Rich

Sell Me A Coat - Bowie

Weird. I'm always more than grateful load-out help, even with my cissy lightweight gear. The only thing I don't take help for is actually putting it in the car, as I have a 'method' (I bet I'm not the only one!).

Red = still have it. 4 strings unless otherwise stated. 1964 Höfner Artist - bought for £20 from my school metalwork teacher in 1982. One dead pickup, the other not great. Currently feeling inspired to do a restomod. Columbus Jazz - after I got the Wal, I lent this to a supposed friend who promptly left town with it. I hope it exploded in his hands, thieving bastid. 1980 Wal Pro 2E - my first love, my pension plan, my most prized possession. Jaydee Roadie 1 fretless - my first fretless bass. Very lovely instrument, I fitted an EMG pickup after the original died, and a Hollis preamp. Last seen in @doctor_of_the_bass's hands, I believe he moved it on too. Squier HM-5 5-string - my first 5-string. A good introduction but not exactly inspiring. Gave it away after I got the... Maison 5-string (Bass Maniac/Bass Collection clone) - ...which I bought in Jakarta while I was on a business trip out there. Back when it was dead easy to take instruments onto planes. An excellent instrument, punched well above its budget weight. Tobias Pro 6-string - beautiful instrument, completely hamstrung by its weedy, pathetic pickups and feeble EQ. I fitted a new preamp but it desperately needed pickups... a set of EMG-45Ps would have brought it alive but I just couldn't afford them. Sold it to @brycebites, he hasn't been here for quite some time alas. Yamaha RBX765A 5-string - bought on the spur of the moment... it was red, and I fancied another red bass to go with the Wal and the Tobias, plus I needed a 5-string. Jon Shuker defretted the neck for me and it made a really great fretless. @Witters has it now. Sei Flamboyant 5-string - oh god it was beautiful... I just couldn't get it set up though, and rather than give it it to a tech who knew what he was doing I just sold it in a fit of pique. I frequently kick myself for letting this go. Overwater short-scale (in bits, long-term restomod project) - back in the 80s, Overwater made a bunch of guitars and basses for school music programs, and this was one of them. 32" scale, mahogany with set neck, single pickup. Once I finally get some gig money coming in, I'm hoping to get @Andyjr1515 to work his magic on it. Status Series 1 'thru neck' 5-string - saw this at a really good price and couldn't resist. What a fantastic instrument. I replaced the rusty black bridge with gold single bridge pieces, and also fitted gold tuners & knobs while I was about it. They looked brilliant with the quilted maple top. Squier Jazz - great neck (see Bitsa P below), nasty plywood body. Did the job for a while. Shuker custom 5-string - I'll let the picture speak for itself... Ibanez BTB406QM 6-string - having sold the Toby some years previously, I fancied a 6-string just to noodle about with at home and when this came up stupidly cheap I snapped it up. It's really scruffy cosmetically, but plays and sounds fine. Sire V7 ash 5-string - loved the look of these the moment I saw them, and grabbed one immediately. That was 2015 and it's been my go-to gig bass ever since. Tanglewood TRB-CE 'Rosewood Reserve' acoustic - a surprise birthday gift, and what a surprise. One of the few times I have been utterly lost for words. Harley Benton JB-20 (in bits) - one of the infamous 'deko' basses, cost me 20 quid. Unfortunately, unlike many people I really DID get an unplayable one the neck had a sizeable hump in it. Still on the lookout for a replacement neck. OLP Stingray - really fancied a 'Ray, was looking out for an OLP or a Vintage on fleaBay and this came up at a good price. Turned out that the neck was a real Louisville Slugger, not to my liking. However... see 'JayRay' below... Bitsa P bass - the neck for my old Squier Jazz mated with a no-name body bought off fleaBay for 20 quid. Scratched my P bass itch very nicely! I have since fitted the original pickup from the OLP 'Ray. 'JayRay' fretless - on a whim, bought this lovely Jaydee fretless neck from @greenolive and mated it with the body of my OLP 'Ray. The results are better than I could possibly have hoped for. EMG-HZ pickup, one of these days I might get round to fitting actives... a 3-band with sweepable mid would be ideal, for my money it's the best type of EQ for a fretless. Really lets you home in on the mwah. Westone Thunder 1-A - very gratefully took this off @Moos3h's hands a couple of years back. I've had a soft spot for these ever since Rockschool! 👍 and it's great to have one finally. As a P bass, it totally and comprehensively blows my bitsa P out of the water. And it's red! I've fitted gold tuners, because it looked daft with chrome tuners and a brass bridge & knobs. I wanted the collar to match the cuffs, as it were. An absolute keeper. 'don't call me SkaBass' bitsa J bass - had an old J copy hanging around for yonks, finally got round to doing something with it. one of you folks - I forget who - gave me the idea for a 2-tone theme which, given that I'm in a ska band, was absolutely perfect. The results aren't luthier-quality, but I don't care. It's all my own work and looks & sounds the business 😎 The only things I really really really want to add to this list are: Wal Mk3 fretted 5-string 1965 Fender Jazz, CAR, matching h/stock

Eat It - Weird Al Yankovich

Night Owl - Gerry Rafferty

Ditto. 👍 Do you have a napkin as a guide?

How Sweet To Be An Idiot - Neil Innes

That looks amaaaaazing a quick measure of the iffy decal on my bass returns a dimension of 48mm. Given that the badge is inevitably slightly chunkier than a mere decal, I would imagine 50mm is probably bang on the money. Plain unpainted virginal unmolested material is absolutely fine for me.

Jollity Farm - Bonzo Dog Doodah Band

Get down, Shep! - The Barron Knights

Alfred the Great - Cherry Ghost

Dynamite - Mud

I'd be at the front of the queue for one of those.

Jambalaya - The Carpenters

I must have been talking to myself earlier. Did anyone actually read my requests to quit the political stuff and return to the actual subject? Or could you just not be àrsed to? Either way, this interesting and useful thread is dead now, so well done. *slow handclap*

It's like a very very thin 2-ply pickguard material or something. The white layer is twice the thickness of the black, at least.

You, sir, are a top banana.

Ok, here's my headstock complete with dodgy decal. Only two of the three holes are properly visible (I've labelled them A and B), I think the third may have had the pin broken off in it. Holes A and B are exactly 20mm apart.

I think they're hiding under the decal. I'll check.

My bass is absolutely identical to this, and i can confirm that the neck pickup is pickguard-mounted. This thread has got me thinking about resto-modding mine too. Following with interest!

I too would be massively interested in one of these! My old '64 Artist bass is wearing a decal which looks ok from a distance, but nowhere near as the real badge.

Talking Loud and Clear - OMD

The Song is Ended (but the Melody Lingers On) - Irving Berlin