mcnach

They have two in Glasgow, none in Edinburgh... looks like a trip this weekend! Thank you! At least they don't come in my favourite colours or fingerboard options, so my wallet is temporarily safe

Good point about adding more wood to the neck on a design that's harder to balance to start with. IfI go that route, I'd definitely be having a chat first: if they cannot guarantee good balance I would not go with that option. It's not like I can't play Jazz necks, just that they're not my favourite... There's a Guitar Guitar very near me, but I don't know if they have 48s... I should find find out.

Additional cost to us. In the US of A they are not that pricey. Spending $19 on a set of Fat Beams is not exactly a hardship. In the UK, it's a different matter, of course. I still buy them because everytime I find something else that seems promising as a substitute, it leaves me disappointed. Considering I probably keep a set for 9 months to a year, I'd rather buy what I know I like even if I spend £10 or even £20 more.

Nothing ever is a solution for everyone, of course.

In my case, I also found that with the right bass it was not hard to adapt (a Lakland 5502 for me, wide string spacing help making it feel natural), but I had a couple of basses a *really* liked, and they were 4 strings. Playing the 5er meant not using my favourite basses... and I didn't have a real need for a 5 string... so I let it go. I use drop D at times too, but the best thing about the 5 string bass is that it allows you to move sideways to reach many notes, and you don't have to move up/down the neck as much as with a 4 string. 5 string basses make sense even if you don't use the extra lower notes... But I don't see myself switching until I come across a 5 string bass that I enjoy as much as my Stingray 4-string...

That would have been fantastic, thank you for the offer anyway I'm going to be not too far from Bass Direct in about 6 weeks, and they currently have a 48... If they still have it I could try to visit the store and try it, to get a better impression. Danger danger!

Much better explanation than mine And... not all night, but I didn't go to bed until around 2am... I *love* that bass. I need to return it to you fast, before I get too attached

Yup, that's pretty much what it is. Think of it as a tone control with 'clicks' along the way. It does a bit what a passive tone control does, but it seems to also shift the midrange peak as you go along and it retains definition better, that's how I'd describe it, I don't know... It's definitely a more useful take on a passive tone control.

Yes, reaching into the very high registers is not easy, but then I I very very very rarely go there and only for effect, which I can achieve going elsewhere: a 17 fret bass would do me just fine I actually like the sound of the Sandberg more than the Thunderbirds (from videos, which is... not really a good comparison but that's all I've got), and custom order means I should be able to get a slightly wider neck, presumably (39mm at the nut is a bit narrow for my liking... 41-42 would be more like it. It doesn't sound like much but it's very noticeable)

Interestingly, I ordered a set of TI flats on Saturday, which are for the bass that will most likely receive the Tonestyler...

You are NOT helping... The neck is still looong, just the way the design is, but I hope they'll balance better than Epiphones... I wish I could try one, just to make sure I hate them too Now seriously, everything I heard about Sandberg's build quality makes me very interested, I'd be very willing to give it a try. I just don't know that I should get a Thunderbird style bass: I like the look and all but I really don't need another bass. It would look great for certain gigs but... Oh God, I'm sounding far too sensible

Thank you! I don't own one yet. Yet! But I'll remedy that soon enough.

Glad to hear things are looking brighter!

Also... that Sandberg, I thought it was sexy. So I've been looking at this: Ufff... Recite mantra "I don't need it I don't need it I don't need it" (but I might leave the Sandberg configurator open casually so that my girlfriend can see it, in case she is looking for ideas for my birthday... :p)

Thunderbird... I'm probably going to Guitar Guitar this weekend to see what these are like to play. They have a couple of Gibsons and Epiphones in stock... I really don't want to like them. However... Tonestyler... whoa! Love it! This afternoon, the lovely @krispn delivered his Precision with Thunderbird pickup and Tonestyler module (see page 1) to me while I was at work. The bass is a lot prettier in person and I loved it. It's got some kind of flats on, which I don't usually play, but it sounded really good, and the Tonestyler is a zero-gimmick tone control as far as I'm concerned, I'm converted. I played with it by myself, every click made a distinct difference and I really liked a couple of positions around half way (they dial in the midrange 'just so') and another position just before its bassiest tone, where it retained definition but sounded fat fat fat. With a touch of light overdrive, the kind that you don't really hear as distorted, it was glorious. Then I played it along to recorded music, including some of my own stuff from own of my bands. That's where the Tonestyler proved its worth. Or maybe it's just the combination of this bass+pickup+Tonestyler!!! Whatever, it was really good. The Tonestyler covers a wide range, from bright (as bright as flats get) to very dark an dense, and I could easily find a couple of spots that gave me some very distinct tones that I would probably switch between in a live situation. I imagine that with different basses the positions may vary, maybe you can get 3 different sounds using bright roundwound strings? I like passive tone controls, I like to roll off the top end a bit, but often things get a little muddy after that. Here I retained very good definition and the midrange peak seems to move over a certain range which makes me think that it would allow me to find its sweet spot with different basses/pickups. It's not a "here! have 10 sounds!" but more like an improved version of a passive tone control, and on this bass, it *rawks*. Tomorrow I'll get to try it with Urang Matang at rehearsal, with drummer, guitar, two vocals, keyboard, sax and trumpet, playing ska/reggae mostly with a bit of funk. Can't wait!!! @krispn, you are a star!!! Thank you so much! Although... it seems that everytime you lend me something, I end up spending money. We shouldn't do this often

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wow... That's purely and simply disgusting (the comments, not the bass...)

Very true. But then again, if I'm really interested, I'd ask them. I only buy something from time to time, so it's not like I have to constantly ask people the same questions over and over.

Why? It's not like we're running out of space. Some items may be a bit more 'niche' and take more time, especially if they're not 'competitively priced', but I see no reason to want to interfere with anybody else's stuff for sale. edit: telling the seller, publicly, what their price *you think* should be is downright rude. An alternative could be an 'ignore' option on ads, so that you don't see the same ads again if you choose to ignore them. I doubt the software in use makes it easy to implement that, 'though. I'd personally love to set a search to give me a notification when a new item is posted that meets my search criterion... But my bank balance is probably healthier leaving things as they are...

If someone doesn't bother to go back to the ad and edit the title to indicate it's sold, which only takes a few seconds, do you think they'd bother going back to it to click on a 'sold' button?

Weight was completely and utterly irrelevant to me for a long time, so I very rarely thought of even mentioning it, let alone measuring it! These days, without being exactly an old decrepitude of a man (yet ) I do care: I like lighter basses as long as they balance well, so I'm more aware of it. My point is: not everybody has the same idea of what's important, and trying to make everybody else comply with what we think is reasonable or even obvious is a frustrating path. However, nothing stops us from asking questions and a seller who cares would happily answer those questions. I've often found the comments in for-sale items very informative. And the non informative ones? Easily ignored like a lot of other posts in any other thread. edit: harder to ignore are the rude comments like those found on the Ken Smith bass... what are they thinking?

How does it matter the way it's advertised? The owner of whatever item for sale has the right to name their price, and telling them it's too much, publicly, is tacky at best. If someone is advertising something fraudulently, I understand getting involved (although reporting it to the mods is probable a better option), but otherwise, why would you want to contribute anything that potentially causes the seller to lose sales/money? The old "If you don't have anything nice to say, best not to say anything" I think applies very nicely. When you see something on a High St shop that you think is overpriced, do you stand at their door telling everybody who walks in that the shop is charging too much? No, right? It would seem very weird... and the shop owner might want to come out and have an 'energic word' with you...

Like the guy who was apparently interested in a bass I was selling a while ago on Gumtree... after a few texts, we're arranging to meet for him to try it, and he asks me if I could drop the price. I did, a bit, I am generally open to a bit of negotiation... then silence, and comes back the next day asking me to lower it further because he saw he could buy a new one for just £10 more than I was asking. Of course, it was not true... so I replied very enthusiastically saying he found a really good deal and that he should go with it. What did he expect? He did buy my bass, at the price we agreed, but I was very close to ignoring him...

Band name!

I didn't think that was possible... unless you paid them for something that should not incur import fees. I'm confused...