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OK - good progress this morning. Martin at SimS sent me the new switches at super-quick time - and they're in - and they all work I still have to pop the front strap button on, put the fixing screws on the back hatch (yup - magnets aren't going to cut the mustard ) and do the final pickup height adjustment but, basically, it's done This is why it will need screws - the hatch actually stays shut (see below) but it would only want the wires to 'relax' a smidgen and it would pop a magnet hatch right off: Here are some shots to be getting on with: Here, the hatch is just pushed on and stays there fine even without magnets...but after, say, changing the battery, it only needs one of the 47 wires to shift a bit and even with magnets, it would be off By the way - although the LEDs light up as soon as the jack is plugged in (there is no option with the SimS switches for them to be turned off) the pickups don't actually need the battery to work. So if you wanted to me a little less colourful, you can just take the battery out and it will still play just as well. As always, thanks for the tremendous support along the way, folks. I always means a lot

So thought I’d chime in with a new addition to my collection, a Serek Lincoln, made in Chicago. A very nicely put together bass with 4 way switch for a range of tones including series and parallel options. The sounds are very different to what I’ve come across in any bass I’ve owned and offer me something different to my Fender and Rick mainstay sounds. The craftsmanship is like nothing I’ve had before - sublime! Just need to get it out for a test run now and out of the office chair!

Lots of gigs I've wanted to leave early from, but it's generally frowned upon if a member of the band doesn't complete the set 🙂

Done, To be polished and reassembled now.

KFC?

Yep, it has that sound. Very thick, wooly & full!

Having read most of what @Bassassin has to say about Antoria and having recently bought an Antoria short scale EB-3 that I'm very pleased with, I saw an Antoria Precision come up on eBay. 70s. Black with maple neck. I didn't reach as much as I thought it would so is now here with me. So, 70s Antoria are Fujigen, which implies a certain quality (I won't say the word 'lawsuit'), and this would have been (according to Jon who Knows Things) the same as an Ibanez 2366B. No meaningful serial numbers so difficult to date precisely, Jon reckons possibly mid-70s. So, yes, a well used body, maple neck, aftermarket black pickguard. Was strung with rounds when I got it and sounded very much like a P bass. Tone fully open it can get quite brittle but rolled off a bit you get a lovely sweet spot. Weighs a decently lightweight 3.8kg, so about 8.3lbs. Nut width is 40mm but the neck is deep. Actually very comfortable. Nothing on the headstock other than a nicely done MOP Antoria inlay. Tuners are 3/8" shafts and a bit clunky. Under the hood is really messy and needs some work as someone with worse soldering skills that I have was let loose on it. I wondered how it stacked up against my JV Squier Precision that was also Fujigen but an '83. JV is 3.4kg. The body shamfers are bigger in the JV. The neck a tad wider at the nut 42mm but shallower. The headstock is a thinner bit of wood and the carving from neck to headstock more elegant. Overall fit and finish are better, the tuners are better quality 1/2" shafts. The maple has aged to a beautiful caramel with some slight figuring about it and almost holographic as you move it around in the light. The tone of the JV is more woody and organic with more character. Pretty much across the board the JV is better. And, tbh, I expected that. But, for what it cost I think it is an excellent bass and I am pleased I bought it. I would gig with it, no hesitation, as the differences to anyone but me would be negligible. But I won't be selling the JV any time soon.

The VAT and import duty situation shouldn't be a problem, so long as all UK forum members is aware that buying from EVERYWHERE outside of the UK is now the same. Add 25% onto the cost of the instrument plus the shipping price and you should be covered. I've bought musical instruments from all over the world and VAT and import duty alone have never put me off. I factor it in when deciding if what I want is good value or not and then make my decision. I just have to add this equation to anything from the EU as well now. The problem is now that if you can find a suitable service that is currently shipping between the UK and EU the prices have been significantly increased, and add to the fact that your bass may spend up to a month traversing EU and UK customs. Those are the things that are going to put me off.

Sorry but can't resist posting my Shuker graphite headless....................pride of the herd.................great thread, some good points made and educational for me...........

Not at all. Great that you can express those feelings in a song. It's the kind of stuff I'd find hard to say to them face to face I'm afraid ☹️.

Before I run out of my quota of 'thanks' emojis, many thanks for the very encouraging comments and feedback, folks

Utterly superb, and for me - out of all of your creations Andy - this is now my No1 favourite👍🏼 I love a headless anyway, but the skill and design that went into this just edge it for me as your best. That control cavity is amazing too 😳 I just hope we get some sound clips because the variation from those pups is gonna be incredible😎 As usual, an awesome, and brilliantly catalogued build diary from one of Basschats favourite gurus 🤩 Fantastic, loved it all the way from the start - thanks for taking the time to share it on here 😉 Well done indeed Sir. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 👌🏼

Are you 100% sure? Have you tried it? No of course you haven't. Hardly any of us have apart from a few people on YouTube and since their sample sizes are one of each and their scientific methodology is essentially non-existent, their results are irrelevant. Trying to pin-point a tonal quality onto one aspect of a bass is close to pointless. So is trying to make generalisations about the sound of a particular "tone wood" as every piece is different. The best thing to do is to take each instrument as a whole. Does it look, play and sound how you would like it? Yes? The buy it. No? Then look elsewhere. Job done.

Sometimes these discussions sound like people arguing about how many grains of sand there are on the beach exactly, while the rest happily play, sunbathe and swim on the sea.

No , just using the lingo of the BC massive

That's because they had Liz Taylor depping and she's not quite up to speed yet. 😉

@joseb84 The SR range would be your go to, I think. The SR370 falls under your budget and the SR500 just over. A secondhand SR from further up the range would be even better and secondhand prices are usually exceptional value for money.

I got Steve Vai's, caught it at the Astoria at the gig filmed for the DVD in 2001. It was mid set and he flicked it into the crowd and my hand just went up and came down full of Vai magic. 99 times out of 100 I would have dropped/missed it. So stuck it in a frame.

I'm not sure if it's been said yet, but I feel like the amount of cost and effort that it's justifiable to put into resilience measures (like backup gear) varies greatly with the amount of pressure and the money involved in a given gig. So I could picture myself taking a lot more precautions with certains kinds of function work than I would for a laid back set in a scruffy pub.

I’d assumed that it was a deliberate humorous mis-spelling by the OP. But that’s just the kind of generous, glass-half-full kind of person I am😀😉.

I caught something off a famous singers backing vocalist once back in the early 80’s (.77mm I reckon ) , I don’t have them anymore does that count?

Here is my entry. I struggled a bit with this and this is the fourth song I started so in the end it was a bit rushed. It's about my dad who died last year. He had a hard life early on and the picture just made me think of overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. I hope it's not too sentimental. Recorded in Cubase, mostly using Xpand with a bit of MT Power Drums and some very, very dodgy vocals.

I had a plectrum given to me by Scotty Moore (Elvis etc) that he gave me at a guitar show in Dallas. I gave it to my mate who was a massive Scotty fan, along with a signed Scotty photo that he gave me to give to my mate too.

Jesus... Alright, we can include famous drumsticks, if that helps? 🤣

The Solution is evident. Have the UK merge with Eire. No more Irish border problem, on land or sea. It's so obvious. ...

I loved Mouldy Old Dough when I was a kid.

Full frontal...

Our music from the 90's/00's? Bleedin' kids!

Why don’t people just say where they are based as a matter of course?

Let me first say that I had too much gear already. However, just look at this rig! I had an SVT years ago and we didn’t get on. But my valve thing wasn’t quite done, so when this came up locally I couldn’t ignore it. Top bloke did me a great deal. Honestly I’ve hardly tried it out yet but the tone is unreal. Gonna have to re-evaluate the other stuff now.

I demand that the finest popcorn in the world be served right now ... 🍿

Geezer Butler, Rex Brown, Dimebag. Oh, and I was once given a tin at the LBGS full of picks with Ernie Ball's name on them 😆

I’ve got the Hard Rock hotels one if that counts, but I can’t play with it 😁

I have got a pretty daft one I guess , enjoy Full Moon

My very first time having fish and chips in the UK was in Norwich, at a place called Chish and Fips, true story!

pre-owned Premium Soundgear are great value-for-money, they're usually half the price of a new one I highly recommend them for a couple of reasons: reinforced neck (Titanium bars) GOTOH machine-heads, not the chintzy ones on Standards and get one with Nordstrands

Music from the '40s, don't you mean..?

Absolutely, trouble is takes decades and a ton of money to see the light.

Yes, the sweet spot may well be where the pups were originally placed. I became more interested so looked at Fender’s website, not much there to be found but moving on this was found.....beware, takes a while to read through! http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/

Worth also mentioning budget multi-fxs (e.g. the Zoom B1-4). I've got some very usable dirt settings on mine ranging from DG B7K through to decent RAT patch.

Title amended!

Oh no I need a sit down between.