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It’s not really created by a luthier when almost everything is CNC/machine made and assembled though is it? I get what you’re saying though, the quality of lower end instruments is ridiculously good and seems to be getting better all the time. Not sure what it’s down to, competition or new manufacturing methods maybe but the cheaper end of the market has never been better.

Definitely noticeably stiffer, the exception being TI Jazz flats

In fact, it all depends on what ergonomics you're after which will be highly different if you play sitting or standing, offering the best for both positions is the challenge. Having owned and played close 1000 different basses, I can tell you that this challenge is still up to date. For the sitting position, the Human Base ClassX is close to perfection as the body is carved for this purpose, putting the bass at the right position instantly. That said, as @Kiwi mentioned, the Strandberg design is quite effective too, if you put the bass on your right thigh using the closest to the bridge position. Also remember that headless basses are often more ergonomics as the tuners and the headstock are anti-ergonomics... For the standing position, I think the Leduc and Le Fay basses are certainly amongst the most ergonomics basses and quite right for the sitting position.

The only cable I use is ultra low capacitance, oxygen free, double wrapped with Kevlar, gluten free hemp covering and the copper was mined on a Tuesday. It’s the only stuff I use.

I just always seem to have some around when doing speaker things...

Another one I am really proud of (see the health warning on the website). This is the complete Reginald Veal performance of the Gershwin tune 'Embraceable You' taken from a live video of Wynton Marsalis recorded 27th December, 2013. A wonderfully profound performance of incredible depth and musicality. Took me most of a week to get through it but worth every second. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/embraceable-you-wynton-marsalis/

Honestly the bang for buck in the £200-£400 range is unreal these days. You can get a genuinely decent instrument with no major or minor flaws for not much. It makes that stretch to spend more ever harder to justify. I don’t think I’m ever going to buy a mexi or us fender again. I can’t justify it.

At first glance I thought they only changed the saddle design, but I see they went with intonation screws instead of the free sliding saddle that locked in place. Interesting choice.

Unless it were made from something other than some type of metal, I'd not imagine sonic improvements would be any different to the majority of bridges on solid bodied basses. Even high mass bridges gain you fractions of 'sustain' and tbh 1/2 of the bass playing population go out of their way to avoid sustain! LOL

You clout someone with headstock at that gig and you might get barred. 😂 Dave 🎅

Being as they only announced it a couple of days ago it’s very unlikely anyone has used one. From their post it looks like they’ve just made it simpler to adjust, can’t imagine it sounds any different.

First gig of a double header for me this weekend was the annual Crown Court Christmas Party with the Hulla band. Our singer is a barrister and so we get the Court gig every year - they actually ask for us! You could say we are called to the bar. But you probably wouldn't. It was a new venue for us at the Bay View hotel on the Swansea seafront. With the wind and rain last night, the view of the bay was mostly large waves and spray. We're a 13 piece so the set up was quite tight but we're used to it. After the soundcheck there was time for a swift ice cream at the nearby Joe's Ice cream parlour (given the weather, the staff were surprised out our late evening arrival). The venue was an odd shape - the building has been a pub and hotel since the mid 1800s and occupies the end of a street that joins the main road at an angle. At the junction end it is very narrow but it expands in a wedge back away from the main road. Inside there are pillars and several areas divided by bits of wall and single or double steps. From a sound perspective, it seemed as if it would be a nightmare with the pillars getting in the way of the throw of the PA tops and the 'dance area' in front of the band was about the size of a couple of commemorative postage stamps. In actual fact, the sound was very good and there wasn't the nightmare sound reflections that we anticipated. Instead, the nightmare reflections came from a big mirror behind the bar in which I was able to watch myself in all my performing glory during the soundcheck. I stepped to one side for the actual gig as it was very off-putting. The place was closed for the private party so our audience was around 60-70 people. Most started off in the little area in which the food was being served but as we started to play the dance floor filled up (3 people) and the dancing spilled over into every available space, included that reserved for the neck and headstock of the bassist (I was on the far left of the band line up). What looked like a lively and dancing bassist was actually me trying not to batter members of the legal profession as they laid their moves down. 30 songs and 2.5 hours later we finished with Hey Jude. I think the singer would have gone on and on but his voice was decidedly croaky and much to the relief of the rest of us (and perhaps the remaining audience) we came to a halt. It was a very local venue for me so I was home 10 minutes after I left. Kit for the night was my Sterling 34HH through a board - MS60b for tuner and noisegate > NUX Sculpture compressor > NUX Voodoo Vibe (only for the end of Hey Jude) > Ampeg SCRDI and into the desk. Monitoring for me was via a Behringer P16m fed from the X32 desk and into a Gear4Music wireless system with KS Z10 earphones. Footwear were slightly damp (from our visit to the ice cream parlour) black Skechers.