dutchwife

When I left the UK the Bass Centre was still in Wapping! The only contact I've had with The Gallery was when I called up Martin Petersen about my 5 & we chatted for about 45 minutes-really nice cat & made the favourite of all my basses. Still use a Status Empathy & I've been with Spector for 20 years now (largely thanks to Doug Wimbish). The other companies you mention sounded promising but the usual UK bankruptcy chat is sadly all too familiar. Japanese luthiers? Strange you should mention that. A bud just put up a Youtube vid from about 12 years ago, recorded the day I received my 5-string fretless whacked-out 36" Tune bass. Really well made-most Japanese large makers have incredible custom shops. Nowadays there're some nice basses made over here but nothing really groundbreaking, although as a 42-year old I'm probably a bit set in my ways & not really looking that hard. The other cool thing is that because some makers are still convinced that Japan is booming they'll send over some trick stuff. Saw a couple of really nice thru-neck Thumb basses with high-gloss tiger/quilt maple solid bodies recently. Not my choice of bass but very sexy looking nonetheless. I'll check out a couple of websites, see if I can't find some interesting links for you in the next couple of days.

Hey CK, yeah, probably too many-at ridiculous prices as well. Japanese bassheads are split though-there're loads of cats who have to get the latest 'in' brand, but the majority of players want Fender clones, which is something I'll never really understand. I remember seeing a Fodera 6 on a local music shop wall about 10 years back, it had been there so long the bridge was all pitted & munged up, noone could possibly afford it. I don't pay much attention myself. I've maybe 15 basses around here & the only one I recall buying over here was a Roscoe LG3500 which I picked up for around 500 bucks 8 years back as the music store had no idea what it was! I still generally believe in going straight to the luthier- don't want to get ripped off just to help some nameless exporter buy a Ferrari, y'know? How's the scene where you're at? Spark.

Hey Folks, Just a quick hello from an old ex-pat based in Osaka, Japan. Too many basses to mention but main gear of late would be Spectors & the somewhat legendary Sei/Wal 5-string fretless plus loadsa talent-boosters going into Alembic pre- then Markbass amps. Looking to hook up with other FX heads to share thoughts, very open to helping anyone with Japanese inquiries too. Look forward to hearing from all & any. Cheers, Spark, Osaka.