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Woohoo! The replacement bass is here and its all looking good. I've set it up with the flatwounds I previously had on the other one & there's no string buzz.

In September 2018 I assembled a ’51.75 Tele-P Bitsa. See link. I was incredibly pleased with the outcome but found myself just using the series setting of the Jess Loureiro Pup. Having absorbed so many comments about the “Flea” bass and the positive views of the Sandberg basses I thought it might be an idea to add a Stingray Pup to the Tele-P. I own a USA MM Sterling which sounds and plays really well, so I was familiar with what I could expect from adding a Stingray Pup in the correct position. I took some advice from here and purchased a Warman MM style Pup. https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/mm4-4-string-bass-humbucker-13-09kohm-4-wire-overwound/ Over the last year or so I have put together a ’52 P Bitsa and a Jazz bass Bitsa using necks from JinWan on eBay. I was so impressed with the Jazz width necks, bound fingerboard, MOP block inlays and gloss finish that I ordered a third neck for another ’51 P build. The first ‘51P neck had a perfectly shaped headstock but the second one had a more ‘bulbous’ headstock shape which was closer to a Telecaster guitar shape than a ’51 P shape. As I was “upgrading “the ’51.75 Tele-P I thought I should use the new neck as it looked much more like a Telecaster. I marked out the position of the Stingray Pup and ensured it was in the correct “sweet spot” 335mm from the 12th fret. As previously stated the body was originally a 32ins Squier Telecaster Bass which a previous owner had modified the neck pocket to allow for a 34ins neck to be fitted so the bridge had to be repositioned to provide correct intonation. I added a ‘string through’ bridge and rear ferrules. I ordered a new loom for the “God Father” of Tone our own @KiOgon which provided a 3-way Pup selection switch master Vol & master tone control. To be honest I did a pretty poor job of routering the Stingray Pup cavity causing some breakout of paint at the edges of the cavity. Maybe I will refinish the body sometime in the future? After assembly I was astounded at the variety of tones on offer from such a humble gathering of parts in this Bitsa. Firstly, the unplugged sound was vibrant, full and clear. The combination of the large body size mass of Basswood coupled with the extended neck pocket ( 6 neck fixing screws) and through body stringing made the bass really sing. Position #1 is the Jess Loureiro in it’s series mode, gives a powerful warm, clear, typical P Bass tone, Position #2 is both Pups in parallel and adds a huge amount of depth and mid drive. Probably my most favourite setting. Position #3 is the Warman Stingray on it’s own and is identical to that familiar Stingray sound. I was astonished how powerful, and tuneful the Warman replicated the Stingray sound. I am convinced it would need a real expert ear to differentiate in the blind test. Following @KiOgon recommendation I can only endorse his views , these Pups are fantastic value, powerful and sound identical to a MM Pup. Here are some pix of my TeleRay in it's new case ( curtesy of @Osiris} And one of the headstock with my poser decal!! protected with @Andyjr1515 wipe on finish method. The back of the headstock has a Sharpie signature again sealed.

And so, to summarise my thoughts on a few other bits and pieces I had owned... A good few years ago, I had owned a Zoot fretless bass with a carbon fibre neck. I wasn't sure where the neck had come from, though Zoot offered them as an option at the time and I had seen a few others around, though none as a semi-lined fretless like the one I had. It was alright, but never sounded quite how I had wanted it to. With a Bartolini humbucker, full maple body and carbon fibre neck I really expected something wild, but it never quite hit the mark for me. I had owned a Zon Sonus at one point that was a bit of an eye opener, in truth I had probably sold it off a little too quickly and should have kept it longer. It may have been a Sonus Special model because it did have an ash body with a bubinga top and two Bartolini singlecoils. At the time, I was a little disappointed in the tone because I was coming to it off the back of a slew of Status Graphite basses. Joe Zon had wanted to reinvent the Jazz bass for the 90's with the Sonus and I think he did well with his intended goal, creating a distinctive instrument that was very lightweight and with great balance. I had hoped it would be more bright and hi-fi than it was, and it definitely wouldn't compete with a Status in that regard. These days, I would consider Bartolini to be my favourite pickups by a country mile and I feel that I would give the Sonus a warmer reception now. At the time, I still thought it was incredible and the craftsmanship was stunning, but it wasn't enough to make me want to keep it forever. As much as I adore Zon basses, the company is really in an odd place at the moment. I know they had moved addresses in the past couple of years, IIRC it was because the lease on their workshop ran out and the building owner wouldn't renew (or at least not on reasonable terms). That seemed to start an annus horribilis for Joe Zon, with a number of posts and threads on Talkbass with owners complaining of having been unable to get in touch with Joe or having paid either in part or in full for a bass, often several years ago, and yet still not having sight of it. The fact that a number of buyers were waiting for their basses but new basses were being made and sold for trade shows (presumably then delivered to customers or sold for the trade show) was an understandable cause of anger. There was a particularly bizarre episode involving a now-deleted thread about some guy who was a long-time Zon customer slandering the company over a bass that he had ordered and that seemed to grease the wheels to get it delivered to him, before he tried to retract his posts and say the whole thing had been a misunderstanding. It knocked my confidence in the company after seeing Zon as a long-time stalwart of the custom bass scene. I truly believe that Joe Zon makes the coolest graphite-necked instruments in America today but I would never buy one new. It doesn't take much effort to send an email to a waiting customer. This thread would not be complete without a mention of Stefan Hess, the German builder behind SKC Bogart. I am not sure how Stefan got started in the world of graphite, but he was instrumental in the production of a number of high-end instruments in Germany from the late 80's and beyond. His own Bogart Blackstone basses are probably his most well-known works, but he also made graphiter products for other builders. The Clover Slapper, also known as a the SKC Clover Slapper, was a headless grahpite-necked bass using a 'cricket bat' style neck and body piece with maple wings, brass hardware and Bartolini pickups. Some of these were made in 36" scale and sound absolutely massive. Kai Eckhardt had used a 34" 5 string model with John McLaughlin in the late 80's. Kai Eckhardt also used another of Stefan's products, this time in a Schack bass - many readers here might remember the old 'basslobster' site that hosted videos of virtuoso players before youtube was even a thing. That site had a video of Kai playing a Schack double-neck with graphite necks. SKC produced the graphite necks for a Schack at the time, though nowadays I believe Schack make their own necks following their resurrection. Stefan's own SKC Bogart Blackstone basses are notable because he didn't just make the carbon fibre necks, he worked with new materials to produce the body. The 'Blackstone' material referenced in the name of the bass is a composite foam injected into a body shell, designed to have the tonal characteristics of alder wood but with total uniformity in mass and construction. In truth, I think the final product is a bit heavier than alder wood, but I commend Stefan for his desire to design and create. SKC Bogart folded for a while around the turn of the Millenium, but Stefan has been back building basses now for several years. I currently own a 1994 Blackstone 5 string that had previously belonged to Stuart Clayton (he used it in his video cover of Alain Caron's 'D-Code' and by youtube views I think that makes it the most famous Bogart bass in the world!). I've written about this bass extensively elsewhere on the site and it still remains in my regular rotation today. It has some very aggressive sounding Bartolini pickups and a Noll preamp. These basses have always been very underrated on the used market and continue to be something of a well-kept secret outside of Germany. They most regularly pop up on the German Ebay, and I would quite like a fretless model some day.

I am so weak. Sea Foam Green one incoming.

Started the year with one bass. Then bought one back, got a couple more, and am now back on track oddly with a very similar set up to 2016... 🤔

Agreed. Or worse still.. "Mint condition, not a scratch on it", then proceeds to put up photographs of the bass planted on gravel / concrete whilst precariously leaning against a brick wall. 🙄

It's been nice to watch young Julia get better and better on the bass, via her YT covers videos. I think she makes a great job of this: 👍 👍

This looks like it could be excellent. 3 part series starts tonight (4/9/20) at 9.30pm on BBC4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m7h1

As for body mods there's not a massive amount you can do without drastically altering things, which IMO there's no need to. This is my 90s reissue, Stripped and lacquered neck, removed side tape and applied silver sparkle with black edging, refinished in mint green, reshaped thumbrest in matching mint green, custom mirror scratchplate and black rather than brown lower control knob (I left the top one yellowed white to match the tuners and strap buttons.

Is it any good for metal ? Yes, but only tungsten.

I believe it is, although Carol Kaye may have claimed it at some point. 😄

Hmmm. Nope.

Grab your Kia-Ora for this big budget sci-fi extravaganza.... warning. Involves a Mustang not sounding like a Mustang.

Just put a set of these on my fretless and WOW! I was a bit reluctant, due to the eye-watering price, but they are amazing; plenty of snap when I need it and loads of ‘heft’ down the bottom end.

Spotted locally, so took a chance...Aria Pro 2 Steve Bailey series 4 string. Looks lovely, feels great - seems to be in that all important sub 9lbs region. Aria pickups, vol/tone and a pickup selector. 24 frets...ash body. Very good/excellent condition. needs a setup and clean and new strings. I’ve got zero time this next week or so to do anything about it’s current state. Absolutely no need for another bass, always fancied one though.

Wasn’t sure whether this should be in here or in Repairs & Technical but here goes…. The restoration of the electrics on my '83 SB-R150 is finally complete and I'm very pleased with the result. Huge thanks go to @Prostheta for his wizardry and patience and also to Rautia Pickups for the pair of MB-1E replacement pickups. This bass was originally listed for sale on here several years ago although I subsequently found it through an ad elsewhere (EDIT - I was actually given the heads up by @Fionn of the ad on FB). Turned out that the BC ad was indeed still live. I purchased it because it was in such beautiful condition, including the original case. The big (very big) and obvious issue was that the original pickups and electronics had long since been removed and disposed of. After conversations with Prostheta as to what was or wasn't possible I decided to push on with trying to get it restored to as close to stock as possible. The first pictures show the bass as I bought it, then with everything stripped out. Note the packers that had been fitted inside the pickup cavities to take the screws for the previously installed Armstrong pickups. Fortunately after some careful chipping away I managed to clear the old glue off to reveal the original pickup screw bushings. As you can see the loom (including 6-position Varitone and preamp) that Prostheta provided is a work of art and it seemed a shame to have to try and cram it into the seemingly tiny electronics cavity in the back of the bass. It was a squeeze but it went in and it is beautifully quiet running. No humming, no buzzing, even sat directly in front of the amp with the volume up to gigging levels it is uber quiet. Finally there are a couple of pics with this now complete bass taking its place alongside my R60 and R80. I may look out for a set of black or bronze pickup screws as the silver ones do stand out a little but all in all I'm thrilled with it. It sounds great with a powerful preamp and a huge range of tones and I know it’ll be good for years. I'm a happy chappy and I hope you enjoy the pics showing the seemingly simple but oh not so simple transformation. 😀

I really fancied both my music teachers at school which was rather a distraction whilst attending lessons but conversely this encouraged a disciplined regime of after hours practice on the pink oboe, unfortunately not an instrument recognised formally within the comprehensive curriculum during the 70s.

I actually feel quite angry when I think back to my comprehensive school music lessons. From a young age I was passionate about music but those lessons managed to extinguish any smouldering fire I had burning inside me to actually learn how to create music. The teacher tried his hardest to belittle any music I liked and flatly refused that any of it was worthy of any musical merit. Well you can stick that guiro up your 'arris you pompous shite! It wasn't until a few years after I left school that I taught myself to play.

I tried a Stick about 20 years ago. I still have a mild headache.

....and they all lived happily ever after.

I work in an FE college. The Perf Arts dept need a new PA. Theirs is a 2nd hand Studispares active bin and 12" top. About 12 years old. It is fair to say they have seen better days. The dance teacher does not understand the concept of restraint. I have reccomended a pair of RCF 745 for FOH. A pair of QSC K10.2 for monitors and a pair of QSC K8.2 for the singing teacher for backing tracks and teaching mic technique etc. Obviously I will be auditioning them all on the weekends. I blame this thread.

I'll warmly recommend wiring the 2 single coil lipstick tube pickups in series. I once owned the Jerry Jones version of this bass (sort of a more expensive, higher quality, high end version), which I still regret being stupid enough to part with, and one of the stock options on the pickup selector switch of that bass was the 2 lipstick tube pickups wired in series. Actually it was the only pickup setting I ever used, gives it more punch and power, and in my opinion makes it better suited in a rock music context or similar than any other combination of those 2 pickups. In fact I loved how it sounded with the 2 pickups in series, and it might save you bothering about upgrading the pickups at all. You might consider upgrading the stock bridge for one with adjustable metal saddles too, I've seen a relatively cheap one on Ebay made specifically to fit these type of Danelectro basses, making it a relatively simple swap, basically a perfect drop in (be aware that a standard bridge won't fit, since the string spacing is much more narrow on these basses, though I guess you could go for monorail bridge pieces): https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Danelectro-Adjustable-Bass-Bridge-CHROME/333684117683?epid=2256127977&hash=item4db11f90b3:g:oNcAAOSww~FfNBEc As a suggestion for a visual mod, though I honestly think a black Longhorn bass looks great just as it is from stock, you could consider cutting out a photo, drawing or pattern on a piece paper or fabric and fit it under the clear pickguard.

David Konig (Retrovibe) has just posted his new Rickencaster Telebacker on Facebook. It's a one off but apparently he'll be marketing further ones. I have to say I like it a lot. https://www.facebook.com/groups/78514186083/permalink/10158238637951084/

Been busy with my CNC, programming and cutting Matt's black block inlays. Note the small tabs to stop them flying across the workshop. In all a good job.

The ‘Pro’ model seemed to appear in two versions. I believe both had the improved metal bridge and tuners but one had the dual concentric pots unlike mine which has a master vol, master tone and a 3 position pickup selector switch. As with most Longhorns, it sounds best with both pickups on, full vol and tone! Mine is a late 90’s model, made in Korea.

The seven Vigiers I've played were superb. One Passion S2 IV. Three passion S3 V One passion S3 IV fretless One Excess IV One Passion S4 They were all good in their own way. All superbly made. The three five strings had very little to choose between them in terms of sound and feel. They're very consistent.

One from my workshop that I ve put out for sale....33" scale fretless, small fast 3 piece neck. A tad under 38mm nut width. I made it as a 'new' variation to try a small bodied bass and slim neck. Works a treat and sounds great, as heard at a bass bash.

The only thing I'd do is buy cabs set at 8 ohms, not 4. As it is, the low ohm rating restricts my ability to stack cabs.

Me too My 90s blueburst has an adjustable truss rod - unlike the dead-on which adjusts at the headstock you have to remove (or partially remove) the neck to get at the adjustment nut which is at the body end of the neck like a 60s Fender. The original 50s ones didn't have a truss rod so the dead-on isn't quite dead-on

Relic'd basses described as mint condition!

I've discussed this briefly with Veijo, because I am also having a large quantity of back orders to fulfil. It seems that quarantine, lockdown or layoffs have given people a lot of time and an excuse to restore their instruments. Since we're both in Finland and see a lot of each other's customers, we see this happen pretty similarly. As much as it sounds biased, I would advise emailing Veijo and asking about lead times. It's worth the wait, especially since Aaron doesn't actually put any effort into reproducing the internal characteristics of the pickups; unless this has changed, he simply puts in "a couple of standard coils" to a mould and makes the whole thing out of epoxy. Veijo vacuum-forms the cases. I'm sure Aaron's pickups are good - don't get me wrong here - however I don't think I could vouch for their accuracy as a like-for-like retrofit. Ultimately, if payment method is a bugbear then sure, go with what works. My PayPal account is still technically a UK one even though I've lived here ten years now. You're right about the gifting money bit though, @RichardH; buyer protection is worth the money if the seller isn't reputable or known to the wider community.

I'm pretty sure it's a Vintage brand V940FL.

Delivery today from Carl (Prostheta) of 2 X BB noise killer pre's 2 X harnesses and 2 X jacks. Many thanks Carl for your quick service from Finland. I'm looking forward to making the Varitone switch/s to marry up with these. One set is for Marks bass (as being discussed here) and the other set is a spare set for me to play with in the workshop (possibly to make another Zoot Bass ZB1000.

A friend of mine recorded an album during lockdown, I'm just checking out some of the results.

I certainly would try to find something that I already have. I can not see any benefit in doing this kind of sell-all-buy-something. If I use a retroscope, and think about the past, I do see many purchases that were funny and unnecessary. Live and learn...

But which testicle is best for metal?

Brexit irrelevances removed. No more please, folks.

Someone buy this - great price and these TwentyFour models are brilliant! https://www.zikinf.com/annonces/annonce-1851886

600W, built in compression, and a tuner! If the fan is quiet I might have one!

I have a 90's reissue and wouldn't touch a thing. Wooden bridge wood screws as string height adjusters, itty-bitty tuning knobs, no truss adjustment...intonation, lipstick pickups, splanky-perfect best $165 US (with antique-looking gigbag). Oh, and yeah, plastic strap buttons just too cool and way playable!

I'm using Fodera strings for this purpose, but here is what Thomann is proposing : https://m.thomann.de/gb/search.html?categoryKeys=GISAEB5S&maxPrice=46&q=5+string+high+c+set&s=price But you can also buy a regular 4 strings set and add the extra high C needed if the brand sales single strings. D'Addario, Kalium, Newtone and Elixir are the easiest to deal with for this and you can even create your own set with the gauges you want by these brands.

I was lucky enough to play in a Jam tribute for a bit. I realised then how much of an influence BF was to me. Most of the fills I would do were very similar to Bruces.

It's like Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, "just because they could they never stopped to think if they should"

Pickguard made, and I couldn’t resist mocking it up! Liking it so far.

Can I suggest you consider moving the pickup a tiny bit further from the bridge, as on the G&L L1500 (below) and L1505 - it adds a lot more girth to the sound, which you may find useful in the absence of a MM-type active EQ.