eude

On a jazz, I like a straight line, having said that, that's my ACG and I really like the controls following the contour too. From the Jazzes I've seen that Jon makes, I'd vote for a straight line, I reckon that'll look bang on. Eude

Shorter scales have come a long way. Having them expertly made and then great strings to match help too. As much as bass building is getting better, I think strings have really come along recently, having said that though, I've found even regular scale strings feel and sound pretty darned good on my 31.5" basses. Here's a wee snippet on my 30.5" ACG, this is wearing full scale flats too, and the low E string is bloody marvellous! >> I think the bulk of the magic is in the ACG though, something the OP will be realising this week Eude

No, I wasn't lucky enough to own that particular ACG. Ever since going down the custom route I've been going shorter and shorter, and I've settled on 31.5" now for all my basses bar one shorty which is 30.5". A full scale bass would've been too big... I've owned and sold a lot of ACGs on my journey, but I doubt the ones I have now will ever leave. Here's my main squeeze for reference... Eude

What an absolute peach, congratulations! This was one of a few of @skelf's early basses that absolutely set my world on fire, and set me on a path to owning more ACGs than I know what to do with! I can't believe how good the condition of the bass is, it looks as good as new! Enjoy it, then more pics and sound samples please Eude

Holy crap! Absolutely stunning! Eude

I've found that if Zilla are busy, they aren't bothered about bringing in little jobs like amps sleeves. I had contacted them about my sleeve before going with Mike Walsh, I got a ballpark figure after about 4 unanswered emails, chased it up by phone, which again took several attempts over several days before any one actually picked up, followed by another couple of unanswered emails. Mike swept in, beat the Zilla price and the end product is absolutely fantastic! Mike also makes very nice cabs too Eude

If he had, there wouldn't be Musicman or G&L, both of which play a big part in the bass and guitar landscape I do find all this Fender wheel reinvention tedious and frustrating, but I guess I'm just not their target market. If I was a guitar player, I would certainly be coveting a new Jazzmaster, but their basses are just meh to me these days, have been for a very long time now if I'm honest. Eude

Can we report Fender for "fake news" on this one? They regularly market their refreshes as ground breaking, brand new, better than ever before, and all they are ever really offering is a few new colours, and if you're lucky a pickup combination they haven't offered for 9 months. I am SO bored with this stuff, I appreciate that's just my opinion, but surely most of you find these announcements massively underwhelming? Eude

Here's a pic for reference...

Another vote for Mike Walsh from Zootbass, Mike made a sleeve for my Ashdown ABM RC and it's beyond what I expected, absolutely perfect with incredible attention to detail. Eude

Wow, looks like they already tried this a while back >> https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/multi-fx-units/second-hand-fender-mustang-floor-pedal-inc-box-psu Wonder if they might look to revisit it at some point, even just for us bassists...

Exactly what I was thinking. The guitard stuff they do has been well received too. I wonder if they've already got something on the way. It seems a very logical thing to do... Eude

Zombie thread here... Just thinking out loud really, but why on earth don't Fender put their modelling software into a nice solid pedal housing, like their new range of effect pedals? I reckon they would be on to a bit of a winner there, they've already done all the hard work, there's specific guitar and bass versions, working at two levels too, basic and fully fledged. Surely they would fly off the shelves? Eude

Well guys this bass is incredible. Everything I hoped for, expected from an ACG and more. I honestly can't really argue that I "need" any more basses now. Should I be happy or sad about that... Pic for attention... Eude

I've met John on numerous occasions and he has no real reason to remember who I am, I'm not a pro, or a serious player on any level any more, and yet he always recognises me. He's an absolute gentleman and as stated above the designer of some of the, if not thee best preamps in the world. If only the world had more John Easts! Eude

Am I right in assuming that the Alpher boys weren't involved in the refinishing then?

One. Happy. Customer

There's something on its way from Moffat to sunny Croydon, should be arriving tomorrow... Eude

That's absolutely stunning!

That is laaavly!

Please report back if you do, promptly... 😉

Me too, what's happening?! Could he fix it? Can it be fixed? Has it been turned into a clarinet? Eude

I vote Newtone. I adore their strings, I've got their steels on one bass just now and I'm really liking those too, weird having only played nickels for years and years... Eude

That is gorgeous! Congratulations! Eude

I think they've probably had their moments, as have most manufacturers to be fair, but by and large their customer support has always been great. The ABM stuff has always been well made, I think it's some of the cheaper stuff that perhaps got a bad rep. I used to use a rehearsal space in Glasgow and I kept blowing up their stupid Ampeg SVTs, eventually they bought in an ABM, for us tricky bass players, and it never missed a beat. Real workhorse stuff. And as far as the Superfly being a bit crappy, I think it was the first commercially available class D bass amp on the market, which nobody ever seems to give them props for never mind all the extra crazy stuff it did too. Sadly, I think Ashdown are a brand that some folks like to bash, and I have no idea why. They did but after Gibson, who bought it from Kaman. I got my first TC amp just after the Gibson takeover, as far as I'm aware the original work done by the real Trace engineers was still in effect with Kaman, and then Gibson came in and ruined everything. For some mad reason though, folks were selling off pre Gibson stock cheap, even though it was far superior! It was a good time to buy... Personally, I'm a very big Ashdown fan. Eude