Muzz

One analogy is if you're driving along at a reasonable speed, and you keep the accelerator where it is, but start to depress the clutch (i.e. reduce the load on the engine), then the revs will rise higher and higher, potentially damaging the engine...

Yep, them's is your options. There are a few amp heads which will run under 4 ohms loads (the Mesa 800s, Genz Magellan, etc), but the vast majority have a 4 ohm limit. As above, I don't know what the exact repercussions might be of running a lower impedance load and what triggers there might be, but if the manufacturer says don't do it, they mean 'If it goes click/boom/fizz, don't call us'...

The short answer to what the necks are like is that they can be what you like; Jon will make them the way you want. I took my custom build back to him after a couple of years because I wanted the neck slimming/reprofiling, and he did a fantastic job...and popped some Luminlays in the while he was doing it...😊

They must be good, though - look how much Mr Rundgren's enjoying his...

Took me an age to get Galway Girl where I wanted it, but the one that surprised me the most was when, after listening to it in pubs, clubs and at parties for the best part of 40 years, and playing it now and again on bands for nearly as long, I actually sat down and listened to the bass in Freebird. Blimey. Not particularly tricky, but just surprising there was so much of it I'd never heard...

I have the East U-Retro (the older model of the Uni-Pre, IIRC) in all my main gigging basses - very intuitive, very musical preamps.

Head heavy? I had a Washburn B20-8 back in the day that would literally plummet to the floor if you took your hand off the neck...and it used to snap strings alllll the time - the break angle to the rear tuning pegs was bonkers... Didn't hate it, though, because at the time it was something very different, and when newly strung made a glorious noise. I had a 78 Jazz which weighed a sniff under 12lbs and sounded Brown. Didn't hate that, either, because some collector bought it off me for collector kinda money. I presume it's on a wall somewhere...I hope he used good big rawlplugs... Thinking on, I don't think I've hated any bass I've had - if I didn't like it for whatever reason*, I sold it... * And I've had some really silly reasons, from Wrong Colour (otherwise terrific Warwick Fortress which some fule at the factory had painted Not-Brown-Not-Olive-Not-Nice) to Can't Unsee (Warwick Fortress - "That top horn looks like a nob") to A Bit Embarrassing (Warmoth Explorer Bass with bling blackburst flame maple top, pearl binding and gold hardware)...

If they did a Reverse (a la T-Bird), I'd be in serious trouble...despite the single coils...it really needs some chrome covers and surrounds...

It's amazing, isn't it, that whenever a seller's unsure, they give the impression that something's more valuable, rather than the other way round? You know, like using the words 'I'm not sure' in the original ad... 😏

A couple of better pics...still not great, but I'm no photographer...

It's a Horn...Black Walnut body, Flame Maple drop top, maple neck with wenge stringers, birdseye maple board, two EMG split-coil pickups, John East U-Retro EQ. Works for me.... 🙂

This is all I have right now, but I'll get a better pic shortly.

😀

Not even funny once...the 'Look how clever and funny I'm being' expression on a man dressed like a concussed 8-year old's drawing of Roy Rogers on Gay Night had my teeth on edge after ten seconds...

Oh, heck, that is kinda fundamental... 😕