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For someone on a budget, don’t ever buy a new bass when the same thing can be had for half the price second hand. If the budget is £300, that’s a £600 bass, and that’s enough for something pretty decent.

Please ignore all my other posts above about not being in the market for one...after a bit of curiosity, ‘clever accounting’ and a trip to Andertons I came away with one The purist in me wanted a single H, but having had a HH 5’er before I was interested again, and after clicking with this HH I had to have it so got the old plastic out. I was honestly quite prepared to come away empty handed, and almost expected to because I already have a killer Ray, but they really are fine instruments and 8.6 is a nice weight. . The new colours are great, the charcoal and burnt apple really sparkle in the light nicely. The stealth black hardware was cool, though surprisingly it didn’t call out to me like I thought it would the more time I spent with it. The older Rays in the Shop didn’t sound good at all next to the Specials, however my 2015 Ray is an exceptionally good one and next to my new Special they kind of compliment each other. I wouldn’t say either was better, just different. The 2015 sounds like it has more growl, ring and roughness, whereas the Special sounds like a Ray that’s been smoothed off a little. It took a while to get used to the tone controls as they of course react differently to the old style, but the results are great and I like it.

No longer can members see the wanted forum until they've made a post on the forum - that will stop this guy harvesting info.

I was in the same boat but I'm now 11 months in with a brilliant and super reliable drummer. We're a bass and drums duo playing original material touching the realms of modern classical/ambient/post-rock - ideally there would be three of us but quite frankly, I don't think we will bother with another member now because it's just too easy being the two of us. We turn up when we say, let each other know in good time if something does come up, etc. No nonsense at all. We're playing dates in France, Netherlands and Belgium in October and have a show in New York 5 December. It's been a great experience.

Anything by yamaha. For £300 you could get something 2nd hand that would still beat many £1000+ basses.

Planes, we all need them but most people struggle with them through no fault of their own. The trouble with them is they are so abysmally finished which has fuelled the emergence of so called super tools such as Veritas and Lie Nielson... No I'm not knocking them, they are lovely things to own and use but they aren't really necessary your average Record or Stanley can be made to work far better than they do out of the box. How much better? Well get them fully sorted out and they are unsurpassable, many years ago I bought at huge expense some Norris planes, which are the Rolls Royce of bench planes but my Record planes work equally well now, I ended up selling the Norris'. OK so if we view the humble bench plane as a kit when we buy it and don't expect to take a fine shaving with it no matter how sharp your blade is we won't be disappointed. Planes to me come in two main types, your standard bench plane, smoother/Jack /try/jointer and the variable geometry planes such as the humble block plane, variable geometry? I'll explain later. Much of the way we can tune these planes work for both types so I'll concentrate on the more complicated bench plane. First lets familiarise ourselves with the thing and it's parts. We have a body, wooden handles, a Frog (that holds the cutting iron), a cap iron/chip breaker (curling iron in the picture below), a locking lever and lastly the actual cutting iron. Each of these parts play a critical role in how the plane works and none of them are even close to being satisfactory out of the box sadly so you'll need to spend half a day fixing them. The first job is to take the plane fully apart noting how it goes back together. We will look at each section in turn: The Mouth Looking at the picture above you can see that the leading edge is perpendicular to the plane base, that isn't good. We need to get a set of needle files and a second cut small file and file that leading edge to 45 degrees, it's not easy and will take a while. You need to bring that to an edge meeting the plane base and we need to check that the new profile is truly square with the plane sides. Why have we done this, it is to give room for the shaving to curl away from the cutting iron without clogging the mouth of the plane and that's it. The Frog Place this in position on the plane base, give it a bit of a rock to see if it wobbles. If it does you need to carefully file bits of metal away until it sits firmly on the plane base, this is a straightforward job. You also need to check if the blade supporting face can sit 100% parallel with the mouth's leading edge. Lastly you need to check that the cutting iron sits flat on it at the very bottom where the edge of the cutting iron bevel is, also at the top of the frog too so when the iron is locked down it sits 100% flat, so you may find yourself doing some more gentle filing. This is so the cutting iron is stable and vibration free during use, any vibration will render the plane near useless The Cap Iron Pay attention to this, the cap iron is at the very heart of the plane's function and more critical than a sharp blade. I'll explain its function first this time. It's whole purpose it to bend the chip as it is cut from the wood and basically break it, not into bits but breaking the chip from advancing into the workpiece and thus creating the typical curly shaving Notice two very important points in that illustration, the closeness of the chip breaker to the cutting edge (less than 0.5mm and the narrowness of the mouth opening, again less than 0.5mm. Those two things are what make a plane create a good clean cut. The breaks as said breaks the chip and the mouth stops the chip advancing into the work piece, with me? OK so the cap iron needs the following doing, it needs to sit flat on the cutting iron, at this stage your cutting iron needs to have been sharpened and the back made fully flat like I explained in the sharpening thread, if it isn't do it now. We need to ensure that the leading edge of the cap iron(chip breaker sits on the back of the iron with intimate contact as in 100% perfectly, if it doesn't shavings will get in there instantly and clog the plane and it will not work. Start off with a file and create a little angle back from the leading edge, there isn't one shown it the illustration above and that is wrong, why, well when you assemble the cap iron and blade and tighten the screw you bend the cap iron down and the blade up, this will open up a gap at the leading edge (clogs). Once you have that leading edge take the cap iron to your sharpening stones with are or need to be 100% flat and grind the leading edge with the 1000 grit stone, check it back on the cutting iron, look carefully for any gap on that leading edge and carefully work to eliminate it. This may be a slow job, it once took me nearly a day to get one done for some reason I forget. Once you have it on the 1000 stone you need to polish the front face (the bent bit). I find the best way is to roll it down the 1000 grit stone very carefully so the bottom 6mm or so is evenly grey, then take it to the 6000 grit stone and polish it to a mirror finish but also paying attention to the mating surface to the cutting iron too, very like trying to sharpen the thing but only gently just to remove that burr. Once done recheck that fit on the cutting iron just in case you've opened up a tiny gap, if so regrind it on the 1000 grit stone.... don't skimp on that, it is critical. Why did we polish the front of the iron, well it lets the shaving slide very smoothly away from the mouth, is it really necessary? Yes, try not doing it, trust me, polish it. So we are very nearly there! Now we need to reassemble the plane, firstly fit the frog, position it so the cutting iron is very close to the mouth leading edge. This is a variable setting, for fine bench work set it close, about 0.25 -0.5mm, for fitting doors and windows open it to 1mm; it just lets a thicker shaving through and advances the length of wood that can be lifted off the work piece during the cutting process. You also need to make sure the cutting edge is parallel to the mouth opening. Once set, carefully remove the cutting iron holding the frog firmly and then tighten the frog down with a screwdriver, recheck the cutting iron with the locking leaver in place and then fit the handles. Flattening the base of the plane Sadly the base of a new plane is a bit of a nightmare, they are finished on a belt sander believe it or not and are near useless for fine work, you need to flatten it. Now thankfully the base doesn't need to be flattened all over but it needs to have the front leading edge or toe, the front and back of the mouth and the heel all in one flat plane but the more you can get flat the better. You will need a roll or part of a roll of 80 aluminium oxide sandpaper, a long flat surface and some time. First job is to back off the plane iron about 0.5mm inside the plane body but you need to keep it there along with everything else, fully tightened just as you will be using it later on. Take your 80 grit (or coarser/faster, fined/slower) paper and clamp it to a flat surface ( a planer bed or circular saw table, anything that is truly flat, even a piece of 50mm wood if it is really flat) so that it is quite tight. Take your plane and put it on the paper, you will need to use the plane over the paper just as you would over a work piece, so pressure on the front handle pushing on the rear then relieving the front pressure and transferring to the rear, lift up and do it again. After a couple of minutes have a look at the bottom of your plane and you will see what needs to be done. Every plane I've done needed a lot of work to get the front and back of the mouth flat, maybe an hour or so work. You will need to change your paper when it gets dull too. Once it's done and you have a largely flat plane you're ready to impress your socks off. Reset the cutting iron in the cap iron and fit it, lock it down and adjust it so the cutting edge barely protrudes, run it down some smoothish wood, it should cut like nothing you've ever used before, the surface should shimmer, the shavings should come off gossamer thin looking like lace (if the wood is open grained) if you have paid attention to all the above. There are no if's or buts with this one, that is the only way to get a bench plane to work, some may be better or worse when you start but they will all work when they're done. Any problems, check your cap iron fit first, the chances are they will lie there. Ongoing maintenance, sadly there are a lot of strains and stressed in a new plane body, your nice flat plane will tend to get out of true, you may need to check it and reflatten every now and then, I seem to remember doing mine every month (just 5 minutes) when they were new, now 30 something years on it's just once a year. Variable geometry planes The block type plane, these are different as they have no cap iron and have the bevel uppermost, why? Different types of wood/grain direction needs different cutting angles. Endgrain (butchers blocks for example - block plane!) needs a low cutting angle, flat wood grain needs an average 45 degrees but some very difficult woods need a steeper 50 degrees (York pitch) which is more of a scraping action Looking at the above you can see on the block plane we can vary the angle of the bevel (you only need to vary the actual honing angle not the whole bevel). You can get block planes with a basic angle of 20 degrees and 12.5 (I think it is) to give you a wide range of possibilities. Setting these up is very similar to the bench plane except for there is no cap iron, the frog is also non adjustable so you may need to do some filing to get that flat and square but the mouth should be adjustable instead, remember to bevel the leading edge to 45 degrees like the bench plane. That is about it I think, I tend to set my mouth opening very narrow on a block plane, maybe less than 0.1mm to help get a better finish It may all seem a bit of a phaff but it really really is worth doing, I promise you your planes will be objects of great pride when you're done, planing will be a pleasure as shavings whistle off the wood leaving surfaces that don't need sanding (grain depending of course), joining planks of wood with invisible glue lines will be easy and the quality of your woodwork will increase tenfold

I quite like a few colours so I wouldn't order I'd wait for a shop to have what I want. And because my back is stinky poo I'd take my scales with me too! - I've seen on TB that there's been 1 or 2 4HH actually coming in under 8lb!!! Even it is was the horrible yellow colour I'd have that - after all I've got a shed and a paint stripper!

If I had £300 max to spend on a bass then this would be my first choice: https://www.thomann.de/gb/marcus_miller_v3_5_ts.htm 4 String for £237 https://www.thomann.de/gb/marcus_miller_v3_ts.htm

Sadly, the version of Dyers Eve that has been put on YouTube sounds very much like the one on the album, so we can expect that it will not suddenly be a basstastic LP. Still, I feel giddy like a little boy. This was the album that got me hooked on Metallica, and it was Metallica that made me pick up the guitar and bass. More info: https://www.guitarworld.com/news/metallica-announce-definitive-and-justice-for-all-reissue

No, no; courage, old lad. As I progressively lose more and more of my auditory faculties, I appreciate more and more your vocal offerings. The Singing Postman had a career (of sorts...), so there's hope for us all, no..? I can't say I've found the key to voting success either, though, so don't listen to me. (No, I didn't mean 'Don't listen to my entry', you fool..! D'oh..! I give up..! )

I might bring my wallet.

Snarky Puppy I'm definitely late to the game with these guys but I've been working through their albums during my commutes this week One of my favourites

Building a quality bass isn't cheap in either materials or labour time, 1600 euros is hardly expensive for lovely looking things like that, I can only imagine they are wonderful to play

It fits ! A little tighter than I thought around the tuners, but will be ok. And it weighs 4.7 kg. Just a bit more lining to do.

Im really looking forward to going to a 50th birthday bash this weekend in Hampshire. The birthday girl is the lead singer and writer of an old origionals band I was in 20 odd years ago. We've stayed good friends after all this time. The reason I left was entirely benign, I was moving down to Devon with my very young family to start a new business. Over the years our 2 familes (she also has 2 kids, now young men) have stayed in touch and see each other at least once a year, it's great. Being in bands have forged some lifelong friendships that would probably never have happened otherwise, I suppose its the cameraderie of being on a stage (or corner of some really grotty student pubs) with your fellow band members that do that. Is anyone else still good friends with old band members, it doesn't have to end in acrimony all the time does it?

Oh come on, never ever underestimate a courier. Parcel Monkey lost a Mesa 1516EV of mine a few years ago. Anyone who has ever seen or lifted one of these will recognise the challenge even the most inept of couriers would face in actually losing one; it's not unlike losing a mountain or similar large geographical feature (not least because it takes about four people to get it in and out of a van). But they still lost it. Anyway, long story short, it turned up in the back of a courier van in Suffolk. I suspect the driver didn't even notice it was there, it was such a big package that it became a form of horizon, probably requiring a county as flat as Suffolk to render it visible to the human eye. And I cannot begin to describe the dust and 'stuff' that was on it and in it when it arrived, I was given the strong sense that the van had been moving farm animals and manure as well as expensive Californian music equipment. But I got it back. There's still hope Dood

Cheers @SpondonBassed And as I have a new router table it would be rude not to buy a couple of new cutters. I recently bought two bearing template cutters that are opposite ends of the spectrum...... The larger of the two is a Radian tools one as mentioned by @Christine in one of her excellent build threads.

Organising musicians is like herding cats. Brain damaged toddler cats. Thankless task, and you're a complete mug for taking it on. For a new band I've always tried to get a regular rehearsal agreed in advance - everybody should be able to make one day of the week, and that becomes practice day. the only time I've ever lived with a looser arrangement was the one band that agreed to practice every weekend, and we'd decide on the day and slot week by week depending on our personal lives and studio availability - rarely caused an issue and at worst we had the odd week off. I can make allowances if people can bring a note from their Mum asking to be excused because of holidays or whatever, and I can be grown up around band mates with more complicated lives than mine, but I can't put up with band members who only want to turn up as and when they fancy it (and then usually get annoyed when not everybody can make the day that they want to do). I put up for far too long with one lead guitarist (isn't it always) who was always late, and thought it was unreasonable for the rest of us, who had all come straight from work, skipped an evening meal, and gone well out of our way to get to practice on time every week, to expect him to come straight to practice without him going home, getting changed, take the girlfriend shopping, cook and eat his tea, before setting off for the studio. It didn't help his cause when we were thinking of sacking him. If you can't get four people to agree on one day then some of them probably aren't worth bothering with because clearly they aren't going to commit to actually being in the band on a regular basis...just wait until you try and book gigs...

Here we are mate - it's definitely not to everyone's tastes! https://minuspilots.bandcamp.com/album/seeking-the-spheres

Paging @KiOgon

You’d be surprised at the girth and playability of a low B at 30” scale. If the instrument has been built well, it’s not an issue!

I once used a poodle and was warned off by the RSPCA. (Doodle. It's a better name than Moonpig I suppose.)

That's the most horrible thing I've heard in a long time. A long, long time. Just to clarify I'm not singling out the bass, I mean the whole performance was really unpleasant to listen to.

Not clear whether this is for rehearsals only band or you have intentions to gig at some stage. My current band has singer and guitarist in an Ozzy tribute band and drummer in punk covers band. I'm the only one in one band. Because of their commitments we can't rehearse on a regular weekly basis and over the summer we went a month between rehearsals. These were gigs that were booked from last year and we knew from the outset this would happen. We are now past that stage and block booking rehearsals thru Sept and in monthly advance to guarantee we all make it and have nothing else in the diary. Its a Sunday 12-3 rehearsal with an hour travel each way for furthest away members. WE found that if you try it on a week by week basis other things get in the way as the singer does a lot of charity solo singing events on Sundays as well. He runs this band and altho its all really down to him that he has other bookngs it was his suggestion to block book. If you cancel the rehearsal at short notice you still need to pay for it. That might be the way to go with you guys.

I'm always late for rehersal, and it's at my house. 😂

If you can't even agree a rehearsal time then they are not the right people for your band. There is a lot more to being a suitable band member than being able to play an instrument competently.

Metallica's most metal album. Metallica's worst sounding album.

Ha! What’s the difference between an onion and a banjo? Nobody cries when you cut up a banjo.

Q.How long does it take to tune a banjo? A. Nobody knows.

I think you'll find that your list of rock bassists had carefully listened to and borrowed from the likes of Osborn, Kaye, Jamerson, etc.

Get yer sampler out! 😁 Lovely looking bass...

You do realise that perfect pitch is related to Banjos?? When you lob one into a skip it mustn't touch the sides as it goes in..... hence perfect pitch? oh never mind.

Bought a Squier VM Precision body and neck from here for cheap. Had tuners and guard too. Put some unknown pickups and a loom in it and it's superb. Become number one bass in one band. Altogether cost around £100. If you are capable of putting one together, it's worth thinking about. Think I was very lucky with that one but on your budget I'd definitely look at second hand. Squier Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified series both are great value for the money. Secondhand bass, pro setup and you are away with money to spare! If you need any advice on building / buying you have definitely found the right place! Maybe try putting an ad in the wanted section on here before buying new and see what happens? Good luck with the search.

Musician does well for himself by having fun. Branded a nob for no other reason. Makes sense 🙄 Si

So, slowly progressing. Covering up mistakes with paint.

There's a lot of choice for £300 - many of the basses listed above represent great VFM. If you're trying to avoid Fender copies you might also want to consider the Bass Collection Nanyo range - a couple of years ago you could have bought two with your budget, now the market has got wise and the prices are starting to represent their value. You could also pick up a half decent Westone 11 or 111 within your budget. They are a bit weighty but they are active and punchy. I'm a fairly recent Spector convert - huge range of instruments with a huge price range. I was told that you can't go wrong with any of the NT models - and I haven't. Probably the best place to check out what's available is your local bass Bash.

We started a new band at the beginning of the year. After finding a drummer and singer, we all got together and decided Wednesdays were the most likely day we could all make an evening rehearsal. Did that, and a few Sunday afternoons, to knock a set together and were out gigging after about 10 weeks. To make it easier, we used a lot of stuff me and the guitarist had played in our last band but, 4 months down the line, a lot of that has been replaced with new songs. Wednesday still stands as rehearsal night, but if we miss one here and there we're not that fussed. We have a go-to set now, and rehearsals are mostly used for getting new tunes together (and reminding the drummer how we agreed this or that song is going to end ... ).

Haven't been on BassChat for a while and just stumbled across this thread today. Westone Thunder Basses? I bought a Westone Thunder IIIA from the Bass Centre in 1986. I think I bought it because it didn't look like a P-bass and it was red. I'd been ripped-off by my local music store when buying my first bass - a Squier JV 57 Precision with a twisted neck. So I decided I'd go to the top. I figured the Bass Centre couldn't afford to damage their reputation by selling me a lemon but it took some courage to go in to their shop as a novice bass player. But I did and boy was I glad. They treated me with respect and dignity and gave me the best advice they could based on my playing abilities and my budget - and for 360-quid I wound up with a red Westone Thunder IIIA plus gig-bag. That was thirty-two years ago and its still my main gigging bass today. The gig bag died years ago though. I wouldn't class it as a cheap bass either. 360 quid wasn't cheap in 1986. Mid-priced would be more accurate. I haven't seen too many red Thunder IIIs... well three to be exact. Mine, a red fretless in a second-hand shop that I should have bought and a picture of a red one online somewhere. The rest seem to be walnut brown colour. The red ones are louder! Years ago Guitarist magazine published a list of all the guitars and basses imported into the UK over a certain number of years. I can't remember how many years the list covered, nor can I find any reference to it anywhere but I DID see it. On that list it showed that there were only 20 (I think) red Westone Thunder IIIAs imported into the UK. They were imported by FCN Music of Tunbridge Wells who went out of business a million years ago. I didn't dream it, I definitely had that copy of Guitarist mag but its long-gone. So, in the UK at least, I would rate my red bass as fairly rare. I've had various modifications made to my bass over the years (all done by the Bass Centre). Badass Bridge, EMG pups, EMG Bass Tone Control, Gotoh tuners, Schaller strap-locks, replacement pots, jack sockets, control knobs and switches, fret polishes etc. but I've kept all the original parts safe in case I ever feel the need to put it back to its original spec. Its a fantastic instrument. Incredibly well-made and very stable - thirty-two years remember. And I play it in incredibly unforgiving circumstances at outdoor gigs in the Middle East and in my freezing cold air conditioned apartment. It thrives in both environments with an occasional tweak of the truss-rod. Good piece of kit, shame they went out of business.

Seen them twice over here and was a bit disappointed to be honest. The band was hot (hehe) of course, but the whole thing was on half speed and it's painful watching Don stretch his neck to reach for notes he can't get anywhere near these days. I'll save the ticket money and put it towards Nearly Dan next month, sound better than the real thing nowadays, great show.

The story http://marcblum.de/instrumente/sign_custom/sign_custom.html (sorrily german only)

I got my excellent SUB Ray 4 for £289 but nowadays most dealers are selling them for £320 -300 though I see Andertons, Thomann and PMT Online are offering just under £300. All reviews I've read have been positive and I concur. I'd say considering the quality of build and playability Sterling are robbing themselves

I recently picked this upon here for £249. Its bloody brilliant!

I hope you have read through the Auditions In Hell thread?

I've been away for a long weekend, which is why I haven't responded to any PM's or this thread. Thank you for your kind words and thank you @jebroad for taking on the mantle. Mrs O. and I are emigrating, well, I'm emigrating, she's going back home, early next year which is why I can't guarantee to be in a position to run it. It may be that we haven't yet left, in which case I'll definitely be along, but also, we may have gone or be in the middle of going. We're going to open a B&B in Northern Germany, not far from the Kiel canal. If it's allowed then once we're up and running I'll advertise it on BC in case anyone wants holiday accommodation in the area.

Found a couple of pictures of mine... hmm, they make me miss it, it was a great bass The last picture is a bit blurry and saturated on the white of the nut, but you can see it's the compensated type. And since I'm at it, here's my 2003 white SUB next to my trusty 2002 Stingray. It has a white pickguard these days rather than black, but I don't seem to have pictures of that...

Sweet baby Jesus that is real food for thought. Thank you.

These things are not always plane sailing.

God I hate you guys...I just looked at one of the websites Grangur posted and they have some unbelievably gorgeous veneers...makes me want to change the facings on all my painted basses... Well I know one person Santa won't be making happy this Xmas!!