fretmeister

Another vote for Newtone. Measure up the entire instrument and they'll make you a Steel or Nickel round, with either a round or hex core. Choice is yours. Very nice strings.

Wampler pedals. Once upon a time they put out a book about effects. The book contained cut & pasted copy from a much smaller pedal maker to which Wampler had no involvement. They didn't even give credit to the original author, let alone pay them any money. No hint was given that the prose didn't belong to Wampler. The original prose was very specific to the original author. Other pedal makers such as the genuine legend Analogue Mike from Analogman quoted some of the original work and gave proper credit. Wampler can f*ck off into the sea.

Facebook is usually the quickest.

I've always had quick responses from them!

And I just remembered there is Hardcore Reserve between Hardcore and Masterpiece. Reserve has some gentle fretboard aging. HC doesn’t have any, Masterpiece has loads.

Masterpiece You can see the board and back of neck aging.

The fretboard and back of the neck looks too new to be a Masterpiece. IIRC fretboard and back of neck aging only happened on the Masterpiece and not on the other aging options.

That’s an older shape. The designated Masterpiece aging was introduced relatively recently. I think there was some cross over of the old shape still being available and the Masterpiece but I don’t know the dates. I had an old shape in the heavy aged and it does look similar. Contact Gregor Fris via the Sandberg Facebook. You’ll get a quicker response. The Masterpiece includes vibration treatment and is a real step up in cost.

I think the answer is to get a Two10 and a One10 and an amp capable of running at 2.7ohms or under. It's an approved mix on the BF website. The you can take 1, 2, or 3 cones as you need. You're welcome!

B and C - a MM style. But apart from that I'd measure up a 60s and 70s J and work out the relative positions and pick the one that I liked best.

I've got one of these: Levy 4.5 inch strat and some of these: Black Buckle strap Both nice. The 4.5 inch one is very expensive though. I don't use it a lot anymore as I've got rid of the heavy bass it was on.

Easy to play, versatile sound. I'd put flatwounds on it though.

Very nice! I like them a great deal.

I never like a first chip, but I am relieved when it happens and I get it over with.

My 32 Mezzo B is very good.

My Superlight Lionel is passive and it sounds like a proper vintage precision. I think Thomann have over done it a bit in their chat. Do the Superlights sound different - Yes. They tend to have a snappier faster responding sound with a little less low end.... with all other things / setting remaining constant. Do the Superlights actually need active circuits to "overcome" the perceived lack of low end? - No. The bass and / or low mid controls on any bass amp can add or subtract far more low end than any choice of wood could ever do. My SL TT4 (Original Cedar wood) does have EMGS and the EQ in it. I use the Treble control a lot, and I use the bass control to reduce the lows in boomy rooms. I don't boost it on the bass. I do boost the lows on my amp - but only a little more than any other J type bass. On my Lionel (paulownia) I cut the lows at 65hz. Do I suspect that the Thomann people have plugged an alder body bass into an amp and then set up the amp and then plugged in a SL and left the settings the same? - Yes. And that's dumb. Every instrument needs something different. Strings make a vast difference too. Do all active pickups sound modern? - No. The original EMG J set is designed to sound like 1960s J pickups but without the hum. This is why they are the choice J pickups for Bobby Vega and Guy Pratt. This is one of the reasons I really like them. With steel rounds I can do Marcus Miller with it. With La Bella Flats and a bit of foam - it's Aston Barrett. It's all about the strings and the EQ on the amp. Does the "lack" of low end have any disadvantages? - Very subjective I think, so my view is very personal. To me, it's a bit like having an HPF built into the bass. I have 2 shorties and on the odd occasion when they are strung with the same strings I find I have to do less work on the Lionel to tame any boom. So overall I find it useful. I recognise the difficulty though - it's a lot of money to bang down to risk not liking something. I got my SL TT4 from Bass Direct and I swapped the pickups within about 3 months. It's stayed the same ever since other than having a ramp made for it. On the back of that I was happy to order a SL Lionel. Mike - if you are ever up near Northants you are welcome to pop in and try them out.

What's the tension like on the Galli Synthesis? I like Ti Flats and EB 40-95. Not a fan of anything higher tension than the EBs.

No apologies needed. Theres a very good chance I didn’t explain myself very well!

I agree. Even just a little to 17.5mm to match a Stingray would have been very nice. 44.5mm. It would have been great as well.

I saw Prince at the Dome O2 and he just kept adding dates until demand slowed to stop the scalpers. The tickets were about £35 and came with his new CD. Amazing Gig!

I had the Vertigo and I now have a Sleeve. Both very good, but the Vertigo is quite heavy - with my Superlight basses the bag was nearly as heavy as the bass! I'm happy with the sleeve, although RedX's point about walking long distances and comfort is accurate. I never have to walk more than 100m with it so I'm ok with it. But for shortareses like me the banging on the back of the legs could get annoying for longer distances.

You have indeed missed it! My point was that for the splay of the neck along it's length to remain the same as on a different scale instrument, the bridge spacing would have to be different. I wasn't saying that the bridge spacing is different. Take the SR for example. At 34 inches and a 38mm nut the bridge spacing is 19mm. To leave the neck exactly as it is but make it a 32 inch scale the bridge would be closer to the end of the neck (I'm ignoring fret positioning etc). As the neck shape is going to remain constant in this example, the string spacing at the bridge would have to be a little narrower. It could not stay at 19mm because the strings would get too close to the edges of the f'board at the final fret and might not even be over the neck at all. It's easy to see. Stick something that is 19mm in between the E and A string. Slide it towards the neck by 2 inches or even 4 inches. You've now pushed the strings wider apart. The splay is larger. So the designer has a choice. Either have a wider splay / width progression on the neck and keep the 19mm string spacing, or keep the neck as it is and have a slightly narrower bridge spacing. (I'm ignoring repositioning the frets as that is irrelevant here). This is why the width of the neck at the 12th fret or 22nd fret is wider on a shorter scale bass if the bridge spacing and nut width are the same as on the long scale version. I hadn't even thought about it until I got 2 shorties - 1 with 19mm spacing and the other at 16mm. The neck widths are quite different as I move up the neck.

It's Ronnie's - it will sell out in 2 days. The members will probably buy 3/4 of the tickets. I wish I lived near it. I'd love to see more stuff in smaller venues.