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Right, photos time. My Stanley Clarke.

Stock is dictated by how much the shop buys in and it’s policies on selling - they prob have loads of Fenders in stock - doubt its a fire sale They that have paid ‘full fat’ have likely done so in the knowledge of other prices but wanted a specific spec/finish/colour etc. Used ones are great value precisely because of the quality. Yes they take a hit from new to second hand, then it plateaus shame for other quality brands outside of Fender (which is what most people go for) G&L, Schecter, ESP, Yamaha etc. Doubt half the customers are not happy with Delano’s, you have your experience and that’s fine, but I would think it’s a gross over exaggeration. I think most Nordstands I have played have been utter Gash - still a good pick up. There are other options of pick ups available from the manufacturer - may cost you more, but if for example you do a Shuker build course and want to install a pick up he doesn’t normally order/have a deal with - that costs you more as well, or you buy it yourself. Time for Sandberg to up their game.....🤔 constantly tinkering, subtle changes, brilliant QC, innovation about the best customer care you could ever ask for - when a company is emailed and asked where they can buy a tuning peg which broke on their second/third hand Electra (budget range bass) because they dropped the bass - how many Owners of the company would reply personally and send for free. I think other companies need to up their game

This is my non educated view...though i do have a materials engineering related background so it makes sense to me... Strings vibrate when you pick, strum, etc... They vibrate at a frequency and are held between the nut/fret and bridge. Everything else in the instrument acts as a mass damper absorbing some of the frequencies produced by the vibrating string. This in turn affects the vibrating frequency of the string to affect the tone of the instrument. Simply put, the materials that make up the instrument take away from what’s Beijing produced and remaining vibrations is what’s heard through the pickups.

Just got this feedback on the book from a new 'friend' on Facebook. 'Rob Palmer just so you know 2 years ago I was playing a week in Greece with the great Kirk Lightsey when I was reading it and I end up giving him the book. Kirk was a very close friend of P.C. and he fell in love with your book... this is the best proof your book is extremely valuable. Thank you for doing such a great job '! Warms the cockles.

Orion is a very comfy set-neck ride

I did a Version of Ennio Morricone's Ecstasy of gold. What do you think? Cool or blasphemy?

I thought the body needed something so I decided racing stripes are the way forward to tie in the black neck and headstock I've decided at present not to use the pickguard............... Just waiting for the paint to dry then its time to get it all back together....... 😀

I'd use whatever the manufacturer says is good for bass fishing

An alternative, more visually pleasing approach would be to tie a large, colourful helium balloon to the headstock. The more neck heavy the bass, the bigger the balloon. Thunderbirds generally need a giant rainbow coloured unicorn. 😎

It’s the bass equivalent of going outside with no knickers on.

Many builders offer a choice of pick ups and charges apply according. Marusczyck do and you pay for the different pick ups as per the price it costs them. Having a ‘standard’ spec is pretty normal for a bass builder and if one decides that they want different pick ups it’s not up to the builder absorb the cost same way shuker will charge you for what they don’t normally carry as their ‘normal’ options. Lets remember the likes of Nordstrand pick ups in an Ibanez it’s very possible Ibanez wind those pick ups in-house to Nordstrand spec? It’s not quite the same as Sandberg or any builder offering pick ups from various manufacturers who have their own operational costs, individual overheads and bottom line to make. If one were to buy a Fender what pick up choice do you have other than what comes as standard on that model? Even with the latest up grade to custom shop pick ups. It’s one choice per range.

I'm anaspeptic, phrasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulation.

A lot of these sub sonics come from the percussive element of hitting the strings. When you pluck, before the string is released, it moves over the pickup at a slower speed than a freely vibrating string would, as it's attached to your fingers. If there was no filtering whatsoever in the entire signal chain, you would be able to see the cone move just by wiggling the string slowly over the pickup.

Still can't believe I snagged my Basic 4 for about tree fiddy. Must be the name - not many people want to spend big coin on something called a 'Basic'!

It's in the diary, my first time @ a bash!!!

Here is my latest build. The Brooks Telebird. It is my take on the legendary Fenderbird that was built by Peter Cook for John Entwistle. However I decided to combine the characteristics the Thunderbird body with a 51 P (aka Telecaster bass). The specs are as follows - Two piece Swamp Ash body - Allparts Maple 51 P neck. Bolt on - Vintage blonde finish - Jess Loureiro 51 P split coil pickup - 34" scale - Tusq nut - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Nickel - Matte black single ply pickguard - Gotoh GB528 lightweight tuners. Nickel - Allparts push/pull Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - Silver reflector cap knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Nickel - GHS Brite Flats 49-108 I'll post pics of the build process in several answers below.

Yes a bit of googling provides an interesting read! It would appear that a single string can't produce anything lower than the fundamental, but a combination of two notes can produce a tone lower than the fundamental of either. This is called a 'difference tone'. A good example is the power chord on guitar (root + fifth). Because these frequencies have a ratio of 2:3, they generate a difference tone with half the frequency of the fundamental (ie. an octave lower). Apparently this is why power chords sound so fat.

Tell Hölger you heard he was rumoured to introduce a colour called ‘September Sunset’

Here we go - managed to track down the original post:

I've been using these for the past 3 or 4 months on Fender type basses and I'm really enjoying them - I moved over from exl220s (40-60-75-95). The difference isn't massive but the lighter gauge is preferable for me and there's plenty of bright twang if that's what you're looking for. I've been shopping around but picked-up a few sets at about £18-19 including shipping

"Babooshka" came up on a thread about great fretless basslines, and one kind soul directed us to a No Treble article with a transcription of John Giblin's sublime performance, so I've been trying to get my fingers 'round that. I'll see if I can dig up the link and share it on here. Anyhoo, it's been a good challenge for my fretless intonation, as it's not often I find myself having to play up the dusty end in E-flat. Definitely a good workout for the ears!

Get that old 'dodgy kebab' alibi in first 😈

Damn you're good at this. First you have me on tenterhooks then you start reeling me in

Sorry, did I say fishing line ? Of course I meant my patented (ahem) ToneConduit music tether. Want to know why all the session players use it ? You'll be amazed at the answer !!

Sorted, bought an Ibanez SR500 of a fellow BC member. Thanks Stuart!! Off to find an amp!!

You forgot the 'unboxing' part!

Here's an early Tokai Jazz (c.1981?). Originally fretted, the bass has a small issue with the truss rod so a few years ago, while the repair chap had it on the bench, I asked for it to be converted to fretless (now has a nice Indian Rosewood board).

As the list stands- all room costs plus some extra for food and bits are covered

Excellent news ...I was struggling to find the time to read the pdf you kindly sent me. Now I have ordered a copy you get to splash out spending the massive royalties on a debauched life style, and I get to read it without lugging my laptop around. A win/win I believe!

I paid £300 and spent the rest on vodka. My bass looks as good as anything out there after 1700 quids worth of vodka.

Fresh off the plane. One for flats, one for rounds.

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Gig 2 & 3 for me over the last few days with the band I joined in January. First one, end of meeting beer festival tent show at Newbury Racecourse on a bitterly cold evening a week ago Saturday. Second one in the centre of Lambourn on Good Friday at the end of the stables open day. Only a week later yet the weather was glorious! Both gigs went great & the crowds were suitably lively!! Used all 4 of my basses across the two dates & used the TC head on both occasions (only as I was away from kit for a while each event) on top of the two Barefaced cabs. Into PA & subs at Newbury but standalone at Lambourn. Everything worked superbly thankfully!

Me too

I played the Brudenell in Leeds on Thursday, The Rigger in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Friday, and The Maze in Nottingham on Saturday. All three gigs were with Steve Ignorant's Slice Of Life who are absolutely awesome. I'm sure it's the only time I've seen a band without a drummer and still got that feeling I get when the music is "heavy". Interrobang were on these dates too. They're quite cool. I'm still undecided if I like the music but they're nice people and good players. The first two nights were awesome, really packed venues, great sound, great atmosphere etc. Saturday I'd been in the studio all day long and not had chance to eat. As soon as I got to Nottingham I went to the closest place I could to find some food - a dodgy kebab shop of course. I'm not sure if the food was bad or (as others have suggested to me) it was some sort of blood sugar thing, but about an hour after I'd eaten I started to sweat buckets and went very faint. I had to be walked out of the venue and upstairs to the dressing room where I promptly threw up and then sat there for another 2 hours feeling awful, waiting to get on stage. When I finally got on there I was feeling a little better, and I played fine, but the sound was absolutely terrible, lots of feedback from a dodgy vocal channel. Lots of people had left the venue too, which was disappointing. Maybe we went on too late - 11:15 ish. Afterwards it was obvious that everyone left in the venue somehow knew I'd been sick and they all thought it was from booze, which was frustrating and embarrassing in equal measures. Sunday night I played with my heavy band CreepJoint at a local venue. We were supporting a great local band called Clay Lake. I'd have been at this gig to watch them anyway, but they asked us to support and it was brilliant! Only 6 songs so I could go full pelt on the drum kit and it felt good!!!

Just generally, it's also worth checking out Kytary for Sandberg. I picked up a TT4 for £200 under list price. Good range of stock too... https://kytary.co.uk/Search/?term=Sandberg

Thanks Nik, and I love the Epifani 😊 Max

Now there's a prog band just waiting to happen

I know many bass players these days (including me) that use synthesizers as part of their live performance. In many genres (pop/R&B/gospel) it's essentially becoming an expectation that in a live scenario bassists can supply synth bass as well as the traditional method. Does anyone think it might be beneficial to add a section on the marketplace specifically for instruments of this type? I know that personally I would always prefer to buy from a BC member than descend into eBay/gumtree/FB marketplace any more than necessary, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be a dedicated place on the site apart from 'other musically related instruments' which is full of everything and anything, making it hard to search. I'd be interested to know if any other members are/have been in a similar situation. (currently looking for a Little Phatty Stage 2, hence the post, so drop me a message if you're looking to move one on!)

Recently bought a Yamaha BB1024x from Andy. Communication was excellent throughout and the packaging was fantastic 😊 Great guy to do business with and a genuinely nice chap 👍👍

Worth talking to The Bell in Walcot St, Bath. Music on Monday/Weds eve and Sunday pm. Also has a smaller room at the back for hire..

There is just so much rubbish written about "tone wood" for solid bodied instruments with zero scientific proof to back it up. Simply opinion dressed up as facts. I don't deny that the choice of woods can make a difference to the tone of a solid instrument, although IMO when you factor in all the other things that define the sound of the instrument, their contribution is fairly negligible. What I do dispute is that their properties can be absolutely defined as a constant characteristic. And here is why. Just looking at "Ash" as a body wood. For starters there are over 40 different species of Ash, and the density of the wood can vary from 540kg/m3 to 710kg/m3 which is a lot of variation. The distribution of the trees covers much of the northern hemisphere and soil types, climatic conditions and growing season day length will all contribute to different growth characteristics of the trees and consequently the characteristics of the wood produced from those trees. Do we know exactly which species of Ash is used for guitar bodies? Is it always the same species of Ash? Is a guitar made in the US made from the same species sourced from the same geographical location as one made in Europe, or Asia? I can't see any information from the big manufacturers, and without that information I can only assume that while the manufacturers will have certain specifications for the wood they buy, there is still going to be significant variation from one batch to another. So having added in a lot of variables, here are a lot more. Construction. If solid bodied instruments were made of a single piece of wood for the body, a single piece for the neck and headstock and a single piece for the fingerboard, we might have some consistency between instruments to start making some useful observations about the woods used and the tone of the instrument. But they are not. Most bodies are made from 2 or 3 separate pieces of wood glued together. Glue is not the same as wood. It adds in another variable. If the body is made of 2 equally sized pieces of wood there are 8 different ways they can be glued together, each of which is going to give a potentially different tonal result. As soon as you glue two or more pieces of wood together you change the way the wood behaves compare with a single piece of the same total size. If it didn't there would be no point in multi-laminate necks. And for a two-piece body on a Fender bass is the join always in the same place? From what I have seen the answer is a resounding "no". And on a 3-piece body it is even less consistent. More unaccounted for variables. And of course a Fender style neck with a maple board will sound different to one with a rosewood board, but not because of the board material, but because they are constructed in completely different ways. The neck with the maple board is a single piece of maple with the truss rod inserted from the back of neck and held in place with the "skunk stripe", while the rosewood board is a separate piece of wood glued onto the maple neck, with the truss rod fitted either from behind or underneath the fingerboard. IMO it is these differences in construction and lamination of woods that is going to have an effect on the tone not the actual wood used for the fingerboard. And there's the electrics. Even on passive bass there is lots of potential for variation. Pickups. Do they have the same DC resistance? Have they been wound with the same gauge of wire with the same number of turns in the same way (scatter winding or even winding)? Are the magnets of the same material and magnetic strength? All these factors can change the characteristic of the pickup and the sound it produces. Even the humble potentiometers and capacitors in a passive circuit have lots of potential for variation. A good quality potentiometer like CTS will still have ±20% tolerance which means that a pot specified at 500kΩ can be anywhere between 400 and 600kΩ. The same with capacitors. And these components always have an impact on the sound of the instrument, even at maximum settings - full volume, full tone; as can be demonstrated by connecting the pickup directly to the output jack as opposed to going through the passive volume and tone circuit. With all these variables in play, trying to pin-point tonal characteristics of an instrument to the type of wood used for the body, neck or fingerboard is completely and utterly futile. When people try and do comparisons their methodology is so poor and their sample sizes so small that the results have no means whatsoever.

Is nobody excited by the elastic search? It would make a good band name...

I'd probably hand him my bass and ask him to show me how he'd play it. If he came back with something like "well you're the bass player" I'd be tempted to pack up and leave, or insert my bass up his backside to the 12th fret.