neepheid

Any Squier for £50 is good going. If you like it then it's worth its weight in gold, to you

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1413238025' post='2576313'] If your really serious about your craft, your business and music you will too. [/quote] That's OK, I'm not really serious about any of it, but I just seem to muddle through anyway.

A few years ago, I put a lipstick Strat pickup in mine (bridge/hottest one), new pickguard, 4 saddle bridge (which I had to doctor for top loading), and fitted full size tuners.

Eyes are terrible listening devices.

No-one's ever asked me. I'd probably say no, unless I knew them. But seeing as most people would rather set fire to themselves than play a Gibson bass, I don't think it'll be a problem any time soon

Pinkerton is my favourite Weezer album, and the blue album is a close second. Have sung along to the blue album with friends like an idiot and spoken of forming a band for the purpose of covering the entire blue album. Newer stuff seems to have passed me by though.

This is how it should be, companies working with their customers to mutual benefit. Well done Ashdown. Other companies (*cough* Gibson *cough*) - take note!

So, who's up for a beer or three on the Saturday night? Show me your town, I've never been before! Any good bands on? Anyone here playing?

[quote name='Heket' timestamp='1412801751' post='2572301'] I found a 2014 (or was it 2013?) EB the other day, and gave it a try. One of these: It was a funny thing. It was so light that it almost flew out of my hand when I picked it up and the faded finish made it feel like it was made of plastic. Now don't get me wrong, I love Gibson's faded range (I have 2 faded guitars) and maybe it works well on mahogany, but on ash it looks like an oil spill. Actually playing it wasn't too bad, it wasn't neck heavy and the light weight and warm finish made it feel quite comfy. Sound was average, but I'm not surprised Gibson don't sell many basses when you see what else is offered at this price range. I was a little underwhelmed. [/quote] That's a 2013 model - tort pickguard, jack socket on the pickguard, no anniversary 12th inlay. I have to say that the finish is my least favourite thing about my EB. It's just as well I like the ergonomics and the sound.

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1412756362' post='2571578'] Excuse my ignorance, as I've no first-hand experience of Gibson's and Thunderbird's but can't you get so much more for £1,900 when looking elsewhere? [/quote] I have many years experience of Gibson, and I am struggling to understand the logic of going from a year of unprecedented, frankly ridiculous affordability to a year of disproportionate price hiking. What I will say is that while I struggle to understand it, I am not surprised by it. Gibson go through phases of doing well then shooting themselves in the foot every few years. They're, quite frankly, bonkers - and I'm not ashamed to admit that it's part of the charm

Ahh, my recent clear out/fiscal realignment/asset liquidation took me out of the 11+ category. Must fix that when funds allow

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1412670883' post='2570818'] I met Pete Way at a Quireboys gig in Birmingham back around 1990, he was a splendid chap as expected. Stood and spoke for ages and got the beers in a couple of times. Also chatted to him at the Scottish Rock & Pop Festival in East Kilbride in about 1984 after Waysted's set. Does Nigel Mogg count? He was more interested in my girlfriend. Lemmy bought me a Special Brew in the Bells (next door to the Capitol) in Aberdeen on the Another Perfect Day tour, but that wasn't unusual. He bought beer for anyone who spoke to him! Was on nodding terms with him at the old Marquee eventually too. I spoke to Chris Glen at the Tarlair Festival in Macduff when the Party Boys played there supporting Fish, Magnum and Jethro Tull. He was happy to yak on about MSG, SAHB and so forth. In other Banff-related encounters, I fixed a bad earth on Tracy Lamb out of Girlschool's bass when they played the local club. Their road crew were stuck somewhere in a traffic jam with most of the gear, and I was doing the DJ-ing for the evening. Really nice girls, the lot of them - Kim, Kelly and Denise too. Peter Trewavas was also very pleasant - aside from meeting Marillion after gigs back in the day, I had a good chat with him and Fish in 1983 in a rock club the night before they played Aberdeen on the Script tour. Pete gave me a complimentary ticket for the gig (I already had one, and nobody at school the next day wanted the comp. - I still have it, along with my sacred Script For Scotland T shirt.). Also spoke to Doug Pinnick on the phone from Texas when I worked at the Kerrang! office. Phil Wilding was interviewing him, and let me have a word. Chatted to him at an in-store in Nottingham prior to a Rock City gig too. King's X were all lovely blokes. Back in the day I had email conversations with Nikki Sixx, mostly about his Thunderbird variants (his email sticks in my mind - [email="[email protected]"][email protected][/email] - though that was in about 1995), and I've contacted Floyd London of the Almighty recently to confirm that my Thunderbird was built for him originally. He replied very pleasantly, and even sent me a pic of him playing it in Manchester supporting Alice Cooper! Graeme Murray, as mentioned above, is a chap I've spoken to a few times over the years being from Aberdeen myself. My son is best mates with Pallas's "new" singer's son. Graeme is mostly a lawyer in Torry nowadays. Finally, Phil Lynott told me to "f*ck off" when I asked him for an autograph out the back of the Capitol on (I think) the Renegade tour. [/quote] The Bells, The Capitol, Tarlair Festival - never mind all the famous name dropping, you're getting me all misty eyed for the things that once were, min!

The difference between parallel and single is less obvious to my ears than the obvious hoof up the backside that is series. I had a G&L Tribute L-2000 modded to give series/parallel/single but ended up finding that using both pickups single coil (inners) as a sort of quasi-middle pickup (parallel) suited me best. On their own, the differences between single and parallel were marginal - the single coil maybe being a little brighter/lighter sounding than parallel. Bear in mind this is MFD pickups I'm talking about here - other pickups may exhibit different effects (although I seem to remember similar results with a Seymour Duncan Stingray pickup and the Z-bass pickups on the Gibson SG-Z).

Not at all, do what you like, it's your bass

[quote name='happynoj' timestamp='1412288884' post='2567644'] Yeah, but not for that price! To be honest, if I was going to buy a hollowbody I would get a Warwick Star bass. Got to keep up the fanboi-ness! [/quote] You never mentioned a budget

I should warn you that I'm thinking (just thinking, mind) about driving for 4-5 hours to filth up your gathering with Gibson basses. Seems an awful long way to go for 4.5 hours of bass geekery though. Be better to make a weekend of it. You guys do anything the night before - go to the pub or something?

Great bass, punches harder than its price suggests. I had a BB300 for a while, it performed well at gigs, I played it at Belladrum festival. The only reason I got rid of mine was because I restored a BB450 and it was unnecessary to keep two passive BB basses. If it's battered like you suggest then I'd think no more than £100 probably.

[quote name='happynoj' timestamp='1412239696' post='2566972'] the only Gibson instrument I would be interested in would be an ES-type hollow instrument, similar to the Jack Cassidy, but I would really like more than one pickup. Think Guild Starfire sort of thing. [/quote] So, the Gibson ES-335 Bass then? http://www.thomann.de/gb/gibson_es_335_bass_fc.htm

My first "proper" amp was a Hartke HA3500 and I thought it sounded great. The only reason I got rid was weight and the fact that my RedSub combo has a removable lightweight head with more power than the old Hartke, so I couldn't really justify it sitting around. Tempted to give a Hydrive 2x1x12 stack a go in place of my current 4x10 as well.

It's 2mm according to this: http://www.bassesbyleo.com/allen_wrenches.html

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1411918145' post='2563867'] Jesus Christ get some perspective, it's some wood with some metal screwed to it, who cares, yes I have strong opinions, who cares? [/quote] You've met someone who has opposing strong opinions. Your sudden attempt to trivialise things smacks of a bully who has been caught out and is rapidly trying to back out with a "we're all friends here" gambit. You started it, why are you wimping out on finishing it? You DO have a closing gambit to hold your weak opening gambit's hand, yes?

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1411917651' post='2563857'] Where can I get my ham toasty? [/quote] Anywhere but my house for all that I care, stirrer.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1411887443' post='2563471'] I shall continue until they make a decent one, free forum and all that, thanks. [/quote] You shall continue until [b]you think[/b] they have made a decent one. That's my point. Minus the beer and rum. If you could prefix your non-factual opinion pieces with "I think" or suffix them with "IMO" instead of presenting them as fact that'd be an acceptable compromise. But as it stands right now, as far as I'm concerned you're nothing but a stirrer with nothing useful to add to the conversation and even less respect for other people and their preferences.

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1411865649' post='2563433'] I'm just not happy with the set neck joint on 80% of their models... I'd be happy to pay for gibson electronics, but I think I'd put them in someone elses body, namely one with an upper horn to remove neckdive, and a bolt on neck to allow shimming / shaving to get it all working prefectly. [/quote] Why would a neck joint need shimming/shaving if it's made properly in the first place?