Misdee

It used to exist in the U.K. It was called Income Support.

Regarding boutique P basses, I think the law of diminishing returns is particularly pertinent. Most bang for your buck is to be had at around the USA Fender price point, in my opinion. That is not to say that less expensive versions are not worthwhile. A £5000 Olinto ,on the other hand, might be somebody's forever bass, I'm not putting it down, but despite never having played one myself I would wager that it sounds and feels like...a P Bass. Probably a very good one but essentially still a P Bass. As I've previously mentioned in other threads, there's a certain point with vintage and boutique traditional Fender-style basses where what your paying for is magic realism, not anything tangible or actually necessary in a practical sense.

OCD - controlled exposure and response. It's the only way.

Whether you need a Precision might be the wrong question. Maybe you should ask yourself if you enjoy a Precision. If no one has asked you to provide one in a professional context then in an immediate sense, no you don't need one. Whether you would you get some extra joy from playing one would seem to be the more pertinent question. If you would then it could be a good purchase if you can easily afford it. My go-to bass for well over a decade has been a USA Lakland PJ with a Jazz neck and roundwounds that I use mainly as a P Bass. I've had it a long time and it serves me very well for just about everything. It's boringly reliable and I seldom find it can't sound appropriate for whatever style of music I'm massacring at any given time. Most of the time though just the Precision pickup sounds right for the music, whatever the genre.

It is a guitar, a bass guitar.

I saw the Smiths play live with Andy Rourke using a Trace Elliot rig. What a band, what a bass player. I also remember him using that black Squire P Bass and a Peavy rig in the very early days. I had a JV Squire back then, and it made me happy to see him using one too. I think the Yamaha BB2000 was primarily a recording bass and he used it extensively. A lot of The Smiths album and Meat Is Murder feature that bass heavily. A lot of what people assume is a P Bass is actually that Yamaha.

There's nothing wrong with people being kind, either. It's just if your selling something it's your responsibility to set a price you will be satisfied with, because after that you don't really have any right to a say. That what the buyer gets for their money, the right to say what happens next. Just to clarify, I have never bought a bass or anything else from Basschat, although I have sold one bass that I bought brand new and some assorted sundries over the years. I'm not trying to defend my own actions. It's just that it would never occur to me to take umbridge if anything I had sold was subsequently flipped. If the new owner doubles his money, great. By the same token, if he sells the item on for half what he paid me that's also not my concern, so it works both ways.

Flipping basses for profit on Basschat is perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned. There's so much to consider regarding the original sale price, like did the seller need a quick sale and reduce the price accordingly, did they know the true market value of the bass, did they bother to find out? Everyone on Basschat is an adult, making their own decisions. It's a big bad world out there, and Basschat is part of it. You can't infantilize people by protecting them from themselves. It's the sellers responsibility to set a price they can live with. Providing no one has cheated anyone or been intentionally dishonest, that's it. Once the bass is sold it's someone else's property. They can do as they please. If I sold an instrument on Basschat and the buyer then flogged it for more I would be delighted for them, or at worst I would blame myself not the person who made a profit, and learn from it.

Sponji Reggae by Black Uhuru maybe, great tune but perhaps a bit obscure for a mainstream audience. If you want a slower number for a lovers rock kind of vibe, how about Silly Games by Janet Kay.

There was a divide between bass tone on British and American-made music. With UK artists it was brands like Wal, Jaydee and Status you were hearing regularly on records, and ubiquitous Trace Elliot amps and cabs for live rigs. In the States it was more Steinberger, Spector, Alembic, and Fenders always had an enduring popularity with American players. Gallien Krueger amps and still plenty of SVT's about in the States. If you listen, there was huge variety within that modern '80's sound.

Jessie F Keeler?😮 JFK? Why did no one tell me that earlier? Well, that puts a very different complexion on things. Jessie F Keeler! If only I had known. My mistake then, apologies to all concerned.🙂. . I totally get your point a Rickenbacker's eccentric design and marketing philosophies. I'd love for JFK and/or Rickenbacker to explain the ergonomic advantages of this design. Then again, if they weren't a bit Kookie maybe the guitars and basses wouldn't have such a gloriously distinctive sound and look. Few things in this world are as beautiful as a Rickenbacker. I'd love to see Rickenbacker do a faithful reissue of the 4002 rather than (ironically enough) the short scale approximations I've seen. They could have my money for sure. I've seen some really sumptuous one-offs from their custom shop on the internet, too. Sooner or later I'm sure I'll end up pulling the trigger, despite the fact that I should have learnt by now that I can't play on a Rick. I wish I had got one when I first started and couldn't play on any other bass either, so it wouldn't have made any difference.

This whole endeavour by Rickenbacker is just very strange. Where have they got the idea that there is a need and indeed demand for a 30 inch scale bass that is essentially as big as a full-size Rick? It's so weird a project that I could never have imagined it had it not happened. A scaled-down 4003/4001 would have been a sure-fire hit, what with the enduring trend for short scale basses. There isn't going to be overwhelming demand for these 4030 basses, I would predict.

The world is a poorer place without Anthony Jackson in it. I first came across him on the credits for Paul Simon's Greatest Hits album in the very early '80's. He played bass on Slip Sliding Away, and I was blown away by how he alternated between low notes and high-register passages played round the vocals. It's still one of my favourites. I know AJ is feted for his work on the 6 string contrabass, I love that, but I really enjoy his earlier work played mainly on Fender basses. Everybody knows For The Love Of Money, but he did some equally dazzling and inventive playing with a whole host of artists on the four string. And he was funky as anybody else you could name from back in those days, of course in his own inimitable way:

Funnily enough, I've thought about putting flats on my Bongo, if I ever get round to it. I think it could work pretty well!