Muzz

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... 😕

Were the 'mistakes' so fundamental that they needed a whole new bass to get round? Crikey, that's unlucky...

Part of the joy of getting that decorative drop top I mentioned earlier was digging through Jon's wood store (with his help and guidance) and picking the actual block of wood (flamed maple, as it happens) he used for my bass... 🙂

Our drummer comes from a reading/pro background, and has his dots on his iPad at all times. He doesn't need them, but it's just the way he works. Anyway, part of his software (I dunno what it is off-hand) has a visual flash metronome for tempo, which means he doesn't need to use an audible click...

Fantastic pictures, tho if I tried that these days I'd definitely be as stuck as Nigel Tufnell... 😕😀

Thinking about this a little more, a good luthier will be able to tweak the bass even if, after a period of time, there's things which niggle; I'd owned and played several Shukers before I got my custom made - I knew exactly what I wanted, and that was what I got. Even then, there were a couple of things which I had done afterwards (at least a year afterwards) - I had a more decorative drop top added*, and then later I had the neck slimmed even more (and some Luminlays added). All my fault, obviously, but the point I'm getting to (eventually) is unless you've picked something really, really unsuitable (like the wrong shape), your luthier will be able to improve on it... * Long story short, because of the complete failure with buying a Rickenbacker for my 50th (it was a very poor bass and went back the next day), I was on a tight schedule to get the bass for my actual birthday (part of the money came from all my friends, so SWMBO was very keen it was ready to be presented at the party), so to shorten the lead time I took a stock body from Jon which, while lovely, wasn't as decorative as I would have picked from scratch...

Since when do Fender Custom Shop relics have such shiny gold hardware?

One of these is what I'm getting (under instruction, despite being the one in the band who works in Cloud IT, I'm not the Alpha Techie), which will do the job: http://quicco.co.jp/products/

First proper run out with the Stomp at a big function gig last night, and it was fantastic: just the best sound I've had going DI/FOH ever. A couple of my more extreme patches (the big ones with distortion) need some of the top end fizz backing off, but that's a result of setting them up via headphones rather than using one of the PA tops, and over-egging the top end. Once I've tweaked them it'll be even better. We've working on a setup now where the BL has his setlist on his iPad, and if he changes a song, it changes his patches (it does this already), but will also change mine, so no more frenzied footwork to find the patch for the song... We can also set it so that when he selects his solo patch, it can select my bigger patch to fill the sound out. Sounded great in the in-ears, too... We've just got a small 12" RCF sub to go with the two RCF tops, so the load in and out is even lighter than before. It was plenty loud enough for a function room holding 250 people last night.

I've had a Sei (albeit a rather odd one) and several Shukers, and the good news is there won't be anything to choose from them in build quality, they're both superb luthiers. The main issue will be how much you really know about what you want, because I'm sure you'll get what you ask for. Whether that's what you want/need/can live with is another matter. For the record, I've had an ACG, too (actually two), and they were superbly built instruments but, like you, visually they don't do it for me. Jon has some basses at his place, and I can recommend a visit, the drive through the High Peak is great, and he's on the least industrial industrial estate on the planet... 🙂

A Cadillac Bongo?

Wouldn't be for No One Knows, by any chance, would it? That's what ruled out the B3 and the HD500X for me... 😃

They're just rubbish at what they do. When I moved into a function/covers band with a wide range of styles and genres, the challenge was (and still is, which is one reason I love doing it) to play outside your comfort zone and make a completely different style work. All they're doing is shoehorning what they already know into songs where it doesn't work, because they're scared to play something they're not comfortable with... The best dep guitarist I've ever played with could switch from genre to genre, and every one sounded authentic; the tones, the feel, the way he played. He was a chameleon (not the band, tho they are from round here) : you would never know what his favourite genre was just by listening to and watching him play.

Ohhhh, that colour scheme/top design on a Thunderbird-y bass...the full Ray Dietrich... 😍

There's a book of jazz standards? Nominally interesting, but completely irrelevant to my music and playing...

Wow, look at that string spacing at the nut...I doubt even in Fender's darkest days of QC that'd have left the factory like that...I agree with the Shonky diagnosis above...

That's what I paid for mine...