discreet

Rod bought a combo which arrived damaged despite my best packing efforts. He reacted calmly and intelligently, arranged for local repair at his end and kept me informed at every stage. I can't recommend Rod highly enough, he's a great guy, a great basschatter and is not only a gentleman and a scholar but quite possibly an acrobat, too... Thanks for everything Rod, very much appreciate you making the best of what could have been a very tedious ordeal with great good humour, care and goodwill. I hope you enjoy the amp. Needless to say you can deal with Rod in complete and total confidence. Highly recommended.

Very sad news. When I was a kid we had the radio on all day long and I was in love with the bass playing I was hearing, even though I didn't know who the players were. It turned out one was James Jamerson, another was Herbie Flowers and another was Joe Osborn (among others). These are the people without whom my life would be very different. RIP.

Or 'Lazarus points' as they're sometimes known.

Depends how much you shuffle about when you're playing, really.

Surely you'd tune the bass whatever happened?

+1. Motivation is all. Lots of comments on this forum from people who feel 'guilty' because they think they're 'not practising enough'. If I'm not actually playing bass, I'm thinking about playing bass and I'm never really happy until I am playing bass.

As said above, your gear has very little to do with it. What's important is how good a player you are - and equally importantly, how good your bandmates are at what they do. Having the best gear in the world means nothing if you and your band aren't at an acceptable level of competence. Having said that, if you're looking for a new band, try to find people who are better than you - that is the quickest way to improve your own playing as you will tend to play up to their level.

Neil bought some strings. Fast payment, great comms, he let me know when they arrived and no shenanigans. Recommended.

You will not get a better Jazz bass than this for 270 notes. Bargain.

Wow! THAT is NICE! Absolutely love that colour combination. GLWTS.

Price drop to £125! Get in! EDIT: And hurry - I think I may have just sold it - to myself!

Definitely not worth it. I always use hearing protection and have done for 40 years regardless of rig and/or band. It's surprising just how little noise can damage your hearing. Even at my advanced age I can still hear up to 16kHz, which is pretty good.

Well it is, but bear in mind she can usually be bribed with cake.

I don't mind that much if it's otherwise a good bass, but now I've gone light I really don't want to go back. This is good for resisting bass GAS, too. Where am I going to find a Jazz that weighs less than 7lbs?

It's very subjective. People who know little of antiques think they're more valuable if they're heavier, or older, or both. Of course this isn't true. Whether or not a bass sounds good (to you) is down to many factors, of which weight (or lack of it) is just one. I've had heavy basses which sounded great. My current (and only) bass is a Jazz I put together myself. It weighs 7lbs. It sounds fantastic.