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At least I’m out with good reason.

It's cheap, it's an Encore and I don't 'need' it in the slightest, but it's money in a good charities coffers. Ah the reasons we find to justify a new bass. 😄 To be fair St. Lukes Hospice is a great charity in Plymouth and has really helped a few people I know so that genuinely sealed the deal. I'd seen this on eBay and liked the look of it, you know when something just has 'a look' that grabs you somehow. I had to go Plymouth today so decided to pick it up while in there. With a good clean up I think it'll be a little gem. Nice trans red with some nice grain (I can see a three/four piece body so don't think it's a photo job), aged pearl pickguard, nice grain on an amber neck, and it plays and sounds really quite well. Pots are a bit scratchy but if it cleans up nice and a good set up and fret dress gets it playing really nicely, it might even get treated to a upgraded PU and loom. Who doesn't need an extra P bass knocking around for £50? Oh yeah, included a strap and gigbag, both cheap but the bag will keep the dust off once clean. Does anyone have any idea on age? It looks like an older Encore but it could equally be a modern one with a vintage look. I've no idea on the history of Encores.

Had been putting off clearing out my loft for the past decade or so: Finally got around to it yesterday and stumbled upon a dusty old envelope stuck in the eaves containing some pictures. Bought it new in 1985 on the never-never ... eventually swapped it for a Jaydee Supernatural. It's so strange looking back at the good ol days☺️

Wait a few months and you'll be able to get them on the Black Market.....

The current squeezes, clockwise, Levinson Blade B4, Warwick SS1, Bacchus Grooveline, ESP 400 Series, Godlyke Disciple, Zon Concorde, Ibanez SB900, Hamer Chaparral, Alembic Orion, Bacchus 24

Here you go. Pictured next to a 72 for size comparison. It's a little creamier coloured than it looks in most of the pics. The inner parts of the cutaways have really darkened in colour. I had a feeling this might clean off but I quite like the aged look 😁 From the serial number it's a classic JV era '82 - '84. I seem to remember reading these were Japanese domestic market only but no idea if that's actually true!

Sorry, how remiss of me…

Just discovered this on the Eastwood site. I think I'm in love.

They certainly show off the fact that someone at Fodera has some serious carpentry skills, but in every other respect these three instruments epitomise what is (IMO) wrong with aesthetics in the boutique instrument market. Showing off technical skill over integrated and ergonomic design. And the decoration is applied to just the top with no thought as to how best to integrate it with the rest of the design and construction. And what is with those nasty plastic pickup covers and mis-matched knobs on the second a third photos? And the arrangement of them? It's boutique pedal syndrome all over again. Must try harder and go for some lessons in design and ergonomics.

Pretty much. At that level it takes roughly 10dB higher at 60Hz to be perceived as being the same volume as the midrange. But it still sounds subjectively bass heavy because there's not much in the natural environment with that frequency tilt. Maybe a stampeding herd of elephants. On that subject, there is a theory why most men like loud low frequency sounds and most women don't. When our distant female ancestors heard loud low frequencies it very well may have been a stampeding herd, so their natural instinct would have been to go further back into their cave or climb higher up a tree to avoid the potential danger. Their men folk would have gone towards the sound, with spears at the ready to hunt that evening's dinner.

So I’ve recently bought some PA gear, & had to free up some space at home to store it in. One of the ‘casualties’ of making that space was my Thunder 1A. It was a very nice example & it had a proper but worn Westone case. I only listed it a couple of weeks ago & I first put it on the usual FB Groups with every intention of putting on here too. However I was gobsmacked by the amount of likes & positive comments received on those FB group posts. There was loads in a short space of time & they kept on coming. The bass was ‘on hold’ within a day & I had 7 other solid “can I buy it” messages come in. They only stopped when I edited the ad to ‘on hold’. The price I put it up for & got was £295, but I think if I’d gone £350 - £400 it would’ve easily sold judging by the demand. Hindsight is a wonderful thing 😆. Anyways long story short, the Westone name is a bit ‘cult’ obviously, but great to see that the brand still appears to have such a strong following - and by players younger than the brands 80’s heyday too!! (I still have two Thunder III’s & they are going no-where!!)

GONE!!! Remastered 2 x DVD edition from 2005. Fantastic set (it's the one with the classic "mirrorball" version of Comfortably Numb). So, if anyone wants this - drop me a message.

My first bass. Nearly 40 years old and still plays great, an awesome fretless which I'll never sell.

Well, think I’m in - got an oldie ABM300 yesterday. Pretty impressive so far.

The best thing about this thread is that ‘losing’ really feels like winning.

My Anaconda is 32"

Body is smaller as well - both in terms on length and width. I think this keeps everything looking in a good general perspective. Sometimes you see a shorter scale neck on a regular body and it can look a little 'wrong'. The fretboard is lovely. In a crazily good condition as well, not a mark on it! It has a surprising amount of tonal variation as well. Really deep & thumpy with the tone backed off but bright and poppy with it on full.

Me too. It's a fantastic bit of woodwork but it looks naff as hell on a bass IMO. And don't get me started on that bloody awful tacky butterfly they put on their headstocks. It looks like a sticker you'd get free with a My Little Pony. 😂

In a word, no. 😁 Embarrassingly I have a number of unfinished projects on the go, bits are getting down to some, but due to life in general getting in the way it's a slow process. They're not meant to be work and as soon as they start to feel that way they get put to one side, to be continued when I'm in the mood. Sadly I'm struggling to get motivated with a lot lately. I'm determined to make this year the year when I finish all these projects, I'll then have a handful of new (to me) basses to enjoy. Watch this space... but not too eagerly. 😉

I don't have the Artec pickup but I've got eveything else that I wanted to play with. 1) Replaced tuners with a set of ultralites, and chose the smaller clover tuners which I think look better in a short scale bass, and removes a bit more weight. 2) Replaced bridge with a Hipshot. 3) D'Addario black nylon tapewounds. The bass balances pretty well now, no neck dive. The Hipshot bridge allows you to widen the spacing between strings a little bit. Not as much as I would have liked, as there's still space on the fretboard, but that little bit makes it a little nicer to play for my liking. It was nice to lose the original very thin roundwounds, the black nylons suit this bass very well. I had to widen the nut slots a tiny bit, a few minutes and a bit of care with a nut file and that was it. I kept the electronics original so far, as I want to wait until I get the new pickup... but simply putting on a set of tapes improved the sound significantly. Anyway, no soundclips but here are a couple of pictures. It'd look a bit better if the pickup cover were black but hey...

Not me, so I don't watch them, much less start threads about them

I bought a Squier Bass VIs many years ago when one of the European retailers was selling them at bargain bin (<£300 inc shipping) prices. I liked the concept but wasn't that impressed with the actual bass mostly because of what I considered to be a very narrow neck even by normal guitar standards (it is certainly narrower than any of the guitars I own). It was fun but a bit of a novelty item, and it would have stayed that way and probably been sold when I did my last big clearcut, but then the guitarist in one of my bands quite rather than replace him, we tried a couple of rehearsals with me playing the Squier, and rearranging the songs so that the synth player took over the bass parts when I was doing the "guitar" lines. It turned out to be quite effective, but I really couldn't get on with the neck on the Squier so I started a search to find something more suitable. For a while I was using a Burns Barracuda which had a wider neck but closer string spacing at the bridge compared with the Squier, but overall was easier to play. The Eastwood announced that they were going to be producing a Peter Hook signature version of the old Shergold Marathon 6 Bass. This is the Bass VI for me. A wider neck and string spacing at the bridge compared with all the other Bass VIs I had tried/owned. I'll almost definitely be selling the Squier and the Burns and buying another Eastwood to use as a backup at gigs. Here I am with my band "Hurtsfall" at last year's Leeds Goth City event playing the Eastwood:

Well, Squire VI to be completely accurate. I bought mine a couple of years ago on a bit of whim from someone local for about £120. Judging by the comments on his Facebook page after it sold, I suspect it had been an object of derision in his band and, to be fair, in its then state really wasn't much of an instrument. Since then I've picked up one of the Staytrem bridges, shimmed the neck and switched to the fab Newtone Bass VI strings - I'm still pondering upgrading the pickups and nut as well as ditching the whammy bar but for now it is a useable bass and occasionally got used for overdubbed parts on the odd song. But for the last few weeks I've been using it almost exclusively at rehearsal and it's been a bit of game changer. We're a guitar/bass/drums three-piece and using it for octaves, runs against open strings, chords and high register melodic stuff etc has allowed the guitarist and I to blur our roles and the jamming has lead to more bits of new music than we know what to do with. I'm also using more effects than ever before, which is fun. It weighs a ton and the low end is a bit lacking for it to take the place of a normal bass but it is fast becoming one of my favourite instruments. So, is there anyone else in a similar position? These things seem to get very little love online (other than in the dedicated Facebook group!) but I suspect that that is more to do with the crappy bridge and strings that the Squires leave the factory with. On the downside it has made me want one of those Hagstrom 8-strings...

I know nothing about Encore basses, whether they are all created equal or if there are stars amongst the brand, but I bought a really cheap double cutaway short scale one. £65. Headstock sported a mother-of-toilet seat decal so perhaps it was a posh model It was incredibly lightweight, 3kg on the nose if I recall, which was great. Pickup was a bit meh so I swapped it for an Entiwistle PBXN and, well, wow. I wanted to 'stealth' it so swapped the bridge and tuners for Wilkinson jobs, stained the fretboard with black leather dye. It was half decent, really. There was a slight twist to the neck, though, so in the end I used the body to marry with a nice maple neck from a Hondo II H1015 to make a bitsa that I still have and use. But I'd probably get another of these if it was cheap enough.

Loser? Who is a loser? Not me, I am a winner. WINNING. WIN HERE, WIN THERE, WIN EVERYWHEREEEE

Nicely put. I think that's why I'm leaning toward the B6 at the moment as it does everything I need in a nice form factor.

The synths on the line 6 pedals are nothing special, or the octaves. The reverbs and choruses are better though. and I like having the parallel distortion on just the high frequencies. having said that, the reason I prefer the Helix HXFX is just the layout and control, rather than anything else.

Much as I do like my white pearl guards, I must admit something on the dark side might just be more suitable. Either way, it looks a beauty. 👍👍

Forget the bass, tell us about the jacket!

I have never seen you write anything about the rock/metal scene that I didn't agree with but there is no way that Kirk Hammett wearing a bit of eyeliner and looking like a Mexican pimp now he's hit middle age is anything like the makeup that the Crue wear!

I just can't watch him he really annoys me great player from what I have seen though

It takes about a month to fully kick in, and then you take it indefinitely. 2000mg a day to start, then after 30 days 1000mg a day for maintenance. I weigh around 100 kg, so if you're much smaller you might get away with less. It's not an analgesic, so you don't take it when you have pain and then stop. It's more like a daily vitamin that lessens the potential for pain to occur in the first place, and makes it far less severe if it does.

Life Begins At The Hop XTC

Enjoyed my Squier VI, here’s mine with the Hollywood Killers a few years back. A very useful mod was to get some “barrels” manufactured so the bridge sat snug in the body, with full contact. This stopped unwanted overtones. Very flexible instrument in itself. Although I wouldn’t want to play a whole set with one, as BRX stated, the string spacing is narrow.

Owning a cheaper bass would stop auto correct changing your pride and joy into a hat every time you posted.