Sparky Mark

4 hours ago, Kev said:

Whilst good advice often given for this kind of thing, its no excuse to just ignore emails.  

 

If a shop chooses to trade online but don't actively respond to emails, they're doing it wrong.  As a working full time 9-5 fella, I don't really want to spend my lunch hour on the phone and shops are closed either side of my working day, so I will almost always choose to email.

Agreed and I totally understand and respect that we all have our own preferences as to how we do business. Apparently BD didn’t ignore the email but was slow to respond for some reason? It may simply have preferred to close an immediate straight sale vs a less certain P/X delayed for a couple of days. I understand that too.

When a deal worth several hundreds or thousands of pounds is important to me, I'll definitely want to speak with the dealer. I've dealt this way with Mark on many occasions with no problems ever since he opened BD. 

Whenever I've bought anything from music retailers (Andy Baxter, Bass Direct, The Gallery, PMT, etc., etc.) I've always phoned them to confirm the deal, availability and offer a deposit to secure the item(s). I'd never leave it to email.

I bought one of these. It folds flat and can hold 40kg.

On 02/06/2024 at 14:24, police squad said:

I bought this from DV247

FBSS610 Short-Scale Bass Gig-Bag (Black)

 

it was 31 quid. It's not the heaviest duty thing, but my gear only goes in and out of my car, so it's ok for me

Andertons have them at 38 quid

GAK have something at 30 quid

+1

My Mustang fits in this perfectly well, and I like that it's a Fender bag of good quality. 

This made me laugh; less than 1% discount is considered a sale!

Is £200 a typo? If not, this is the bargain of the year!

Could do with a photo of the rear panel rather than two of the front.

13 hours ago, Johncee said:

A lot of 70s P's and J's seem to have misaligned necks like this. Is that something that can be easily fixed, or is it not something to be concerned about?

I assume you are referring to the strings being aligned over to the E string side of the neck? You should be concerned if you think that, in this instance, the E string will roll off the neck when playing. Realignment of the neck may or may not be easy, depending on how tight the neck pocket is. It could just be a matter of loosening the neck plate screws and moving the neck. However, my experience is that necks usually return to there initial position when the screws are re-tightened.

Here's the back story to this 40th anniversary Stingray told by Sterling Ball.

Beautiful bass congratulations.

2 hours ago, Henrythe8 said:

Wow. Nice Dolphin, and Nice BassLab too 🙂 

What year is this one ? Looks a bit too red for a Ovangkol, did you have the luck to score a Boiré one ? (although if it's lightweight it might not be). It seems weird to have a Tedur nut, too. 

How is the neck ? 

The original ad shows the spec.

When I removed the scratchplate from my 4003SW I was surprised how rough the routing was underneath. It looked like the bluntest bit had been used literally chewing out the cavities. It took me about 20 minutes with a sharp blade to tidy it to an acceptable level. I think the non lacquered walnut basses probably receive the lowest level of attention at Rickenbacker. 

1 hour ago, Simon C said:

So my Ric is back.  The tech recut the nut and set the bass up.  The action is set at 1.5mm at the 12th fret (that’s about 4/64”).  There is room to go lower or higher on the saddles.

 

 Before doing anything to it he contacted Rickenbacker. They weren’t interested in any potential warranty issues - I expected this as I’m not the original purchaser.  They did however provide him with a set of measurements. His view is that the nut was causing the problems. I asked about the neck showing signs of twisting as there was more relief under the E string than the others prior to him doing any work on it. He said that with a single truss rod this can happen due to the difference in tension on each string, however on my bass as set up it isn’t going to affect the playability.

 

 I’ve played it a couple of times for 20 mins or so. The action now feels consistent across the neck and I have no pain playing the low F.

 

 I’ll keep an eye on the neck but I’m happy with the bass following the work he did on it.  Hopefully you won’t hear about any more concerns with it.

Glad it's sorted now. My money was mainly on your taller nut needing to be cut lower on the E side. Although your photo is a little out of focus it does appear to show the E string was significantly higher in the nut than mine. Another instance of dubious Rickenbacker final inspection. 

Add the word "sold" to the title 

.

1 hour ago, Mama Huhu said:

Great condition, sounds colossal and beautifully built. An absolute classic! 600w @4 ohms IIRC.

Yes you do :-

Does this qualify as one pedal?

30+ years old = vintage 

I've never been totally convinced about the real benefits of replacement bridges. In the 90's I did the usual high mass bridge "upgrades" to many of my Fender basses but ultimately went back to the original bent metal versions for aesthetics and authenticity reasons.

Likewise, I've owned a 2018 Rickenbacker 4003SW for a few years and tolerate the original bridge shortcomings. The intonation and saddle height adjustments are laborious and a bit of a compromise, but the end result is acceptable. 

So I thought I'd always stick with the original design that I prefer the look of, even above the latest Rickenbacker variant.

However, when a Hipshot replacement popped up on here I thought I'd see what gives.

Anyhow, all I can say is that this bridge has transformed how the bass plays. The intonation and string height are now perfect and the bass just feels more "alive" somehow. Sustain is improved and there's a bounce to the strings which Hipshot describes as a benefit of this aluminium version.

I would thoroughly recommend this bridge for the tonal and playing improvements, and the aesthetics have already grown on me.

I've just bought a bass bridge from Ian. All communications were prompt and clear. The bridge arrived exactly as described, superbly packed and in double quick time. Based on this I would happily deal with Ian again in the future. Thank you Ian.

PM'd

A great price for a pair of the best 12s out there. geoff90guitar is looking for these.

The best S model at a great price bump.

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

That's just the sort of economic argument I fall for....

 

I can buy these and say I've saved £8k.

Alternatively, seeing as my 61P was sold, you could just buy the Pino and have more than £18k left over. You've just saved another £10k!

I should add that my advice isn't underwritten by the FSA.

3 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Andy B has got a really nice 61 P, all original in fiesta red in, really lovely thing and sounds lovely , too high price tag for me, 

https://www.andybaxterbass.com/products/1961-fender-precision-bass-fiesta-red-1

Nice bass but that price is eye-watering! Someone could've got these two and still have nearly £8,000 left over :-

I bought an as new Musicman StingRay Old Smoothie via the website and a phone call. Everything as promised and expected. I've bought amplification from the website too, no issues. Always call them before buying or visiting just to confirm things. I'd recommend the Gallery.