Chris2112

Absolutely fantastic player. He has been consistently excellent for many years now. I always love watching and listening to him.

@tauzero I suppose I'd struggle to say because I've never really found a neck I couldn't get on with. There have been a few that haven't been to my preference, but because I tend to get on well with most things I can tend to overlook the finer detail in neck dimensions. Roughly speaking it's thinner than my Spector NS-5CR with a more pronounced 'D' shape with a flat back. It's a little thicker than my Bogart Blackstone. The flat fretboard is extremely comfortable to work with. The finish is extremely smooth and fast (I really don't like finished necks that feel tacky). Popping under the G string felt a little odd to me at first because of the scooped section of body there but I soon got used to it and I'm slapping all the bloody time on it now.

This picture may, to some degree, illustrate the issue I have with some of these single-pickup basses that are supposed to emulate the Stingray sound. I am always first drawn to look at the position of the bottom of the pickup relative to the bridge. Quite often the pickup appears to be too close to the neck. Not quite in the Precision position but it certainly looks further forward than on a Stingray. The Warwick Streamer Pro M on the other hand had the pickup in the right place, see below: Indeed, I love the sound of the 'Musicman sweet spot' and the looks, feel and playability of a Stingray was always my least favourite thing about it, so having options on that front is a great thing. There is still a gap for a really credible Stingray alternative since the ATK seems to have disappeared.

Basslab is surely the call to make when it comes to weight. I've had a number of these uniquely designed basses over the years. I had a Status Stealth 6 string years ago and it was extremely well balanced (it was the more attractive 'S1' first generation model). It was light but not a featherweight. Some of the other Status basses I've tried have tended towards being heavier, depending on the woods used. My old Series II had the full 'cricket bat' carbon fibre mid-section with wings glued on and that was pretty light. Not strictly full carbon fibre, but in the same sort of world, my Bogart Blackstone is fairly heavy for what it is. The Blackstone material is a composite resin 'foam' injected into a solid shell. It's meant to be an analogue to alder, designed to have the same sort of tone but with absolute uniformity. It sounds great but I think an alder body to the same proportions would be lighter. Heiko Hoepfinger's Basslab instruments have them all beat as far as weight goes. They're hollow, formed of composite resin with some carbon fibre support inside. You may notice a kevlar-esque weave in some parts of the paint. I can see a bit of that on my 2001 model which reminds me of a Ferrari F40 up close. In terms of weight, my 5 string L-bow must be about 3.5kg maximum. It feels like holding a feather. I bought it through Basslab as a used instrument and was in contact with Heiko via email to arrange the sale. He was great to deal with, being helpful and responsive to comms, so all round it was a great experience for me. I ended up with a bass that I love and buying it was stress free. The only consideration is that the looks aren't for everyone, but I love them. If I could get my hands on a fretless my Manne and Pedulla Pentabuzz would be in danger!

A missed opportunity as I'd be far more apy to play Rush on it than anything synth-stuff, but I have heard people using these with synth modules before (I suppose because the output signal is very clear across all registers).

You press down a string on the neck with your left hand and pluck it over the plastic blocks on the body and it makes a sound. String a few together and you've got music!

Actually, I think this 2001 Basslab L-Bow was the only music gear I bought this year, but even in any other year it would surely have come first as it has one of the finest and most entertaining basses I've ever played.

This thread is about a triple-course 12 string. If you want individual strings for 11 or 12 string basses you probably need to source them from SIT or somewhere like that.

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/bass-guitar-c34/12-string-t949

The only 12 string bass sets I can see for sale in the UK are D'Addarios at £65 a set. They must take ages to fit too.

In which case, get a spell checker or get someone to proofread it. I'll admit that my typing on a phone keyboard with autocorrect is worse than ever but I'm not trying to prevent a professional business. However I'll cut Bass Direct some slack. I've heard of people turning up wanting to buy a P bass and Mark has tried to steer them towards something better, so he earns a pass for that in my books.

That bass is absolutely lovely. I love the slimmer body, it looks quite wieldy and elegant.

I wish they had never moved away from the two piece bridges and the cricket bat. The earlier models with the full size cricket bat middle section were just dreamy.

Fodera have been offering this for years. I remember one of their staff/dealers commenting to the effect that they couldn't conclusively state if it made a difference or not but they'd build it like that if you wanted it. Fair enough, I think. I'm not convinced.

I'm sure if he made a few quid off it he wouldn't be bothered.

Absolutely mint bass. I've wanted one for years but never got round to buying one. Gary is a mint player too, I wish we heard more of him.

I loved the fretless F Bass that Alain Caron used in the late 80's and early 90's. Looked amazing and sounded great.

Such a fantastic player.

Same here. 'Road Trippin'' isn't far off though.

This blew me away on the website. Look at the quality of that woodworking and the gloss in the finish.

Given how slowly parcels are moving across the UK it will probably spend longer in a depot waiting to leave the country than it will crossing the entire continent to arrive in Croatia.