bass_dinger Posted Monday at 18:45 Posted Monday at 18:45 The rules: "- Maintenance/setups that only involve work on existing aspects of your bass (ie no purchasing a preamp to add to it) - Breakages. If something breaks through no unusual intervention of your own, and is unable to be repaired, you may replace it." It seems to me that repairing the pickup would be maintenance; buying a new pickup would fall under the category of breakages. Interestingly, the rules set out no limit on the cost of the replacement, so @neepheid needn't restrict himself to something cheap. No need to wear the hair-shirt. By way of a precedent, in 2023 I purchased a Washburn bass in bits, without a finish, and with a twisted neck. The new neck (fretless, with the old one being fretted) and the refinishing and the rebuild were all judged to be repairs, in a previous challenge. 4 Quote
tauzero Posted Monday at 19:02 Posted Monday at 19:02 21 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said: Now I have decision paralysis! No natural wood option. I'm out. Quote
tauzero Posted Monday at 19:07 Posted Monday at 19:07 4 hours ago, neepheid said: I have a scenario to run by you all (and I'm just speculating at the moment) - I have a Yamaha SB500S with a knackered neck pickup. I didn't break it, it arrived that way, it's second hand, it's no longer in production. I have the broken pickup with someone just now attempting to repair it, but should that fall through what would be the collective's thoughts regarding ways forward? You can't realistically get an exact replacement pickup for the current, broken one, but it is basically a J pickup in a bespoke Yamaha housing, because Yamaha. If the broken pickup is unsalvageable, would I get a pass from the jury if I was to get a Tonerider or something similarly inexpensive to replace it with? It's not like for like (other than dimensions), but I wouldn't be using this as an opportunity to procure some fancy, boutique pickup. I just want the bass to work properly again. I hope the OG pickup gets repaired successfully, that is deffo Plan A, just formulating a Plan B... Thoughts? No wrong answers (including "wait until next year, play your other basses") That's a repair, and reasonably close to like for like. I'd give it a pass. 2 Quote
Mrbigstuff Posted Monday at 19:17 Posted Monday at 19:17 14 minutes ago, tauzero said: No natural wood option. I'm out. Buy a beige one and draw orange lines on it. Hey ho AAAA flame maple 1 Quote
SteveXFR Posted Monday at 22:18 Posted Monday at 22:18 DR Dragonskin strings for my Spector. Nice bright, zingy tone and they feel nice. Boss CEB3 Chorus pedal. Put infront of my Two Notes Revolt, a bit of chorus with the dirt channel engaged on the preamp, absolutely disgusting tone. It really makes the distortion stand out and adds a nice bit of bottom end. Quote
neepheid Posted Monday at 22:27 Author Posted Monday at 22:27 8 minutes ago, SteveXFR said: DR Dragonskin strings for my Spector. Nice bright, zingy tone and they feel nice. Boss CEB3 Chorus pedal. Put infront of my Two Notes Revolt, a bit of chorus with the dirt channel engaged on the preamp, absolutely disgusting tone. It really makes the distortion stand out and adds a nice bit of bottom end. Is this a confession? 1 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted Monday at 23:36 Posted Monday at 23:36 4 hours ago, tauzero said: No natural wood option. I'm out. Can you have toneplugs? Quote
Geek99 Posted Monday at 23:46 Posted Monday at 23:46 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: Can you have toneplugs? Yes if you use old plastic (1962 seems to be a good year…) and it has to be US made because their plastic is different and better (somehow) Edited Monday at 23:46 by Geek99 1 Quote
Si600 Posted Tuesday at 05:51 Posted Tuesday at 05:51 (edited) 16 hours ago, neepheid said: I have a scenario to run by you all (and I'm just speculating at the moment) - I have a Yamaha SB500S with a knackered neck pickup. I didn't break it, it arrived that way, it's second hand, it's no longer in production. I have the broken pickup with someone just now attempting to repair it, but should that fall through what would be the collective's thoughts regarding ways forward? You can't realistically get an exact replacement pickup for the current, broken one, but it is basically a J pickup in a bespoke Yamaha housing, because Yamaha. If the broken pickup is unsalvageable, would I get a pass from the jury if I was to get a Tonerider or something similarly inexpensive to replace it with? It's not like for like (other than dimensions), but I wouldn't be using this as an opportunity to procure some fancy, boutique pickup. I just want the bass to work properly again. I hope the OG pickup gets repaired successfully, that is deffo Plan A, just formulating a Plan B... Thoughts? No wrong answers (including "wait until next year, play your other basses") Buy another SB500S as a parts bass , y'know, just in case. The car restorer/modders do it all the time... 😁 Edited Tuesday at 07:55 by Si600 1 Quote
SteveXFR Posted Tuesday at 06:55 Posted Tuesday at 06:55 (edited) Posted in error Edited Tuesday at 07:17 by SteveXFR Quote
Richard R Posted Tuesday at 07:06 Posted Tuesday at 07:06 (edited) 7 hours ago, Geek99 said: Yes if you use old plastic The Bakelite Earplugs - the legendary heavy metal tribute to Glen Miller. Now on tour supporting Crackly Pot. Edited Tuesday at 07:07 by Richard R 2 Quote
SteveXFR Posted Tuesday at 07:16 Posted Tuesday at 07:16 8 hours ago, neepheid said: Is this a confession? Forgive me father for i have sinned Quote
Geek99 Posted Tuesday at 07:20 Posted Tuesday at 07:20 (edited) 2 hours ago, SteveXFR said: Forgive me father for i have sinned WTAF ? It’s still January and crème eggs have only just gone on the shelf. Even @AndyTravis hasn’t fallen on his Yamaha branded sword yet well done Andy :👍 Edited Tuesday at 09:26 by Geek99 1 Quote
Lozz196 Posted Tuesday at 11:31 Posted Tuesday at 11:31 On 31/12/2025 at 19:02, Lozz196 said: I’m already out as am going to get myself a decent acoustic guitar in the next couple of weeks. Well I’ve decided to not do this now. I have a Sandberg Lionel Superlight on way but I made that decision in April last year so not sure if that means I can still be in, as final payment will - hopefully - be this year. Quote
neepheid Posted Tuesday at 12:03 Author Posted Tuesday at 12:03 30 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: Well I’ve decided to not do this now. I have a Sandberg Lionel Superlight on way but I made that decision in April last year so not sure if that means I can still be in, as final payment will - hopefully - be this year. You are permitted to conclude last year's business (ie. something ordered in 2025) with a final payment. 1 Quote
Lozz196 Posted Tuesday at 12:04 Posted Tuesday at 12:04 Great, thanks, in that case I’ll give it a try. 1 Quote
Maude Posted Wednesday at 21:38 Posted Wednesday at 21:38 Receiving email showing a new bass. ✔️ Remembering there's no council tax or water rates to pay for the next two months. ✔️ Being asked by my family what I want for my birthday at end of February. ✔️ Being cyber-spied eying up said bass and being offered 10%discount to tempt me. ✔️ Realising that all the above put together makes this practically a free bass. ✔️ Is that a trigger I hear being pulled? ✔️ 1 4 Quote
Obrienp Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago Belatedly joining this at least for Tier 1. Can you do a sort of carbon offset deal where you get credit for selling bass gear? Thinking something like selling two basses gives you a pass on one bass purchase? Asking for a friend. 1 Quote
Richard R Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago Sorry but not under these rules. Selling to purchase is just funding the shiny new toys. Now if you were to start a separate "Buy and sell what you like but keep the net spend to zero" thread, that might be entertaining. You could have a totally over-complicated scoring system; the person closed to zero wins outright but after that the maximum standard deviation about that point gets points as does the most lopsided curve, etc etc. There is bound to be a statistician somewhere on the forum. 😉 1 2 Quote
tauzero Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago I'm doing a repair which is also a downgrade, can I have that as a credit? The Eminence Deltalite in my homebuilt cab packed up last night (it only gets used for open mics). A replacement would be £140 or so (and I now have no confidence whatsoever in Eminence Made in USA rubbish), so I'm getting a BishopSound BSP10 for £40. Quote
Obrienp Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago 25 minutes ago, Richard R said: Sorry but not under these rules. Selling to purchase is just funding the shiny new toys. Well, I’ll join under the existing rules then. My ambition is to get down to 5 basses, which requires selling off 3. I sold a couple last year, so I feel I am on a roll. Also sold a BF cab and an amp. Loads more stuff to go to get down to what I actually use. 🥴 1 Quote
SimonK Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago ...although if anyone gets rid of a Rickenbacker surely we should be encouraging them for having done something virtuous and thus give them some leeway 😀? 1 Quote
Geek99 Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago 1 minute ago, SimonK said: ...although if anyone gets rid of a Rickenbacker surely we should be encouraging them for having done something virtuous and thus give them some leeway 😀? Only if they then burn it (or beat a guitarist to death with it, and then burn it) so no one else is ever afflicted with the agricultural object 1 1 Quote
neepheid Posted 1 hour ago Author Posted 1 hour ago 1 minute ago, Obrienp said: Well, I’ll join under the existing rules then. My ambition is to get down to 5 basses, which requires selling off 3. I sold a couple last year, so I feel I am on a roll. Also sold a BF cab and an amp. Loads more stuff to go to get down to what I actually use. 🥴 I wish you good fortune on your downsizing quest. 1 Quote
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