Paolo85

3 hours ago, theplumber said:

What are folks take on paying by pay pal these days? Have done it in the past for low amount and everything was ok. I do a fair bit of face to face selling on facebook market place and it's usually cash when I turn up at someones house or when they buy from me. I nearly bought a bass on here last week but when contacting the seller he would not do pay pal but wanted bank transfer straight away and was sorting the bass out at the weekend about 4 days later. We spoke on here and that should have been enough but because of the recent scamming on here I decided not to pay and dropped out of the deal! On reflection I should have phoned the seller which I usually do and just transfered the money but took cold feet.

If you pay on the bank account you know for sure that you are paying a person based in the UK, whose name and address can be found very easily assuming banks do their checks. Taking legal action could be straighforward. With paypal family and friensd not so much. I much prefer bank transfer. Paypal goods and services it's different but there are fees

1 minute ago, Gramski said:

it could in theory become part of a fraud investigation if the buyer decided to go down that route 

You mean if the buyer claimed in court that you sold them a faulty good or something?

On 16/06/2023 at 17:08, itu said:

Do you tune down an ordinary string set? Loose strings get closer to pickups. Raise the pickups a bit (count the turns, and you can get back) and try again.

Good one. Yes I would totally check how pickup height change when you downtune. And make sure I compare the sound with identical height, noting that each half mm matters

It should be safe, only you can get money out of your account. Maybe naively I never considered it would be an issue and never showed up with cash until recently somebody did not accept that

Ha! Turns out the bass has been discontinued, that's why they were giving it away for free!

17 minutes ago, NikNik said:

Why not sand the heel?

Well, because the shim took 30 seconds and the risk of screwing up something was minimal. Bit that's a good idea

...when I say it fits Squer bodies alright, there is a caveat: it needs a massive shim to tilt the neck away from you as the Fazley neck is much thicker

2 minutes ago, NikNik said:

No point in selling it. In fact, it's become my go-to fretless in the house. It sounds great acoustically, with plenty of growl.

Well, I am also enjoing a lot. But I love to practice standing and it's heavy for me. Because of that, I was considering selling and getting a HB B450fl. GAS for the HB per se was not strong though. As it happens, however, I have figured out the Fazley neck fits Squier bodies alright. Then you have a massive neck diver.. but things would maybe be different if I chopped thr headstock and went for 2+2 instead of four in line. Basically I am mulling a bitsa monster...

Found a way around the problem!

Friday firesale over. Back to "full price"

GHS sold. Only LaBella Jamerson left, reduced for this morning

LaBella 44-104 sold

Prices areposted UK mainland. I had 3 sets for sale but the Labella Jamerson are the only ones left

LaBella flatwounds 44-104 - SOLD

Labella Jamerson -£23

Bought them here ages ago. Tried one day, too hard. They have been used heavily but that's how Jamerson himself liked them

GHS Precision flats 45-105 ? - SOLD

EDIT: I had a second look at the strings as I was wrapping them and, as per the pictures, silks appear to have had better days. If that creates problems you get a full refund. Supporting members with at least 100 messages (number chosen at random) can ask to pay after receipt and test that is all ok if they wish

Right, this is how it looks with the neck off. Btw neck screws not included!

It looks like I have just sold a strap here and I'll be going to the post office tomorrow. If you buy before tomorrow (Friday) at midday I can do 30 pounds and save myself a trip

TI flats, long scale. Cut for Precision/Jazz. I had them since January but to be honest they did not get too much use except for an initial honeymoon period

34 poted UK

Note that I mostly post on Saturdays

Beautiful leather padded strap. One of these

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Levys-3-Top-Grain-Leather-Strap-Black/3JN6

20 posted. Note that I post Saturdays most likely. I won't necessarily manage to post in 24 hours

I bought it here last month but then a Betty Mono also came up and this is now surplus to requirement

...now they are selling for 57 pounds it seems..

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/right-handed-bass-guitar/fazley-fpb218sb-fr-fretless-electric-bass-guitar-sunburst?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7aqkBhDPARIsAKGa0oIkoHFpWPv51lH3NbD7odS3xkD0gHAkqYzedTJ_2HVhE7PLMjWaZjsaAnRIEALw_wcB

That's very annoying because the resale value of mine is then zero, while it is a fine bass for the budget range!

Squier VM loaded sunburst body with Duncan Designed pickups. Neck still attached to the body at the moment but I am not prepare to let go of it.

The bass looks and sounds great, just GAS is back but this time I really need to sell before buying.

Pickup only from Bromley (20 min train from Victoria). Or I can meet in central London one evening but I am not there very often

6 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Not counting Squiers, the nearest equivalent Fender range is the Player Plus, where are currently retailing for c. £1k. Assuming all the lessons of the past have been learned and the new SMXs retail for (say) £850 for a 4-string, adding the VTC preamp and selling the old one would still make them less than the Fender. 

Fair enough. It's hard to say how to look at all that in terms of market positioning. Will people go "do I get better value from a Fender or from a Sadowsky?" or "do I get better value from a Squier or a Sadowsky?"? Probably they'd look at both and more I guess

As said previously, I personally do not see these China-made Sadowsky as a great value-for-money proposition at least on paper. But then a Squier VM is the most expensive bass I have (not considering other basses cheaper to start with but now modded quite a bit). Obviously, it is possible that if I were to try one everything would make absolute sense as a bass could be more or less than the sum of its parts (to a point..)

1 hour ago, asingardenof said:

 even including the VTC preamp the new models would still be cheaper than the equivalent Fender (I assume they're choosing to ignore the existence of Sire...)

I am not sure I get this. I am not aware of Fender Js made in China at this moment although I may be wrong. Squire J basses made in China go for either 220 pounds or 350 pounds (the Paranormal). If you put lightweight tuners, fender high mass bridge and Sadowsky preamp into a Paranormal (which by all accounts is a very fine bass) you are in the region of 640 pounds

I bought a GruvGear duo strap about a month ago here in the classfields... why aren't dual strap more of a thing? Why it seems GruvGear and a very basic one from D'Addario are the only options? I see people moving to short scale basses for weigh reasons, I see people, including me, only buying light basses and doing mods to reduce weigh. Well, these straps work great for all that!

...I mean, I get why the GruvGear is not that popular: it's weird, looks ugly, it's too short, and keeps the bass in a weird position. That's why I think more conpanies should jump in and offer alternatives.

GruvGear says you should wrap the bass around the bass'horn as per the doctor picture
On top of looking ugly, it contributes to making the strap too short. Also, your bass ends up being pulled toward your right. An interesting position because it's identical to when you play sitting down, but looks and feels odd when standing up. I just attached the second strap straight to the strap lock. Looks comparatively better, leaves the strap a bit longer, and allows to keep the bass where it would be with a normal strap.

I also created the option to extend the strap further with an old belt and some rivets.

As things stand, I am quite happy with it. I like to practice standing up most of the time and it makes a massive difference. Another plus is that the bass stays still, exactly where you put it, more than with any other strap I have tried

4 minutes ago, Jack said:

Change the problem. 

 

If you put the looper after the Zoom instead, then you don't need an aux in pedal, you need a headphone amp. 

That's a very good point. I ended up thinking along those lines actually. The way I had it planned was plain stupid as with the Behringer after the aux in I guess the pedal would end up colouring the song I play along with as well. To be honest I do have a practice amp with headphones oit so I am temporarily using that as headphone amp. Just I am not 100% happy the practice amp is not transparent, and also I keep it in a corner of the living room I would rather not be stuck to.

So yes, I am now looking for a headphone amp. I was considering a TC electronics amp. It's not cheap nor small, but then it could at some point be used as an actual amp... but that's GAS talking!

As implicit from my previous post, if you visit shops don't forget to try Squier Classic Vibe and Fender MIM (which used could fit your budget) with an open mind. You may find that despite a lot of people turning up their nose at them, brand is not the only reason why they are so popular. They just sound and work great. Other brands supposedly offer more value for money but the definition of value is subjective. If you want your neck to be roasted, your body to be of heavier alder instead of lighter poplar despite minimal to no changes to the sound, your fret edges don't just need to be good enough not to poke out, they need to be supersmooth to ensure zero friction as you move superfast up and down the neck while at the same time keeping your fingers in contact with the edge of the fretboard, and you want things to look and feel "premium", a Squier is certainly not for you. If you look at that from the angle of having a great sounding bass that plays well, then things may start to look the opposite unless you want a preamp.

If you like to work on instruments I do not think shielding is a lot of work although I have yet to try myself. Of you are in the mindset of doing that that would give you more options.

There could be a number of reasons that make you unenthusiastic about the pickups. I found that I was never excited by the celebrated Yamaha BBs. Then I figured out it's because I like precision basses and the BB appear to have the P pickup slightly closer to the neck than a Precision, with significant change in sound.

It may turn out that's the issue you are having. Or that your bass has ceramic pickups and you like alnico or viceversa. Or that what maybe you would be happier with a bass with two humbuckers or two single coils, or an active MM style bass (all options would give you versatility harsh-to-warm, just in different ways)

I guess what I am trying to say with that is that it is very hard to give you an answer that goes beyond listing basses with supposedly good value-for-money.

Sires for example, much like the BBs I tried, did not work out for me. They tend to sound harsher than similar basses from Squire, and to be heavier. And I do not use preamps much.

Note that your bass has a reputstion of being light (and with great balance!) and I think has 40mm nut width. Maybe, and that's a guess, you take these factors as a given but long term you'd be bothered by a bass that is very different in that sense.

It could be worth going to shops to try basses out and watch loads of youtube videos (eg LowendLobster's channel)