfortunately I didn't check the bass in detail before walking out the shop, as when I got home I noticed that they'd completely stripped the screw head, so now I can't change the pickup height. Not a big deal, but it easily could have been. hence why I now am just happy to pay a bit more to go to the gallery instead.[/quote] Perhaps it's time to tech-up, yourself. here is what you need:- [url="http://www.jmldirect.com/product.asp?pf_id=S5616&changecurrency=GBP"]Screw Remover[/url]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='578082' date='Aug 23 2009, 10:26 AM']I know a guy who took his Telecaster in to the repair guy above Rockers and asked for a curve to be made in the back to make it more comfortable, he went back SIX months later and the guy had painted it black and asked for £150 when the guy said he didn't ask for it to be painted he started shouting c**t at him and charging at him frm across the room, he still hasn't got his guitar back but he was offered the body back with no hardware on in a bag.[/quote] Man, that is scary! Did he not get the cops involved? This is becoming an interesting thread. ANy more scary stories?

I awlays pay a visit to DS whenever I'm in London, just to see what's one the go. Some of the prices, esp in V&R, are a bit steep, in my books. Was in there last month whilst visiting a mate in London and spotted a lovely 66(?) Jazz in CAR. Some Spanish guy was playing it and it sounded hot! Him and his missus were going on about it (they looked like they had coin). On the way out I asked how much; '£7k' came the reply. Woooo......... And then on to Andys, where I saw a lovely Danelectro baritone guitar, large bodied, vintage finish. For the first time in my life I felt a purchase at DS coming to fruition but at £800? No thanks. MG are bad enough but their pals up north are the most condescending lot ever! Didn't they somehow get ahold of Chris Squire's old 21-fret 4001 a few years back?

[quote name='robocorpse' post='566297' date='Aug 11 2009, 10:00 PM']. Also, I looked for, and subsequently found the bailiffs/liquidators auction of Andys remaining stock when they cleared the shop, and got in on the action early enough to get a couple of cracking vintage instruments for less than the price of a Squier. Lose some, win some.[/quote] Good man! Did you phone them and noise them up about that?

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='572677' date='Aug 18 2009, 10:28 AM']I really like the fake Rick in white.[/quote] If RIC spot that it'll be legal eagles over Tuscany.